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USGS2026

Monitoring recreation on federally managed lands and waters—Aspects of visitor use

Federally managed public lands and waters receive around 1 billion recreational visits each year. Data on these visitors can aid in guiding policy decisions, managing resources effectively, and communicating the economic contributions of lands and waters. This report explores the methods used by agencies to collect data on aspects of recreational visitor use to Federal lands and waters (apart from visitation numbers, which are the focus of a companion publication). Aspects of recreational visitor use include visitor demographics, recreational activity participation, visitor satisfaction, visitor attitudes and experiences, trip characteristics, and economic contributions. We review practices used to understand aspects of visitor use across seven Federal agencies, revealing similarities such as the use of visitor intercept surveys and coverage of similar topic areas, and differences in how survey programs are operationalized and how specific questions on visitor surveys are worded. We also evaluate emerging technologies, such as geolocated social media and mobile device location data, for their potential to aid in understanding aspects of visitor use. This report concludes with potential opportunities to enhance data collection and coordination, ensuring cost- effective data collection and informed decision making.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2025

Critical Minerals in Ores (CMiO) database

Critical minerals are commodities essential to modern industrial and strategic technologies and are highly vulnerable to supply chain disruption. The Critical Minerals Mapping Initiative (CMMI) is a collaboration among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Geological Survey of Canada, and Geoscience Australia that aims to deepen global understanding of where critical minerals are located. A key output of this initiative is the Critical Minerals in Ores (CMiO) database that is advancing our collective understanding of critical minerals distributions. For instance, publicly available data on the concentrations of many critical minerals are sparse because these commodities can only be produced in small, yet essential, quantities compared to the primary commodities like copper and zinc. The CMiO database helps bridge this gap by offering high-quality, multielement geochemical data from a wide variety of critical mineral-bearing deposits around the world. Importantly, it uses a novel consensus deposit environment, group, and type classification scheme developed by the agencies that allows comparisons among ore deposits from different regions. The CMiO database contains geochemical data for more than 20,000 samples from more than 100 deposit types comprising 10 deposit environments.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2024

Earthquake effects surveyed during the nineteenth century as ecological features of Chinookan tidelands

Lasting effects of a Cascadia earthquake in 1700 were documented during surveys of Chinookan tidelands near the mouth of the Columbia River between 1805 and 1868. The effects resemble estuarine consequences, near Anchorage, of the 1964 Alaska earthquake: fatal drowning of subsided meadows and forests by post-earthquake tides, rebirth of marshes and forests through post-earthquake sedimentation, and uplift. Chinookan remains of killed forests were recorded by James Graham Cooper, John J. Lowell, and Cleveland Rockwell. Cooper, attached to a railroad survey and the Smithsonian Institution, wrote of redcedar stumps and trunks standing dead in tidal marshes of Shoalwater (now Willapa) Bay. Two such snags served as bearing trees for Lowell as he platted a Shoalwater Bay township under contract with the General Land Office. Rockwell, of the US Coast Survey, flecked landward edges of tidal flats west of Astoria with symbols that evoke remains of a bygone spruce forest. The Lewis and Clark Expedition, while in that area in 1805–1806, mapped and puzzled over tideland vegetation that post-1700 succession helps explain.

Alaska, British Columbia, California, Oregon, Wash↗
USGS2025

Ordovician stratigraphy, structure, and karst of the Falling Spring Valley, Alleghany County, Virginia, USA

This one-day trip highlights new findings on a preliminary bedrock geologic map that shows results from ongoing geologic mapping in the Falling Spring Valley of Alleghany County, Virginia, USA, which is the southern end of the larger Warm Springs Valley, an elongated anticlinal valley rimmed by Ordovician and Silurian siliciclastic rocks, and which is famous for its thermal springs. This mapping includes stratigraphic, structural, and karst field and lab research focused on the Ordovician strata exposed in the area, the oldest of which is the dolomitic upper part of the Beekmantown Formation (Lower Ordovician, Darriwilian), and the youngest of which is the Juniata Formation (Upper Ordovician, Katian), a sequence of siliciclastic redbeds. Warm Springs Valley is the location of the only known caves in the eastern United States—three at present—with thermal waters flowing in some of their passages. Stops on the trip will highlight key details from mapping efforts, primarily within the structurally deformed Ordovician carbonate sequence that is exposed in the core and limbs of the anticline, as well as the associated karst features that are developed in those carbonate rocks, including results of recent dye traces and water temperature monitoring that have improved our understanding of the karst hydrogeologic systems developed in these strata.

