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This report updates a report on the Precambrian geology of the Lake Superior region published in Geological Society of America's Decade of North American Geology Volume C-2 (1993) on the Precambrian<196>conterminous U.S.
This report describes geochemical and geological studies which were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Servicos Geologicos de Portugal (SPG) in the Portuguese pyrite belt (PPB) in southern Portugal. The studies included rare earth element (REE) distributions and geological and geochemical controls on the distribution of gold. Rare earth element distributions were determined in representative samples of the volcanic rocks from five west-trending sub-belts of the PPB in order to test the usefulness of REE as a tool for the correlation of volcanic events, and to determine their mobility and application as hydrothermal tracers. REE distributions in felsic volcanic rocks show increases in the relative abundances of heavy REE and a decrease in La/Yb ratios from north to south in the Portuguese pyrite belt. Anomalous amounts of gold are distributed in and near massive and disseminated sulfide deposits in the PPB. Gold is closely associated with copper in the middle and lower parts of the deposits. Weakly anomalous concentrations of gold were noted in exhalative sedimentary rocks that are stratigraphically above massive sulfide deposits in a distal manganiferous facies, whereas anomalously low concentrations were detected in the barite-rich, proximal-facies exhalites. Altered and pyritic felsic volcanic rocks locally contain highly anomalous concentrations of gold, suggesting that disseminated sulfide deposits and the non-ore parts of massive sulfide deposits should be evaluated for their gold potential.
The assessment of the mineral resource potential of the Routt National Forest and the Middle Park Ranger District of the Arapaho National Forest, Colorado, was conducted so that the mineral resources of the forest can be considered along with other resources in land use planning. This report discusses the potential for as yet undiscovered mineral and energy resources within the forest. Mineral resource information is given in terms of mineral deposit types and their geologic settings, and mineral deposit types are defined by geologic characteristics of known deposits that may occur within or near the forest. All available information regarding mineral deposits or occurrences and energy resources, as of June 1994, was assembled to assess the mineral and energy potential. Geologic maps were compiled and mineral and energy potential maps were also created for deposit types within the forest.
At the request of the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Geological Survey evaluated the area of the historic Lake Valley mining district and townsite, Sierra County, New Mexico, for its potential for undiscovered mineral resources. The four chapters of this report describe the geology of the area, present the results of geophysical investigations carried out to aid in interpreting subsurface geology, describe the mining history and character of the region's ore deposits, and present geochemical data on potential for contamination from abandoned mine dumps in the mining district.
LOCATION AND SURFACE FEATURES The Bristol Range, Highland, and Ely Range quadrangles make up the larger part of a. rectangular area 35 miles north and south by 24 miles east and west, which lies 19 miles west of the Nevada-Utah line and about 250 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The district lies within the Great Basin, a semiarid region of alternating mountain ranges and intermontane plains floored largely by outwash from the mountains. The plain, which slopes away from the ranges, stands between 4,700 and 6,000 feet above the sea. The Bristol and Highland Ranges, which are separated only by a low gap, form an almost continuous north-south range that rises about 2,500 feet above the highest part of the surrounding plain, to general altitudes of 8,000 to 9,000 feet, though the highest point, Highland Peak, reaches 9,395 feet. A lower range, the Ely Range, with a northwesterly trend, lies farther east and nearly in touch with the Bristol-Highland Range. The town of Pioche lies midway on the. eastern foot of the Ely Range. ROOKS OF THE PIOOHB REGION The rocks of the ranges are Paleozoic sediments, Tertiary (?) lavas and intrusive rocks, and Pliocene (?) tuffs. The Paleozoic sediments have a total thickness of nearly 18,000 feet. Over 8,000 feet of the Cambrian has been measured without reaching its base. The lowest Cambrian formation is a quartzite, of which only the upper 1,500 feet is exposed, and this is followed by 1,200 feet of shale, 400 feet of limestone, aoid 150 feet of shale. Above this second shale the upper three-fourths of the Cambrian consists of limestone and dolomitic limestone. It is in the quartzite and in the limestone interbedded in and bounding