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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

The Idaho cobalt belt

The Idaho cobalt belt (ICB) is a northwest-trending belt of cobalt (Co) +/- copper (Cu)-bearing deposits and prospects in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho, U.S.A. The ICB is about 55 km long and 10 km long in its central part, which contains multiple strata-bound ore zones in the Blackbird mine area. The Black Pine and Iron Creek Co-Cu prospects are southeast of Blackbird, and the
Authors
Arthur A. Bookstrom

Field guide to selected sites along the Idaho Cobalt Belt (ICB) and to the Beartrack Gold Deposit, in the eastern Salmon River Mountains

This field guide provides a road log to and geologic descriptions of selected sites in the Idaho cobalt belt, and at the Beartrack gold mine, in the eastern Salmon River Mountains.
Authors
Arthur A. Bookstrom, George King, Robert A. Perry, John Childs

Unique challenges facing Southwestern tribes: Chapter 17

Executive Summary When considering climate change, risks to Native American lands, people, and cultures are noteworthy. Impacts on Native lands and communities are anticipated to be both early and severe due to their location in marginal environments. Because Native American societies are socially, culturally, and politically unique, conventional climate change adaptation planning and related poli
Authors
Margaret Hiza, Karletta Chief, Kirk Bemis, Mahesh Gautam, Beth Rose Middleton, Rebecca Tsosie

Monte Carlo simulations of product distributions and contained metal estimates

Estimation of product distributions of two factors was simulated by conventional Monte Carlo techniques using factor distributions that were independent (uncorrelated). Several simulations using uniform distributions of factors show that the product distribution has a central peak approximately centered at the product of the medians of the factor distributions. Factor distributions that are peaked
Authors
Mark E. Gettings

Overcoming the momentum of anachronism: American geologic mapping in a twenty-first-century world

The practice of geologic mapping is undergoing conceptual and methodological transformation. Profound changes in digital technology in the past 10 yr have potential to impact all aspects of geologic mapping. The future of geologic mapping as a relevant scientific enterprise depends on widespread adoption of new technology and ideas about the collection, meaning, and utility of geologic map data. I
Authors
Kyle House, Ryan Clark, Joe Kopera

Basin thickness variations at the Junction of the Eastern California Shear Zone and the San Bernardino Mountains, California: How thick could the Pliocene sections be?

We estimate the thickness of Neogene basin fill along the junction of the Eastern California Shear Zone and the North Frontal thrust system of the San Bernardino Mountains using gravity data with geologic and well log constraints. The geometry of the basin fill is of interest for groundwater assessment and location of potential faults, as well as providing an upper bound on the thickness of any po
Authors
Victoria E. Langenheim, Tammy L. Surko, Phillip A. Armstrong, Jonathan C. Matti

Dzhezkazgan and associated sandstone copper deposits of the Chu-Sarysu basin, Central Kazakhstan

Sandstone-hosted copper (sandstone Cu) deposits occur within a 200-km reach of the northern Chu-Sarysu basin of central Kazakhstan (Dzhezkazgan and Zhaman-Aibat deposits, and the Zhilandy group of deposits). The deposits consist of Cu sulfide minerals as intergranular cement and grain replacement in 10 ore-bearing members of sandstone and conglomerate within a 600- to 1,000-m thick Pennsylvanian f
Authors
Stephen E. Box, Reimar Seltmann, Michael L. Zientek, Boris Syusyura, Robert A. Creaser, Alla Dolgopolova

Vegetation, substrate, and eolian sediment transport at Teesto Wash, Navajo Nation, 2009-2012

On the Navajo Nation, southwestern United States, warming temperatures and recent drought have increased eolian (windblown) sediment mobility such that large, migrating sand dunes affect grazing lands, housing, and road access. We present an assessment of seasonal variations in sand transport, mobility, and ground cover (vegetation and substrate) within a 0.2-km2 study area near Teesto Wash, south
Authors
Amy E. Draut, Margaret Hiza Redsteer, Lee Amoroso

Recent strikes in South Africa’s platinum-group metal mines: effects upon world platinum-group metal supplies

The recent labor disputes over wages and working conditions that have affected South Africa’s three leading platinum-group metal (PGM) producers have affected an industry already plagued by market pressures and labor unrest and raised the specter of constraints in the world’s supply of these metals. Although low demand for these metals in 2011 and 2012 helped to offset production losses of recent
Authors
Thomas R. Yager, Yadira Soto-Viruet, James J. Barry

Use of raw materials in the United States from 1900 through 2010

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the types and quantities of raw materials used by U.S. manufacturers and consumers have changed over time. This fact sheet quantifies the amounts of those materials (other than food and fuel) that have been input into the U.S. economy annually for a period of 111 years, from 1900 through 2010. It provides a broad overview of all materials used but highlight
Authors
Grecia R. Matos

Porphyry copper assessment of the Mesozoic of East Asia: China, Vietnam, North Korea, Mongolia, and Russia: Chapter G in Global mineral resource assessment

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collaborated with the China Geological Survey (CGS) to conduct a mineral resource assessment of Mesozoic porphyry copper deposits in East Asia. This area hosts several very large porphyry deposits, exemplified by the Dexing deposit in eastern China that contains more than 8,000,000 metric tons of copper. In addition, large parts of the area are undergoing active e
Authors
Steve Ludington, Mark J. Mihalasky, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Gilpin R. Robinson, Thomas P. Frost, Kathleen D. Gans, Thomas D. Light, Robert J. Miller, Dmitriy V. Alexeiev

Reconnaissance soil geochemistry at the Riverton Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Site, Fremont County, Wyoming

Soil samples were collected and chemically analyzed from the Riverton Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Site, which lies within the Wind River Indian Reservation in Fremont County, Wyoming. Nineteen soil samples from a depth of 0 to 5 centimeters were collected in August 2011 from the site. The samples were sieved to less than 2 millimeters and analyzed for 44 major and trace elements followin
Authors
David B. Smith, Michael J. Sweat