Publications

Thiadiamondoids (TDs) are diamond-like compounds with a sulfide bond located within the cage structure. These compounds were suggested as a molecular proxy for the occurrence and extent of thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR). Compound-specific sulfur-isotope analysis of TDs may create a multi-parameter system, based on molecular and δ34S values that may be sensitive over a wider range...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed mean volumes of 21 million barrels of oil (MMBO), 27 billion cubic feet of gas, and 1 million barrels of natural gas liquids in two assessment units (AUs) that may contain continuous oil resources. Mean volumes of oil for the individual assessment units are 14 MMBO in the Monterey Buttonwillow AU and 7 MMBO...

Fossil charcoal provides direct evidence for fire events that, in turn, have implications for the evolution of both terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. Most of the ancient charcoal record is known from terrestrial or nearshore environments and indicates the earliest occurrences of fire in the Late Silurian. However, despite the rise in available fuel through the Devonian as...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered resources of 214 million barrels of oil, 329 billion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 14 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the informal Uteland Butte member of the Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah.

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes of undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 463 million barrels of oil, 11.2 trillion cubic feet of gas, and 35 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the Cherokee Platform Province area of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

This report presents five storage assessment units (SAUs) that have been identified as potentially suitable for geologic carbon dioxide sequestration within a 35,075-square-mile area that includes the entire onshore and State-water portions of the South Florida Basin. Platform-wide, thick successions of laterally extensive carbonates and evaporites deposited in highly cyclic depositional

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered mean volumes of 14 million barrels of conventional oil, 430 billion cubic feet of conventional gas, 34,028 billion cubic feet of continuous gas, and a mean total of 391 million barrels of natural gas liquids in sandstone reservoirs of the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous Cotton Valley Group in...

Introduction Depths to selected Cretaceous and lower Tertiary stratigraphic units in the Piceance Basin, northwestern Colorado are presented here for 1,563 wells. This file is updated from the Piceance Basin Oil Shale Database with data for additional new drill holes. Also included in this report are elevations for the base of the Long Point Bed of the Eocene Green River Formation for...

Located approximately 80 kilometers northwest of Anchorage, Alaska, the Susitna Basin is a complex sedimentary basin whose tectonic history has been poorly understood. Recent interpretation of two-dimensional seismic reflection data integrated with well, aeromagnetic, and gravity data provides new insights into the structural and stratigraphic nature of the basin. This report presents an

The quantities of water and hydraulic fracturing proppant required for producing petroleum (oil, gas, and natural gas liquids) from continuous accumulations, and the quantities of water extracted during petroleum production, can be quantitatively assessed using a probabilistic approach. The water and proppant assessment methodology builds on the U.S. Geological Survey methodology for...

Until now, up-to-date, comprehensive, spatial, national-scale data on hydraulic fracturing water volumes have been lacking. Water volumes used (injected) to hydraulically fracture over 263,859 oil and gas wells drilled between 2000 and 2014 were compiled and used to create the first U.S. map of hydraulic fracturing water use. Although median annual volumes of 15,275 m3 and 19,425 m3 of...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State, quantitatively assessed the potential for unconventional oil and gas resources within the onshore portions of the Tampico-Misantla Basin, Burgos Basin, and Sabinas Basin provinces of northeastern Mexico. Unconventional resources of the Veracruz Basin were not quantitatively assessed because of a current lack of...