Variable partitioning of lithium in rhyolitic melt during decompression and ascent
Madison Myers, Roberta Spallanzani, Darin Schwartz, Celestine N. Mercer, Behnaz Hosseini
2025, Economic Geology (120) 1191-1206
The partitioning behavior of Li in magmatic systems is increasingly being investigated due to the economic importance of Li in the transition to sustainable energy resources (e.g., batteries). However, at upper crustal pressures, it remains uncertain whether Li preferentially partitions into the vapor or liquid (brine) phase or remains in the...
Dietary bioavailability of uranium to a model freshwater invertebrate
Marie Noele Croteau, Christopher C. Fuller, Daniel J. Cain, Kate M. Campbell
2025, Environmental Science and Technology (59) 16641-16651
Uranium (U) mining increases environmental exposures. Understanding how U is taken up by organisms can aid in evaluating the potential for bioaccumulation and toxicity. Although the importance of aqueous geochemical speciation is well recognized for U bioavailability after dissolved exposures, far less is known about the processes controlling U bioavailability...
Contributions of erosion, deposition, and human activities to a change in sand storage in the bed of San Francisco Bay, California, 1980s to 2010s
Theresa A. Fregoso, Bruce E. Jaffe, Amy C. Foxgrover, Donald L. Woodrow, Bethany Kharrazi, Kevin Orzech
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1022
This study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides estimates of the change in sand storage in bed sediments from the 1980s to 2010s in the San Francisco Bay area, California. The study is part of a larger project called “Research to Understand Impacts of Bay Sand Mining on Sand...
Factors affecting the distribution of water-bearing fractures in the bedrock aquifers of West Virginia
Mark D. Kozar, Mitchell A. McAdoo, Samuel H. Austin, Carson A. Wright
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5044
Bedrock aquifers cover 23,601 square miles within the State of West Virginia and comprise 97.4 percent of the surficial area within the State; the remaining 2.6 percent (621 square miles) consists of alluvial sand-and-gravel and glacial outwash aquifers bordering the State’s major rivers. While West Virginia’s alluvial aquifers have been...
Land application of drill waste: A scope analysis
Matthew S. Varonka, Melissa A. Lombard, Todd M. Preston, Timothy T. Bartos, Jason R. Masoner, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
2025, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (75) 656-669
Drilling fluid waste land application, a process where drilling wastes are spread and tilled into the land surface, has become common in some petroleum-producing states, however, the potential benefits and risks of this practice are not well studied. Drilling fluids can be water- or oil-based and can have high concentrations...
Avian navigation: Comparing the olfactory navigational “map” and the infrasound direction-finding hypotheses to aeronautics
Jonathan T. Hagstrum
2025, Journal of Comparative Physiology A (211) 603-616
Animal navigation has long been a fascinating but bewildering subject. Humans and animals might well share similar navigational strategies because they developed within the same physical environments. A “map-and-compass” model has been proposed to explain the two-step avian navigational process, but the “map” step has remained elusive. Although scalar values...
Permafrost–wildfire interactions: active layer thickness estimates for paired burned and unburned sites in northern high latitudes
Anna Talucci, Michael M. Loranty, Jean E. Holloway, Brendan M. Rogers, Heather D. Alexander, Natalie Baillargeon, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Logan T. Berner, Amy Breen, Leya Brodt, Brian Buma, Jacqueline Dean, Clement J.F. Delcourt, Lucas R. Diaz, Catherine M. Dieleman, Thomas A. Douglas, Gerald Frost, Benjamin V. Gaglioti, Rebecca E. Hewitt, Teresa N. Hollingsworth, M. Torre Jorenson, Mark J. Lara, Rachel A. Loehman, Michelle C. Mack, Kristen L. Manies, Christina Minions, Susan M. Natali, Jonathan A. O’Donnell, David Olefeldt, Alison K. Paulson, Adrian V. Rocha, Lisa B. Saperstein, T.A. Shestakova, Seeta Sistla, Oleg Sizov, Andrey Soromotin, Merritt R. Turetksy, Sander Veraverbeke, Michelle A. Walvoord
2025, Earth System Science Data 2887-2909
As the northern high-latitude permafrost zone experiences accelerated warming, permafrost has become vulnerable to widespread thaw. Simultaneously, wildfire activity across northern boreal forest and Arctic/subarctic tundra regions impacts permafrost stability through the combustion of insulating organic matter, vegetation, and post-fire changes in albedo. Efforts to synthesis the impacts of wildfire...
Scoping decision-maker needs and science availability to support regional natural capital accounting in the U.S. Colorado River Basin
Aaron Joey Enriquez, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Katharine G. Dahm, Alicia A. Torregrosa, Rudy Schuster
2025, One Ecosystem (10)
Natural capital accounting has the potential to yield important policy insights at multiple scales, but there remains a disconnect between regional-scale natural capital accounts and their use for informing policy. In this paper, we propose a roadmap that could lead to the creation of policy-relevant regional accounts, with steps split...
