Larval aquatic insect responses to cadmium and zinc in experimental streams
Christopher A. Mebane, Travis S. Schmidt, Laurie S. Balistrieri
2017, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (36) 749-762
To evaluate the risks of metal mixture effects to natural stream communities under ecologically relevant conditions, the authors conducted 30-d tests with benthic macroinvertebrates exposed to cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) in experimental streams. The simultaneous exposures were with Cd and Zn singly and with Cd+Zn mixtures at environmentally relevant...
Baseline assessment of groundwater quality in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 2014
Lisa A. Senior, III Cravotta, Ronald A. Sloto
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5073
The Devonian-age Marcellus Shale and the Ordovician-age Utica Shale, geologic formations which have potential for natural gas development, underlie Wayne County and neighboring counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Wayne Conservation District, conducted a study to assess baseline shallow groundwater quality in...
Use of modflow drain package for simulating inter-basin transfer in abandoned coal mines
Mark D. Kozar, Kurt J. McCoy
2017, Conference Paper, Proceedings America Society of Mining and Reclamation
Simulation of groundwater flow in abandoned mines is difficult, especially where flux to and from mines is unknown or poorly quantified, and inter-basin transfer of groundwater occurs. A 3-year study was conducted in the Elkhorn area, West Virginia to better understand groundwater-flow processes and inter-basin transfer in above drainage abandoned...
Hydrogeology, groundwater flow, and groundwater quality of an abandoned underground coal-mine aquifer, Elkhorn Area, West Virginia
Mark D. Kozar, Kurt J. McCoy, James Q. Britton, B.M. Blake Jr.
2017, Report
The Pocahontas No. 3 coal seam in southern West Virginia has been extensively mined by underground methods since the 1880’s. An extensive network of abandoned mine entries in the Pocahontas No. 3 has since filled with good-quality water, which is pumped from wells or springs discharging from mine portals (adits),...
Dynamics of permeability evolution in stimulated geothermal reservoirs
Joshua M. Taron, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Stephen H. Hickman, Colin F. Williams
Tom Gleeson, Steven E. Ingebritsen, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Crustal permeability
Spatially and temporally evolving permeability fields are fundamentally associated with the operation of enhanced geothermal systems. This chapter explores the resulting magnitude and patterns of permeability alteration as well as the coupled physical processes that control the evolution of permeability during shear stimulation and long-term evolution of a geothermal reservoir....
Helium as a tracer for fluids released from Juan de Fuca lithosphere beneath the Cascadia forearc
Patricia A. McCrory, James E. Constantz, Andrew G. Hunt, J. Luke Blair
2016, Geochemistry International (17) 2423-2449
The ratio between helium isotopes (3He/4He) provides an excellent geochemical tracer for investigating the sources of fluids sampled at the Earth's surface. 3He/4He values observed in 25 mineral springs and wells above the Cascadia forearc document a significant component of mantle-derived helium above Juan de Fuca lithosphere, as well as...
Elevated bladder cancer in northern New England: The role of drinking water and arsenic
Dalsu Baris, Richard Wadell, Laura Freeman, Molly Schwenn, Joanne Colt, Joseph D. Ayotte, Mary Ward, John Nuckols, Alan Schned, Brian Jackson, Castine Clerkin, Nathanial Rothman, Lee Moore, Anne Taylor, Gilpin Robinson, Monawar G. Hosain, Carla Armenti, Richard McCoy, Claudine Samanic, Robert Hoover, Joseph Fraumeni, Alison Johnson, Margaret Karagas, Debra Silverman
2016, Journal of the National Cancer Institute (108)
Background: Bladder cancer mortality rates have been elevated in northern New England for at least five decades. Incidence rates in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont are about 20% higher than the United States overall. We explored reasons for this excess, focusing on arsenic in drinking water from private wells, which...
Populations of concern
Janet Gamble, John Balbus, Martha Berger, Karen Bouye, Vince Campbell, Karletta Chief, K. Conlon, Allison Crimmins, Barry Flanagan, C. Gonzalez-Maddux, E. Hallisey, S. Hutchins, L. Jantarasami, S. Khoury, M. Kiefer, J. Kolling, K. Lynn, A. Manangan, M. McDonald, R. Morello-Frosch, Margaret Hiza, P. Sheffield, K. Thigpen Tart, J. Watson, K.P. Whyte, A.F. Wolkin
2016, Report, The impacts of climate change on human health in the Untited States: A scientific assessment
Climate change is already causing, and is expected to continue to cause, a range of health impacts that vary across different population groups in the United States. The vulnerability of any given group is a function of its sensitivity to climate change related health risks, its exposure to those risks,...
