OVERVIEW OF THE USGS EARTH MAPPING RESOURCES INITIATIVE (EARTH MRI)

The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI), a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the State Geological Surveys, was established in Fiscal Year 2019 (FY 2019) to acquire modern geoscience data to support the Nation’s need for basic geological, geophysical, and topographic data to characterize areas that have potential for hosting critical mineral resources. The annual appropriated funding for Earth MRI is approximately $10.6M, which was increased through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to $64M per year over a 5-year period starting in FY22. Congress stated that the purpose of Earth MRI “shall be to accelerate efforts to carry out the fundamental resources and mapping mission of the United States Geological Survey by (1) providing integrated topographic, geologic, geochemical, and geophysical mapping; (2) accelerating the integration and consolidation of geospatial and resource data; and (3) providing interpretation of subsurface and above-ground mineral resources data”. Additionally, Congress instructed the USGS to map the nation’s critical mineral resources, both in the subsurface and in surficial (e.g., mine waste) materials over the next 10 years. This increase in funding for Earth MRI provides a transformational opportunity for the geoscience community to acquire new detailed geologic maps, perform regional reconnaissance geochemical surveys on mineral systems that are widely dispersed across regional terranes, offers the unique opportunity to conduct large regional airborne geophysical surveys, enhances funding for lidar to support geologic mapping, and expands the role of the USGS and partners to examine the critical mineral abundances in mine waste materials. Earth MRI is supporting a national mine waste inventory database as well as characterization efforts to inform the 10-year goal of mapping critical minerals for the nation in surficial mine waste materials.

This presentation will provide the national-level context for the Earth MRI-supported projects in this session and will provide examples of ongoing project work and planned future directions. All published data and reports for Earth MRI can be found at https://usgs.gov/special-topic/earthmri.