the shales that the main ore bodies of the district have been found. Above the Cambrian comes 1,795 feet of Ordovician limestone, with some interbedded dolomite and with a 50-foot quartzite a, third of the way down from the top; 75 feet of Silurian dolomite; 3,000 feet of Middle Devonian dolomite with thin interbedded quartzite near the top, followed by 550 feet of Upper Devonian limestone; 3,775 feet of Mississippian limestone with a heavy quartzitic sandstone just below the middle; then, at the top of the series, 700 feet of Pennsylvania n limestone. The Paleozoic formations are tilted, bent, and faulted, but sharp folding is extremely rare. Dips between 10° and 30° are common, but there are few greater than 40°. The rocks are cut by many large and innumerable small normal faults, which in many parts of the area are difficult to recognize because they cut thick formations of similar rocks. A large thrust fault occurs along the west side of the Bristol-Highland Range. A thick series of lavas with interbedded tuffs lies along the flanks of the ranges and makes up a large part of the hilly northwest corner of the Bristol quadrangle. The lavas lie unconformably on the Paleozoic sediments and consist mainly of dacite, latite, and andesite, with some basalt and a little rhyolite. About 6,000 feet of lavas and tuffs were measured in Condor Canyon, near the south end of the Ely Range. The age of the lavas is not sharply fixed; they may be early Tertiary or even late Mesozoic. It is not unlikely that they are the result of volcanic action extending over a long period. The lavas are tilted and faulted, though their average dip is less than that of the Paleozoic sediments. At Blind Mountain, on the west side of the Bristol Range, stocks of quartz monzonite and dikes of similar composition cut an infaulted block consisting of sediments, chiefly Devonian, and lavas. Both the sediments and the lavas are metamorphosed, and a belt of marked metamorphism extends south along the west base of the Bristol-Highland Range for several miles. The quartz porphyry dikes of the region, including those near Pioche, are believed to have come in at the same time. The plain west of the Bristol-Highland Range is a. valley of interior drainage floored with outwash from the mountains, coarser near the range but finer and making a clay flat along the west side of the Bristol Range and Highland quadrangles. The valley east of the Bristol-Highland Range, however, has outside drainage by way of Meadow Valley to the Virgin and Colorado Rivers. The stream in upper Meadow Valley and its tributaries have cut through the surface wash from the mountains and laid bare several hundred feet of white, yellow, and red water-laid Pliocene tuffs that lie in nearly the position in which they were laid down. This erosion has developed a striking badland topography in the Pliocene beds. HISTORICAL SUMMARY The general succession of events may be summarized as follows: 1. Sedimentation during most of Paleozoic time from Cambrian to Pennsylvanian. 2. Uplift, slight warping, and erosion. 3. Volcanism of perhaps late Mesozoic or early Tertiary time, producing lavas and tuffs. This period of volcanism may have lasted a long time and spanned one or more of the epochs of faulting. 4. Tilting and normal faulting. 5. Thrust faulting. 6. Quartz monzonite intrusions at Blind Mountain. 7. Normal block faulting of the Basin Range type. 8. Erosion of the faulted blocks to maturity and to essen-. tially the topography of to-day. 9. Outbursts of volcanic ash, probably in late Pliocene time, and the deposition of several hundred feet of water-laid tuffs in the valleys. 10. In Meadow Valley, valley cutting, which has produced a badland topography in the soft Pliocene tuffs and canyons where the streams cross the harder Paleozoic limestones. ECONOMIC GEOLOGY The Pioche district during four years in the early seventies was second only to the Comstock district in output of silver. The bonanza ore of those stirring times came from fissure veins in the Prospect Mountain quartzite, of Lower Cambrian age. In recent years the main interest has shifted to the bedded replacement deposits of silver-bearing lead-zinc sulphide ore occurring in the limestone members of the Pioche shale a type of ore body which was discovered accidentally during the prospecting of the fissure veins. The ore deposits of the district comprise three groups (1) silver-bearing fissure veins in quartzite; (2) silver-bearing mineralized granite porphyry; (3) replacement deposits in limestone and dolomite. All of them appear to have been formed at about the same time, in the epoch of mineralization that occurred shortly after the intrusion of the granitic rocks and their allied dikes of granite porphyry and lamprophyre. The entire present output of the district is coming from the replacement deposits in limestone and dolomite, but exploratory work is still in progress on the fissure veins and mineralized porphyry. The replacement deposits include