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IntroductionThis circular provides an overview of selected activities that were conducted within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Integrated Methods Development Project, an interdisciplinary project designed to develop new tools and conduct innovative research requiring integration of geologic, geophysical, geochemical, and remote-sensing expertise. The project was supported by the USGS Mineral...

Hazards of soil-borne Pb to wild birds may be more accurately quantified if the bioavailability of that Pb is known. To better understand the bioavailability of Pb to birds, we measured blood Pb concentrations in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) fed diets containing Pb-contaminated soils. Relative bioavailabilities were expressed by comparison...

The Organ Mountains caldera and batholith expose the volcanic and epizonal plutonic record of an Eocene caldera complex. The caldera and batholith are well exposed, and extensive previous mapping and geochemical analyses have suggested a clear link between the volcanic and plutonic sections, making this an ideal location to study...

Mineral Resource Estimation is about estimating mineral resources at the scale of an ore deposit and is not to be mistaken with mineral resource assessment, which is undertaken at a significantly broader scale, even if similar data and geospatial/geostatistical methods are used. The book describes geological, statistical, and geostatistical tools...

The generation of electricity by nuclear power and the manufacturing of atomic weapons have created a large amount of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. There is a world-wide consensus that the best way to protect mankind and the environment is to dispose of this waste in a deep...

Missouri was the leading producer of lead in the United States—as well as the world—for more than a century. One of the lead sources is known as the Old Lead Belt, located in southeast Missouri. The primary ore mineral in the region is galena, which can be found both in...

This report describes a study of the hydrology, hydrogeological framework, numerical groundwater-flow models, and results of simulations of the effects of water use and drought for the Beaver-North Canadian River alluvial aquifer, northwestern Oklahoma. The purpose of the study was to provide analyses, including estimating equal-proportionate-share (EPS) groundwater-pumping rates and...

We performed flow-through laboratory experiments on five cylindrically cored samples of ultramafic rocks, in which we generated a well-mated through-going tensile fracture, to investigate evolution of fracture permeability during serpentinization. The samples were tested in a triaxial loading machine at a confining pressure of 50 MPa, pore pressure of 20...

Paleomagnetic study of cores from six deep wells provides an independent temporal framework for much of the alluvial stratigraphy of the Quaternary basin beneath the Santa Clara Valley. This stratigraphy consists of 8 upward-fining cycles in the upper 300 m of section and an underlying 150 m or more of...

Porphyry Cu and porphyry Mo deposits are large to giant deposits ranging up to >20 and 1.6 Gt of ore, respectively, that supply about 60 and 95% of the world’s copper and molybdenum, as well as significant amounts of gold and silver. These deposits form from hydrothermal systems that affect...

Characterizing the tectonic stress field is an integral part of the development of hydrothermal systems and especially for enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). With a well characterized stress field the propensity of fault slip on faults with known location and orientation can be identified. Faults that are critically oriented for faulting...

China is the world’s leading rare earth element (REE) producer and hosts a variety of deposit types. Carbonatite- related REE deposits, the most significant deposit type, include two giant deposits presently being mined in China, Bayan Obo and Maoniuping, the first and third largest deposits of this type in the...

Tectonic, geologic, geochemical, geochronologic, and ore deposit data from the U.S. Geological Survey-led assessment of 26 porphyry belts identified in the central Tethys region of Turkey, the Caucasus, Iran, western Pakistan, and southern Afghanistan relate porphyry mineralization to the...

Heavy metal-contaminated, pH 6 mine water discharge created new streams and iron-rich terraces at a creek bank in a former uranium-mining area near Ronneburg, Germany. The transition from microoxic groundwater with ~5 mm Fe(II) to oxic surface water may provide a suitable habitat for microaerobic iron-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB). In this study,...

Karangahake was the third largest gold producer in the Hauraki goldfield. In 2009, New Talisman Gold mines was granted a mining permit, and plans are underway to commence underground mine development of the Maria vein, which has a maiden Ore Reserve (consistent with the 2012 JORC Code) of 28 800...

Although fire was arguably the primary tool used by the Maya to alter the landscape and extract resources, little attention has been paid to biomass burning in paleoenvironmental reconstructions from the Maya lowlands. Here we report two new well-dated, high-resolution records of biomass burning based on analysis of macroscopic fossil...

Despite claims to the contrary, the compositions of magnetite and ilmenite in the Bishop Tuff correctly record the changing conditions of T and fO2 in the magma reservoir. In relatively reduced (∆NNO < 1) siliceous magmas (e.g., Bishop Tuff, Taupo units), Ti behaves compatibly (DTi ≈ 2-3.5), leading to a decrease...

Mercury (Hg) analyses were obtained for 42 samples of feed coal provided by Eskom, the national electric utility of South Africa, representing all 13 coal-fired power stations operated by Eskom in South Africa. This sampling includes results for three older power stations returned to service starting in the late 2000s....

This study evaluates regional ‘shale gas’ prospectivity of the Aptian section (primarily Pine Island Shale) in the downdip Mississippi Salt Basin (MSB). Previous work by the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean undiscovered gas resource of 8.8 trillion cubic feet (TCF) in the chronostratigraphic-equivalent Pearsall Formation in the Maverick Basin...

Environmental tracers are useful for determining groundwater age and recharge source, yet their application in studies of geogenic Cr(VI) in groundwater has been limited. Environmental tracer data from 166 wells located in the Sacramento Valley, northern California, were interpreted and compared to Cr concentrations to...

Historical lead and zinc mining in the Tri-State Mining District (TSMD), located in parts of southeast Kansas, southwest Missouri, and northeast Oklahoma, has resulted in a substantial ongoing input of lead and zinc to the environment (Juracek, 2006; Juracek and Becker, 2009). In response to concern about the mining-related contamination,...

Shoreline placer Ti deposits are composed of ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, and magnetite in well-sorted, fine- to medium-grained sand in coastal dunes, beaches and inlets. In addition to titanium, zirconium, in particular, and rare earth elements (REE) have become a major source of value in shoreline placer deposits. Shoreline placer...

Surface-based monitoring of mass transfer caused by injections and extractions in deep boreholes is crucial to maximize oil, gas and geothermal production. Inductive electromagnetic methods, such as magnetotellurics, are appealing for these applications due to their large penetration depths and sensitivity to changes in fluid conductivity and fracture connectivity. In...

In 2011, the senior authors were contacted by Ron Gardiner of Questa, and Village of Questa Mayor Esther Garcia, to discuss the existing and future groundwater supply for the Village of Questa. This meeting led to the development of a plan in 2013 to perform an integrated geologic, geophysical, and...

Observations of elemental mercury (Hg0) at sites in North America and Europe show large decreases (∼1–2% y−1) from 1990 to present. Observations in background northern hemisphere air, including Mauna Loa Observatory (Hawaii) and CARIBIC (Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container) aircraft flights,...