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Federal Lands in Alaska - Geologic Studies

Strategy and Approach

Because the USGS Mineral Resources Program is responsible for providing objective scientific information on mineral resources to Federal agencies, this project will develop tasks that address minerals and geoscience issues on all types of Federal lands. Using input from the Interagency Minerals Coordinating Group in Alaska, Federal land managers, Federal land user groups, and USGS scientists, these tasks will be prioritized based on their scientific soundness and impact, appropriateness to the USGS mission, and interest and cost-sharing abilities of other Federal agencies. USGS staff for each task will be based on required skills and availability of personnel. Tasks may include original research or analyses of existing data. Geologic mapping, geophysical and/or geochemical modeling, multispectral image analysis, geostatistics, and spatial analysis will be used to address the specific scientific issues in each region.

 

Tasks

(1) Design and implement geoscience projects on Federal lands throughout Alaska that address issues of highest management and scientific priority and provide unbiased geoscientific data for land-use planning and decisionmaking.

(2) For the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), provide quantitative, undiscovered mineral potential assessments of the Bristol Bay planning area, which will be included in the BLM's Mineral Occurrence and Development Report for the Bay Resource Management Plan.

(3) Use geophysical modeling of gravity, aeromagnetic, and electromagnetic data to characterize the size and geometry of barite deposits in the Cutaway Basin, to be used in the BLM's Environmental Impact Statement for the South Planning Area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA).

(4) Identify and address geologic issues related to mineral-resource distribution on Federal Lands that are not designated as Parks or Refuges and provide unbiased geoscientific data for land-use planning and decision-making.

(5) Evaluate the character, age, quality, density, availability, and reliability of existing geochemical data for south-central Alaska, in order to identify data gaps and to prioritize data collection in those gaps.