both replacement fissure veins and stratiform ("bedded") replacement deposits. The replacement fissure veins dip steeply and cut across the bedding of the carbonate rocks in which they are inclosed. They are thoroughly oxidized, as deep at least as 1,100 feet, for on none of them have the mine workings penetrated to water level, and they are highly manganiferous and limonitic and low in silica. At-certain horizons stratiform replacement deposits extend out as lateral branches from the fissure veins. Deposits of this kind occur mainly in the Mendha limestone, Highland Peak limestone, and Lyndon limestone. The stratigraphic range is therefore at least 5,500 feet, and as some of the fissure veins extend down through the underlying Pioche shale the indicated range may exceed 6,500 feet. The most notable representatives of the replacement fissure veins are at the Bristol mine, where they yield silver-bearing copper-leadzinc ores. So far unique among the ore bodies of the district is the pipe of wad and pyrolusite ore at the Jackrabbit mine, the periphery of the pipe consisting of a girdle of extraordinarily coarse white calcite spar produced by the recrystallization of the surrounding limestones. The stratiform replacement deposits that are attracting most attention occur at the intersections of steep fissures with the limestone members of the Pioche shale. In recent years the " bedded " ore of the Combined Metals mine has been of main interest. The ore is essentially a.n intimate intergrowth of pyrite, sphalerite, and galena. Although above water level, the ore is unoxidized. It extends on both sides of the mineralizing fissure as far as 100 feet. At the Prince mine ore beds were formed at seven successively higher horizons in the Pioche shale and the overlying Lyndon and Highland Peak limestones. The ore " beds " above water level in the Prince mine are thoroughly oxidized and consist of manganese-iron oxides low in silver, lead, and zinc. About 800,000 tons of ore carrying 2.5 to 3 ounces of silver to the ton, 3 per cent of lead, 35 per cent of iron, and 15 per cent of manganese has been shipped. The Prince mine was in 1915-1918 the premier producer of lead in Nevada. The ore " bed " that occurs here below water level consists of sphalerite, galena, and pyrite in a gangue of manganosiderite and minor quartz. This is the only locality in the district in which the primary source of the abundant oxidized manganese minerals (wad, pyrolusite, and braunite) has so far been found. Some of the stratiform ore bodies the ore beds, as they are locally called were formed adjacent to exceedingly insignificant-looking fissures; and this dependence on inconspicuous mineralizing fissures is beyond doubt one of the most impressive features in the geology of the district. It opens the possibility that there may be many other bedded deposits which, like the Combined Metals ore bed, do not crop out. To find these ore bodies will be difficult, but their discovery will be aided primarily by applying skillfully a knowledge of the geologic column and by determining the faulting that has disturbed or changed the normal sequence of the strata.
In 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of the oil and gas resource potential of the San Joaquin Basin Province of California. The assessment is based on the geologic elements of each Total Petroleum System defined in the province, including hydrocarbon source rocks (source-rock type and maturation and hydrocarbon generation and migration), reservoir rocks (sequence stratigraphy and petrophysical properties), and hydrocarbon traps (trap formation and timing). Using this geologic framework, the USGS defined five total petroleum systems and ten assessment units within these systems. Undiscovered oil and gas resources were quantitatively estimated for the ten assessment units. In addition, the potential was estimated for further growth of reserves in existing oil fields of the San Joaquin Basin.
Conventional petroleum accumulations are discrete fields or pools localized in structural or stratigraphic traps by the buoyancy of oil or gas in water; they float, bubble-like, in water. This report describes the fundamental concepts supporting the U.S. Geological Survey “Seventh Approximation” model for resource assessments of conventional accumulations. The Seventh Approximation provides a strategy for estimating volumes of undiscovered petroleum (oil, gas, and coproducts) having the potential to be added to reserves in a 30-year forecast span. The assessment of an area requires (1) choice of a minimum accumulation size, (2) assignment of geologic and access risk, and (3) estimation of the number and sizes of undiscovered accumulations in the assessment area. The combination of these variables yields probability distributions for potential additions to reserves. Assessment results are controlled by geology-based input parameters supplied by knowledgeable geologists, as opposed to projections of historical trends.
