Search Results

Water samples were collected from 20 domestic wells during August and September 2012 and analyzed for 47 constituents and properties, including nutrients, major ions, metals and trace elements, radioactivity, and dissolved gases, including methane and radon-222. This study, done in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the...

This report is part of an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey to update existing mineral deposit models and to develop new ones. The global transition away from hydrocarbons toward energy alternatives increases demand for many scarce metals. Among these is lithium, a key component of lithium-ion batteries for electric...

This report is part of an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey to update existing mineral deposit models and to develop new ones. We emphasize practical aspects of pegmatite geology that might directly or indirectly help in exploration for lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites, or for assessing regions for pegmatite-related mineral resource...

Current global and domestic mineral resources of beryllium (Be) for industrial uses are dominated by ores produced from deposits of the volcanogenic Be type. Beryllium deposits of this type can form where hydrothermal fluids interact with fluorine and lithophile-element (uranium, thorium, rubidium, lithium, beryllium, cesium, tantalum, rare earth elements, and...

In 2011, world lithium consumption was estimated to have been about 25 kt (25,000 st) of lithium contained in minerals and compounds, a 10-percent increase from 2010. U.S. consumption was estimated to have been about 2 kt (2,200 st) of contained lithium, a 100-percent increase from 2010. The United States...

In the Colorado Front Range, forested catchments near the rain–snow transition are likely to experience changes in snowmelt delivery and subsurface water transport with climate warming and associated shifts in precipitation patterns. Snowpack dynamics are strongly affected by aspect: Lodgepole pine forested north‐facing slopes develop a seasonal snowpack, whereas Ponderosa...

In September 2010, the Fourmile Canyon fire burned about 23 percent of the Fourmile Creek watershed in Boulder County, Colo. Water-quality sampling of Fourmile Creek began within a month after the wildfire to assess its effects on surface-water chemistry. Water samples were collected from five sites along Fourmile Creek (above,...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, evaluated a three-dimensional model of groundwater flow in the fractured basalts and interbedded sediments of the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer at and near the Idaho National Laboratory to determine if model-derived estimates of groundwater movement are...

The impact of trace elements from the Iron Mountain Superfund site on the Sacramento River and selected tributaries is examined. The concentration and distribution of many trace elements—including aluminum, arsenic, boron, barium, beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, cerium, cobalt, chromium, cesium, copper, dysprosium, erbium, europium, iron, gadolinium, holmium, potassium, lanthanum, lithium, lutetium,...

A study of groundwater flow, quality, and mixing in relation to Wind Cave National Park in western South Dakota was conducted during 2007-11 by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Park Service because of water-quality concerns and to determine possible sources of groundwater contamination in the Wind...

Lithium has a number of uses but one of the most valuable is as a component of high energy-density rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Because of concerns over carbon dioxide footprint and increasing hydrocarbon fuel cost (reduced supply), lithium may become even more important in large batteries for powering all-electric and hybrid...

In 2010, lithium consumption in the United States was estimated to have been about 1 kt (1,100 st) of contained lithium, a 23-percent decrease from 2009. The United States was estimated to be the fourth largest consumer of lithium. It remained the leading importer of lithium carbonate and the leading...

Closed-basin potash-bearing brines are one of the types of potash deposits that are a source of potash production within the United States, as well as other countries. Though these deposits are of highly variable size, they are important sources of potash on a regional basis. In addition, these deposits have...

Trace-element concentrations in groundwater were evaluated for samples collected between 1992 and 2003 from aquifers across the United States as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program. This study describes the first comprehensive analysis of those data by assessing occurrence (concentrations above analytical reporting levels) and by...

During March–December 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the city of Houston, collected source-water samples from 60 municipal supply wells in the Houston area. These data were collected as part of an ongoing study to determine concentrations, spatial extent, and associated geochemical conditions that might be conducive for...

The biennial review of atomic-weight determinations and other cognate data has resulted in changes for the standard atomic weights of 11 elements. Many atomic weights are not constants of nature, but depend upon the physical, chemical, and nuclear history of the material. The standard atomic weights of 10 elements having...

Concentrations of geogenic Cr(VI) in groundwater that exceed the World Health Organization’s maximum contaminant level for drinking water (50 μg L−1) occur in several locations globally. The major mechanism for mobilization of this Cr(VI) at these sites is the weathering of Cr(III) from ultramafic rocks and its subsequent oxidation on...

In 2009, lithium consumption in the United States was estimated to have been about 1.2 kt (1,300 st) of contained lithium, a 40-percent decrease from 2008. The United States was estimated to be the fourth largest consumer of lithium, and remained the leading importer of lithium carbonate and the leading...

In the summers of 2007 and 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the City of Houston, Texas, completed an initial reconnaissance-level survey of naturally occurring contaminants (arsenic, other selected trace elements, and radionuclides) in water from municipal supply wells in the Houston area. The purpose of this...

Water analyses are reported for 104 samples collected from numerous thermal and non-thermal features in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) during 2006-2008. Water samples were collected and analyzed for major and trace constituents from 10 areas of YNP including Apollinaris Spring and Nymphy Creek along the Norris-Mammoth corridor, Beryl Spring in...

A deep (more than 2,000 feet) monitoring well was installed in an area being explored for lead and zinc deposits within the Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri. The area is a mature karst terrain where rocks of the Ozark aquifer, a primary source of water for private and...

Trace-element quality-control samples (for example, source-solution blanks, field blanks, and field replicates) were collected as part of a statewide investigation of groundwater quality in California, known as the Priority Basins Project of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The GAMA Priority Basins Project is being conducted by the...

Chemical pretreatment and extraction techniques have been developed previously to extract in situ cosmogenic radiocarbon (in situ 14C) from quartz and carbonate. These minerals can be found in most environments on Earth, but are usually absent from mafic terrains. To fill this gap, we conducted numerous experiments aimed at extracting...

Water samples were collected from 7 production wells and 28 private residential wells in central New York from August through December 2007 and analyzed to characterize the chemical quality of groundwater. Seventeen wells are screened in sand and gravel aquifers, and 18 are finished in bedrock aquifers. The wells were...