Geophysical interpretation of U, Th, and rare earth element mineralization of the Bokan Mountain peralkaline granite complex, Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska
Anne E. McCafferty, Douglas B. Stoeser, Bradley S. Van Gosen
2014, Interpretation (2) SJ47-SJ63
A prospectivity map for rare earth element (REE) mineralization at the Bokan Mountain peralkaline granite complex, Prince of Wales Island, southeastern Alaska, was calculated from high-resolution airborne gamma-ray data. The map displays areas with similar radioelement concentrations as those over the Dotson REE-vein-dike system, which is characterized by moderately high...
Geomorphic evidence for enhanced Pliocene-Quaternary faulting in the northwestern Basin and Range
Magdalena A Ellis, Barnes Jason B, Joseph P. Colgan
2014, Lithosphere (7) 59-72
Mountains in the U.S. Basin and Range Province are similar in form, yet they have different histories of deformation and uplift. Unfortunately, chronicling fault slip with techniques like thermochronology and geodetics can still leave sizable, yet potentially important gaps at Pliocene–Quaternary (∼105–106 yr) time scales. Here, we combine existing geochronology...
Aquatic invasive species: Lessons from cancer research
Adam J. Sepulveda, Andrew Ray, Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Robert E. Gresswell, Jackson A. Gross, Jeffrey L. Kershner
2014, American Scientist (100) 234-242
Aquatic invasive species are disrupting ecosystems with increasing frequency. Successful control of these invasions has been rare: Biologists and managers have few tools for fighting aquatic invaders. In contrast, the medical community has long worked to develop tools for preventing and fighting cancer. Its successes are marked by a coordinated...
Growth and degradation of Hawaiian volcanoes
David A. Clague, David R. Sherrod
Michael P. Poland, T. Jane Takahashi, Claire M. Landowski, editor(s)
2014, Professional Paper 1801-3
The 19 known shield volcanoes of the main Hawaiian Islands—15 now emergent, 3 submerged, and 1 newly born and still submarine—lie at the southeast end of a long-lived hot spot chain. As the Pacific Plate of the Earth’s lithosphere moves slowly northwestward over the Hawaiian hot spot, volcanoes are successively...
Sharp increase in central Oklahoma seismicity 2009-2014 induced by massive wastewater injection
Kathleen M. Keranen, Geoffrey A. Abers, Matthew Weingarten, Barbara A. Bekins, Shemin Ge
2014, Science (345) 448-451
Unconventional oil and gas production provides a rapidly growing energy source; however high-producing states in the United States, such as Oklahoma, face sharply rising numbers of earthquakes. Subsurface pressure data required to unequivocally link earthquakes to injection are rarely accessible. Here we use seismicity and hydrogeological models to show that...
Lateritic, supergene rare earth element (REE) deposits
Mark D. Cocker
2014, Conference Paper, Arizona Geological Survey Special Paper 9
Intensive lateritic weathering of bedrock under tropical or sub-tropical climatic conditions can form a variety of secondary, supergene-type deposits. These secondary deposits may range in composition from aluminous bauxites to iron and niobium, and include rare earth elements (REE). Over 250 lateritic deposits of REE are currently known and many...
The Lepanto Cu–Au deposit, Philippines: A fossil hyperacidic volcanic lake complex
Byron R. Berger, Richard W. Henley, Heather A. Lowers, Michael J. Pribil
2014, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (271) 70-82
Hyperacidic lakes and associated solfatara in active volcanoes are the expression of magmatic gas expansion from source to surface. Here we show for the first time, that the vein system that comprises the ~ 2 Ma high-sulfidation, Lepanto copper–gold deposit in the Mankayan district (Philippines) was associated with a contemporary hyperacidic volcanic...
Auroral omens of the American Civil War
Jeffrey J. Love
2014, Weatherwise (67) 34-41
Aurorae are a splendid night-time sight: coruscations of green, purple, and red fluorescent light in the form of gently wafting ribbons, billowing curtains, and flashing rays. Mostly seen at high latitudes, in the north aurorae are often called the northern lights or aurora borealis, and, in the south, the southern...
Abundance of host fish and frequency of glochidial parasitism in fish assessed in field and laboratory settings and frequency of juvenile mussels or glochidia recovered from hatchery-held fish, central and southeastern Texas, 2012-13
Christopher L. Braun, Charrish L. Stevens, Patricia D. Echo-Hawk, Nathan A. Johnson, James B. Moring
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5217
In 2012–13, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), completed the first phase of a two-phase study of mussel host-fish relations for five endemic mussel species in central and southeastern Texas that were State-listed as threatened on January 17, 2010: (1) Texas...
Groundwater-quality data in the Santa Cruz, San Gabriel, and Peninsular Ranges Hard Rock Aquifers study unit, 2011-2012: results from the California GAMA program
Tracy A. Davis, Jennifer L. Shelton
2014, Data Series 874
Groundwater quality in the 2,400-square-mile Santa Cruz, San Gabriel, and Peninsular Ranges Hard Rock Aquifers (Hard Rock) study unit was investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from March 2011 through March 2012, as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA)...