U.S. Geological Survey assessment of global potash production and resources—A significant advancement for global development and a sustainable future.
Mark D. Cocker, Greta J. Orris, Jeff Wynn
2016, GSA Special Papers (520)
During the past 15 yr, the global requirement for fertilizers has grown considerably, mainly due to demand by a larger and wealthier world population for more and higher-quality food. The demand and price for potash as a primary fertilizer ingredient have increased in tandem, because of the necessity to increase...
Regional geologic and petrologic framework for iron oxide ± apatite ± rare earth element and iron oxide copper-gold deposits of the Mesoproterozoic St. Francois Mountains terrane, southeast Missouri, USA
Warren C. Day, John F. Slack, Robert A. Ayuso, Cheryl M. Seeger
2016, Economic Geology (111) 1825-1858
This paper provides an overview on the genesis of Mesoproterozoic igneous rocks and associated iron oxide ± apatite (IOA) ± rare earth element, iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG), and iron-rich sedimentary deposits in the St. Francois Mountains terrane of southeast Missouri, USA. The St. Francois Mountains terrane lies along the southeastern margin...
Resource potential for commodities in addition to Uranium in sandstone-hosted deposits
George N. Breit
2016, Book chapter, Rare earth and critical elements in ore deposits
Sandstone-hosted deposits mined primarily for their uranium content also have been a source of vanadium and modest amounts of copper. Processing of these ores has also recovered small amounts of molybdenum, rhenium, rare earth elements, scandium, and selenium. These deposits share a generally common origin, but variations in the source...
Ambient water quality in aquifers used for drinking-water supplies, Gem County, southwestern Idaho, 2015
James R. Bartolino, Candice B. Hopkins
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5170
In recent years, the rapid population growth in Gem County, Idaho, has been similar to other counties in southwestern Idaho, increasing about 54 percent from 1990 to 2015. Because the entire population of the study area depends on groundwater for drinking water supply (either from self-supplied domestic, community, or municipal-supply...
The chemistry and isotopic composition of waters in the low-enthalpy geothermal system of Cimino-Vico Volcanic District, Italy
Maria Battistel, Shaul Hurwitz, William Evans, Maurizio Barbieri
2016, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (328) 222-229
Geothermal energy exploration is based in part on interpretation of the chemistry, temperature, and discharge rate of thermal springs. Here we present the major element chemistry and the δD, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr and δ11B isotopic ratio of groundwater from the low-enthalpy geothermal system near the city of Viterbo in the Cimino-Vico...
Quantifying chemical weathering rates along a precipitation gradient on Basse-Terre Island, French Guadeloupe: new insight from U-series isotopes in weathering rinds
Jacqueline M. Engel, Linda May, Peter B. Sak, Jerome Gaillardet, Minghua Ren, Mark A. Engle, Susan L. Brantley
2016, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (195) 29-67
Inside soil and saprolite, rock fragments can form weathering clasts (alteration rinds surrounding an unweathered core) and these weathering rinds provide an excellent field system for investigating the initiation of weathering and long term weathering rates. Recently, uranium-series (U-series) disequilibria have shown great potential for determining rind formation rates...
Mineralogy, chemistry, and fluid-aided evolution of the Pea Ridge Fe oxide-(Y + REE) deposit, southeast Missouri, USA
Daniel E. Harlov, Corey J. Meighan, Ian D. Kerr, Iain M. Samson
2016, Economic Geology (111) 1963-1984
The Kiruna-type Pea Ridge iron oxide-apatite (IOA) deposit is hosted by a sequence of 1.47 Ga rhyolite tuffs of the St. Francois Mountains, southeast Missouri, USA. It consists of a series of altered zones composed mainly of amphibole, magnetite, hematite, and quartz, together with the presence of several rare earth...
Concentrations of mineral aerosol from desert to plains across the central Rocky Mountains, western United States
Richard L. Reynolds, Seth M. Munson, Daniel Fernandez, Harland L. Goldstein, Jason C. Neff
2016, Aeolian Research (23) 21-35
Mineral dusts can have profound effects on climate, clouds, ecosystem processes, and human health. Because regional dust emission and deposition in western North America are not well understood, measurements of total suspended particulate (TSP) from 2011 to 2013 were made along a 500-km transect of five remote sites in Utah...
