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USGS2016

Sedimentary exhalative (sedex) zinc-lead-silver deposit model

This report draws on previous syntheses and basic research studies of sedimentary exhalative (sedex) deposits to arrive at the defining criteria, both descriptive and genetic, for sedex-type deposits. Studies of the tectonic, sedimentary, and fluid evolution of modern and ancient sedimentary basins have also been used to select defining criteria. The focus here is on the geologic characteristics of sedex deposit-hosting basins that contain greater than 10 million metric tons of zinc and lead. The enormous size of sedex deposits strongly suggests that basin-scale geologic processes are involved in their formation. It follows that mass balance constraints of basinal processes can provide a conceptual underpinning for the evaluation of potential ore-forming mechanisms and the identification of geologic indicators for ore potential in specific sedimentary basins. Empirical data and a genetic understanding of the physicochemical, geologic, and mass balance conditions required for each of these elements are used to establish a hierarchy of quantifiable geologic criteria that can be used in U.S. Geological Survey national assessments. In addition, this report also provides a comprehensive evaluation of environmental considerations associated with the mining of sedex deposits.

Scientific Investigations Report↗

USGS2025

A 700-year rupture sequence of great eastern Aleutian earthquakes from tsunami modeling of stratigraphic records

Great Aleutian underthrusting earthquakes produced destructive tsunamis impacting Hawaiʻi in 1946 and 1957. Prior modeling of the 1957 tsunami deposit and runup records on eastern Aleutian and Hawaiian Islands jointly with tide-gauge observations across the Pacific Ocean constrained a rupture model with shallow slip up to 26 m along 600 km of the plate boundary. Here we implement this modeling approach to older deposits and show alternating deep and shallow megathrust slip up to 26, 32, and 22 m for great earthquakes along the same segment in the 18 th , 15 th , and 14 th centuries. All three modeled prehistoric Aleutian earthquakes produce tsunami inundation in Hawaiʻi with the most severe, 14 th century event having impacts exceeding the 1957 event. The along-dip variability of these four ruptures spanning seven centuries provides insights on earthquake cycles for engineering design and hazard assessment. The 15 th century and 1957 rupture models provide evidence for recurrence of tsunami earthquakes, which can produce disproportionately large tsunamis for a given moment magnitude due to reduced rigidity in the shallow megathrust. The 14 th and 18 th century events likely ruptured deeper regions that did not slip in 1957, suggesting potential for corresponding deeper failure in the next great eastern Aleutian earthquake.

Alaska, Hawaii↗

USGS2026

Orientation dependence of probabilistic seismic hazard estimates from CyberShake physics-based simulations

Earthquake ground‐motion intensities, such as pseudospectral accelerations (SAs), can vary significantly with horizontal orientation. However, conducting probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for each horizontal orientation is challenging because current ground‐motion models used in PSHA consider only a single horizontal intensity value, usually the median across all orientations, known as RotD50. To address this limitation, we employ physics‐based simulations for PSHA, which contain full waveforms from which ground‐motion intensities can be computed for all horizontal orientations to study directional seismic hazard. We apply our approach to the latest CyberShake study of the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, developed by the Statewide California Earthquake Center, finding that seismic hazard at a 2475‐yr return period, a common value used for earthquake‐resistant design, varies significantly with horizontal orientation. For instance, for SAs at 3 s, the maximum seismic hazard across all horizontal orientations is, on average, 15% higher than the median RotD50 hazard, with these differences becoming more pronounced at longer periods. These observed variations can generally be attributed to physical mechanisms that polarize seismic waves, such as the radiation pattern of the earthquake source and the influence of the subsurface structure. These results may have important implications for earthquake engineering applications, particularly for long‐period structures in areas with substantial horizontal variations in seismic hazard.

