An assessment of uranium in groundwater in the Grand Canyon region
Fred D. Tillman, Kimberly R. Beisner, Jessica R. Anderson, Joel A. Unema
2021, Scientific Reports (11) 1-15
The Grand Canyon region in northern Arizona is a home or sacred place of origin for many Native Americans and is visited by over 6 million tourists each year. Most communities in the area depend upon groundwater for all water uses. Some of the highest-grade uranium ore in...
Data-driven prospectivity modelling of sediment-hosted mineral systems
Christopher J.M. Lawley, Anne E. McCafferty, Garth E. Graham, Michael G. Gadd, David L. Huston, Karen D. Kelley, Karol Czarnota, Suzanne Paradis, Jan M. Peter, Nathan Hayward, Mike Barlow, Poul Emsbo, Joshua A. Coyan, Carma A. San Juan
2021, Conference Paper
Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) and clastic-dominated (CD) deposits are important sources for Zn, Pb, Ag, and Cd as well as the critical elements Ga, Ge, In, and Sb. However, mapping the drivers, sources, pathways, and traps of MVT and CD deposits within the much larger and mostly unmineralized sedimentary basins remain...
Capacity assessment for Earth Monitoring, Analysis, and Prediction (EarthMAP) and future integrated monitoring and predictive science at the U.S. Geological Survey
Jennifer L. Keisman, Sky Bristol, David S. Brown, Allison K. Flickinger, Gregory L. Gunther, Peter S. Murdoch, MaryLynn Musgrove, John C. Nelson, Gregory D. Steyer, Kathryn A. Thomas, Ian R. Waite
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1102
Executive SummaryManagers of our Nation’s resources face unprecedented challenges driven by the convergence of increasing, competing societal demands and a changing climate that affects the stability, vulnerability, and predictability of those resources. To help meet these challenges, the scientific community must take advantage of all available technologies, data, and integrative...
Oil and gas wastewater components alter streambed microbial community structure and function
Denise M. Akob, Adam Mumford, Andrea Fraser, Cassandra Rashan Harris, William H. Orem, Matthew S. Varonka, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
2021, Frontiers in Microbiology (12)
The widespread application of directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies expanded oil and gas (OG) development to previously inaccessible resources. A single OG well can generate millions of liters of wastewater, which is a mixture of brine produced from the fractured formations and injected hydraulic fracturing fluids (HFFs)....
Random forest
Emil D. Attanasi, Timothy Coburn
2021, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of mathematical geosciences
This entry defines and discusses the random forest machine learning algorithm. The algorithm is used to predict class or quantities for target variables using values of a set of predictor variables. It uses decision trees that are generated from bootstrap sampling of the training data set to create a "forest"....
Long-term Pseudogymnoascus destructans surveillance data reveal factors contributing to pathogen presence
John Grider, Robin E. Russell, Anne Ballmann, Trevor J. Hefley
2021, Ecosphere (12)
The disease white-nose syndrome (WNS) was first recognized in upstate New York in 2006 and has since spread across much of the United States (U.S.), causing severe mortality in several North American bat species. To aid in the identification and monitoring of at-risk bat populations, we...
The triple argon isotope composition of groundwater on ten-thousand-year timescales
Alan Seltzer, John A. Krantz, Jessica Ng, Wesley R. Danskin, David Bekaert, Peter H. Barry, David L. Kimbrough, Justin T. Kulongoski, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
2021, Chemical Geology (583)
Understanding the age and movement of groundwater is important for predicting the vulnerability of wells to contamination, constraining flow models that inform sustainable groundwater management, and interpreting geochemical signals that reflect past climate. Due to both the ubiquity of groundwater with order ten-thousand-year residence times and its importance for climate reconstruction...
Oil and gas reclamation on US public lands: How it works and improving the process with land potential concepts
Sean Di Stefano, Jason W. Karl, Michael C. Duniway, Robert Heinse, April Hulet, J.D. Wulfhorst
2021, Rangelands (43) 211-221
• There are three general stages of a well's life on US public land: 1) the permitting process to drill, 2) active extraction of fossil fuel resource, and 3) plugging and abandonment of well.• There is no national standard for oil and gas reclamation in the United States similar to mining...
Water and sediment chemistry of selected existing and potential habitats of the Mohave tui chub, Mojave National Preserve, California, 2018
Katherine J. Earp, Angela P. Paul
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5106
The Mohave tui chub (Siphateles bicolor mohavensis) was nearly extirpated from the Mojave River drainage in California by the mid-twentieth century and was listed as endangered in 1970. A source population of Mohave tui chub exists at MC Spring in Zzyzx, California, and has been used for several re-establishment efforts...