Virginia↗
USGS2024

Evaluation of the lithium resource in the Smackover Formation brines of southern Arkansas using machine learning

Global demand for lithium, the primary component of lithium-ion batteries, greatly exceeds known supplies, and this imbalance is expected to increase as the world transitions away from fossil fuel energy sources. High concentrations of lithium in brines have been observed in the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas (>400 milligrams per liter). We used published and newly collected brine lithium concentration data to train a random forest machine-learning model using geologic, geochemical, and temperature explanatory variables and create a map of predicted lithium concentrations in Smackover Formation brines across southern Arkansas. Using these predicted lithium maps with reservoir parameters and geologic information, we calculated that there are 5.1 to 19 million tons of lithium in Smackover Formation brines in southern Arkansas, which represents 35 to 136% of the current US lithium resource estimate. Based on these calculations, in 2022, 5000 tons of dissolved lithium were brought to the surface within brines as waste streams of the oil, gas, and bromine industries.

Arkansas↗
USGS2025

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 southern Appalachians of Alabama and the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. These surveys aimed to refine areas of interest by revealing subsurface electrical resistivity patterns indicative of graphite-bearing rocks. The results of the AEM surveys were integrated with existing geological knowledge and supplemented by field observations to assess the likelihood of undiscovered resources in these regions. This multidisciplinary approach combined geophysical techniques with traditional geological methods, enhancing the understanding of graphite potential in areas that may have been previously overlooked. The findings from this initiative are expected to contribute significantly to the ongoing efforts to secure a reliable domestic supply of graphite, thereby reducing import reliance and supporting national interests in mineral resource management.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1976

Guidelines for collection and field analysis of ground-water samples for selected unstable constituents

The unstable nature of many chemical and physical constituents in ground water requires special collection procedures and field analysis immediately after collection. This report describes the techniques and equipment commonly used in the collection and field analysis of samples for pH, temperature, carbonate, bicarbonate, specific conductance, Eh, and dissolved oxygen.

Open-File Report↗
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↗
USGS2025

Prospectivity mapping for geologic hydrogen

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.

conterminous United States↗
USGS2026

Widespread abyssal turbidites record megathrust earthquake-triggered landslides and coseismic deformation in the Cascadia subduction zone

Abyssal marine turbidites provide some of the longest and most spatially extensive records of subduction zone earthquake recurrence globally; however, correlation of these deposits over long distances and interpretation of synchronous emplacement requires both an understanding of the turbidite generating systems and precise dating. Here, we present an integrated suite of high-resolution bathymetry, subbottom profiles, and sediment cores from combined autonomous underwater vehicle, remotely operated vehicle, and ship-based studies at a key paleoseismic site in the southern Cascadia subduction zone. We demonstrate how widespread, earthquake-triggered landslides on the lower slope deposit discrete, proximal mass transport deposits (MTDs) that grade offshore into complex, interfingered abyssal turbidites, which correspond to records of megathrust earthquake history. We propose accretion and oversteepening of thrust folds on the lower slope both preconditions the slope to fail and provides a perpetual source of unstable material to fail during every earthquake cycle. Furthermore, we suggest the periodic and pervasive landsliding indicates coseismic deformation of the outer accretionary wedge during megathrust rupture.

California, Oregon↗
USGS2026

Estimating paleotemperature using stable isotopes of soil-formed phyllosilicates from paleosols: A review

Fossilized soils, or paleosols, contain soil-formed phyllosilicates whose stable isotopic compositions may be used to calculate paleotemperature and thus reconstruct ancient terrestrial environments. Though paleosols are common in the geologic record, the use of phyllosilicates as paleotemperature proxies is limited in the literature owing to difficulties with selecting optimal paleosols, isolation from non-clay minerals and organic materials, mixtures of phyllosilicates in natural samples, wide variations of chemical compositions for phyllosilicates, and limited to undefined equilibrium fractionation factors between phyllosilicates-water. Here, we address these challenges by examining and comparing methods used for sample selection, mineral isolation, pretreatments, mineral identification, conventional and developing methods for oxygen and hydrogen isotopic analyses, and determination of phyllosilicate-water equilibrium fractionation factors, concluding with recommendations for best approaches for paleotemperature estimation. Additionally, we discuss how to identify and avoid detrital phyllosilicates, the impacts of diagenesis, comparison of stable isotope and non-isotope paleosol paleotemperature proxies, and challenges and opportunities for broadly using paleosols as paleoclimate archives. With ongoing efforts to refine this multi-faceted paleotemperature approach, the stable isotope geochemistry of soil-formed phyllosilicates continues to be an invaluable proxy system, enhancing our understanding of terrestrial paleoenvironments and paleoclimate.

