Niki Wintzer
Geologist
Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
The U.S. Geological Survey
United States Virgin Islands
Biography
I am a geologist with specialized skills in geochronology, structural geology, and sedimentary geology; I research nationally important ore deposits with these diverse geologic skills. I earned a B.S. in Earth Sciences from California Polytechnic State University (2004), an M.S. in Geology from San Jose State University (2009), and I am presently working on my Ph.D. in Geology at Washington State University. During my M.S. studies in 2007, I started working with the USGS in Menlo Park, California, but I now call the Spokane, Washington office my professional home. Currently, my research is on the Yellow Pine gold-antimony-tungsten epithermal ore deposit in central Idaho, which holds the largest domestic resource of antimony (an entirely import-reliant commodity for the US). Age of mineralization, geochemical character of the host rocks, and the overall structural setting are my specific research focuses that will help us better understand why mineralization formed when and where it did.
Research Interest
ore deposits geochronology & geochemistry deformation (folding for example) sedimentary rocks and basins tectonic processes
Publications
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Wintzer, N.E., and Vervoort, J.D., 2016, Garnet Lu-Hf geochronology and geothermobarometry constrain pre-ore metamorphism in the Au-Sb-W Yellow Pine mining district [abs.]: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 48, no. 6, p. 16.
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Wintzer, N.E., Gillerman, V.S., and Schmitz, M.D., 2016, Eocene U-Pb scheelite LA-ICP-MS dates of stibnite-scheelite mineralization in the Yellow Pine Au-Sb-W mining area, central Idaho, USA [abs.]: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 48, no. 7, p. 300.
