FIGURE 3.-Distribution of potential sand resources, onshore phosphorite development. Discovery of new phosphorite-rich sediments in Onslow Bay, off North Carolilna, were announced in February 1981. Both deposits appear to be offshore extensions of the Middle Tertiary phosphorite belt to which the established Florida deposits and the Lee Creek Mine in eastern North Carolina belong. Offshore southern California, phosphorite deposits also have economic potential if innovative mining methods can be developed. PLACER METALS: GOLD, Gold and heavy mineral placer deposits occur zone. Sand deposits containing about 30 million tons of chromite concentrates have been identified on the southern Oregon shelf as products of weathering of basaltic and ultrabasic rocks in the OregonWashington area. On the Atlantic Continental Shelf, titanium minerals are typical of the weathered products of granitic rock, but knowledge of areal variability and grade, especially with depth, is very limited. OTHER RESOURCES Huge quantities of rock salt, estimated to be 19 trillion tons and possibly containing significant potassium and bromine, are within easy drilling depth (6,000-7,000 feet) along the shelf and slope of the Gulf of Mexico. Newly discovered diapirs off the Atlantic coast from Georgia to New Jersey may also contain salt. Other bulk nonmetallic deposits of interest include precious coral (Hawaii); limestone and shell deposits in the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific continental margins; and bulk materials like special clays and sediment-mineral combinations suitable for ceramic raw materials. FIGURE 4.-Distribution of gold and other mineral resources of the Pacific and Alaskan continental coast. International Highlights U.S. Geological Survey operations in other countries fit, in general, into three categories: technical assistance and participant training, scientific cooperation and research, and representation at international scientific commissions, congresses, and unions. Specific cooperative activities are selected in large part because they support U.S. foreign policy and provide an opportunity to augment objectives of the Survey's programs. The Survey's overseas investigations include studies that bear directly and significantly on its research on natural hazard prediction and mitigation, measurement of the world's known and potential energy resources, exploration and development of scarce minerals, and remote sensing. PEOPLES' REPUBLIC OF CHINA The Survey began to evolve a cooperative research program with its counterpart in the Peoples Republic of China (China) when Director H. William Menard, as a member of a U.S. Government delegation of senior science administrators, visited Beijing in June 1978, and a Science and Technological Cooperation Agreement was signed on January 31, 1979. Three requirements must be met in the Survey activities planned to be undertaken in cooperation with China: • The work done must show a clear benefit to the United States. • The work done must strengthen our ability to achieve the objectives of our domestic programs and not represent a diversion of resources for them. • The exchanges must be financed from funds currently available. Three types of activities are being undertaken with China: (1) joint projects to be accomplished under the umbrella Science and Technology Agreement between the United States and China (2) coordination and review of disciplinary areas for mutually beneficial cooperative research programs, and (3) exchange of visiting scholars (carried out under the umbrella Science and Technology Agreement) between the United States and PRC. Earthquake studies Earthquake studies are the most thoroughly developed part of the research program with China. The participating scientists from both countries are experts in seismological instrumentation and field operations, seismological data analysis and interpretation, and other investigations relevant to earthquake prediction. Benefits to the United States from these cooperative earthquake studies are two. First, field operations in China allow the Survey to observe at first hand the effects of large damaging earthquakes and to acquire a large body of information that will augment observations of earthquake damage in the United States. The second advantage offered by cooperation with the Chinese is access to a large and successful earthquake prediction program. China has a very active earthquake prediction program because of the high number of damaging earthquakes, and the consequent great losses of life and property that occur in that country. The most notable of several predicted earthquakes in China was the Haicheng event of 1975; that prediction caused officials to order the city evacuated, saving many thousands of lives. Because of the widespread and frequent earthquake damage in China, the Chinese have devoted a large amount of manpower and much effort to gathering and examining data for earthquake premonitors. The Chinese have compiled a very complete 2,000-year history of seismicity in China, and these historical records plus the current data base are unmatched in the World. The Survey will have access to this information, and the Chinese prediction program allows the Survey to evaluate China's methods, analysis techniques, and prediction successes and failures. The results of this effort are directly applicable to predicting earthquakes in the United States. A brief description of the major components of the earthquake program follows: PREMONITORY PHENOMENA AND TECHNIQUES FOR EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION The Survey makes field observations of earthquake precursors and analyzes the observations. The work is concentrated on areas near Beijing and in Western Yunnan Province. Current activities are as follows: • Beijing seismic network support. - Several Chinese scientists are to be trained in the United States in the operation of the network system and in the use of special routines and techniques used by the Survey. Magnetic