Kansas↗
USGS2026

Keeping pace: Migrating sea lampreys adjust swim speed in response to shifting water velocity to maintain a constant ground speed

Upstream migrating fish must balance energetic costs with environmental and ecological constraints. Theoretical models predict that fish can conserve energy by adjusting swim speed in response to changing water velocity, but detailed field tests of these predictions remain rare. We used fine-scale acoustic telemetry and hydrodynamic modeling to track adult sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) migrating through a river and evaluated how movement speeds varied with environmental conditions and individual traits. Swim speed increased with faster water velocities, while ground speed remained constant, supporting the hypothesis that lampreys regulate swim effort to maintain a fixed migration pace. The average ground speed aligned with a predicted optimum of ∼1 body length per second. Both swim and ground speeds declined slightly in deeper water, suggesting a trade-off between movement efficiency and predator avoidance. These findings provide field-based support for a theoretical model of energy optimization and underscore how migratory fish adaptively adjust behavior to local hydrodynamic conditions. Our results highlight the value of using high-resolution tracking and environmental modeling to reveal behavioral tactics that underlie efficient migration strategies.

Michigan↗
USGS2025

USGS addresses needs for lithium calibration and quality control materials for pLIBS analysis

Lithium (Li) is a globally important commodity used for energy storage, national defense, human health, and advanced technologies. Lithium resource development requires identifying deposits with elevated concentrations and optimal mineralogy, typically associated with select clays and pegmatites. Lithium is a light, highly reactive alkali metal with low atomic mass that is difficult to detect and quantify using conventional portable geochemical techniques such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF). However, portable laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (pLIBS) is a powerful analytical technique for lithium exploration due to its ability to analyze solids quickly with minimal preparation. The expanded utility of pLIBS is hampered by the lack of matrix-matched calibration and quality control (QC) materials. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has developed in-house lithium calibration and QC materials for lithium in clay and pegmatite matrices to address this limitation. We present the workflow and implementation of a custom-built matrix specific calibration on a SciAps Z-300 pLIBS, using proprietary Profile Builder software. The implementation of the custom calibration and quality control standards enables us to collect semiquantitative results directly from the pLIBS while in the field. Ultimately, this calibration has improved confidence in sample selection and collection in the field, providing more efficient site characterization.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2026

Identifying overlap between native fish movements and a possible seasonal Grass Carp deterrent in the Sandusky River, Ohio, USA

Riverine fishes are vulnerable to habitat fragmentation caused by interrupted access to vital habitats. Fragmentation using artificial structures can be used to limit the spread of invasive fishes by inhibiting movement between critical habitats. Thus, tradeoffs exist between maintaining connectivity for native species and restricting movement of invasive fishes. A nonphysical deterrent has been proposed to prevent invasive Grass Carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idella ) from reaching spawning habitats in the Sandusky River, a tributary to Lake Erie, during late spring–summer. However, this timing overlaps with spawning periods of a suite of native fishes. We used acoustic telemetry and ichthyoplankton surveys to examine movement and spawning activity of multiple native species and to assess potential impacts of deterrent operation on reproduction. All species used the proposed deterrent location during the Grass Carp spawning period, and their movements corresponded with larval fish collections, indicating upstream spawning. These findings suggest the deterrent could unintentionally restrict native species’ access to essential habitats. Balancing habitat connectivity and invasive species control will likely depend on species-specific responses and careful timing of deterrent operation.

Ohio↗
USGS2026

Subsurface water ice mapping on Mars: A probabilistic approach

Subsurface water ice deposits on Mars are an important resource for potential future human exploration. They are also an indicator of the planet’s past climate. However, the distribution of subsurface water ice in Mars’s midlatitudes is uncertain because spacecraft imagery cannot directly observe subsurface ice in most cases. Various spacecraft remote sensing instruments are sensitive to subsurface water ice, including thermal imaging spectrometers, radar sounders, and neutron spectrometers. Geomorphic analyses of images can also implicate subsurface ice. Building upon the data products from the Mars Subsurface Water Ice Mapping project, we provide a probabilistic framework to jointly interpret existing data and estimate the likelihood of subsurface water ice in the Martian midlatitudes between 60 ∘ S and 60 ∘ N with uncertainty. Broadly, we find that near-surface ice is likely present poleward of ∼45 ∘ in both the northern and southern hemispheres. However, closer to the equator, existing remote sensing data cannot uniquely constrain the presence of subsurface water ice. Our probabilistic results provide a framework for quantifying the abundance of ice on Mars, and our uncertainty estimates allow future analysis and exploration to target regions of high uncertainty.

