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239 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
USGS2025

Assimilation of reduced carbon triggers platinum alloy saturation in mafic and ultramafic magmas

It is generally observed that magmatic sulfide ores have higher ratios of Pd/Pt than the mantle-like values of their parental magmas. This discrepancy has defied simple explanation because the partitioning behavior of both elements between sulfide and silicate liquids is very similar. Assimilation of sulfur- and carbon-rich country rocks by mafic and ultramafic magmas is considered a critical, if not essential, step in the formation of magmatic base metal sulfide deposits. Although there is general consensus that the assimilation of external sulfur and carbon promotes sulfide saturation, the effect of carbon assimilation on the solubilities of platinum-group elements in natural S-bearing silicate melt has been overlooked. In this study, we investigate the variations of platinum and palladium solubilities during assimilation of graphite and methane through thermodynamic modeling, in comparison with data from an array of highly distinctive magmatic sulfide ore systems representing ages from Archean to Paleozoic, melt compositions from komatiite to basalt, and magmatic settings including lavas, hypabyssal intrusions, plutonic continental arc roots, and plutonic layered intrusions, namely: Raglan, Norilsk-Talnakh, Lac des Iles, and the J-M Reef of the Stillwater Complex. We model assimilation-fractional crystallization processes to estimate the reduction of oxygen fugacity ( ⁠fO2⁠ ) of the melt due to incorporation of graphite and methane. The simulations show that although Pd remains highly soluble during the progressive assimilation of reduced carbon, Pt solubility decreases significantly as the silicate melt becomes increasingly reduced. With less than 8 % of sediment assimilation, Pt alloy may saturate and then deviate from sulfide-undersaturated silicate melts, concomitantly increasing the Pd/Pt value of the remaining melts of the Raglan and Norilsk-Talnakh systems. For the Lac des Iles and Stillwater systems, a higher extent of assimilation is needed to reach Pt saturation because of the relatively carbon-poor nature of the lower crustal rocks. The assimilation of methane volatiles is shown to be more effective than graphite assimilation, and it provides a pathway to Pt alloy fractionation in the absence of detectable amounts of bulk host-rock assimilation. High Pd/Pt values have been documented in many world-class magmatic sulfide deposits whose parental magmas have demonstrably experienced crustal contamination. Our model suggests that although anomalous Pd/Pt values may be explained by other mechanisms such as incongruent melting of preexisting sulfide or differences in the diffusivities of the metals within achieving equilibration, the assimilation of graphite or methane may play an important role in the global occurrence of magmatic sulfide ores with elevated Pd/Pt values.

Economic Geology↗
USGS2026

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

Federally managed public lands and waters receive about 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 area, 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.

SocArXiv↗
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↗
USGS2026

Spatially referenced watershed models for the binational Red–Assiniboine River Basin: Bayesian vs frequentist comparison

Excess nutrient loading remains a leading cause of declining water quality in lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters worldwide, with global economic costs of US$200 billion – US$2 trillion annually from impacts on fisheries, tourism, freshwater resources, and water treatment. Our study focuses on total phosphorus (TP) in Lake Winnipeg and its binational Red-Assiniboine River Basin, where nutrient inputs have degraded water quality and increased cyanobacterial blooms. These changes pose ecological, public health, and economic risks. We applied a spatially referenced watershed model with a hybrid statistical-mechanistic structure partitioning annual nutrient loads into land-use export, land-to-water delivery, and in-reservoir decay. Bayesian and traditional frequentist model calibrations were compared. In the frequentist model, coefficients for agricultural inputs, forests /wetlands, stream channels, precipitation, and reservoir losses were statistically significant, whereas coefficient for wastewater was not. In contrast, all variables were successfully calibrated using the Bayesian approach. Model results delineate TP-export hotspots across the basin, showing that 54–62% of TP originates from the U.S., with agricultural sources ranging 62–72%—highlighting the importance of agriculture-focused Best Management Practices. Given the global relevance of nutrient-driven water-quality challenges, our results highlight Bayesian calibration for robust risk assessment and adaptive nutrient management.