California↗

USGS2025

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-O 2 incorporation during sulfate formation is still debated, making its verification difficult. In this study, we identify a distinct, microbially dominated environment with the potential to preserve maximum signals of air-O 2 in sulfate. We report triple-oxygen isotope data for sulfate produced from pyrite oxidation in microbial and abiotic experiments, and from natural dissolved sulfate from the Rio Tinto, Spain, an acid mine drainage site. The oxygen isotope systematics of sulfate in these environments define a unique kinetic isotope effect associated with initial stage pyrite oxidation by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans that preserves >80 % oxygen from air-O 2 in sulfate. Unlike experiments, which evolve toward water-oxygen dominated sulfate on short time scales, Rio Tinto, Spain hosts a microbe rich environment with distinct geochemistry that maintains high O 2 -oxygen in sulfate. Therefore, in addition to containing isotopic records from water and air, sulfates can also contain a biosignature that is promising for understanding conditions on Mars and early Earth.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters↗

USGS2026

Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: Rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal

Habitat fragmentation is a global driver of decline in biodiversity, yet evaluations of ecological response following re-connection remain rare. In 2024, four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River were removed, reconnecting over 640 km of anadromous habitat and marking the largest dam removal project completed to date. We used a stationary high-resolution multi-beam imaging SONAR to quantify adult Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) passage into newly reopened reaches during the first two migratory seasons following dam removal. An estimated 7,742 (95% CI: 7,702–7,778) Chinook salmon migrated upstream in 2024 and 13,310 (95% CI: 12,876–13,733) in 2025, representing 18–19% of fish returning to the Klamath River Basin. Within this period, Chinook salmon recolonized 88% of their documented historical distribution, expanding into 345 km of reconnected habitats and reaching elevations of up to 1,250 m. Recolonization required fish to swim through dam removal sites, complex hydraulic corridors and engineered fishways, demonstrating the propensity for rapid recolonization at basin scale despite these challenges. These findings provide the first quantitative assessment of salmon response to the world’s largest dam removal and demonstrate how reconnection can catalyze large-scale recolonization in historically fragmented river networks.

California, Oregon↗

USGS2025

Detecting hidden sedimentary geothermal systems in the Upper Colorado River Basin

Geothermal resources exist in sedimentary rock where circulation of water for efficient extraction or storage of heat is possible. Except in rare instances where hot water is expressed at the land surface, sedimentary geothermal resources are hidden, so the identification of these systems is optimally accomplished using predictive subsurface modeling. An integrated approach using detailed paleogeographic interpretations, subsurface geologic mapping, and numerical modeling has produced regional geologic and temperature models for the Upper Colorado River Basin, a large watershed in central North America that contains many sedimentary basins. These models identify areas of hidden sedimentary geothermal resource potential in low temperature (<90°C), moderate temperature (90–150°C), and high temperature (>150°C) fairways across the study area. These models incorporate maps of key horizons in outcrop and the subsurface to create a robust structural framework that can be used to target favorable geology for natural or engineered permeability. This framework is populated with lithologies derived from detailed palaeogeographical maps and over 40,000 bottom hole temperature (BHT) values were used to create a calibrated three-dimensional (3D) temperature model across the region. The resulting maps serve as a regional sedimentary geothermal play fairway screening tool for evaluating different grades of sedimentary geothermal resources and for identifying areas of interest where more detailed, prospect-scale studies can be undertaken.

Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming↗

USGS2026

Transit time modeling framework for predicting freshwater salinization in urban catchments

The salinity of inland freshwaters is rising globally, particularly in urban watersheds where winter road deicers are widely applied. Attributing stream salinity dynamics to specific sources and transport pathways remains challenging due to episodic salt inputs, engineered drainage, and strong coupling between hydrology and subsurface storage. We present a modeling framework that couples climate-driven deicer build-up and wash-off with transient transit time distribution theory to simulate salt transport through drainage, interflow, and groundwater pathways. Applied to an urban watershed in Northern Virginia (USA), the model reproduces ten years of high-frequency stream salinity measurements across daily-to-decadal timescales. The calibrated model implies an average deicer application of 206 tonnes Cl −1 yr −1 , or roughly one 20 kg bag of rock salt person −1 yr −1 when normalized by the 20,000 people living in the watershed. In winter months, higher infiltration routes a large fraction of snowmelt and deicers into shallow subsurface pathways, enhancing vadose-zone and interflow contributions to stream salinity. Limited subsurface storage capacity and seasonal hydrologic turnover flush excess chloride from the vadose zone and groundwater during subsequent summer storms. By linking climate-driven deicer inputs, hydrologic connectivity, and stream water age, the framework provides a transferable basis for diagnosing and managing freshwater salinization in urban watersheds.