Planetary Science Journal↗
USGS2025

Linking permafrost to the abundance, biomass, and energy density of fish in Arctic headwater streams

Permafrost thaw alters groundwater flow, river hydrology, stream-catchment interactions, and the availability of carbon and nutrients in headwater streams. The impact of permafrost on watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry of headwater streams has been demonstrated, but there is little understanding of how permafrost influences fish in these ecosystems. We examined relations among permafrost characteristics, the resulting changes in water temperature, stream hydrology (e.g., discharge flashiness), and macroinvertebrates, with the abundance, biomass, and energy density of juvenile Dolly Varden ( Salvelinus malma ) and Arctic Grayling ( Thymallus arcticus ) across 10 headwater streams in northwestern Alaska. Macroinvertebrate density was driven by concentrations of dissolved carbon and nutrients supporting stream food webs. Dolly Varden abundance was primarily related to water temperature with fewer fish in warmer streams, whereas Dolly Varden energy density decreased with the flashiness of the headwater streams. Dolly Varden biomass was related to both temperature and bottom-up food web effects. The energy density of Arctic Grayling decreased with warmer temperatures and discharge flashiness. These relations demonstrate the importance of terrestrial–aquatic connections in permafrost landscapes and indicate the complexity of landscape effects on fish. Because permafrost thaw is one of the most impactful changes occurring as the Arctic warms, an improved understanding of how stream temperature, hydrology, and bottom-up food web processes influence fish populations can aid forecasting of future conditions across the Arctic.

Alaska↗
USGS2025

A method to obtain remotely sensed grain size distributions from nonplanar granular deposits

Constraining the grain size distribution of granular deposits with complex surfaces is difficult with existing approaches. Field and laboratory techniques are time consuming and limited by the maximum grain size that laboratories can accommodate. In this study, we present a new method to identify the coarse fraction of the grain size distribution at a debris-flow fan deposit surveyed with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado, USA. This method is a novel grain segmentation algorithm developed for application to point cloud data of deposits with complex surfaces and angular grains ranging in size from centimeters to a meter. This approach combines an existing random forest machine learning method with a novel iterative clustering algorithm. We compared the grain size distribution from our algorithm with a Wolman pebble count conducted in the field, and found a root mean squared error of less than 2 cm from the 5th to 95th percentile of the grain size distribution of grains ranging from cobble to boulder sized (6.3–78 cm in our application). Finally, we compared our new algorithm with an existing open-source grain segregation algorithm, and our method outperformed the selected alternative when applied to the debris-flow deposit point cloud.

Colorado↗
USGS2025

Did they feel it? Legacy maroseismic data illuminates an engimatic 20th century earthquake

The challenges and the importance of preserving legacy instrumental records of earthquakes are now well-recognized (e.g., Richards & Hellweg, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220200053 ). Seismologists may not be aware of parallel challenges and opportunities with legacy macroseismic data for earthquakes in the United States. For much of the 20th century, macroseismic data were collected by a series of U.S. government agencies using a standard questionnaire distributed on postcards. Published summaries of postcards provide macroseismic data akin to modern Did You Feel It? questionnaire responses. In this paper we focus on the M 6.5 Fickle Hill, California earthquake, on 21 December 1954 (Hellweg et al., 2025) as a proof-of-concept, illustrating the potential of what we dub Did They Feel It? (DTFI) data to improve our understanding of significant 20th century U.S. earthquakes for which instrumental data are sparse. Legacy macroseismic data interpreted following modern conventions can potentially constrain traditional ShakeMaps at a level of detail and accuracy that in some respects rival maps for modern earthquakes. The updated ShakeMap for the 1954 Fickle Hill earthquake, also drawing from recently published media and first-person accounts, supports the location, depth, and stress drop value estimated from available instrumental data (Hellweg et al., 2025).

California↗