This bulletin/professional paper focuses on the value of geoscientific information and knowledge, as provided in published government bedrock geological maps, to the mineral exploration sector. An economic model is developed that uses an attribute- ranking approach to convert geological maps into domains of mineral favourability. Information about known deposits in these (or analogous) favourability domains allow the calculation of exploration search statistics that provide input into measures of exploration efficiency, productivity, effectiveness, risk, and cost stemming from the use of the published geological maps. Two case studies, the Flin Flon Belt (Manitoba and Saskatchewan) and the south Baffin Island area (Nunavut), demonstrate that updated, finer resolution maps can be used to identify more exploration campaign options, and campaigns thats are more efficient, more effective, and less risky than old, coarser resolution maps when used as a guide for mineral exploration. The Flin Flon Belt study illustrates that an updated, coarser resolution bedrock map enables improved mineral exploration efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness by locating 60% more targets and supporting an exploration campaign that is 44% more efficient. Refining the map resolution provides an additional 17% reduction in search effort across all favourable domains and a 55% reduction in search effort in the most favourable domain. The south Baffin Island case study projects a 40% increase in expected targets and a 27% reduction in search effort when the updated, finer resolution map is used in lieu of the old, coarser resolution map. On southern Baffin Island, the economic value of the up dated map ranges from CAN$2.28 million to CAN$15.21 million, which can be compared to the CAN$1.86 million that it cost to produce the map (a multiplier effect of up to eight).
Searles Valley is an arid, closed basin lying 70 km east of the south end of the Sierra Nevada, California. It is bounded on the east and northeast by the Slate Range, on the west by the Argus Range and Spangler Hills, and on the south by the Lava Mountains; Searles (dry) Lake occupies the north-central part of the valley. During those parts of late Pliocene and Pleistocene time when precipitation and runoff from the east side of the Sierra Nevada into the Owens River were much greater than at present, a chain of as many as five large lakes was created, of which Searles Lake was third. The stratigraphic record left in Searles Valley when that lake expanded, contracted, or desiccated, is fully revealed by cores from beneath the surface of Searles (dry) Lake and partly recorded by sediments cropping out around the edge of the valley. The subsurface record is described elsewhere. This volume includes six geologic maps (scales: 1:50,000 and 1:10,000) and a text that describes the outcrop record, most of which represents sedimentation since 150 ka. Although this outcrop record is discontinuous, it provides evidence indicating the lake's water depths during each expansion, which the subsurface record does not. Maximum-depth lakes rose to the 2,280-ft (695 m) contour, the level of the spillway that led overflowing waters to Panamint Valley; that spillway is about 660 ft (200 m) above the present dry-lake surface. Several rock units of Tertiary and early Quaternary ages crop out in Searles Valley. Siltstone and sandstone of Tertiary age, mostly lacustrine in nature and locally deformed to near-vertical dips, are exposed in the southern part of the valley, as is the younger(?) upper Miocene Bedrock Spring Formation. Unnamed, mostly mafic volcanic rocks of probable Miocene or Pliocene age are exposed along the north and south edges of the basin. Slightly deformed lacustrine sandstones are mapped in the central-southwestern and southern parts of the study area. The Christmas Canyon Formation and deposits mapped as older gravel and older tufa are extensively exposed over much of the basin floor. The older gravel unit and the gravel facies of the Christmas Canyon Formation are boulder alluvial gravels; parts of these units are probably correlative. The lacustrine facies of the Christmas Canyon Formation includes the Lava Creek ash, which is dated at 0.64 Ma; the older tufa deposits may be equivalent in age to those sediments. Most of this study concerns sediments of the newly described Searles Lake Formation, whose deposition spanned the period between about 150 ka and 2 ka. Most of this formation is lacustrine in origin, but it includes interbedded alluvium. To extract as much geologic detail as possible, criteria were developed that permitted (1) intrabasin correlation of some thin outcrop units representative of only a few thousand years (or less), (2) identification of unconformities produced by subaerial erosion, (3) identification of unconformities produced by sublacustrine erosion, and (4) correlation of outcrop units with subsurface units. The Searles Lake Formation is divided into seven main units, many of which are subdivided on the five larger scale geologic maps. Units A (oldest), B, C, and D are dominantly lacustrine in origin. The Pleistocene-Holocene boundary is placed at the top of unit C. In areas that were a kilometer or more from shore at the time of deposition, deposits of units A,B, and C consist of fine, highly calcareous sand, silt, or clay; nearer to shore they consist of well-sorted coarse sand and gravel. Unit A has been locally subdivided into as many as four subunits, unit B into six subunits, and unit C into six subunits. The finer facies of units A, B, and C contain such high percentages of Caco3 that they are best described as marl. Sediments of unit C, and to a lesser extent those of unit B, are laminated with light- to white-colored layers of aragonite, calcite, or dolomite(?) that may repre