Hybridization of two megacephalic map turtles (testudines: emydidae: Graptemys) in the Choctawhatchee River drainage of Alabama and Florida
James Godwin, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Brian R. Kreiser, Brian Folt, Chris Lechowicz
2014, Copeia (2014) 725-742
Map turtles of the genus Graptemys are highly aquatic and rarely undergo terrestrial movements, and limited dispersal among drainages has been hypothesized to drive drainage-specific endemism and high species richness of this group in the southeastern United States. Until recently, two members of the megacephalic “pulchra clade,” Graptemys barbouri andGraptemys ernsti, were presumed to be...
Size and retention of breeding territories of yellow-billed loons in Alaska and Canada
Joel A. Schmutz, Kenneth G. Wright, Christopher R. DeSorbo, Jeff Fair, David C. Evers, Brian D. Uher-Koch, Daniel M. Mulcahy
2014, Waterbirds (37) 53-63
Yellow-billed Loons (Gavia adamsii) breed in lakes in the treeless Arctic and are globally rare. Like their sister taxa, the well-documented Common Loon (G. immer) of the boreal forest, Yellow-billed Loons exhibit strong territorial behavior during the breeding season. Little is known about what size territories are required, however, or...
Historic and contemporary mercury exposure and potential risk to yellow-billed loons (Gavia adamsii) breeding in Alaska and Canada
David C. Evers, Joel A. Schmutz, Niladri Basu, Christopher R. DeSorbo, Jeff Fair, Carrie E. Gray, James D. Paruk, Marie Perkins, Kevin Regan, Brian D. Uher-Koch, Kenneth G. Wright
2014, Waterbirds (37) 147-159
The Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii) is one of the rarest breeding birds in North America. Because of the small population size and patchy distribution, any stressor to its population is of concern. To determine risks posed by environmental mercury (Hg) loads, we captured 115 Yellow-billed Loons between 2002 and 2012...
Focused rock uplift above the subduction décollement at Montague and Hinchinbrook Islands, Prince William Sound, Alaska
Kelly M Ferguson, Phillip A Armstrong, Arkle Jeanette C, Peter J. Haeussler
2014, Geosphere (11) 144-159
Megathrust splay fault systems in accretionary prisms have been identified as conduits for long-term plate motion and significant coseismic slip during subduction earthquakes. These fault systems are important because of their role in generating tsunamis, but rarely are emergent above sea level where their long-term (million year) history can be...
238U-230Th dating of chevkinite in high-silica rhyolites from La Primavera and Yellowstone calderas
Jorge A. Vazquez, Noel O. Velasco, Axel K. Schmitt, Heather A. Bleick, Mark E. Stelten
2014, Chemical Geology (390) 109-118
Application of 238U-230Th disequilibrium dating of accessory minerals with contrasting stabilities and compositions can provide a unique perspective on magmatic evolution by placing the thermochemical evolution of magma within the framework of absolute time. Chevkinite, a Th-rich accessory mineral that occurs in peralkaline and metaluminous rhyolites, may be particularly useful...
Composition of dust deposited to snow cover in the Wasatch Range (Utah, USA): Controls on radiative properties of snow cover and comparison to some dust-source sediments
Richard L. Reynolds, Harland L. Goldstein, Bruce M. Moskowitz, Ann C. Bryant, S. McKenzie Skiles, Raymond F. Kokaly, Cody B. Flagg, Kimberly Yauk, Thelma S. Berquo, George N. Breit, Michael Ketterer, Daniel Fernandez, Mark E. Miller, Thomas H. Painter
2014, Aeolian Research (15) 73-90
Dust layers deposited to snow cover of the Wasatch Range (northern Utah) in 2009 and 2010 provide rare samples to determine the relations between their compositions and radiative properties. These studies are required to comprehend and model how such dust-on-snow (DOS) layers affect rates of snow melt through changes in...
Layered hydrothermal barite-sulfide mound field, East Diamante Caldera, Mariana volcanic arc
James R. Hein, Cornel E. J. de Ronde, Randolph A. Koski, Robert G. Ditchburn, Kira Mizell, Yoshihiko Tamura, Robert J. Stern, Tracey Conrad, Osamu Ishizuka, Matthew I. Leybourne
2014, Economic Geology (109) 2179-2206
East Diamante is a submarine volcano in the southern Mariana arc that is host to a complex caldera ~5 × 10 km (elongated ENE-WSW) that is breached along its northern and southwestern sectors. A large field of barite-sulfide mounds was discovered in June 2009 and revisited in July 2010 with...