Virginia↗

USGS2026

Bedrock geologic map of the Eagle Lake quadrangle, Essex County, New York

The bedrock geology of the 7.5-minute Eagle Lake quadrangle, Essex County, New York, consists of deformed and metamorphosed Mesoproterozoic gneisses of the Adirondack Highlands unconformably overlain by weakly deformed lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of the Champlain Valley. The Mesoproterozoic rocks occur on the eastern edge of the Adirondack Highlands and represent an extension of the Grenville Province of Laurentia. Granulite facies Mesoproterozoic paragneiss, marble, and amphibolite hosted the emplacement of an anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) suite, now exposed mostly as orthogneiss, at approximately 1.18–1.15 giga-annum (Ga, billion years before present). The earliest of four phases of deformation (D1) predated AMCG magmatism and is characterized by gneissosity, rarely preserved F1 isoclinal folds, and migmatite in the paragneiss host rocks. A sample of hornblende quartz syenite from the AMCG suite, collected from an abandoned railroad cut on Old Furnace Road, yielded a U-Pb zircon age of 1,149±10 million years before present. D2 deformation produced a composite penetrative gneissosity, migmatite, and isoclinal F2 folds. Towards the end of D2, felsic magmatism (including the regionally extensive Lyon Mountain Granite Gneiss, abbreviated “LMG”) spread by penetrative migration as semiconcordant alkali feldspar granite sheets subparallel to S2 into the previously deformed lithologies. The LMG crystallized at approximately 1.15 to 1.14 Ga and displays synkinematic F2 folds thus constraining the time of D2 deformation. Exhumation of the Marcy anorthosite began during D3 along a mylonitic extensional detachment, as a type of core complex. Protracted D3 produced F3 folds exhibited in regional domes and basins, such as the Hammondville antiform, reactivation of the S2 foliation, partial melting, metamorphism, metasomatism, iron ore remobilization, and intrusion of magnetite-bearing pegmatite both as layer-parallel sills and crosscutting dikes. D4 created NE- and NW-trending boudinage, local high-grade ductile shear zones, and crosscutting granitic pegmatite dikes. Kilometer (km)-scale lineaments readily observed in lidar data are Ediacaran mafic dikes and Phanerozoic brittle faults. Lower Paleozoic rocks are part of the Early Cambrian to Late Ordovician great American carbonate bank on the ancient margin of Laurentia. The Potsdam Sandstone preserves the Cambrian stratigraphy in outliers above the Great Unconformity. The Paleozoic rocks are weakly folded and block faulted. Parts of the quadrangle are covered by undifferentiated glacial deposits, but much of the quadrangle contains only a variably thick, veneer of unmapped glacial till over significant areas of exposed bedrock. The map also shows waste rock piles and locations of historical mining operations. This study was undertaken to improve our understanding of the bedrock geology in the Adirondack Highlands, establish a modern framework for 1:24,000-scale bedrock geologic mapping in the Adirondack Mountains, and provide a modern context for historical mines. This Scientific Investigations Map of the Eagle Lake 7.5-minute quadrangle consists of a map sheet, an explanatory pamphlet, and a geographic information system database that includes bedrock geologic units, faults, outcrops, and structural geologic information. The map sheet includes a bedrock geologic map, a correlation of map units, a description of map units, an explanation of map symbols, and two cross sections. The explanatory pamphlet includes a discussion of the geology.