Red–Assiniboine River Basin↗
USGS2026

Rare earth element potential in coal and coal ash in the U.S. Gulf Coast

United States heavy reliance on imports of critical minerals (CMs), including rare earth elements (REEs), underscores the importance of development of domestic sources. The study objective was to quantify CM and REE concentrations in coal and coal ash in the US Gulf Coast region. CM and REE concentrations were measured for 118 samples from outcrops and 14 mines in the Gulf Coast. Results show that total REE + Yttrium (REY) concentrations (dry coal basis) are comparable to those of the upper continental crust (UCC) with localized hot spots, such as the Texas Gibbons Creek mine (REY ≤ ~ 2860 ppm). When normalized to UCC REY concentration (169 ppm, dry coal basis), REY to UCC ratios for Gulf Coast coal samples range from 0.1 to 17 (median ratio 0.6). REE extractability from lignites is high (median: 63%–93%) using environmentally benign weak acid. In addition to raw coal, coal ash from power plants could also serve as an REE source with a median ratio of REY in ash relative to coal of 4; however, extractability from coal ash is generally much lower (≤ 5% using the same weak acid as in coal). The median basket price for extracted REY as oxides from coal, assuming 70% extractability, is $3.2 per tonne of coal and $186 billion based on 58 billion metric tonnes of dry coal in the Gulf Coast. REEs important for magnets (Pr + Nd + Tb + Dy) account for ~ 80% of the total value. The corresponding median basket price for extracted REY as oxides from coal ash, assuming ~ 30% extractability, is ~$4.4 per tonne of ash and $1.2 billion based on 258 million tonnes of ash. REE production from coal would likely require co-products, such as activated carbon or humic acids, to attain economic viability. Production of REEs from coal ash could offset remediation costs related to potential water contamination. This reconnaissance study shows the potential for REE production from coal and coal ash in the Gulf Coast; however, carbon coproducts and/or societal benefits would likely be required for socioeconomic viability.

Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas↗
USGS2026

Geochemical geodatabase of sedimentary strata (coal, coal-adjacent rocks, tuffaceous oil shale, phosphate-rich rocks) and produced water in the Uinta region, Utah and Colorado

The Geochemical Geodatabase of Sedimentary Strata (Coal, Coal-adjacent Rocks, Tuffaceous Oil Shale, Phosphate-rich Rocks) and Produced Water in the Uinta Region, Utah and Colorado, consists of compiled datasets acquired as part of the Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Mineral (CORE-CM) Uinta Region assessment funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DEFE0032046, 2021–2024; Birgenheier et al., 2024). The CORE-CM assessment focused on providing comprehensive geological and geochemical characterization of current and prospective sedimentary-hosted resources including coal, oil shale, phosphatic limestone, and produced water from oil and gas targets present in eastern Utah and northwestern Colorado (Figure 1). This Data Series includes a geodatabase that consists of analytical geochemical data collected September 2021 through December 2024 via portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), and laboratory measured analyses produced by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The coal-related geochemical data are derived primarily from the Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation and Ferron Sandstone of Utah, and the Mesaverde Group of Colorado. Additional non-coal resources assessed include oil shale-bearing strata of the Eocene upper Green River Formation (Utah and Colorado), phosphate-rich limestone of the Permian Park City Formation (Utah) and produced water from oil and gas-bearing strata of the Eocene Green River and Wasatch Formations (Uinta Basin) and the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation (Paradox Basin) (Table 1). The CORE-CM assessment included a wide range of lithologies present in the coal, oil shale, and phosphate geologic resource systems whether or not the specific lithology has current economic value. Geochemical analyses of produced water from oil and gas wells focused on current and emerging hydrocarbon targets in the central Uinta Basin and northern Paradox Basin. A total of 13,092 geochemical analyses from these geologic systems is provided in the included geodatabase. A series of coal quality data (e.g., composition and maceral analyses) is also included in the database and was digitized from archived coal samples from the Utah Geological Survey (Appendix A).

Colorado, Utah↗
USGS2025

Land application of drill waste: A scope analysis

Drilling fluid waste land application, a process where drilling wastes are spread and tilled into the land surface, has become common in some petroleum-producing states, however, the potential benefits and risks of this practice are not well studied. Drilling fluids can be water- or oil-based and can have high concentrations of total soluble salts and total petroleum hydrocarbons. Comprehensive chemical characterization of these fluids is not well documented in the literature, and the extent of land application is largely unknown. We hypothesized that the land application of drill waste would fluctuate over time due to economic factors. To begin to understand the extent of historical and potential future land application, we analyzed data from over 5,800 drilling fluid land application permits collected by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015–2020. During the years studied, drilling fluid wastes were applied to more than 250,000 acres in Oklahoma, with over 54,000 thousand barrels (Mbbl) of liquids and nearly 21,000 Mbbl of solids applied. Land application is widespread (occurring in 59/77 counties), however recent drilling activity, land availability, and the economics of transportation have created conditions favorable for land application specifically in the Anadarko Basin. Land application can co-occur with sensitive areas, such as important groundwater and surface-water drinking sources and agricultural fields used for subsistence or feed crop production. Our approach for quantifying the extent of land application, along with further chemical characterization studies, can aid operators and land managers who are considering this practice in assessing the associated benefits and risks.