precursors. - Measurement of precursory charges in the geomagnetic field in seismic areas near Beijing and in western Yunnan Province began with Survey field work in the fall of 1980. Recording magnetometers will be shipped to China, and a Survey delegation will return to Yunnan in late 1981 to resurvey the magnetic network and discuss Chinese measurements made over the past year. • Deformation observations. - Survey observations of crustal deformation near active faults began in 1981. A laser distance meter will be used in China for increased surveillance of motion on active faults. • Seismic observations. - A Survey delegation discussed the installation of additional seismometers in the existing Chinese network in Yunnan Province in 1980. Agreement was reached on the type of instrument, and six systems have been ordered. • Analysis of strain data. - Chinese and U.S. university scientists, the latter supported by the Survey and the National Academy of Science, analyzed strain data from Chinese observatories. Analysis techniques were developed to permit removal of background "noise" from strain records, and strain events apparently precursory to the disastrous Tangshan earthquake were identified. • Haicheng earthquake analysis. - The Survey is supporting a cooperative effort with Chinese scientists to analyze foreshocks and aftershocks of the Haicheng earthquake of 1975. This event was predicted, and Haicheng evacuated, due to unusual foreshock activity. Analysis of these events and following aftershocks suggested that different faults were involved in the foreshock sequence than in the main shock and aftershocks. INTRAPLATE ACTIVE FAULTS AND EARTHQUAKES The Geological Survey is examing the Tanlu and Red River faults relative to earthquake recurrence on active faults. Aerial and satellite photographs of the Tanlu fault are being examined by both parties in an effort to find sites along the fault that are suitable for detailed study. Such sites are not readily apparent because cultural activities have obliterated much of the surface expression of the fault. Basic Research in Earth Sciences Basic Research activities are just now being fully negotiated. The negotiators have generally agreed on the title and scope of 20 mutually beneficial projects which, during the next few years, could involve exchanges of approximately 78 scientists for 125 person months. These initial exchanges will focus on such topics as exploration and analysis of uranium deposits, coal, and petroleum basins; relation of volcanism to the origin of metallic deposits; the general nature and occurrence of petroleum in carbonate rocks; geologic and tectonic framework of the CircumPacific region; and karst phenomena. Generally, the broader the geographic area of study of geoscience phenomena, the greater the understanding that scientists can gain of their genesis, classification, and economic appraisal of such phenomona. For U.S. geoscientists, China provides unique opportunities to study examples of many of these phenomena. INDONESIA The present program of the U.S. Geological Survey with Indonesia, sponsored by the Agency for International Development, is an example of technical assistance in action. The general objectives are to assist the geoscience Directorates of the Government of Indonesia in making geologic hazard studies, particularly of volcanoes and landslides (see figure), and in publication of geologic maps and reports; in establishing data banks; in regional environmental studies, including land use; and in utilizing remote sensing techniques. Training is provided for Indonesian counterparts to increase the capacity of the Indonesian directorates to gather, assess, and report on geologic conditions and materials that directly affect productivity, health, and safety, as well as to survey, monitor, and report on geologically hazardous areas. This work is important in a country that has many active volcanoes, many of which endanger major population centers. Glowing avalanches of high-density gas, mudflows, and landslides are only some of the possible hazards. Since the program started, 21 Survey specialists have undertaken assignments in Indonesia, including 4 volcanologists, 5 seismologists, 1 data storage and retrieval expert, 1 computer specialist, 5 geologists (land use and landslide specialists), 1 soils scientists (from the Soil Conservation Service) and 1 hydrologist. SAUDI ARABIA The Technical Assistance Agreement between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has been extended for 2 years, until 1983. The present program, which began in 1963, is assisting the Ministry to establish and (or) expand capabilities Damage to village elementary school caused by landslide movement, southern Cianjur Regency, Java, Indonesia. of its earth science organization, the Directorate General of Mineral Resources, and is the Survey's largest and longest continuing technical assistance program. Studies which are a part of the program have led to the discovery of a deposit containing significant amounts of tungsten and tin at Baid al Jimalah in Saudi Arabia. The deposit is similar to well known tungsten-tin deposits in other parts of the world. Analysis of wadi sediment samples shows that the ore minerals have not been widely dispersed from the mineralized area by surficial processes, and, therefore, similar deposits might escape detection in low-sample-density geo chemical surveys. The ore minerals are believed to be genetically related to a lead-zinc-silver deposit 1 mile to the east, which was the scene of mining activity in ancient times. The ancients presumably were interested in the silver, which is not present in anomalous amounts at the tungsten deposit. The deposit is significant in that it indicates that the Arabian Sheild had evolved by the late Proterozoic era (650 million-700 million years ago) to a stage suitable for formation of specialized granites. Mapping and sampling are in progress to determine the shape, extent, grade, and structure of the deposit and surrounding rocks. |