Publications

New data from detailed measured sections permit a comprehensive revision of the sedimentary facies of the Furongian (upper Cambrian; Jiangshanian and Sunwaptan stages) Tunnel City Group (Lone Rock Formation and Mazomanie Formation) of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Heterogeneous sandstones, comprising seven lithofacies along a depositional transect from shoreface to transitional-offshore...

Progressive maturation of the Eocene Kreyenhagen Shale from the San Joaquin Basin of California was studied by combining mineralogical and chemical analyses with K–Ar dating of whole rocks and

The U.S. Geological Survey, in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the North Slope Borough, and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation conducted a four-year study designed to identify, define, and delineate a shallow coalbed natural gas (CBNG) resource with the potential to provide locally produced, affordable power to the community of Wainwright, Alaska. From 2007...

As part of a site investigation for the disposal of radioactive waste, numerous boreholes were drilled into a sequence of Miocene pyroclastic flows and related deposits at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This report contains displays of data from 25 boreholes drilled during 1979–1984, relatively early in the site investigation program. Geophysical logs and hydrological tests were conducted in...

The lower shaly member of the Cody Shale in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming and Montana is Coniacian to Santonian in age and is equivalent to the upper part of the Carlile Shale and basal part of the Niobrara Formation in the Powder River Basin to the east. The lower Cody ranges in thickness from 700 to 1,200 feet and underlies much of the central part of the basin. It is composed of gray to...

The U.S. Geological Survey is developing approaches for the quantitative assessment of water and proppant involved with possible future production of continuous petroleum deposits. The assessment approach is an extension of existing U.S. Geological Survey petroleum-assessment methods, and it aims to provide objective information that helps decision makers understand the tradeoffs...

New data from detailed measured sections permit comprehensive analysis of the sequence framework of the Furongian (Upper Cambrian; Jiangshanian and Sunwaptan stages) Tunnel City Group (Lone Rock Formation and Mazomanie Formation) of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The sequence-stratigraphic architecture of the lower part of the Sunwaptan Stage at the base of the Tunnel City Group, at the...

The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (Public Law 110–140) directs the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a national assessment of potential geologic storage resources for carbon dioxide (CO2). The methodology used by the USGS for the national CO2 assessment follows up on previous USGS work. The methodology is non-economic and intended to be used at regional to subbasinal...

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey have completed the first assessment of the undiscovered, technically recoverable gas hydrate resources beneath the North Slope of Alaska. This assessment indicates the existence of technically recoverable gas hydrate resources—that is, resources that can be discovered, developed, and produced using current technology. The approach used in this...

Hydrous-pyrolysis experiments at 360°C (680°F) for 72 h were conducted on 53 humic coals representing ranks from lignite through anthracite to determine the upper maturity limit for hydrocarbon-gas generation from their kerogen and associated bitumen (i.e., primary gas generation). These experimental conditions are below those needed for oil cracking to ensure that generated gas was not...

The Triassic-Jurassic Otuk Formation is a potentially important source rock in allochthonous structural positions in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range in the North Slope of Alaska. This study focuses on three localities of the Upper Triassic (Norian) limestone member, which form a present-day, 110-km-long, east-west transect in the central Brooks Range. All three sections are...

A recent U.S. Geological Survey analysis of the Green River Formation of the Piceance Basin in western Colorado shows that about 920 and 352 billion barrels of oil are potentially recoverable from oil shale resources using oil-yield cutoffs of 15 and 25 gallons per ton (GPT), respectively. This represents most of the high-grade oil shale in the United States. Much of this rich oil shale...