Introduction
Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (EarthMRI) 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 three phases of new data acquired under Earth MRI include state-of-the-art geologic maps, large geophysical surveys, and topographic lidar surveys.
Airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys will be collected by Earth MRI over areas that have potential for critical mineral resources as a companion dataset to the geologic mapping and topographic (lidar) data. Such geophysical surveys help to identify buried rock types and geologic structures associated with mineral, energy, and groundwater resources and buried geohazards such as seismogenic faults. New Earth MRI-funded data are currently being collected. Please see available data through the geophysical data portal.
USGS EarthMRI News