Formation of the Mount Weld rare earth element deposit, Western Australia: A carbonatite-derived laterite
Philip Verplanck, Jay Michael Thompson, Cameron Mark Mercer, Ganesh Bhat, Heather A. Lowers, Adam Boehlke
2025, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 3rd IAGC international conference
Carbonatite-hosted rare earth element (REE) deposits are the primary source of the world’s light REEs. The Mount Weld REE deposit in Western Australia is hosted in a lateritic sequence that reflects supergene enrichment of the underlying carbonatite. Water-rock interaction is a key to the formation of this world-class deposit. REE...
Carbonatite-hosted residual REE deposits
Peter R Siegfried, Frances Wall, Philip Verplanck
Robert J. Bowell, Charles R.M. Butt, editor(s)
2025, Book chapter, Geology, geochemistry and formation of supergene mineral deposits in deeply weathered terrain
Rare earth elements (REEs) occur in magmatic rocks but are especially enriched in carbonatite and alkaline silicates. If these rocks are chemically weathered, then the REEs may become further enriched within the regolith developed from these rocks. Primary magmatic REE minerals, as well as the various carbonate minerals and apatite,...
Cave records reveal recent origin of North America’s deepest canyon
Matthew Morriss, Nate Mitchell, Brian Yanites, Lydia M. Staisch, Oliver Korup
2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (122)
We explore how and when Hells Canyon, North America’s deepest river gorge (~2,400 m deep), formed, addressing these fundamental questions first posed by W. Lindgren [The Gold Belt of the Blue Mountains of Oregon (1901)]. Existing hypotheses about the canyon’s formation and timing of incision remain speculative due to a lack...
Controls on water quality below a reclaimed surface coal mine, southeastern Montana
Skye Keeshin, Stephanie A. Ewing, Elizabeth B Meredith, Robert A. Payne, W. Payton Gardner, Andrew Hunt
2025, Hydrogeology Journal (33) 715-737
Coal mining and reclamation can have a profound influence on hydrogeologic systems, with clear consequences for groundwater quality, yet their long-term influence on downgradient water quality over time following reclamation is less well documented. Geochemical trends were evaluated in water quality downgradient of a fully reclaimed landscape at the former...
Using the D-Claw software package to model lahars in the Middle Fork Nooksack River drainage and beyond, Mount Baker, Washington
Cynthia A. Gardner, Mary Catherine Benage, Charles M. Cannon, David L. George
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5133
Lahars, or volcanic mudflows, are the most hazardous eruption-related phenomena that will affect communities living along rivers that originate on Mount Baker. In the past 15,000 years, the largest lahars from Mount Baker have affected the Middle Fork Nooksack River drainage and beyond. Here we use the physics-based D-Claw software...
Relating systematic molecular and textural properties of graptolite pyrolyzed via gold tube hydrous pyrolysis: Implications for thermal proxies in lower Paleozoic marine shales
Xiaowei Zheng, Hamed Sanei, Fujie Jiang, Qingyong Luo, Yewei Wang, Jennifer Nedzweckas, Brett J. Valentine, Martha Stokes, Liu Cao, Paul C. Hackley
2025, International Journal of Coal Geology (306)
A series of gold tube pyrolysis experiments (72 h, 300–550 °C, 50 MPa) conducted on a graptolite-rich lower Paleozoic marine shale generated pyrolysis residues for a comprehensive evaluation of the molecular and structural variability of three types of graptolite periderm. Organic petrology, Raman spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy...
Oligocene–Miocene development and evolution of the south Dome Rock Mountains basin, lower Colorado River corridor, Arizona, USA
Timothy A. Brickey, Paul J. Umhoefer, Scott E.K. Bennett, Christine Regalla, Nancy R. Riggs, Skyler Pendleton Mavor
2025, Geosphere (21) 352-389
Sedimentary basins in the Colorado River extensional corridor record large-magnitude Basin and Range extension and younger dextral shear deformation in the evolving Pacific−North America plate boundary. The south Dome Rock Mountains basin is located in west-central Arizona (USA), where the history of basin evolution, style of deformation, and timing of...
Machine learning provides reconnaissance-type estimates of carbon dioxide storage resources in oil and gas reservoirs
E. D. Attanasi, Philip A. Freeman, Timothy C. Coburn
2025, Frontiers in Enviornmental Science (13)
Oil and gas reservoirs represent suitable containers to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) in a supercritical state because they are accessible, reservoir properties are known, and they previously contained stored buoyant fluids. However, planners must quantify the relative magnitude of the CO2 storage resource in these reservoirs to formulate a comprehensive strategy...
Prospectivity modeling of the NASA VIPER landing site at Mons Mouton near the Lunar South Pole
Joshua Aaron Coyan, Matthew Siegler, Jose Martinez Comacho, Ross A. Beyer, Mark Shirley
2025, Planetary Science Journal (6)
We use a high-resolution digital elevation model and a numerical thermal model to produce a variety of inputs for a water-ice prospectivity model for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) landing site. These input data are maps of topography, surface slope, surface aspect, surface curvature, maximum temperature, depth to...