Mineral deposit discovery order and three-part quantitative assessments
Donald A. Singer, Michael L. Zientek
2021, Ore Geology Reviews (139)
Larger oil pools tending to be discovered earlier in an exploration play suggests the same pattern might exist for mineral deposits and could be used in predicting sizes of undiscovered deposits in mineral assessments. The volume of individual...
Groundwater/surface-water interactions in the Partridge River Basin and evaluation of hypothetical future mine pits, Minnesota
Megan J. Haserodt, Randall J. Hunt, Michael N. Fienen, Daniel T. Feinstein
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5038
The Partridge River Basin (PRB) covers 156 square miles in northeastern Minnesota with headwaters in the Mesabi Iron Range. The basin is characterized by extensive wetlands, lakes, and streams in poorly drained and often thin glacial material overlying Proterozoic bedrock. To better understand the interaction between these extensive surface water...
Groundwater hydrology and chemistry of Jamestown Island, Virginia—Potential effects of tides, storm surges, and sea-level rise on archaeological, cultural, and ecological resources
Kurt J. McCoy, Karen C. Rice, Ellyn Rickles, Dave Frederick, Jennifer Cramer, Dorothy Geyer
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5117
As the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607, Jamestown Island, Colonial National Historical Park (COLO), Virginia, contains a rich archaeological record that extends from the Paleoindian period (15,000 to 8,000 years ago) through the 20th century. The island is located on the lower James...
Method for compiling temporally and spatially aggregated data on hydraulic fracturing—Treatments and wells
Brian A. Varela, Tanya J. Gallegos
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1090
This report provides a step-by-step method for compiling hydraulic fracturing data in the United States from the IHS Markit, 2019, U.S. Well History and Production Relational Database. Data on hydraulically fractured wells include their location (geologic province, State, county), well type (oil or gas), orientation (directional, horizontal, or vertical), spud...
Diagenetic barite-pyrite-wurtzite formation and redox signatures in Triassic mudstone, Brooks Range, northern Alaska
John F. Slack, Ryan J. McAleer, Wayne (Pat) Shanks, Julie A. Dumoulin
2021, Chemical Geology (585)
Mineralogical and geochemical studies of interbedded black and gray mudstones in the Triassic part of the Triassic-Jurassic Otuk Formation (northern Alaska) document locally abundant barite and pyrite plus diverse redox signatures. These strata, deposited in an outer shelf setting at paleolatitudes of ~45 to 60°N, show widespread sedimentological evidence for...
Multiscale hyperspectral imaging of hydrothermal alteration in Yellowstone National Park, USA
Todd M. Hoefen, Raymond F. Kokaly, Keith Eric Livo, John Michael Meyer, JoAnn M. Holloway
2021, Conference Paper, 2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) Proceedings
Imaging spectroscopy (hyperspectral imaging) data have mainly been used to map surface materials covering relatively small areas from airborne sensors over the past 20+ years. As part of the U.S. Geological Survey Integrated hyperspectral, geophysical and geochemical studies of Yellowstone National Park hydrothermal systems project, we have collected multiscale imaging...
Formation of miarolitic-class, segregation-type pegmatites in the Taishanmiao batholith, China: The role of pressure fluctuations and volatile exsolution during pegmatite formation in a closed, isochoric system
Yabin Yuan, Lowell Moore, Ryan J. McAleer, Shunda Yuan, Hegen Ouyang, Harvey E. Belkin, Jingwen Mao, Matthew D. Sublett, Robert J. Bodnar
2021, American Mineralogist (106) 1559-1573
The Taishanmiao granitic batholith, located in the Eastern Qinling Orogen in Henan Province, China, contains numerous small (mostly tens of centimeters in maximum dimension) bodies exhibiting textures and mineralogy characteristics of simple quartz and alkali feldspar pegmatites. Analysis of melt inclusions (MI) and fluid inclusions (FI) in pegmatitic quartz, combined...
Machine learning can assign geologic basin to produced water samples using major ion geochemistry
Jenna L. Shelton, Aaron M. Jubb, Samuel Saxe, Emil D. Attanasi, Alexei Milkov, Mark A Engle, Philip A. Freeman, Christopher Shaffer, Madalyn S. Blondes
2021, Natural Resources Research (30) 4147-4163
Understanding the geochemistry of waters produced during petroleum extraction is essential to informing the best treatment and reuse options, which can potentially be optimized for a given geologic basin. Here, we used the US Geological Survey’s National Produced Waters Geochemical Database (PWGD) to determine if major ion chemistry could be...
