Current Mapping Projects
New State Geologic Map of Arizona (1:500,000-scale)
Description: The Arizona Geological Survey is currently undertaking a monumental effort to produce a new and updated 1:500,000-scale geologic map of Arizona. Detailed mapping by AZGS staff and others have led to great improvements of our understanding of Arizona’s geology over the past decades and many of these developments are not reflected in the available statewide compilations. Furthermore, both the 1988 and 2000 versions of the state geologic map are at a reduced, (1:1,000,000) scale. We are excited to be working on this new compilation that will provide a superb basemap for the next generation of Arizona geoscientists and the public.
Start & end dates: September 2024 – September 2027
Funding Source: US Geological Survey NCGMP: STATEMAP
Advancing Detailed Geologic Mapping Coverage in the Sun Corridor and Beyond (1:24,000-scale)
Description: Detailed geologic mapping is an essential resource for mineral exploration, resource management, geologic hazard mitigation, and fundamental science. For decades, AZGS have performed mapping in nearly every setting that our state has to offer, and there is much more to do. Recent detailed mapping have included areas in the Big Sandy Valley, the Rt. 93 and I-40 corridors, the Safford/Duncan Basin, and will continue in southeast Arizona.
Funding Source: US Geological Survey NCGMP: STATEMAP
Compilation Mapping in High Priority Areas of Arizona (1:100,000-scale)
Description: Compilation mapping provides a regional, intermediate-scale, synthesis of detailed mapping, usually based on 1:100,000-scale USGS topographic quads. Areas with near-complete detailed mapping coverage are excellent candidates for compilation mapping.
Funding source: US Geological Survey NCGMP: STATEMAP
Current Mineral Resources Projects
Tungsten and Molybdenum occurrences in Arizona (data form USGS MRDS), with the distribution of Mid-Cenozoic volcanic rocks (faded beige), Cenozoic hypabyssal intrusions (burnt orange to red), and Cenozoic granitic rocks (orange).
Geochemical Reconnaissance of Southwest U.S. Mo-W Deposits in Southwest Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California
Description: In collaboration with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR), this project proposes to conduct a geochemical reconnaissance of molybdenum-tungsten (Mo-W) occurrences and Cenozoic intrusive rocks in Arizona. Reconnaissance sampling will target a hypothesized belt of Cenozoic Mo-W mineralization from southwestern Texas across New Mexico and Arizona to southern California, which is younger than the Laramide porphyry province already under examination by AZGS and NMBGMR.
Location: Southern Arizona, New Mexico, California, and southwest Texas
Start & end dates: August 1, 2024 - September 30, 2027
Funding Source: US Geological Survey Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)
Award amount: $109,999
Geochemistry of the Laramide Porphyry Belt, Arizona and New Mexico
Description: The southwestern North American porphyry copper province, straddling the United States-Mexico borderlands of Arizona, New Mexico, westernmost Texas, Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa, comprises one of the world’s largest endowments of copper, principally due to the abundance and preservation of Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene (“Laramide”) igneous rocks and related hydrothermal systems. This research aims to provide a comprehensive whole-rock geochemistry dataset on felsic-intermediate igneous rocks of “Laramide” age, both related and unrelated to known porphyry systems throughout Arizona. This dataset will be useful for evaluating favorable geologic terranes and porphyry systems with critical mineral potential.
Location: Various locations throughout Arizona and New Mexico (principally in the Basin and Range)
Start & end dates: December 30, 2022 – April 28, 2026
Funding Source: US Geological Survey Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)
Award amount: $599,956
Comparative Studies of Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Cenozoic Carbonate Replacement Deposits and Related Carbonate-Hosted Mineralization, Arizona Borderlands
Description: This project investigates the critical mineral potential of carbonate-hosted mineral deposits in southeastern Arizona. Southeastern Arizona is host to several known carbonate replacement deposits (CRDs) and skarn deposits that are often high-grade, sulfide-rich, polymetallic systems hosted in Paleozoic carbonates. This project will focus on the chemistry of the ores and alteration minerals to look at critical mineral enrichment in these deposits and consider variations such as age of mineralization, deposit type, host rocks, and causative intrusions.
