Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Results from our Program’s research and minerals information activities are published in USGS publications series as well as in outside journals.  To follow Minerals Information Periodicals, subscribe to the Mineral Periodicals RSS feed.

Filter Total Items: 2294

Geologic map of the Patagonia Mountains, Santa Cruz County, Arizona

The Patagonia Mountains contain two large porphyry Cu-Mo systems each with separate associated hypogene and supergene zones, two high-grade Cu-Mo breccia pipes, one large epithermal Ag-Pb-Zn-Mn deposit, and numerous additional areas of base- and precious-metal mineralization all zoned around a Laramide-age composite batholith of intermediate composition. Compilations and new work by Vikre and othe
Authors
Frederick Graybeal, Lorre A. Moyer, Peter G. Vikre, Pamela Dunlap, John C. Wallis

Time scales of porphyry Cu deposit formation: insights from titanium diffusion in quartz

Porphyry dikes and hydrothermal veins from the porphyry Cu-Mo deposit at Butte, Montana, contain multiple generations of quartz that are distinct in scanning electron microscope-cathodoluminescence (SEM-CL) images and in Ti concentrations. A comparison of microprobe trace element profiles and maps to SEM-CL images shows that the concentration of Ti in quartz correlates positively with CL brightnes
Authors
Celestine N. Mercer, Mark H. Reed, Cameron M. Mercer

Natural or Induced: Identifying Natural and Induced Swarms from Pre-production and Co-production Microseismic Catalogs at the Coso Geothermal Field

Increased levels of seismicity coinciding with injection of reservoir fluids have prompted interest in methods to distinguish induced from natural seismicity. Discrimination between induced and natural seismicity is especially difficult in areas that have high levels of natural seismicity, such as the geothermal fields at the Salton Sea and Coso, both in California. Both areas show swarm-like sequ
Authors
Martin Schoenball, J. Ole Kaven, Jonathan M. G. Glen, Nicholas C. Davatzes

Assessment of undiscovered copper resources associated with the Permian Kupferschiefer, Southern Permian Basin, Europe

This study synthesizes available information and estimates the location and quantity of undiscovered copper associated with a late Permian bituminous shale, the Kupferschiefer, of the Southern Permian Basin in Europe. The purpose of this study is to (1) delineate permissive areas (tracts) where undiscovered reduced-facies sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits could occur within 2.5 kilometer
Authors
Michael L. Zientek, Sławomir Oszczepalski, Heather L. Parks, James D. Bliss, Gregor Borg, Stephen E. Box, Paul Denning, Timothy S. Hayes, Volker Spieth, Cliff D. Taylor

Mineral evolution and Earth history

The field of mineral evolution—a merger of mineralogy and Earth history—coalesced in 2008 with the first of several global syntheses by Robert Hazen and coworkers in the American Mineralogist. They showed that the cumulative abundance of mineral species has a stepwise trend with first appearances tied to various transitions in Earth history such as the end of planetary accretion at ca. 4.55 Ga and
Authors
Dwight Bradley

Evaluation of selected static methods used to estimate element mobility, acid-generating and acid-neutralizing potentials associated with geologically diverse mining wastes

A comparison study of selected static leaching and acid–base accounting (ABA) methods using a mineralogically diverse set of 12 modern-style, metal mine waste samples was undertaken to understand the relative performance of the various tests. To complement this study, in-depth mineralogical studies were conducted in order to elucidate the relationships between sample mineralogy, weathering feature
Authors
Philip L. Hageman, Robert R. Seal, Sharon F. Diehl, Nadine M. Piatak, Heather Lowers

Fluid inclusion chemistry of adularia-sericite epithermal Au-Ag deposits of the southern Hauraki Goldfield, New Zealand

Microthermometry, laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and Raman spectroscopy have been used to determine the temperature, apparent salinity, and composition of individual fluid inclusions in adularia-sericite Au-Ag epithermal veins from the Karangahake, Martha, Favona, and Waitekauri deposits, southern Hauraki goldfield, New Zealand. Quartz veins contain collof
Authors
Mark P. Simpson, Sabina Strmic Palinkas, Jeffrey L. Mauk, Robert J. Bodnar

A summary of the late Cenozoic stratigraphic and tectonic history of the Santa Clara Valley, California

The late Cenozoic stratigraphic and tectonic history of the Santa Clara Valley illustrates the dynamic nature of the North American–Pacific plate boundary and its effect on basin and landscape development. Prior to early Miocene time, the area that became Santa Clara Valley consisted of eroding Franciscan complex basement structurally interleaved in places with Coast Range ophiolite and Mesozoic G
Authors
Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Russell W. Graymer, Richard G. Stanley, Robert J. McLaughlin, Robert W. Simpson, Robert A. Williams, D. W. Andersen, David A. Ponce

Insights into controls on hexavalent chromium in groundwater provided by environmental tracers, Sacramento Valley, California, USA

Environmental tracers are useful for determining groundwater age and recharge source, yet their application in studies of geogenic Cr(VI) in groundwater has been limited. Environmental tracer data from 166 wells located in the Sacramento Valley, northern California, were interpreted and compared to Cr concentrations to determine the origin and age of groundwater with elevated Cr(VI), and better u
Authors
Andrew H. Manning, Christopher T. Mills, Jean Morrison, Lyndsay B. Ball

Mineral potential tracts for shoreline Ti-Zr placer deposits (phase V, deliverable 85): Chapter P in Second projet de renforcement institutionnel du secteur minier de la République Islamique de Mauritanie (PRISM-II)

Shoreline placer Ti deposits are composed of ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, and magnetite in well-sorted, fine- to medium-grained sand in coastal dunes, beaches and inlets. In addition to titanium, zirconium, in particular, and rare earth elements (REE) have become a major source of value in shoreline placer deposits. Shoreline placer deposits form mostly on tropical beaches around the world
Authors
Georges Beaudoin

Mineral potential tracts for polymetallic Pb-Zn-Cu vein deposits (phase V, deliverable 71): Chapter I in Second projet de renforcement institutionnel du secteur minier de la République Islamique de Mauritanie (PRISM-II)

In Mauritania, mineral occurrences of the polymetallic Pb-Zn-Cu vein deposit type are found near the Florence-El Khdar shear zone in northeast Mauritania. The deposits visited were deemed representative of other similar occurrences and consist of quartz veins with trace sulfides. The low sulfide and Pb-Zn-Cu content in the quartz veins is unlike producing polymetallic Pb-Zn-Cu vein deposits, such
Authors
Georges Beaudoin