New York↗

USGS2025

Shallow geologic framework of the Mississippi Sound and the potential for sediment resources

The Mississippi Sound, an estuarine environment located between the mainland and barrier islands bordering the northern Gulf of America (formerly the Gulf of Mexico), serves as a vital ecosystem for the States of Mississippi and Alabama. Spanning approximately 100 kilometers from east to west and covering 1,400 square kilometers, the sound is home to marine industry and ports, and its shallow and brackish waters sustain a diverse array of marine life. Barrier islands along the southern edge of the sound separate the microtidal estuary from the Gulf of America. This protection from gulf wave action mediates current flow within the sound, resulting in predominantly fine-grained sediment deposition along the seafloor. This study, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, provides insight on fluvial and tidal processes spanning the past 5,000 years. The report synthesizes existing research to provide a comprehensive overview of the sound geology, from Pleistocene origins to present-day morphology, and utilizes high-resolution single channel seismic profiles and sediment data to identify and map sedimentary deposits and morphologic features at and below the seafloor. Despite its ecological significance, the Mississippi Sound faces environmental challenges, including water-quality issues, habitat degradation, storm-induced erosion, and the ongoing threats of sea-level rise and environmental changes. This study uses the present-day understanding of the sound's geology to inform coastal management decisions, hazard assessment, and potential mineral resources.

Louisiana, Mississippi↗

USGS2025

Combining scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence to characterize shear zones at the Pogo gold deposit, Alaska

This study employs a multi-method analytical approach to characterize the mineralogical, geochemical, and textural properties of fault rocks from the Pogo gold mine in the Yukon-Tanana Upland, central Alaska. Specifically, we examine cataclasites, to document the structural and geochemical evolution of shear zones and their associations with gold mineralization. To investigate the shear zone, we integrate portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), scanning electron microscopy-based automated mineralogy (SEM-AM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and high-resolution micro-X-ray fluorescence (micro-XRF) mapping. These methods collectively provide insights into bulk and trace element chemistry, mineralogical composition, and deformation-related textures across multiple scales. Handheld pXRF enables rapid geochemical screening, guiding SEM-AM and XRD analyses to ensure consistent mineralogical interpretation. X-ray diffraction identifies and quantifies crystalline phases, while SEM-AM produces high-resolution mineral maps, revealing mineral abundances, grain-scale textures, and gold associations. Micro-XRF mapping further refines our understanding by showing visual trace element distributions at sub-millimetre resolution. By integrating these techniques, we improve our understanding of the nature and geochemistry of Pogo shear zones, their role in gold mineralization, and support metallurgical processing strategies. This approach enhances exploration models and resource characterization for structurally complex gold deposits.

Alaska↗

USGS2026

Production of mineral commodities and geospatial map of the mineral industries and related infrastructure of China

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) mission to distribute global mineral information and analyze supply chains, this study provides a comprehensive review of the global significance of China’s mineral production and capacity in 2023. Of 77 mineral commodities in the USGS dataset, China produced 74 and was the world’s first-ranked producer for 39 of the 74. Compared to the high share of global mineral production, including up to 98 percent of global gallium production, the country’s share of global mineral reserves was relatively small, ranging from 20 percent (zinc ore) to 52 percent (tungsten ore). China’s imports of metal ores, slag, and ash accounted for 64 percent of global imports of such commodities by value. The country’s exports of base metals and articles of base metal accounted for 17 percent of the global exports. To help nongeographic information system users assess the spatial distribution of mineral mines, processing facilities, and ports for trades in China, this study created a geospatial (also called “georeferenced”) portable document format (GeoPDF) map. In addition, the GeoPDF contains mineral resource tracts (such as antimony, copper, potash, coal, and oil and gas), exploration sites, and energy infrastructure based on the preexisting USGS data.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2026

Polystyrene microplastics alter the accumulation and elimination dynamics of silver nanoparticles in Daphnia magna

