Publications

Porosity is one of the most important parameters to assess in-place oil or gas in reservoirs, and to evaluate recovery from enhanced production operations. Since it is relatively well-established to determine porosity using different laboratory and field methods, its value is usually determined at many locations across a reservoir as part of the common practice to capture reservoir...

This paper provides a brief summary of the history, development and variety of applications of electron microscopy techniques to analyze coals, organic-rich shales, and carbonaceous materials. General construction and principles of operation of transmitted (TEM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) are outlined, along with guidance on specimen preparation, and a brief overview of...

"Coal mine methane (CMM) and abandoned mine methane (AMM), are by-products of underground coal mining. The quantity and the emission rate of CMM and AMM may vary depending on the type of mine, gas content of the mined coal seam, and gas sourced from strata and coal beds in overlying and underlying formations affected by mining. Therefore, if a mine has the potential of accumulating gas...

Among the different Rock-Eval parameters, the hydrocarbons released under S2 peak of Rock-Eval is of significance as it indicates the residual hydrocarbon content of the rock. Further, through its relationship with TOC content, it helps in calculating hydrogen indices (HI) which helps in understanding the type of organic-matter present in a rock [HI= (S2/TOC)*100]. The present study...

The semivariogram, which measures the spatial variability between experimental data, is generally used as a structural input in all two-point geostatistical procedures. However, in most geoscience applications, experimental semivariograms are usually computed from a limited number of sparsely spaced measurements, which results in uncertainty associated with the semivariance values...

The inaugural Appalachian Geo-STEM Camp (AGC) was a partnership between West Virginia University (WVU), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey (WVGES). Designed to engage high school students in geoscience-oriented Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities through adventure-based outdoor recreation, the inaugural...

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a member of a U.S. Department of Energy-funded partnership headed by the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology that is working to assess the feasibility of offshore geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage in the Gulf of Mexico. The role of the USGS is to assess the buoyant geologic CO2 storage resource of the western half of the...

Between 2007 and 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a low-density (1 site per 1,600 square kilometers, 4,857 sites) geochemical and mineralogical survey of soils in the conterminous United States. The sampling protocol for the national-scale survey included, at each site, a sample from a depth of 0 to 5 centimeters, a composite of the soil A horizon, and a deeper sample from the...

Presented in this report are the chemical and mineralogical results of a soil study conducted in the lower Rio Grande valley, Texas. Samples were collected from soils formed on Holocene alluvial flood-plain and distributary channel deposits of the Rio Grande, flood plain and meander-belt deposits of the Pliocene Goliad Formation, and the Pleistocene Lissie and Beaumont Formations. The...

Hydrocarbon reserves and technically recoverable undiscovered resources in continuous accumulations are present in Upper Ordovician strata in the Appalachian Basin Province. The province includes parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. The Upper Ordovician strata are part of the previously defined Utica-Lower...

The Arctic Alaska basin occupies the eastern part of the Arctic Alaska – Chukotka microplate, which rifted from the Canadian Arctic margin during opening of the Canada Basin. Stratigraphy comprises four tectonostratigraphic sequences. (1) The Devonian and older Franklinian sequence consists of sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks deposited on the Arctic passive margin of Laurentia and...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is preparing a national resource assessment of the potential hydrocarbons recoverable after injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into conventional oil reservoirs in the United States. The implementation of CO2-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) techniques can increase hydrocarbon production, and lead to incidental retention of CO2 in reservoir pore space...