In 1996, a memorandum of understanding was signed by representatives of the U.S. Geological Survey and Kennecott Greens Creek Mining Company to initiate a cooperative applied research project focused on the Greens Creek massive sulfide deposit in southeastern Alaska. The goals of the project were consistent with the mandate of the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program to maintain a leading role in national mineral deposits research and with the need of Kennecott Greens Creek Mining Company to further development of the Greens Creek deposit and similar deposits in Alaska and elsewhere. The memorandum enumerated four main research priorities: (1) characterization of protoliths for the wall rocks, and elucidation of their alteration histories, (2) determination of the ore mineralogy and paragenesis, including metal residences and metal zonation within the deposit, (3) determination of the ages of events important to ore formation using both geochronology and paleontology, and (4) development of computer models that would allow the deposit and its host rocks to be examined in detail in three dimensions. The work was carried out by numerous scientists of diverse expertise over a period of several years. The written results, which are contained in this Professional Paper, are presented by 21 authors: 13 from the U.S. Geological Survey, 4 from Kennecott Greens Creek Mining Company, 2 from academia, and 2 from consultants. The Greens Creek deposit (global resource of 24.2 million tons at an average grade of 13.9 percent zinc, 5.1 percent lead, 0.15 troy ounce per ton gold, and 19.2 troy ounces per ton silver at zero cutoff) formed in latest Triassic time during a brief period of rifting of the Alexander terrane. The deposit exhibits a range of syngenetic, diagenetic, and epigenetic features that are typical of volcanogenic (VMS), sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX), and Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) genetic models. In the earliest stages of rifting, formation of precious-metal-rich silica-barite-carbonate white ores began at low temperature in a shallow, subaqueous setting, probably a thin carbonate shelf on the flanks of the Alexander landmass. Epigenetic carbonate replacement textures in the footwall dolostones are overlain by stratiform silica-carbonate-barite-rich ores and indicate that early mineralization formed at and just beneath the paleo sea floor by mixing of a reduced, precious-metal-rich, base-metal-poor hydrothermal fluid with oxygenated seawater. As rifting intensified, the shelf was downfaulted and isolated as a graben. Isolation of the basin and onset of starved-basin shale sedimentation was concurrent with emplacement of mafic-ultramafic intrusives at shallow levels in the rift, resulting in an increasingly higher temperature and progressively more anoxic ore-forming environment. The formation of the main stage of massive sulfide ores began as the supply of bacterially reduced sulfur increased in the accumulating shales. As the main-stage mineralization intensified, shale sedimentation inundated the hydrothermal system, eventually forming a cap. Biogenic sulfate reduction supplied reduced sulfur to the base of the shales where mixing occurred with hot, base-metal-rich hydrothermal fluids. Ore deposition continued by destruction and epigenetic replacement of the early white ores in proximal areas and by inflation and diagenetic replacement of unlithified shale at the interface between the white ores and the base of the shale cap. Ore deposition waned as the shales became lithified and as the supply of bacterially reduced sulfur to the site of ore deposition ceased. The final stages of rifting resulted in the emplacement of mafic-ultramafic intrusive rocks into the Greens Creek system and extrusion of voluminous basaltic flows at the top of the Triassic section. Greenschist facies metamorphism during the Jurassic-Cretaceous accretion of the Alexander terrane to the continental margin resulted in recrystalli
Contaminants introduced into the subsurface of the Nevada Test Site by underground nuclear testing are of concern to the U.S. Department of Energy and regulators responsible for protecting human health and safety. The potential for contaminant movement away from the underground test areas and into the accessible environment is greatest by groundwater transport. The primary hydrologic control on this transport is evaluated and examined through a series of contour maps developed to represent the hydraulic-head distribution within each of the major aquifers underlying the area. Aquifers were identified and their extents delineated by merging and analyzing multiple hydrostratigraphic framework models developed by other investigators from existing geologic information. A map of the hydraulic-head distribution in each major aquifer was developed from a detailed evaluation and assessment of available water-level measurements. Multiple spreadsheets that accompany this report provide pertinent water-level and geologic data by well or drill hole. Aquifers are mapped and discussed in general terms as being one of two types: alluvial–volcanic, or carbonate. Both aquifer types are subdivided