From hydrated silica to quartz: Potential hydrothermal precipitates found in Jezero crater, Mars
P.S.A. Beck, O. Beyssac, E. Dehouck, S. Bernard, M. Pineau, L. Mandon, C. Royer, E. Clave, S. Schroder, O. Forni, R. Francis, N. Mangold, C. Bedford, A. Broz, E.A. Cloutis, J.R. Johnson, F. Poulet, T. Fouchet, C. Quantin-Nataf, C. Pilorget, W. Rapin, P.-Y. Meslin, Travis S.J. Gabriel, G. Arana, J.M. Madariaga, A.J. Brown, S. Maurice, S. M. Clegg, O. Gasnault, A. Cousin, R.C. Wiens, The SuperCam Team
2025, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (656)
On Earth, silica-rich phases from opal to quartz are important indicators and tracers of geological processes. Hydrated silica, such as opal, is a particularly good matrix for the preservation of molecular and macroscopic biosignatures. Cherts, a type of silica-dominated rocks, provide a unique archive of ancient terrestrial life while quartz...
Characterizing Meteor Crater impact melts through geochemistry and textural analysis
Amber L. Gullikson, Tenielle A. Gaither, Justin Hagerty
2025, Open-File Report 2024-1062
The U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center houses the Meteor Crater sample collection, an assemblage of over 2,500 meters of cuttings from 161 drill holes into Meteor Crater’s rim, flanks, and ejecta blanket. We have utilized this unique collection to study the composition and spatial distribution of impact-generated materials from...
Nanometer-scale relationships between sedimentary organic matter molecular composition, fluorescence, cathodoluminescence, and reflectance: The importance of oxygen content at low thermal maturities
Aaron M. Jubb, Paul C. Hackley, Ryan J. McAleer, Jing Qu
2025, Organic Geochemistry (204)
Molecular characterization of sedimentary organic matter (SOM), termed macerals, is a common goal when seeking to understand petroleum generation as well as other geologic processes in deep time. However, unambiguous measurement of discrete macerals is challenging due to the small size of organic particles in sedimentary rocks, the proximity of...
Temporal and spatial comparison of coal mine ventilation methane emissions and mitigation quantified using PRISMA satellite data and on-site measurements
C. Ozgen Karacan, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, Robert A. Field, Peter D. Warwick
2025, Science of the Total Environment (975)
Emission monitoring at the facility level (bottom-up, BU) is key for accurate reporting of coal mine methane (CMM) emissions. Recent advances in aerial and satellite observations (top-down, TD) indicate that these methods have the potential to support CMM emissions monitoring and reporting of, as well as track the effectiveness of,...
U.S. Geological Survey global seabed mineral resources
U.S. Geological Survey
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3017
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides science and data on seabed mineral resources and ecosystems, as well as on the potential hazards associated with extraction. The Nation relies on minerals for infrastructure, technology, manufacturing, and energy production. Critical minerals are essential to the economic and national security of the United...
Fossil diatoms in Arctic marine surface sediments
Christof Pearce, Beth Elaine Caissie, Alice Carter-Champion, Audrey Limoges, Tiia Luostarinen, Gavin L. Simpson, Kaarina Weckstrom
2025, Newsletter
Diatoms are one of the main constituents of marine phytoplankton in the Arctic, and thanks to their siliceous skeletons, diatom fossils are relatively well preserved in sediments. Due to their species-specific sensitivity to different ocean conditions, their abundance and assemblages in sediments are routinely used by paleoceanographers to reconstruct the...
Wangyanite, PdNi8S8, a new Pd end-member mineral of the pentlandite group from the J-M reef, Stillwater Complex, Montana, USA
Chen Chen, Haiyang Xian, Christopher Jenkins, Zhuosen Yao, Yiping Yang, Xiaoju Lin, Shan Li, Jiaxin Xi, Yuhuan Yuan, Jianxi Zhu, Hongping He
2025, American Mineralogist (110) 1844-1853
Wangyanite (IMA2024-008a), ideally PdNi8S8, is a Pd end-member mineral of the pentlandite group that was discovered in the J-M reef of the Stillwater Complex, Montana, USA. Wangyanite occurs as anhedral-subhedral granular crystals 200–400 µm in size, associated with isoferroplatinum, braggite, pentlandite, and chalcopyrite interstitial to plagioclase grains within anorthosite. Wangyanite exhibits...
World minerals outlook—Cobalt, gallium, helium, lithium, magnesium, palladium, platinum, and titanium through 2029
Elisa Alonso, Amanda Sarah Brioche, Ruth Schulte, Loyd M. Trimmer III, Ji-Eun Kim, Andrew L. Gulley, David Pineault
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5021
Given the rapid expansion in the demand for mineral commodities that underpin worldwide economic growth and technological advancement, information regarding expected country-level mine production and production capacity is becoming increasingly important to industry stakeholders, end users, and policymakers. Production capacity can limit future supply, depending on how rapidly that capacity...