Rationale Microplastics (MPs) can interact with engineered nanomaterials and alter their environmental fate and bioavailability. However, their influence on the bioaccumulation dynamics of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in aquatic filter feeders under environmentally relevant conditions remains poorly understood. We hypothesized that polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) alter the uptake, elimination and overall bioaccumulation dynamics of AgNPs in Daphnia magna . Methodology Adult D. magna were exposed to isotopically labeled citrate-coated 109 AgNPs in the presence and absence of PS-MPs. Waterborne uptake, dietary uptake, assimilation efficiency, food ingestion and elimination were quantified experimentally and incorporated into a biodynamic model to predict steady-state silver (Ag) concentrations under environmentally relevant exposure scenarios. Results PS-MPs increased waterborne Ag accumulation by approximately eightfold compared with AgNPs exposure alone. However, Ag elimination was substantially faster, with 98% of accumulated Ag eliminated after five days of depuration compared with 66% without PS-MPs. PS-MPs also reduced food ingestion rates (IRs), while assimilation efficiency remained largely unchanged. Biodynamic modeling predicted that steady-state Ag accumulation was approximately fivefold greater in the presence of PS-MPs, with waterborne exposure becoming the dominant accumulation pathway. Discussion These findings suggest that PS-MPs alter bioaccumulation dynamics of AgNPs in filter-feeding organisms by enhancing organism-associated Ag during waterborne exposure while accelerating Ag elimination, likely through particle-associated transport and gut egestion. Collectively, these results underscore the complexity of Ag bioaccumulation processes when MPs and AgNPs interact and highlight the importance of studies conducted under environmentally relevant conditions.

Environmental Chemistry↗

USGS2025

A probabilistic assessment methodology for the evaluation of geologic energy storage capacity—Natural gas storage in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs

The need for energy storage, particularly underground, where capacity and duration may far exceed battery storage technologies, is especially relevant given the increasing demands for reliable power alongside the development of intermittent renewable electricity sources. Geologic energy storage facilities already exist, and expanded use would enable storing gases such as methane and hydrogen. In 2018, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, “Future Directions for the U.S. Geological Survey's Energy Resources Program,” recommended that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) prioritize assessing underground energy storage in geologic formations in the United States. The U.S. Geological Survey has since developed a methodology for assessing natural gas storage capacities in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs on a national scale. The methodology introduced in this report prescribes three approaches for calculating gas storage capacity. This methodology relies on the availability of input data, including cumulative hydrocarbon production records, reservoir petrophysical properties, and reservoir pressure data. Assessment inputs can be obtained from public, State-level databases and propriety national-scale databases, although the use of analogs could be warranted for estimating input parameters. Probabilistic assessment results are aggregated to play, petroleum province, regional, and national scales. The steps defined in this report are demonstrated on the Michigan Basin Province, which includes the Mississippian Sandstone Gas Play and the Clinton Structural Play. This methodology could be used to systematically and consistently assess hydrocarbon plays and provinces for natural gas storage capacity across the United States.

Michigan↗

USGS2026

Preliminary bedrock geologic map of the Port Henry quadrangle, Essex County, New York, and Addison County, Vermont

