Publications

Results from our Program’s research and minerals information activities are published in USGS publications series as well as in outside journals.  To follow Minerals Information Periodicals, subscribe to the Mineral Periodicals RSS feed.

Minerals Information Publications

2019 MCS report cover

National Mineral Information Center (NMIC) products focus on the worldwide supply of, demand for, and flow of minerals and materials. These products are organized by mineral commodity, geographic area, or monthly/annual statistical compilation.

Select Mineral Resources Program (MRP) & Earth MRI Publications, Data Releases, and Webpages Digital Handout

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Select the USB image or button below to open a downloadable and printable handout in .pdf format. The handout provides a select listing of publications, data releases, and websites directly related to the MRP funded science priorities. 

Filter Total Items: 2494

RioM-1: A new calcite reference material for U-Pb LA-ICP-MS geochronology RioM-1: A new calcite reference material for U-Pb LA-ICP-MS geochronology

Determining absolute ages of carbonate diagenesis, faulting, fossil formation, speleothem growth, carbonate-hosted hydrocarbon deposits, vein mineralisation and hydrothermal alteration has become increasingly accessible through LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of calcite, complementing traditional isotope dilution methods still applicable to certain materials (e.g., speleothems via micro-drilling)...
Authors
Marco Silva, Cristiano Lana, Ricardo Scholz, Ian Buick, Sandra K. Kamo, Nick Roberts, Axel Gerdes, Michael Wiedenbeck, Blair Schoene, Francisco Apen, Sean Gaynor

Widespread anhydrite saturation in Laramide-age arc magmas of southwestern USA Widespread anhydrite saturation in Laramide-age arc magmas of southwestern USA

Anhydrite is considered a rare mineral phase in magmas, with only ∼33 documented occurrences worldwide. However, anhydrite readily decomposes in the near-surface environment, making it difficult to recognize its former presence in rocks collected at or near Earth’s surface. In such samples, only small anhydrite inclusions fully shielded within other minerals can have survived. During a...
Authors
Andreas Audétat, Jia Chang, Sean Gaynor

Deformation mechanisms in quartz veins and shear zones elucidate the origin of gold mineralization at Pogo, Alaska Deformation mechanisms in quartz veins and shear zones elucidate the origin of gold mineralization at Pogo, Alaska

Pogo is a quartz vein hosted, ca. 8 Moz gold deposit. Although it has similarities to orogenic and magmatic-hydrothermal deposits, its origin remains enigmatic. Observations from surface exposures, underground workings, and drill core provide new constraints on quartz vein origins with implications for mineralization. Abundant, largely barren metamorphic segregation quartz veins are...
Authors
Jonathan Caine, Douglas Kreiner, Heather Lowers

Triple-oxygen isotopic evidence of prolonged direct bioleaching of pyrite with O2 Triple-oxygen isotopic evidence of prolonged direct bioleaching of pyrite with O2

Sulfate is often touted as containing atmospheric oxygen whose isotopic signature can constrain redox, environmental conditions, and biological activity. Yet, the amount and isotopic fractionation associated with air-O2 incorporation during sulfate formation is still debated, making its verification difficult. In this study, we identify a distinct, microbially dominated environment with...
Authors
Issaku Kohl, Bryan Killingsworth, Karen Zeigler, Edward Young, Max Coleman

Earth Mapping Resources Initiative protocols—Sampling hard-rock mine waste and perpetual mine water sources Earth Mapping Resources Initiative protocols—Sampling hard-rock mine waste and perpetual mine water sources

Supporting the overarching goal to evaluate critical minerals nationwide, the mine waste characterization effort in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Mapping Resources Initiative has created a series of protocols to standardize sampling carried out under this effort by the participating State geological surveys and their cooperators. The protocols are based on published, reviewed...
Authors
Kate Campbell, Robert Seal, Nadine Piatak, Jaime S. Azain, Jean Morrison, Sarah White, Andrew Manning, Katherine Walton-Day, JoAnn Holloway, Bronwen Wang

Spatially resolved source apportionment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) within a post-industrial river catchment Spatially resolved source apportionment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) within a post-industrial river catchment