Oklahoma↗
USGS2024

Editorial: From cold seeps to hydrothermal vents: Geology, chemistry, microbiology, and ecology in marine and coastal environments

This Research Topic compiles contemporary studies on cold seeps, hydrothermal vents, mud volcanoes, and related seafloor features that are associated with focused fluid emissions and the transfer of carbon, other chemical species, and sometimes heat from the geosphere to the ocean. Because these features sometimes tap fluids and gas originating kilometers below the seafloor, they provide an important window into deep processes that are otherwise inaccessible to scientists. At the shallow portion of their journey, migrating fluids nearing the seafloor contribute to a range of unique biological, physical, and chemical processes within the sediments themselves and at the sediment-water interface. Seafloor fluid emissions play a critical role in global biogeochemical cycles, ocean chemistry, and possibly even climate change. Seafloor leakage points often emit hydrocarbon gases (especially methane and CO 2 ) and are sometimes the loci for deposition of seafloor minerals that have economic value. A burgeoning area of research focuses on natural products generated at these features, seeking compounds with potential pharmaceutical or other applications. Multidisciplinary studies have become routine for characterization of seafloor fluid emission sites, attesting to the inseparability of geologic, physical, chemical, and biological processes in these settings. It is increasingly common for researchers to combine in a single research cruise: subbottom imaging and seafloor mapping; porewater and water column geochemistry and gas sampling; sediment retrieval for lithologic, biostratigraphic, and solid phase analyses; and studies of benthic and subseafloor communities at the microbial to macrofaunal scales. This multidisciplinary approach has the advantage of ensuring the spatial and temporal coincidence of surveys and samples, an important factor at highly dynamic seafloor fluid emission sites. In addition, researchers often use remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), or human-occupied vehicles (HOVs) to record video of the seafloor, compile photomosaics, collect targeted samples, and survey with high-resolution geophysical near-seafloor systems, providing a degree of detail about seafloor fluid emission sites that is unprecedented compared to most areas of the deep ocean. While rarer, long-term cabled observatories or shorter-term deployments of portable observatories are also used at some loci for seafloor fluid flux and are particularly helpful for capturing temporal variations at these dynamic features. Here we summarize the Research Topic’s contribution to multidisciplinary seafloor emission studies in the categories of cold seeps, mud volcanoes, and hydrothermal vents. Figure 1 shows the geographic distribution of the studies in this Research Topic and key features referred to in this Introduction.

Frontiers in Earth Science↗
USGS1999

The mineral economy of Brazil--Economia mineral do Brasil

This study depicts the Brazilian government structure, mineral legislation and investment policy, taxation, foreign investment policies, environmental laws and regulations, and conditions in which the mineral industry operates. The report underlines Brazil's large and diversified mineral endowment. A total of 37 mineral commodities, or groups of closely related commodities, is discussed. An overview of the geologic setting of the major mineral deposits is presented. This report is presented in English and Portuguese in pdf format.

Data Series↗
USGS2025

Critical minerals in orogenic (gold) and Coeur d’Alene-type mineral systems of the United States

Orogenic and Coeur d’Alene-type mineral systems are produced by metamorphic devolatilization of thick volcanic or siliciclastic sedimentary rock sequences and the focused flow of hydrothermal fluids upwards along crustal-scale faults. Most orogenic systems are found along the Cordilleran orogen, stretching from California northwards into Alaska, whereas most Coeur d’Alene-type systems occur in the Proterozoic Belt Basin in Idaho and Montana. Although the deposit types in these systems are exploited for precious and base metals, potential exists for the production of critical minerals necessary for current (2025) societal needs in the United States. Publicly available geochemical data compiled for these mineral systems, coupled with mineralogical characteristics, indicate that several critical minerals could potentially be recovered from unmined resources and processed mine waste: arsenic, antimony, tellurium, cobalt, and tungsten from orogenic gold deposits and zinc, antimony, arsenic, and manganese from Coeur d’Alene-type systems. These critical minerals reside primarily in arsenopyrite (arsenic), scheelite (tungsten), siderite (manganese), sphalerite (zinc), tetrahedrite (antimony and arsenic), stibnite (antimony), and telluride (tellurium) minerals.

continental United States↗
USGS2026

Critical minerals memory match game

An educational information packet about the 2025 List of Critical Minerals, which includes a memory match game about select critical minerals and how they are used.

General Information Product↗
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

Mineral commodity summaries 2026

Introduction Each mineral commodity chapter of the 2026 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production, reserves, and resources. The MCS is the earliest comprehensive source of 2025 mineral production data for the world. More than 90 individual minerals and materials are covered by two-page synopses. Abbreviations and units of measure and definitions of selected terms used in the report are in Appendix A and Appendix B, respectively. Reserves and resources information is in Appendix C, which includes “Part A—Resource and Reserve Classification for Minerals” and “Part B—Sources of Reserves Data.” A directory of USGS minerals information country specialists and their responsibilities is in Appendix D. The USGS continually strives to improve the value of its publications to users. Constructive comments and suggestions by readers of the 2026 MCS are welcomed.

Mineral Commodity Summaries↗
USGS2026

Key minerals in energy transmission

The electrical grid relies on minerals with unique properties to transform, transmit, and convert electricity. Transmission needs are growing—to support the expansion of data centers and link diverse energy resources into the grid. This expansion will require greater quantities of minerals. Although some minerals are produced in the United States, the United States relies on imports for others. This infographic shows the key minerals that support energy transmission, and how reliant the United States is on imports for these minerals.

General Information Product↗