Publications

ArcGIS was used to spatially assess and rank potential porphyry copper deposits using Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data together with geochemical and geologic datasets in order to estimate undiscovered deposits in the southern Basin and Range Province in the southwestern United States. The assessment was done using a traditional expert opinion...

Hyperalkaline (pH greater than 12) ponds and groundwater exist at Big Marsh near Lake Calumet, Chicago, Illinois, a site used by the steel industry during the mid-1900s to deposit steel- and iron-making waste, in particular, slag. The hyperalkaline ponds may pose a hazard to human health and the environment. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Environmental...

Samples of the Carboniferous oil shale of the Albert Formation in New Brunswick, Canada, were examined using reflected white and fluorescence light microscopy, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, and ICP-MS (for elements). The presence of fractured filled solid bitumen in contact with, and within the Albert Formation oil shale, particularly in fractures at the right angle to the bedding of oil shale...

In June 2016, approximately 64 kilometers (km) of riverbank were examined along the Tar and Neuse Rivers near Tarboro and Kinston, North Carolina, for evidence of liquefaction-forming earthquakes. The study area is in the vicinity of the Grainger’s fault zone in eastern North Carolina. The Grainger’s fault zone is a fault zone in the inner Coastal Plain Province that has well-documented...

Soils collected along a predominately north-south transect in Alaska were used to evaluate regional differences in the soil mineralogy and geochemistry in the context of a geotectonic framework for Alaska. The approximately 1,395-kilometer-long transect followed the Dalton, Elliott, and Richardson Highways from near Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. Sites were selected with a site spacing of...

Improved understanding of the origin of produced volatiles from conventional reservoirs and unconventional source rocks is critical for petroleum exploration and production. A series of hydrous heating experiments using two immature Type II siliciclastic source rocks, Pennsylvanian Turner Mine shale (TMS) and Devonian New Albany Shale (NAS), at 130 °C over one to two years were conducted...

Iron and steel slags from legacy and modern operations in the Chicago-Gary area of Illinois and Indiana, USA, are predominantly composed of Ca (10 - 44 wt. % CaO), Fe, (0.3 - 28 wt. % FeO), and Si (10 - 44 wt. % SiO2), with generally lesser amounts of Al ( 1 15 wt. % Al2O3), Mg (2 11 wt. % MgO), and Mn (0.3 9 wt. % MnO). Mineralogy is dominated by CaMgAl silicates, FeCa oxides, Ca...

Economic evaluations of undiscovered mineral resources provide important context in which to consider the results of quantitative mineral resource assessments. The U.S. Geological Survey economic analysis method uses a simple engineering cost model approach developed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines that applies mine and mill engineering cost equations to simulated undiscovered deposits. The...

This scientific investigations report describes an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that used research, monitoring data, and modeling to develop a methodology to assess both the current and future population-level consequences of wind energy development on species of birds and bats that are present in the United States during any part of their life cycle. The methodology is...

The carbon dioxide (CO2) storage capacity of saline formations may be constrained by reservoir pressure limitations. Brine extraction could be necessary to increase the CO2 storage capacity of a given formation, manage the extent of the underground CO2 plume and induced pressure front, and control the migration direction. To estimate the additional CO2 storage capacity of a saline...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 23.7 billion barrels of shale oil and 23 trillion cubic feet of associated gas in the onshore part of the Sirte Basin Province of Libya.

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 16.4 billion barrels of oil and 106.3 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Sirte and Pelagian Basin Provinces of Libya, Tunisia, Malta, and Italy.