The Permian–Triassic transition in Colorado
James S. Hagadorn, Karen R. Whitely, Bonita L. Lahey, Charles M. Henderson, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma
2016, GSA Field Guides (44) 73-92
The Lykins Formation and its equivalents in Colorado are a stratigraphically poorly constrained suite of redbeds and intercalated stromatolitic carbonates, which is hypothesized to span the Permian-Triassic boundary. Herein we present a preliminary detrital zircon geochronology, new fossil occurrences, and δ13C chemostratigraphy for exposures along the Front Range and...
High spatial resolution U-Pb geochronology and Pb isotope geochemistry of magnetite-apatite ore from the Pea Ridge iron oxide-apatite deposit, St. Francois Mountains, southeast Missouri, USA
Leonid A. Neymark, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Aaron Pietruszka, John N. Aleinikoff, C. Mark Fanning, Renee M. Pillers, Richard J. Moscati
2016, Economic Geology (111) 1915-1933
The Pea Ridge iron oxide-apatite (IOA) deposit is one of the major rhyolite-hosted magnetite deposits of the St. Francois Mountains terrane, which is located within the Mesoproterozoic (1.5–1.3 Ga) Granite-Rhyolite province in the U.S. Midcontinent. Precise and accurate determination of the timing and duration of oreforming processes in this deposit...
Prediction of fish and sediment mercury in streams using landscape variables and historical mining
Charles N. Alpers, Julie L. Yee, Joshua T. Ackerman, James L. Orlando, Darrell G. Slotton, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
2016, Science of the Total Environment (571) 364-379
Widespread mercury (Hg) contamination of aquatic systems in the Sierra Nevada of California, U.S., is associated with historical use to enhance gold (Au) recovery by amalgamation. In areas affected by historical Au mining operations, including the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and downstream areas in northern California, such as...
Groundwater and surface-water interaction, water quality, and processes affecting loads of dissolved solids, selenium, and uranium in Fountain Creek, near Pueblo, Colorado, 2012–2014
L. Rick Arnold, Roderick F. Ortiz, Christopher R. Brown, Kenneth R. Watts
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5134
In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Arkansas River Basin Regional Resource Planning Group, initiated a study of groundwater and surface-water interaction, water quality, and loading of dissolved solids, selenium, and uranium to Fountain Creek near Pueblo, Colorado, to improve understanding of sources and processes affecting loading...
Critical elements in Carlin, epithermal, and orogenic gold deposits
Richard J. Goldfarb, Albert H. Hofstra, Stuart F. Simmons
2016, Book chapter, Rare Earth and Critical Elements in Ore Deposits
Carlin, epithermal, and orogenic gold deposits, today mined almost exclusively for their gold content, have similar suites of anomalous trace elements that reflect similar low-salinity ore fluids and thermal conditions of metal transport and deposition. Many of these trace elements are commonly referred to as critical or near-critical elements...
GIS-based identification of areas that have resource potential for critical minerals in six selected groups of deposit types in Alaska
Susan M. Karl, James V. Jones III, Timothy S. Hayes, editor(s)
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1191
Alaska has considerable potential for undiscovered mineral resources. This report evaluates potential for undiscovered critical minerals in Alaska. Critical minerals are those for which the United States imports more than half of its total supply and which are largely derived from nations that cannot be considered reliable trading partners. In...
Direct photolysis rates and transformation pathways of the lampricides TFM and niclosamide in simulated sunlight
Megan B. McConville, Terrance D. Hubert, Christina K. Remucal
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 9998-10006
The lampricides 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and 2′,5-dichloro-4′-nitrosalicylanilide (niclosamide) are directly added to many tributaries of the Great Lakes that harbor the invasive parasitic sea lamprey. Despite their long history of use, the fate of lampricides is not well understood. This study evaluates the rate and pathway of direct photodegradation of both...
Pb-Sr isotopic and geochemical constraints on sources and processes of lead contamination in well waters and soil from former fruit orchards, Pennsylvania, USA: A legacy of anthropogenic activities
Robert A. Ayuso, Nora K. Foley
2016, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (170) 125-147
Isotopic discrimination can be an effective tool in establishing a direct link between sources of Pb contamination and the presence of anomalously high concentrations of Pb in waters, soils, and organisms. Residential wells supplying water containing up to 1600 ppb Pb to houses built on the former Mohr orchards commercial site,...
Bedrock morphology and structure, upper Santa Cruz Basin, south-central Arizona, with transient electromagnetic survey data
Mark W. Bultman, William R. Page
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1152
The upper Santa Cruz Basin is an important groundwater basin containing the regional aquifer for the city of Nogales, Arizona. This report provides data and interpretations of data aimed at better understanding the bedrock morphology and structure of the upper Santa Cruz Basin study area which encompasses the Rio Rico...