Cogenetic late Pleistocene rhyolite and cumulate diorites from Augustine Volcano revealed by SIMS 238U-230Th dating of zircon, and implications for silicic magma generation by extraction from mush
Michelle L. Coombs, Jorge A. Vazquez
2014, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (15) 4846-4865
Augustine Volcano, a frequently active andesitic island stratocone, erupted a late Pleistocene rhyolite pumice fall that is temporally linked through zircon geochronology to cumulate dioritic blocks brought to the surface in Augustine's 2006 eruption. Zircon from the rhyolite yield a 238U-230Th age of ∼25 ka for their unpolished rims, and their...
Pollinators in peril? A multipark approach to evaluating bee communities in habitats vulnerable to effects from climate change
Jessica Rykken, Ann Rodman, Sam Droege, Ralph Grundel
2014, Park Science (31) 84-90
In 2010, collaborators from the National Park Service (Ann Rodman, Yellowstone National Park), USGS (Sam Droege and Ralph Grundel), and Harvard University (Jessica Rykken) were awarded funding from the NPS Climate Change Response Program to launch just such an investigation in almost 50 units of the National Park System (fig....
Occurrence model for magmatic sulfide-rich nickel-copper-(platinum-group element) deposits related to mafic and ultramafic dike-sill complexes
Klaus J. Schulz, Laurel G. Woodruff, Suzanne W. Nicholson, Robert R. Seal II, Nadine M. Piatak, Val W. Chandler, John L. Mars
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070-I
Magmatic sulfide deposits containing nickel (Ni) and copper (Cu), with or without (±) platinum-group elements (PGE), account for approximately 60 percent of the world’s nickel production. Most of the remainder of the Ni production is derived from lateritic deposits, which form by weathering of ultramafic rocks in humid tropical conditions....
Assessing inundation hazards to nuclear powerplant sites using geologically extended histories of riverine floods, tsunamis, and storm surges
Jim O’Connor, Brian F. Atwater, Timothy A. Cohn, Thomas M. Cronin, Mackenzie K. Keith, Christopher G. Smith, Mason Jr.
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5207
Most nuclear powerplants in the United States are near rivers, large lakes, or oceans. As evident from the Fukushima Daiichi, Japan, disaster of 2011, these water bodies pose inundation threats. Geologic records can extend knowledge of rare hazards from flooding, storm surges, and tsunamis. This knowledge can aid in assessing...
The relative impacts of climate and land-use change on conterminous United States bird species from 2001 to 2075
Terry L. Sohl
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Species distribution models often use climate data to assess contemporary and/or future ranges for animal or plant species. Land use and land cover (LULC) data are important predictor variables for determining species range, yet are rarely used when modeling future distributions. In this study, maximum entropy modeling was used to...
A high-elevation, multi-proxy biotic and environmental record of MIS 6-4 from the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site, Snowmass Village, Colorado, USA
Ian M. Miller, Jeffrey S. Pigati, R. Scott Anderson, Kirk R. Johnson, Shannon Mahan, Thomas A. Ager, Richard G. Baker, Maarten Blaauw, Jordon Bright, Peter M. Brown, Bruce Bryant, Zachary T. Calamari, Paul E. Carrara, Cherney Michael D., John R. Demboski, Scott A. Elias, Daniel C. Fisher, Harrison J. Gray, Danielle R. Haskett, Jeffrey S. Honke, Stephen T. Jackson, Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno, Douglas Kline, Eric M. Leonard, Nathaniel A. Lifton, Carol Lucking, H. Gregory McDonald, Dane M. Miller, Daniel R. Muhs, Stephen E. Nash, Cody Newton, James B. Paces, Lesley Petrie, Mitchell A. Plummer, David F. Porinchu, Adam N. Rountrey, Eric Scott, Joseph J. W. Sertich, Saxon E. Sharpe, Gary L. Skipp, Laura E. Strickland, Richard K. Stucky, Robert S. Thompson, Jim Wilson
2014, Quaternary Research (82) 618-634
In North America, terrestrial records of biodiversity and climate change that span Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 are rare. Where found, they provide insight into how the coupling of the ocean–atmosphere system is manifested in biotic and environmental records and how the biosphere responds to climate change. In 2010–2011,...
The Late Cretaceous Middle Fork caldera, its resurgent intrusion, and enduring landscape stability in east-central Alaska
Charles R. Bacon, Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, John N. Aleinikoff, John F. Slack
2014, Geosphere (10) 1432-1455
Dissected caldera structures expose thick intracaldera tuff and, uncommonly, cogenetic shallow plutons, while remnants of correlative outflow tuffs deposited on the pre-eruption ground surface record elements of ancient landscapes. The Middle Fork caldera encompasses a 10 km × 20 km area of rhyolite welded tuff and granite porphyry in...
The rare-earth elements: Vital to modern technologies and lifestyles
Bradley S. Van Gosen, Philip L. Verplanck, Keith R. Long, Joseph Gambogi, Robert R. Seal II
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3078
Until recently, the rare-earth elements (REEs) were familiar to a relatively small number of people, such as chemists, geologists, specialized materials scientists, and engineers. In the 21st century, the REEs have gained visibility through many media outlets because of (1) the public has recognized the critical, specialized properties that REEs...