Location: Various locations throughout southeastern Arizona
Start & end dates: February 1, 2026 – May 31, 2029
Funding Source: US Geological Survey Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)
Award amount: $404,971
Promontory Butte sediment-hosted uranium occurrence, Gila County, Arizona
Marcus Silva, 2024
Reanalysis of NURE Samples and Additional Sampling along the Kanab Plateau and Mogollon Slope, Northern Arizona
Description: The aim of this project is to use modern geochemical methods to reanalyze archival samples collected during the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE), which was conducted from 1974-1984. At the time they were collected, samples were not tested for many elements considered critical today. This is a collaboration between state surveys from New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. AZGS is focusing on NURE samples collected on the Mogollon Slope and Kanab Plateau sections of the larger Colorado Plateau, which covers portions of northern Arizona. Some additional work will be done to evaluate select sediment hosted mineral occurrences found on the Colorado Plateau to supplement the data gathered during the reanalysis of the NURE samples. Together, these will shed light on the critical element resources of the Colorado Plateau.
Location: Colorado Plateau, northern Arizona
Start & end dates: 2023 – 2026
Funding Source: US Geological Survey Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)
Award amount: $108,993
View of mine waste pile taken from tailings dam, Mohave County, Arizona
Marcus Silva, 2024
Inventory and Characterization of Mine Waste in Arizona
Description: These are a series of USGS Earth MRI funded projects which were started in 2023 to catalog our nation’s mine waste features and determine the critical mineral potential of this waste. The first two funding cycles (FY23 and FY24) were focused on producing thoroughly researched records and digitized polygons of mine waste features across the state in a GIS database. A portion of the award for FY25 includes this component as well, but the project is primarily centered around the sampling and characterization of tailings at eight former mines and mills across the state. These sites cover a wide range of deposit types that have been understudied with regards to critical mineral potential including exotic copper, low sulfidation epithermal, polymetallic veins, and detachment related iron oxide gold. The aim is to sample the tailings and representative ore material from each site, using geochemistry, petrography, and electron microprobe to study the chemical composition and mineral phases present in the tailings and ore. This information, paired with volume calculations of the tailings, can be used to estimate resource reserves and guide future reprocessing efforts.
Location: throughout Arizona
Start & end dates: 2023 - 2027 (all project periods to date)
Funding Source: US Geological Survey Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)
Award amount: $448,123 (total combined awards to date)
Read the AZGS FY23 Mine Waste Inventory Open File Report Here
Recently Completed Projects
Mineral Resources of Cochise County, Arizona
Description: Situated in the metal-rich Basin and Range Physiographic Province, Cochise County is host to numerous ore deposit types (e.g., porphyry, skarn, carbonate replacement, lode, epithermal, and more) and diverse associated commodities. Given the significant mineralization and potential for undiscovered critical and noncritical mineral resources in Cochise County, this region has a clear need for compilation and synthesis of geologic and mineral data into a single report to provide land users and policymakers with the requisite details to make informed decisions. The purpose of this report is to provide a single review publication on the mineral resources of Cochise County to interested members of the general public and the geologic community.
Location: Cochise County, Arizona
Start & end dates: Published March 2026
Funding source: US Geological Survey NGGDPP
Total award amount: $1,169,245
The AZGS Drill Core Repository: Publicly Accessible Precompetitive Exploration Data
Description: The Arizona Geological Survey, as part of the reinvigoration of its mineral resources program, has reestablished the Arizona Geological Survey Drill Core Repository. The repository in its present form contains core from 367 boreholes from across Arizona, accounting for 397,695 linear feet of subsurface drilling. All available data with respect to each hole has been digitized and made freely available as part of an ESRI ArcOnline webmap for the exploration geology community and members of the public to view. Core is available for in-person examination with advanced notice.
Location: Distributed throughout Arizona
Start & end dates: Published August 2025
Funding source: U.S. Geological Survey NGGDPP
Explore the interactive map here
Read the associated report here
Drill Core Data for the Red Mountain Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum System, Harshaw Mining District, Patagonia Mountains, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Description: Red Mountain in the Harshaw Mining District near Patagonia, Arizona hosts a significant porphyry copper deposit with minor molybdenum mineralization. Between 1962 and 1990 exploration drilling by Kerr-McGee defined several mineral resources at Red Mountain, including a shallow supergene-enriched chalcocite-enargite resource of 100-150 Mt @ 0.31% Cu and 0.02 % Mo, a deep hypogene chalcopyrite(-bornite) resource of 385 Mt @ 0.58% Cu and 0.009% Mo, and a sericitized breccia pipe of 49 Mt @ 1.14 % Cu and 0.025 % Mo (Lecumberri-Sanchez et al., 2013). In 2000, a set of original paper data and drill core from Kerr-McGee and Cominco exploration drilling was donated to the Arizona Geological Survey so it would not be lost to physical deterioration. This report and related products present a digital tabulation of the drilling data, including lithological, mineralogical and alteration descriptions as well as Cu assays.
Location: Red Mountain, Patagonia Mountains, Arizona
Start & end dates: Published 2025
Funding source: U.S. Geological Survey NGGDPP