Arc versus river: The geology of the Columbia River Gorge
Jim E. O'Connor, Ray Wells, Scott E.K. Bennett, Charles M. Cannon, Lydia M. Staisch, James L Anderson, Anthony Francis Pivarunas, Gabriel Wells Gordon, Richard J. Blakely, Mark E. Stelten, Russell C. Evarts
2021, Book chapter, From terranes to terrains: Geologic field guides on the construction and destruction of the Pacific Northwest
The Columbia River Gorge is the Columbia River’s long-held yet evolving passage through the volcanic arc of the Cascade Range. The globally unique setting of a continental-scale river bisecting an active volcanic arc at the leading edge of a major plate boundary creates a remarkable setting where dynamic volcanic and...
Historical streamflow and stage data compilation for the Lower Columbia River, Pacific Northwest
Carrie L. Boudreau, Marc A. Stewart, Adam J. Stonewall
2021, Open-File Report 2020-1138
The U.S. Geological Survey mined data from a variety of national and state agencies including USGS, Oregon Water Resources Department, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington Department of Ecology, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Portland State University, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A comprehensive dataset of streamflow, stage, and...
A petrological and conceptual model of Mayon volcano (Philippines) as an example of an open-vent volcano
Dawn Catherine Sweeney Ruth, Fidel Costa
2021, Bulletin of Volcanology (83)
Mayon is a basaltic andesitic, open-vent volcano characterized by persistent passive degassing from the summit at 2463 m above sea level. Mid-size (<0.1 km3) and mildly explosive eruptions and occasional phreatic eruptions have occurred approximately every 10 years for over a hundred years. Mayon’s plumbing system structure, processes, and time scales driving...
Global biotic events evident in the Paleogene marine strata of the eastern San Francisco Bay area, California
Kristin McDougall-Reid
2021, Geological Society of America Memoir 229-268
Paleogene marine strata in the eastern San Francisco Bay area are exposed in discontinuous outcrops in the various tectonic blocks. Although there are many missing intervals, the strata were previously thought to...
A geologic field guide to S P Mountain and its lava flow, San Francisco Volcanic Field, Arizona
Amber L. Gullikson, M. Elise Rumpf, Lauren A. Edgar, Laszlo P. Keszthelyi, James A. Skinner Jr., Lisa Thompson
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1072
IntroductionWe created this guide to introduce the user to the San Francisco Volcanic Field as a terrestrial analog site for planetary volcanic processes. For decades, the San Francisco Volcanic Field has been used to teach scientists to recognize the products of common types of volcanic eruptions and associated volcanic features....
Weathering of slags
Jakub Kierczak, Anna Pietranik, Nadine M. Piatak
Nadine M. Piatak, Vojtech Ettler, editor(s)
2021, Book chapter, Metallurgical slags: Environmental geochemistry and resource potential
Weathering is a natural process causing the transformation of minerals, rocks, and related materials like glass under near-surface conditions. Although metallurgical slags are human-made materials, they also undergo natural weathering processes. As base metal slags weather, the released solutions may contain contaminants that could pose an environmental risk. On the...
Paleoclimate record for Lake Coyote, California, and the Last Glacial Maximum and deglacial paleohydrology (25 to 14 cal ka) of the Mojave River
David M. Miller, Stephanie L. Dudash, John P. McGeehin
2021, Book chapter, From Saline to Freshwater: The Diversity of Western Lakes in Space and Time
Lake Coyote, California, which formed in one of five basins along the Mojave River, acted both as a part of the Lake Manix basin and, after the formation of Afton Canyon and draining of Lake Manix ca. 24.5 calibrated (cal) ka, a side basin that was filled episodically for the...
Reconnaissance study of the major and trace element content of bauxite deposits in the Arkansas bauxite region, Saline and Pulaski Counties, central Arkansas
Bradley S. Van Gosen, LaDonna M. Choate
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1073
The Arkansas bauxite district, which comprises about 275 square miles (710 square kilometers) of central Arkansas, produced an order of magnitude more bauxite and alumina than the other bauxite districts in the United States combined. Bauxite was mined in the region continuously from 1898 to 1982. These bauxites are laterite...
