Publications
Filter Total Items: 852
Methane pore accessibility, densification, and accommodation by organic matter in the Niobrara Formation at wet-gas thermal maturity conditions
Petroleum within unconventional source-rock reservoirs is hosted in organic matter and mineral pore space as well as in voids and microfractures. Recent work has shown that for source-rock reservoirs in the dry gas window, significant portions of methane (CH4), the main component of petroleum at elevated maturities, can be stored within fine (<5 nm) organic matter porosity. However, within reservo
Authors
Aaron M. Jubb, Leslie F. Ruppert, Tristan G. A. Youngs, Tom Headen, Justin E. Birdwell, Michael Cheshire, Martha (Rebecca) Stokes
Geology and assessment of coal resources for the Cherokee coal bed in the Fort Union Formation, south-central Wyoming
The Cherokee coal bed is a locally thick and laterally continuous coal bed in the Overland Member of the Paleocene Fort Union Formation in south-central Wyoming. It represents a significant resource that is easily accessible and may be extractable through both surface and underground mining methods. A database of more than 600 data points, comprising coalbed methane wells, coal exploration drill h
Authors
Brian N. Shaffer, Ricardo A. Olea
Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast, 2022
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean continuous resources of 0.8 billion barrels of oil and 16 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast region.
Authors
Katherine J. Whidden, Justin E. Birdwell, Rand D. Gardner, Scott A. Kinney, Stanley T. Paxton, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in the offshore Salt Basin area of Morocco, 2021
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 3.8 billion barrels of oil and 20.7 trillion cubic feet of gas offshore of Morocco.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Phuong A. Le, Andrea D. Cicero, Ronald M. Drake, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Thomas M. Finn, Michael H. Gardner, Sarah E. Gelman, Jane S. Hearon, Benjamin G. Johnson, Jenny H. Lagesse, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Kira K. Timm, Scott S. Young
Assessment of coalbed gas resources in the Raton Basin-Sierra Grande Uplift Province, Colorado and New Mexico, 2022
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 5.2 trillion cubic feet of coalbed gas in the Vermejo Formation and Raton Formation of the Raton Basin-Sierra Grande Uplift Province.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Thomas M. Finn, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Phuong A. Le, Andrea D. Cicero, Ronald M. Drake, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Michael H. Gardner, Sarah E. Gelman, Jane S. Hearon, Benjamin G. Johnson, Jenny H. Lagesse, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Kira K. Timm, Scott S. Young
U.S. Geological Survey Rocky Mountain Region 2022 science exchange, showcasing interdisciplinary and state-of-the-art USGS science
IntroductionThe Rocky Mountains and the Colorado River Basin in the Western United States represent complex, interconnected systems that sustain a number of species, including tens of millions of humans. These systems face several challenges, including worsening drought, altered wildfire regimes, climate change, and the spread of invasive species. These factors can exacerbate one another, further
Authors
Dana E. Peterson, Katherine L. French, Jeannette H. Oden, Patrick J. Anderson, Timothy N. Titus, Katharine G. Dahm, Jessica M. Driscoll, William J. Andrews
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Mineral Resources Program, Astrogeology Science Center, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Colorado Water Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center
Modeling the maturation history of the stacked petroleum systems of the Williston Basin, USA
A three-dimensional petroleum systems model was built to support U.S. Geological Survey assessments of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Williston Basin of North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota. Numerous Paleozoic source rocks have been proven or postulated in the basin, of which five were the focus of maturation and migration modeling: the Ordovician Icebox Formation, the kukersite beds
Authors
Sarah E. Gelman
Characterization of a complex sand-rich gas hydrate reservoir system in the Indian marine continental margin with downhole log and seismic data
Logging-while-drilling (LWD) and coring data were acquired in Areas A, B, C and E during the National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02 (NGHP-02). At Sites NGHP-02-16, −17, −20, −23 and −24 of Area B in the Indian Krishna-Godavari Basin, the gas hydrate-bearing sand-rich reservoirs directly in contact with an underlying water-saturated sediment were revealed near the seismic-inferred bottom simula
Authors
Jilin Zhou, Xiujuan Wang, Timothy Collett, Sanxhong Li, Zenggui Kuang, Yintao Lu, Wei Deng, Weichao Yan, Jin Qian, Jiapeng Jin
Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Bakken Formation of northwest Montana, 2022
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 220 million barrels of continuous oil and 1 trillion cubic feet of continuous gas in the Bakken Formation of northwest Montana.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Michael H. Gardner, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Phuong A. Le, Andrea D. Cicero, Ronald M. Drake, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Thomas M. Finn, Sarah E. Gelman, Jane S. Hearon, Benjamin G. Johnson, Jenny H. Lagesse, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Kira K. Timm, Scott S. Young
Report of the Science Community Workshop on the proposed First Sample Depot for the Mars Sample Return Campaign
The Mars 2020/Mars Sample Return (MSR) Sample Depot Science Community Workshop was held on September 28 and 30, 2022, to assess the Scientifically-Return Worthy (SRW) value of the full collection of samples acquired by the rover Perseverance at Jezero Crater, and of a proposed subset of samples to be left as a First Depot at a location within Jezero Crater called Three Forks. The primary outcome o
Authors
Andrew D. Czaja, Maria-Paz Zorzano Mier, Gerhard Kminek, Michael Meyer, David Beaty, Elliot Sefton-Nash, Brandi Carrier, Fiona Thiessen, Timothy Haltigin, Audrey Bouvier, Nicolas Dauphas, Katherine L. French, Lydia Hallis, Rachel Harris, Ernst Hauber, Laura Rodriguez, Susanne P. Schwenzer, Andrew Steele, Kimberly Tait, Michael T. Thorpe, Tomohiro Usui, Jessica Vanhomwegen, Michael Velbel, Samuel Edwin, Kenneth A. Farley, Daniel Glavin, Andrea Harrington, Lindsay Hays, Aurore Hutzler, Meenakshi Wadhwa
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the Barents Sea area, 2021
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean conventional resources of 7.3 billion barrels of oil and 463.7 trillion cubic feet of gas within the Barents Sea area.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Thomas M. Finn, Phuong A. Le, Kristen R. Marra, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ronald M. Drake
Sandstone-hosted uranium deposits of the Colorado Plateau, USA
More than 4,000 sandstone-hosted uranium occurrences host over 1.2 billion pounds of mined and in situ U3O8 throughout the Colorado Plateau. Most of the resources are in two distinct mineral systems with deposits hosted in the Triassic Chinle and Jurassic Morrison Formations. In the Chinle mineral system, base metal sulfides typically accompany mineralization. The Morrison mineral system is charac
Authors
Susan M. Hall, Bradley S. Van Gosen, Robert A. Zielinski