Publications

The world’s future oil and gas supplies depend on existing reserves and the additions to those reserves that may result, in part, from ongoing exploration and new discoveries. This Circular summarizes available oil and gas exploration data for the world outside the United States and Canada (the study area) through 2015. It updates U.S. Geological Survey Circulars 981, 1096, and 1288 (by...

Deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) could be necessary to be able to satisfy baseload electricity demand, maintain diversity in the energy mix, and achieve mitigation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at lowest cost (IPCC, 2015; U.S. DOE, 2016). If basin-, regional- or national-scale deployment of CCS is needed, it may be possible to store only a small fraction of the captured...

The current research builds upon a previously published study that demonstrated the combination of Raman spectroscopy coupled with multivariate analysis (MVA) for the prediction of thermal maturity in coal by evaluating the efficacy of this method for the prediction of thermal maturity in shale. MVA techniques eliminate analyst bias in peak-fitting methods by using the full Raman...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 241 million barrels of tight oil and 10.1 trillion cubic feet of tight gas in the Junggar and Santanghu Basins of northwestern China.

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...