Introduction The bedrock geology of the 7.5-minute Port Henry quadrangle consists of deformed and metamorphosed Mesoproterozoic gneisses of the Adirondack Highlands unconformably overlain by weakly deformed lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of the Champlain Valley. The Mesoproterozoic rocks occur on the eastern edge of the Adirondack Highlands and represent an extension of the Grenville Province of Laurentia. Mesoproterozoic paragneiss, marble, and amphibolite hosted the emplacement of an anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) suite, now exposed mostly as orthogneiss, at approximately 1.18–1.15 Ga (giga-annum). In the Port Henry quadrangle, the AMCG metaigneous rocks (Yhg, Ygb, Yanw) intruded older, mostly metasedimentary rocks of the Grenville Complex during the middle to late Shawinigan orogeny (~1,160–1,150 Ma [mega-annum]). All rocks were subsequently metamorphosed to upper amphibolite to granulite facies conditions during the 1,080–1,050 Ma Ottawan orogeny. New mapping reveals four periods of deformation: (1) D1 produced rarely preserved isoclinal folds in the paragneiss and marble and predates AMCG magmatism. (2) Subsequent D2 deformation produced the dominant gneissic fabric preserved in the rock, recumbent folding, and deformed all the Proterozoic units in the map area. Syn- to late-D2 felsic magmatism resulted in the regionally extensive Lyon Mountain Granite Gneiss, which hosts numerous magnetite ore bodies. (3) Mylonitic extensional shear zones and core complex formation marked the beginning of D3 deformation. Protracted D3 deformation resulted in F3 upright folding, dome and basin formation, pegmatite intrusion, reactivation of the S2 foliation, partial melting, metamorphism, metasomatism, iron-ore remobilization, and intrusion of magnetite-bearing pegmatite both as layer-parallel sills and crosscutting dikes. (4) D4 created northeast- and northwest-trending local high-grade ductile shear zones and boudinage, northwest-trending regional kilometer (km)-wide ductile shear zones, and crosscutting granitic pegmatite dikes. The development of the late-stage regional shear zones (D4) was likely due to the continuation of extensional doming and uplift from upper amphibolite facies conditions at the end of the Ottawan orogeny. The majority of iron-ore deposits in the Port Henry and adjacent Witherbee quadrangles are in the hanging wall of these extensional shear zones. In the Port Henry quadrangle, the km-wide Cheney Mountain shear zone is the result of D4 deformation. Kilometer-scale lineaments readily observed in lidar data are Ediacaran mafic dikes and Phanerozoic brittle faults. The Paleozoic rocks are part of the Early Cambrian to Late Ordovician carbonate bank on the ancient margin of Laurentia. The approximately 1-km-thick Cambrian to Ordovician stratigraphy records a transition from synrift clastics to passive-margin peritidal carbonate buildups to gradually deeper-water subtidal- to shelf-carbonates during foreland basin development associated with the Taconic orogeny. The Paleozoic rocks are weakly folded and block faulted. Large areas of the Champlain Valley are covered by undifferentiated glacial deposits, some of which contain mapped landslides. The map also shows waste rock piles and tailings from historical mining operations. This study was undertaken to improve our understanding of the bedrock geology in the Adirondack Highlands, establish a modern framework for 1:24,000-scale bedrock geologic mapping in the Adirondacks, provide a context for historical iron mines in the eastern Adirondacks, and update the stratigraphy of the Champlain Valley in New York and Vermont. This Open-File Report includes a bedrock geologic map; a description of map units; a correlation of map units; and a geographic information system database that includes bedrock geologic units, faults, outcrops, and structural geologic information.

New York, Vermont↗

USGS2025

Estimation of the accessible and useful resource base for electric-grade enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) resources of the Great Basin, USA

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed a provisional assessment of the electric-grade geothermal resources associated with the low-permeability geologic formations of the Great Basin, USA, where resources are assumed to be accessible using enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) technologies (i.e., the engineering of sufficient permeability to facilitate efficient heat extraction). This assessment required estimation of the accessible resource base (electric-grade heat [>90ºC] at depths where drilling and stimulation are deemed achievable using current technology) and useful resource (heat that can be extracted from the accessible region). Electric-grade heat can be estimated from existing temperature models. The accessible resource base can be estimated as the electric-grade heat that exists at depths shallower than 6 km based on the limitations of current drilling and stimulation technologies, along with evidence for sustained natural fracture conductivity at depth. The useful part of the accessible heat can be estimated as the product of three efficiencies and factors: the heat extraction efficiency, the viable geology factor, and the reservoir spacing efficiency. The accessible and useful parts of the resource can be estimated in units of heat, or in units of electric power using an electrical conversion efficiency, which is a function of resource temperature. We also estimate the ranges for each of the efficiencies and describe the motivations behind the choice of best estimates used for the recent assessment. An analytic solution is provided for the useful resource above any depth (in units of electric power), where efficiency estimation assumes nearly steady heat extraction rates that cool reservoirs to 90ºC over 30 years of power generation.