and mapped as independent regional and local aquifers, based on the continuity of their component rock. Groundwater-flow directions, approximated from potentiometric contours that were developed from the hydraulic-head distribution, are indicated on the maps and discussed for each of the regional aquifers and for selected local aquifers. Hydraulic heads vary across the study area and are interpreted to range in altitude from greater than 5,000 feet in a regional alluvial–volcanic aquifer beneath a recharge area in the northern part of the study area to less than 2,300 feet in regional alluvial–volcanic and carbonate aquifers in the southwestern part of the study area. Flow directions throughout the study area are dominantly south-southwest with some local deviations. Vertical hydraulic gradients between aquifer types are downward throughout most of the study area; however, flow from the alluvial–volcanic aquifer into the underlying carbonate aquifer, where both aquifers are present, is believed to be minor because of an intervening confining unit. Limited exchange of water between aquifer types occurs by diffuse flow through the confining unit, by focused flow along fault planes, or by direct flow where the confining unit is locally absent. Interflow between regional aquifers is evaluated and mapped to define major flow paths. These flow paths delineate tributary flow systems, which converge to form intermediate and regional flow systems. The implications of these flow systems in controlling transport of radionuclides away from the underground test areas at the Nevada Test Site are briefly discussed. Additionally, uncertainties in the delineation of aquifers, the development of potentiometric contours, and the identification of flow systems are identified and evaluated. Eleven tributary flow systems and three larger flow systems are mapped in the Nevada Test Site area. Flow systems within the alluvial–volcanic aquifer dominate the western half of the study area, whereas flow systems within the carbonate aquifer are most prevalent in the southeastern half of the study area. Most of the flow in the regional alluvial–volcanic aquifer that moves through the underground testing area on Pahute Mesa is discharged to the land surface at springs and seeps in Oasis Valley. Flow in the regional carbonate aquifer is internally compartmentalized by major geologic structures, primarily thrust faults, which constrain flow into separate corridors. Contaminants that reach the regional carbonate aquifer from testing areas in Yucca and Frenchman Flats flow toward downgradient discharge areas through the Alkali Flat–Furnace Creek Ranch or Ash Meadows flow systems and their tributaries.
Summary Mineral commodities are vital for economic growth, improving the quality of life, providing for national defense, and the overall functioning of modern society. Minerals are being used in larger quantities than ever before and in an increasingly diverse range of applications. With the increasing demand for a considerably more diverse suite of mineral commodities has come renewed recognition that competition and conflict over mineral resources can pose significant risks to the manufacturing industries that depend on them. In addition, production of many mineral commodities has become concentrated in relatively few countries (for example, tungsten, rare-earth elements, and antimony in China; niobium in Brazil; and platinum-group elements in South Africa and Russia), thus increasing the risk for supply disruption owing to political, social, or other factors. At the same time, an increasing awareness of and sensitivity to potential environmental and health issues caused by the mining and processing of many mineral commodities may place additional restrictions on mineral supplies. These factors have led a number of Governments, including the Government of the United States, to attempt to identify those mineral commodities that are viewed as most “critical” to the national economy and (or) security if supplies should be curtailed. This book presents resource and geologic information on the following 23 mineral commodities currently among those viewed as important to the national economy and national security of the United States: antimony (Sb), barite (barium, Ba), beryllium (Be), cobalt (Co), fluorite or fluorspar (fluorine, F), gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge), graphite (carbon, C), hafnium (Hf), indium (In), lithium (Li), manganese (Mn), niobium (Nb), platinum-group elements (PGE), rare-earth elements (REE), rhenium (Re), selenium (Se), tantalum (Ta), tellurium (Te), tin (Sn), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), and zirconium (Zr). For a number of these commodities—for example, graphite, manganese, niobium, and tantalum—the United States is currently wholly dependent on imports to meet its needs. The first two chapters (A and B) deal with general information pertinent to the study of mineral resources. Chapters C through V describe individual mineral commodities and include an overview of current uses of the commodity, identified resources and their distribution nationally and globally, the state of current geologic knowledge, the potential for finding additional deposits nationally and globally, and geoenvironmental issues that may be related to the production and uses of the commodity. These chapters are updates of the commodity chapters published in 1973 in U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 820, “United States Mineral Resources.”
