Publications

Solid bitumen reflectance (BRo in %) is widely used as a thermal maturity proxy in source-rock reservoirs, yet solid bitumen texture and physical attributes may be affected by varying environmental constraints during its formation, e.g., water saturation, mineral catalysis, or salinity. Herein we investigated the development of solid bitumen properties during artificial maturation using...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean conventional resources of 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 6.4 trillion cubic feet of gas in Oman.

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean conventional resources of 47 million barrels of oil and 876 billion cubic feet of gas in upper Paleozoic reservoirs of the Wind River Basin, Bighorn Basin, and Powder River Basin Provinces.

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 34.3 billion barrels of oil and 320 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Greater Caspian area.

The Paradox Basin’s Sinbad seep is a modern analog for ancient bleaching of red bed sediments by introduced alkaline, reducing brines. This bleaching, involving reductive alteration of former red beds, is essential ground preparation that enables the altered rocks to trap Cu, U, and V from later oxidized fluids, forming ore deposits. Study of Sinbad thus offers insights into these...

Although interbedded limestone–marl couplets in many hemipelagic and pelagic deposits have been commonly attributed to orbital-driven climate cycles, the driving mechanisms of these couplets remain largely controversial. This situation arises from the fact that detailed sedimentologic and petrographic facies characteristics of these fine-grained deposits have rarely been examined closely...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean conventional resources of 3.3 billion barrels of oil and 80.3 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Zagros Fold Belt of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

In assessing methane hydrate as a potential transitional energy source, quantification of in-place volumes of gas is a first step—and yet, global, regional, and even local estimates of gas volumes contained within hydrate are highly variable, including within the extensively-studied Gulf of Mexico (GoM) gas hydrate province. Here, we construct the first 3-D basin and hydrocarbon system...

The degree of organic sulfurization is broadly relevant yet underreported. We present a statistically significant correlation between whole rock S/Fe and the measured degree of organic sulfurization in the thermally immature Cenomanian–Turonian Eagle Ford Group. This relationship shows a sink switch for sulfur from pyrite to organic matter. Excess iron and excess sulfur relative to...

Geologic, or naturally occurring, hydrogen has the potential to become a new, low-carbon, primary energy resource. Often referred to as “white” or “gold” hydrogen, this gas occurs naturally in the Earth’s subsurface, similar to petroleum resources. However, unlike petroleum, which releases carbon dioxide when burned, burning hydrogen only produces water as a byproduct. Exploration for...

New data including measured reflectance (%Ro), programmed open-system pyrolysis data, and kerogen elemental analyses obtained on the Mississippian Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth Basin, Texas, indicate that secondary-gas generation starts at 1.5% Ro and not at the previously prescribed 1.1% Ro. Oil-cracking kinetic parameters derived from pyrolysis experiments in the presence and absence...

Geologic hydrogen could be a low-carbon primary energy resource; however, the magnitude of Earth’s subsurface endowment has not yet been assessed. Knowledge of the occurrence and behavior of natural hydrogen on Earth has been combined with information from geologic analogs to construct a mass balance model to predict the resource potential. Given the associated uncertainty, stochastic...