link to main US Geological Survey website
U.S. Geological Survey
Open-File Report 2005-1450
Version 3.0

Geochemical Analyses of Geologic Materials from Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada

By Steve Ludington, Stephen B. Castor, James R. Budahn, and Kathryn S. Flynn

2005 (revised 2007)

thumbnail index map.  Las Vegas is in the middle

An assessment of known and undiscovered mineral resources of selected areas administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG), and University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The purpose of this work was to provide the BLM with information for use in their long-term planning process in southern Nevada so that they can make better-informed decisions. The results of the assessment are in Ludington (2006).

Existing information about the areas, including geology, geophysics, geochemistry, and mineral-deposit information ws compiled, and field examinations of selected areas and mineral occurrences was conducted. This information was used to determine the geologic setting, metallogenic characteristics, and mineral potential of the areas.

Twenty-five Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) were identified by BLM as the object of this study. They range from tiny (less than one km2) to large (more than 1,000 km2). The location of the study areas is shown on Figure 1. This report includes geochemical data for rock samples collected by staff of the USGS and NBMG in these ACECs and nearby areas. Samples have been analyzed from the Big Dune, Ash Meadows, Arden, Desert Tortoise Conservation Center, Coyote Springs Valley, Mormon Mesa, Virgin Mountains, Gold Butte A and B, Whitney Pockets, Rainbow Gardens, River Mountains, and Piute-Eldorado Valley ACECs.

Download the text of this publication: 7 pages (of2005-1450_v3.pdf; 128 kB).

Download the .xls tables for this publication: Nine Excel spreadsheets in a compressed .zip file (xls.zip; 192 kB; 672 kB uncompressed).

Download the .txt tables for this publication: Nine tab-separated spreadsheets in ASCII format in a compressed .zip file (txt.zip; 64 kB; 256 KB uncompressed).

For questions about the content of this report, contact Steve Ludington

Suggested citation and version history


Download a copy of the latest version of Adobe Reader for free.

| Help | PDF help | Publications main page | Open-File Reports for 2005 |
| Geologic Division | Western Mineral Resources |

This report is available only on the web.


| Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey | Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Accessibility |
URL of this page: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1450/
Maintained by: Michael Diggles
Created: February 8, 2006
Last modified: December 4, 2006 (mfd)