Publications

The Piper diagram has been a staple for the analysis of water chemistry data since its introduction in 1944. It was conceived to be a method for water classification, determination of potential water mixing between end-members, and to aid in the identification of chemical reactions controlling a sample set. This study uses the information gleaned over the years since the release of the...

Fort Pulaski National Monument is located on Cockspur Island in Chatham County, Georgia, within the Atlantic Coastal Plain province. The island lies near the mouth of the Savannah River, and consists of small mounds (hummocks), salt marshes, and sediment dredged from the river. A 1,017-foot (ft) (310-meter [m])-deep core drilled at Cockspur Island in 2010 by the U.S. Geological Survey...

The U.S. Geological Survey tested the utility of imaging spectroscopy (also referred to as hyperspectral remote sensing) as an aid to regional mineral exploration efforts in remote parts of Alaska. Airborne imaging spectrometer data were collected in 2014 over unmined porphyry Cu deposits in the eastern Alaska Range using the HyMap™ sensor. Maps of the distributions of predominant...

Neutron scattering techniques were used to determine the effect of mineral matter on the accessibility of water and toluene to pores in the Devonian Marcellus Shale. Three Marcellus Shale samples, representing quartz-rich, clay-rich, and carbonate-rich facies, were examined using contrast matching small-angle neutron scattering (CM-SANS) at ambient pressure and temperature. Contrast...

We have used small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to investigate the differences in methane and hexane penetration in pores in bituminous coal samples from the U.S., Canada, South Africa, and China, and maceral concentrates from Australian coals. This work is an extension of previous work that showed consistent differences between the extent of penetration by methane into 10–20 nm size...

We apply linear deconvolution methods to derive mineral and glass proportions for eight field sample training sites at seven dune fields: (1) Algodones, California; (2) Big Dune, Nevada; (3) Bruneau, Idaho; (4) Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, Alaska; (5) Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado; (6) Sunset Crater, Arizona; and (7) White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. These...

The area east of Varanasi is one of numerous places along the watershed of the Ganges River with groundwater concentrations of arsenic surpassing the maximum value of 10 parts per billion (ppb) recommended by the World Health Organization in drinking water. Here we apply geostatistics and compositional data analysis for the mapping of arsenic and iron to help in understanding the...

No abstract available.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable unconventional petroleum resources in the Upper Cretaceous marine shale of the Tuscaloosa Group (Tuscaloosa marine shale; TMS) in 2018. As part of the geologic characterization in preparation for the assessment, a series of wireline log cross sections were constructed to illustrate TMS...

Crystalline bedrock aquifers in New England and parts of New Jersey and New York (NECR aquifers) are a major source of drinking water. Because the quality of water in these aquifers is highly variable, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) statistically analyzed chemical data on samples of untreated groundwater collected from 117 domestic bedrock wells in New England, New York, and New...

Introduction The Challenge—Most geological phenomena are extraordinarily complex in their interrelationships and vast in their geographical extension. Ordinarily, engineers and geoscientists are faced with corporate or scientific requirements to properly prepare geological models with measurements involving a small fraction of the entire area or volume of interest. Exact description of a...

Application of incident light microscopy techniques for organic petrology in high temperature thermogenic shale gas systems demonstrates that solid bitumen is the dominant organic matter. Solid bitumen is retained as a residual conversion product as oil-prone kerogen cracks to hydrocarbons or occurs from the cracking of once liquid oil. Oil-prone Type I/II kerogens are not present in...