Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Filter Total Items: 2670

Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean area, 2020

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 879 million barrels of conventional oil and 286.2 trillion cubic feet of conventional gas in the eastern Mediterranean area.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Thomas M. Finn, Cheryl A. Woodall, Kristen R. Marra, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Phuong A. Le, Ronald M. Drake

Insights on geochemical, isotopic, and volumetric compositions of produced water from hydraulically fractured Williston Basin oil wells

Tracing produced water origins from wells hydraulically fractured with freshwater-based fluids is sometimes predicated on assumptions that (1) each geological formation contains compositionally unique brine and (2) produced water from recently hydraulically fractured wells resembles fresher meteoric water more so than produced water from older wells. These assumptions are not valid in Williston Ba

Authors
Tanya J. Gallegos, Colin A. Doolan, Rodney R. Caldwell, Mark A Engle, Matthew S. Varonka, Justin E. Birdwell, Glenn D. Jolly, Tyler B. Coplen, Thomas A. Oliver

Probabilistic methodology for the assessment of original and recoverable coal resources, illustrated with an application to a coal bed in the Fort Union Formation, Wyoming

Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been using its Circular 891 for evaluating uncertainty in coal resource assessments for more than 35 years. Calculated cell tonnages are assigned to four qualitative reliability classes depending exclusively on distance to the nearest drill hole. The main appeal of this methodology, simplicity, is also its main drawback. Reliability may depend
Authors
Ricardo A. Olea, Brian N. Shaffer, Jon E. Haacke, James A. Luppens

Surface-mining modeling for USGS coal assessments

The value of national coal deposits is determined for the Solid Fuel Energy Resources Assessment and Research Project through economic evaluations using hypothetical mining models. Deposits near the surface are evaluated with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) surface-mining model, which is patterned after the standard mining techniques and infrastructures of commercial mining projects. The USGS su
Authors
Paul E. Pierce

A review of sand detachment in modern deep marine environments: Analogues for upslope stratigraphic traps

Isolated, detached sands provide opportunities for large-volume stratigraphic traps in many deepwater petroleum systems. Here we provide a review of the different types of sandbody detachments based on published data from the modern-day seafloor and recent (generally Quaternary-present), shallow-buried strata. Detachment mechanisms can be classified based on their timing of formation relative to d
Authors
John W. Counts, Lawrence Amy, Aggeliki Georgiopoulou, Peter Haughton

Multivariate classification of the crude oil petroleum systems in southeast Texas, USA, using conventional and compositional data analysis of biomarkers

Chemically, petroleum is an extraordinarily complex mixture of different types of hydrocarbons that are now possible to isolate and identify because of advances in geochemistry. Here, we use biomarkers and carbon isotopes to establish genetic differences and similarities among oil samples. Conventional approaches for evaluating biomarker and carbon isotope relative abundances include statistical t
Authors
Ricardo A. Olea, J. A Martin-Fernandez, William H. Craddock

Demographic and potential biological removal models identify raptor species sensitive to current and future wind energy

A central challenge in applied ecology is understanding the effect of anthropogenic fatalities on wildlife populations and predicting which populations may be particularly vulnerable and in greatest need of management attention. We used 3 approaches to investigate potential effects of fatalities from collisions with wind turbines on 14 raptor species for both current (106 GW) and anticipated futur
Authors
James E. Diffendorfer, Jessica C. Stanton, Julie A. Beston, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Scott R. Loss, Todd E. Katzner, Douglas H. Johnson, Richard A. Erickson, Matthew D. Merrill, Margo D. Corum

Relating Tmax and hydrogen index to vitrinite and solid bitumen reflectance in hydrous pyrolysis residues: Comparisons to natural thermal indices

Vitrinite reflectance (VRo; %) generally is considered the most reliable technique to determine the thermal maturity of sedimentary rocks. However, it is a time-consuming process to collect reflectance (Ro; %) measurements and is subjective to the interpretation of each trained technician, who must be able to discern between vitrinite and solid bitumen and other organic matter types. Inadvertent m
Authors
Celeste D. Lohr, Paul C. Hackley

Insights on the characteristics and sources of gas from an underground coal mine using compositional data analysis

Coal mine gas originates from the gas emission zone (GEZ) of the mine, as well as the longwall face and pillars. Gas emissions are controlled directly at the sources using horizontal or vertical boreholes drilled from surface or from the entries in advance of mining, or it is captured from the fractured and caved zones (gob) using ventholes during mining. The rest of the gas, especially that gas t
Authors
C. Özgen Karacan, Josep Antoni Martín-Fernández, Leslie F. Ruppert, Ricardo A. Olea

Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of upper Paleozoic strata in the Williston Basin Province, 2020

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean oil and gas resources of 134 million barrels of oil and 81 billion cubic feet of gas in upper Paleozoic strata of the Williston Basin Province in North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota.
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

Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in the lower Paleozoic of the Williston Basin Province, 2020

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 83 million barrels of oil and 351 billion cubic feet of gas in lower Paleozoic strata of the Williston Basin Province, North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota.
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