Source apportionment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in rivers is typically based on water concentrations, which cannot quantify PFAS loads or define geographical source areas. This study applied a river catchment-scale approach to identify PFAS source zones and assess the relative importance of industrial PFAS sources in the River Mersey, UK – a post-industrial, densely...
Authors
Patrick Byrne, William Mayes, Alun James, Sean Comber, Emma Biles, Alex Riley, Philip Verplanck, Lee Bradley

Enhancing mineral systems exploration through geochronology, thermochronology, and isotope analysis: USGS Geochron and USGS Isotope databases Enhancing mineral systems exploration through geochronology, thermochronology, and isotope analysis: USGS Geochron and USGS Isotope databases

A mineral systems approach to mineral exploration provides a comprehensive framework for understanding ore deposit formation by examining the geodynamic, magmatic, hydrothermal, and sedimentary processes responsible for mineralization, alteration, and remobilization of economic mineral deposits. Temporal and thermal constraints on ore genesis are crucial for refining mineral system...
Authors
Kelly Thomson, Ian Hillenbrand, Amy Gilmer, Leah Morgan, Zachary Engle, Anna Miller

Low-sulfidation epithermal deposits of the central Basin and Range Province, USA Low-sulfidation epithermal deposits of the central Basin and Range Province, USA

The Basin and Range Province is host to many important low-sulfidation epithermal deposits. Within this broad zone of extension, epithermal deposits are hosted by specific areas of Miocene and younger bimodal volcanism. In northern Nevada, rifting and related volcanic activity occurred in response to thermal bulging during the development of the Yellowstone hotspot. The Colorado River...
Authors
Thomas Monecke, Lauren Terry, Erik Roger Tharalson, T. Reynolds, Greg Seitter, Tadsuda Taksavasu, Eric Anderson

Quantitative mineral resource assessment of lithium pegmatite deposits in the Appalachian Orogen, USA Quantitative mineral resource assessment of lithium pegmatite deposits in the Appalachian Orogen, USA

Lithium is classified as a U.S. critical mineral commodity, and its demand is projected to drastically increase through 2040, driven by electric vehicle production and energy storage applications (IEA 2021).Most global lithium production is not in the United States increasing vulnerability to a supply disruption. The U.S. Geological Survey is actively assessing domestic lithium deposits...
Authors
Niki Wintzer, Joshua Rosera, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Dalton McCaffrey, Kelsey Elizabeth Crocker, Joshua Coyan, Graham Lederer

Synergy between geology and geophysics in graphite mineral resource assessment Synergy between geology and geophysics in graphite mineral resource assessment

Graphite is designated as a critical mineral by the U.S. Government due to its essential role in modern technology and its vulnerability to supply chain disruption. To evaluate domestic graphite resources, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted two airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveys as part of the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) over prospective areas in the...
Authors
Patricia Macqueen, George Case, Paul Bedrosian, Jane Hammarstrom, Susan M. Karl, Graham Lederer, Elizabeth Bollen, John Whitmore, Dane VanDervoort, Abraham Emond, Logan Fusso, Philip Brown, Gregory J. Walsh, Keith Labay, Martha Stokes, Andrew Arnold Stewart

Comparing magmatism and hydrothermal alteration using magnetic modelling and stable isotopes at the Clementine porphyry copper prospect, Montana, USA Comparing magmatism and hydrothermal alteration using magnetic modelling and stable isotopes at the Clementine porphyry copper prospect, Montana, USA

Recent mapping of the underexplored Clementine prospect in southwestern Montana has revealed evidence of hydrothermal alteration and mineralized breccia vein gossan interpreted to represent the upper expression of a Cretaceous, sediment-hosted copper porphyry system. The prospect is at the nexus of several Cretaceous granites, including the pre-mineralization Butte Granite and Big Hole...
Authors
Benjamin Magnin, Julia McIntosh, George Brimhall

Formation of the Mount Weld rare earth deposit, Western Australia: Geochronology constraints Formation of the Mount Weld rare earth deposit, Western Australia: Geochronology constraints

Constraining the age of protracted chemical weathering in stable cratonic areas that may form thick regoliths and the potential enrichment of various elements is challenging. Economic deposits of aluminium, iron, copper, nickel, cobalt, niobium, and rare earth elements (REEs) form in this manner. Determining the age of formation can provide key information for exploration of similar...
Authors
Philip Verplanck, Cameron Mercer, Jay Thompson, Martin Danišík, Ganesh Bhat, Heather Lowers