Great Basin↗

USGS2025

Meet the people where they are: Assessing user needs for aftershock forecast products in El Salvador, Mexico and the United States

Aftershock forecasts can help communities reduce their seismic risk by conveying how many aftershocks can be expected following a large earthquake, and how the expected number of aftershocks and their corresponding ground shaking evolves over time and space. Prior work finds that graphical forecast products may communicate such information better than only text or numbers. To identify which visual products can serve multiple user groups, we held workshops with members of several professions, including emergency managers, engineers, critical infrastructure operators, public health specialists, science communicators, and more. We conducted these workshops in El Salvador, Mexico and the United States to understand which forecast products may be effective across different countries. In these workshops, users performed small-group activities to elicit the types of aftershock forecast information that would support decisions in their respective roles and how this information would optimally be displayed. Maps of shaking hazards were frequently requested across all professions and countries, even for dissimilar forecast uses. The design of these maps, and other product needs, were differentiated by profession, country and other factors. Other forecast products, including those showing forecasts about the magnitudes and time periods of future aftershocks, also served a variety of users, but for different types of decisions. We found a greater variation in user needs by profession than by country, and that user needs also vary with time, communication channel and other contextual factors. We discuss practical implications for user-centered visual communication of operational aftershock forecasts.

International Journal for Disaster Risk Reduction↗

USGS2026

Design and function of the Autonomous Benthic Imaging and Surveying System (ABISS) for remote sensing of lake and seabed environments

Lake and seabed environments are home to fisheries and other biota that are important to ecosystems and economies, yet these environments and the species that use them are difficult to accurately assess and monitor. Traditional benthic survey techniques, like bottom trawling used by the U.S. Geological Survey, are limited by substrate constraints, poor spatial resolution and precision, and operational depth limits, hindering accurate assessment of benthic species and habitats. In response to these limitations, the U.S. Geological Survey developed the Autonomous Benthic Imaging and Surveying System, a camera system integrated into underwater vehicles, to capture high-resolution images of the lakebed. The system uses color and stereo cameras to collect imagery, which can be analyzed using computational methods to detect organisms and (or) characterize habitat features, such as geologic substrate types. The system has been integrated into autonomous underwater vehicles and into an underwater housing used by self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) divers. Although the engineering of the system was motivated by the need for data collection in the Great Lakes, it has potential to collect high quality data in any aqueous setting with sufficient water clarity and safe operating conditions. The Autonomous Benthic Imaging and Surveying System can operate across diverse depths and light conditions to map and quantify ecological patterns that were difficult or impossible to assess using traditional methods. The Autonomous Benthic Imaging and Surveying System offers the potential for accurate and precise monitoring and assessment of native benthic biota, invasive species, and habitat, potentially providing natural resource managers with improved information to support decision making about benthic resource management.

Great Lakes↗

USGS2025

Understanding market sensitivity: Estimation of supply and demand elasticities for non-fuel minerals

In today’s rapidly changing economic landscape, understanding market responsiveness to price changes and the factors influencing commodity prices has become increasingly relevant. Price elasticities serve as indicators of how variations in market conditions affect supply and demand, providing insights into the sensitivity of commodity markets to price fluctuations. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of price elasticities of supply and demand for 74 non-fuel mineral commodities including precious metals, base metals, minor metals, and industrial minerals that are utilized across various industries. We employ various econometric techniques, including fixed effects models for panel data and two-stage dynamic ordinary least squares (2S-DOLS) alongside autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models for time series analysis, to derive robust estimates of price elasticities. Our findings reveal variability in elasticities among different commodities and indicate that all studied mineral commodities exhibit price inelastic supply and demand in the short run, which we define as one year for the purposes of our analysis, given that the data is all annual. This research provides original estimates of price responsiveness for a wide range of commodities that have not been previously addressed in the literature, thereby enhancing the understanding of market dynamics in the mineral sector. Given that price elasticities can be influenced by factors such as market structure, technological advancements, mining costs, and industry-specific demand drivers, we use variables that serve as proxies for these factors.

Mineral Economics↗