The Long Strait Basin is both a stand alone petroleum province and an assessment unit (AU) that lies offshore in the East Siberian Sea north of Chukotka and south of Wrangel Island. This basin is known only on the basis of gravity data and a single proprietary seismic line. In the absence of more specific data, its position and regional setting suggest that it may have petroleum geologic characteristics similar to the nearby Hope Basin. Because the geology and petroleum potential of the Long Strait Basin are so poorly known, only a single AU was defined for this study area. An overall probability of ~0.08 (8 percent) of at least one petroleum accumulation larger than 50 million barrels of oil equivalent was determined on the basis of estimated probabilities of the occurrence of petroleum source, adequate reservoir, trap and seal, and favorable timing. Because this probability falls below the 10 percent probability cutoff used in the U.S. Geological Survey’s Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal, no quantitative assessment of sizes and numbers of petroleum accumulations was conducted for this AU.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the potential for undiscovered oil and gas resources of the North Kara Basins and Platforms Province as part of the its Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal. This geologic province is north of western Siberia, Russian Federation, in the North Kara Sea between Novaya Zemlya to the west and Severnaya Zemlya to the east. One assessment unit (AU) was defined, the North Kara Basins and Platforms AU, which coincides with the geologic province. This AU was assessed for undiscovered, technically recoverable resources. The total estimated mean volumes of undiscovered petroleum resources in the province are ~1.8 billion barrels of crude oil, ~15.0 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and ~0.4 billion barrels of natural-gas liquids, all north of the Arctic Circle.
Active volcanic systems pose serious hazards to people and property including inundation and incineration by lava, blanketing by tephra (volcanic ash), exposure to noxious volcanic gases, and damage from shallow earthquakes triggered by ascending molten material (magma). To improve understanding of volcanism and associated seismicity on the western Arabia Plate, the Saudi Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a multi-year investigation of the northern Harrat Rahat volcanic field adjacent to the city of Al Madīnah al Munawwarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Project components included creation of a high-resolution digital topographic base; interpretation of eruptive history supported by detailed geologic mapping, paleomagnetism, and abundant high-precision geochronology of volcanic deposits; assessments of eruptive styles and volcanic hazards by physical volcanology; investigation of the origins of magmas in the mantle and of their differentiation in the crust revealed by chemical and isotopic petrology; gravity and magnetotelluric surveys to reveal crustal structures and to search for magma reservoirs; and regional and local seismic tomography and analyses of seismic hazards. Project results are presented in this Professional Paper as chapters written for technical scientific audiences.
