Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds geologic mapping in Colorado
RESTON, Va. — The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Colorado Geological Survey are investing $300,000 to map four 7.5-minute quadrangles (Rampant Hills, La Plata, Monument Hills, and Thompson Park) in the historic La Plata mining district along the southwest edge of the San Juan Mountains and eastern portion of the Colorado Plateau in southwestern Colorado.
The study area is southwest of the San Juan volcanic field and consists of marine and non-marine sedimentary rocks of Late Paleozoic to Late Mesozoic age. Past mineral production in the district included gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc; critical minerals are associated with these precious and base metal deposits. Potential critical minerals in the project area: palladium, platinum, tellurium, vanadium and zinc.
The grants for the geologic mapping come from a $74 million investment allocated earlier this year to the USGS Mineral Resources Program’s Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI), provided through annual appropriations and investments from the Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Overall, the Infrastructure Law is providing an appropriated $510.7 million investment to the USGS to advance scientific innovation and map critical minerals.
The objectives of this project are to complete new mapping, at a scale of 1:24,000, or more detailed; fill in data gaps among previous maps that partially cover the study area; and provide higher resolution in areas where existing mapping is generalized or unclear. Concurrent geochemical and mineralogical studies are also being conducted. The goal is to better define the surface geology associated with mineral deposits in the La Plata polymetallic district.
The new geologic maps will refine our understanding of the geologic framework of mineral areas of interest. In addition to helping identify mineral potential, these maps also support both decisions about the use of land, water, energy and minerals, and understanding the potential impact of geologic hazards on communities.
Earth MRI is a partnership between the USGS and state geological surveys across America to modernize our understanding of the Nation’s fundamental geologic framework and mineral resources through new geologic maps, geophysical and topographic surveys, and geochemical sampling. The 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided additional funding that has accelerated this new mapping in areas with potential for hosting critical mineral resources both still in the ground and in mine wastes.
More information can be found here. To learn more about how the USGS is investing the resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, visit our website. To learn more about USGS mineral resource and commodity information, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter.
Related Content
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Critical Minerals
Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)
The National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB)
Related Content
- Science
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Critical Minerals
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Critical MineralsEarth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)
The goal of Earth MRI is to improve our knowledge of the geologic framework in the United States and to identify areas that may have the potential to contain undiscovered critical mineral resources. Enhancement of our domestic mineral supply will decrease the Nation’s reliance on foreign sources of minerals that are fundamental to our security and economy.The National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB)
The National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB) is a distributed archive of geoscience information for the Nation. It was mandated by the Geologic Mapping Act of 1992 and is cooperatively built and maintained by the USGS and State Geological Surveys. We welcome you to explore the archive, view the maps, and help us to improve this resource. - News
Get Our News
These items are in the RSS feed format (Really Simple Syndication) based on categories such as topics, locations, and more. You can install and RSS reader browser extension, software, or use a third-party service to receive immediate news updates depending on the feed that you have added. If you click the feed links below, they may look strange because they are simply XML code. An RSS reader can easily read this code and push out a notification to you when something new is posted to our site.