Introduction Geologic mapping in the southern Lake Champlain valley of New York and Vermont (fig. 1) has required evaluation of stratigraphic nomenclature used since the early 1900s. The paleogeography of the Cambrian and Ordovician adjacent to the Adirondack Highlands, the high-relief mountains of Proterozoic igneous and metamorphic rocks of northern New York, has impacted the lithostratigraphic succession, facies changes, and several hiatuses that occur within the package of clastic and carbonate rocks that demonstrates overall deepening consistent from the southern to northern Appalachians. The stratigraphic nomenclature used for the geologic mapping of the Cambrian and Ordovician strata of the study area is derived from evaluation of names put forth by previous workers from areas of northern New York and western Vermont. Descriptions of type localities or type sections and other criteria set forth by the North American Stratigraphic Code (North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature [NACSN], 2021) were consulted. The North American Stratigraphic Code states that lithostratigraphic units, such as the fundamental unit, the formation, be defined by lithic character and be mappable (NACSN, 2021, Article 24). However, some early workers (Walcott, 1912; Kay, 1937; Fisher and Hanson, 1951; Oxley and Kay, 1959) have defined stratigraphic units based on fossil content, which may or may not be facies dependent, and hence may not be mappable as lithostratigraphic units. Although preservation of older names takes priority in stratigraphic nomenclature (NACSN, 2021, Article 7), some do not have adequately defined stratotypes or are located a distance away with different lithologies than that in the study area. Biostratigraphy can be a helpful tool for understanding correlations and facies changes. Herein, conodont biostratigraphy is utilized to date and correlate separate lithologic units. Further, microfacies analyses of units through inspection of petrographic thin sections provide paleogeographic information that helps in understanding the genesis of geologic units.
Geologic, or naturally occurring, hydrogen has the potential to become a new, low-carbon, primary energy resource. Often referred to as “white” or “gold” hydrogen, this gas occurs naturally in the Earth’s subsurface, similar to petroleum resources. However, unlike petroleum, which releases carbon dioxide when burned, burning hydrogen only produces water as a byproduct. Exploration for geologic hydrogen remains in an early stage and discoveries of high concentrations of subsurface hydrogen are still relatively rare. To facilitate research and exploration for this potential resource, this report presents the first publicly available prospectivity map of geologic hydrogen accumulations in the conterminous United States. Prospective regions are those regions in which all major components necessary for a hydrogen accumulation likely are present—a source of sufficient hydrogen generation, porous reservoirs for storage, and seals to prevent leakage. The midcontinent region of the United States and the central California coast are revealed as having high prospectivity. This analysis also identifies previously unrecognized prospective regions that may be favorable due to long distance lateral migration of subsurface hydrogen, such as the offshore eastern seaboard of the United States, and can provide a linkage between surface observations of hydrogen degassing and far-field source regions. The methodology developed to create this map is expandable and flexible and may be adapted to incorporate new concepts in the hydrogen system and for application to other regions of the world.
This report deals with an area of 425 square miles in the western part of Texas, immediately south of the New Mexico line. The area comprises the south end of the Guadalupe Mountains and the adjacent part of the Delaware Mountains; it includes the highest peaks in the State of Texas. The area is a segment of a large mountain mass that extends 50 miles or more northward and southward. The report describes the geology of the area, that is, the nature of its rocks, tectonics, and surface features, and the evidence that they give as to the evolution of the area through geologic time. Incidental reference is made to the geology of surrounding regions in order to place the area in its environment. The Permian system of the southwestern United States has been until recently one of the intriguing but little known subjects of American stratigraphy. In the latter half of the nineteenth century after the western. United States was settled, the "red bed" sections of the Permian were studied and reported on by many geologists, but up to 1920 the existence of a contemporaneous marine sequence in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico was little appreciated. Since that year the discovery of extensive oil fields and potash beds in this region gave an impetus to the study of the Permian rocks, and furnished the geologist with records of hundreds of drill holes from which to deduce the nature of the strata not exposed at the surface. At the same time geologists have studied the rocks in the outcropping areas, and have compared them with the strata encountered by drilling. Much remains to be done in order to understand the history of Permian time in the region. The physical and chemical conditions that caused. the deposition of .the various and often complexly related deposits need to be better understood. More of the fossils of the rich and interesting marine faunas should be described, and the relations of the fossils to their environments should be determined. Further, a satisfactory scheme of correlation is needed, and also a subdivision into series that will express the contemporaneity of strata in different areas. One useful contribution to the solution of these problems is the detailed study of sequences of rocks exposed at the surface in the different mountain ranges of Texas and New Mexico. This report deals with one such sequence of rocks in western Texas, the one exposed in the southern Guadalupe Mountains (fig. 1). Here, the Permian rocks are magnificently exposed, to a thickness of about 4,000 feet (pl. 1). They are all of marine origin, and belong to the middle part of the system, with the base concealed and the top absent. Overlying and underlying beds, however, are found in nearby areas.
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