Publications
Listed below are publication products directly associated with the Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center:
Filter Total Items: 1176
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in the Norphlet Formation, U.S. Gulf Coast region, 2023
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 16 million barrels of oil and 348 billion cubic feet of gas in conventional reservoirs of the Norphlet Formation in the U.S. Gulf Coast region.
Authors
John W. Counts, William H. Craddock, Jared T. Gooley, Marc Buursink, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Christopher J. Schenk
Mitigating climate change by abating coal mine methane: A critical review of status and opportunities
Methane has a short atmospheric lifetime compared to carbon dioxide (CO2), ∼decade versus ∼centuries, but it has a much higher global warming potential (GWP), highlighting how reducing methane emissions can slow the rate of climate change. When considering the contribution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to current global warming (2010–2019) relative to the industrial revolution (1850–1900) leve
Authors
C. Özgen Karacan, Robert A. Field, Maria Olczak, Malgorzata Kasprzak, Felicia Ruiz, Stefan Schwietzke
Produced water geochemistry from hydraulically stimulated Niobrara Formation petroleum wells: Origin of salinity and temporal perspectives on treatment and reuse
Produced water (i.e., a mixture of returned injection fluids and geologic formation brines) represents the largest volumetric waste stream associated with petroleum production in the United States. As such, produced water has been the focus of intense study with emphasis on understanding the geologic origin of the fluids, environmental impacts of unintended or intentional release, disposal concern
Authors
Aaron M. Jubb, Jenna L. Shelton, Bonnie McDevitt, Kaela K. Amundson, Amanda Sha Herzberg, Jessica Chenault, Andrew Laurence Masterson, Matthew S. Varonka, Glenn D. Jolly, Christina A. DeVera, Elliott Barnhart, Michael J. Wilkins, Madalyn S. Blondes
Discerning sediment provenance in the Outer Banks (USA) through detrital zircon geochronology
Detrital zircon data from modern barrier island and estuarine environments in the Outer Banks (Atlantic Coast, USA) were statistically compared to sands from nearby rivers to assist in determining source-to-sink pathways. Fluvial samples, collected from near the Fall Line contact between the Appalachian Orogen and sediments of the coastal plain, all have age unique distributions, making them ideal
Authors
John W. Counts, Jared T. Gooley, Joshua Long, William H. Craddock, Paul O'Sullivan
Rare Earth Elements in coal fly ash and their potential recovery
Coal fly ash is a potential resource of valuable elements, such as rare earth elements (REEs), which are retained and concentrated upon combustion. Understanding REE occurrence within fly ash is vital to developing recovery methods. Some of the highest REE contents occur in fly ash derived from U.S. Appalachian Basin coals, and coals influenced by input volcanic ash are especially enriched. Leachi
Authors
James Hower, Allan Kolker, Heileen Hsu-Kim, Desiree Platta
Evaluation of the lithium resource in the Smackover Formation brines of southern Arkansas using machine learning
Global demand for lithium, the primary component of lithium-ion batteries, greatly exceeds known supplies, and this imbalance is expected to increase as the world transitions away from fossil fuel energy sources. High concentrations of lithium in brines have been observed in the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas (>400 milligrams per liter). We used published and newly collected brine lithiu
Authors
Katherine J. Knierim, Madalyn S. Blondes, Andrew Laurence Masterson, Philip A. Freeman, Bonnie McDevitt, Amanda Sha Herzberg, Peng Li, Ciara Mills, Colin A. Doolan, Aaron M. Jubb, Scott Ausbrooks, Jessica Chenault
Facies variation within outcrops of the Triassic Shublik Formation, northeastern Alaska
The Shublik Formation (Middle to Upper Triassic) is a heterogeneous unit that is a major hydrocarbon source rock in northern Alaska and the largest known Triassic phosphate accumulation in the world. This formation, which occurs in the subsurface and crops out within the Arctic Alaska basin, was deposited on a gently sloping ramp along the northwestern Laurentian margin. In this study, we document
Authors
Julie A. Dumoulin, Katherine J. Whidden, William A. Rouse, Christina A. DeVera
The petrology of dispersed organic matter in sedimentary rocks: Review and update
Organic petrology developed from coal petrology, and, in the 1960s, it began to be applied to the study of dispersed organic matter (DOM) in sedimentary rocks other than coal. Over the last few decades, the petrology of DOM has been used to characterize organic matter in sedimentary basins with an emphasis on fossil fuel resource exploration. Today, due to the global research shift on topics relat
Authors
P.A. Gonçalves, J. Kus, Paul C. Hackley, A.G. Borrego, M. Hámor-Vidó, W. Kalkreuth, J.G. Mendonça Filho, H.I. Petersen, W. Pickel, M.J. Reinhardt, I. Suárez-Ruiz, ICCP
U.S. Geological Survey climate science plan—Future research directions
Executive Summary Climate is the primary driver of environmental change and is a key consideration in defining science priorities conducted across all mission areas in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Recognizing the importance of climate change to its future research agenda, the USGS’s Climate Science Steering Committee requested the development of a Climate Science Plan to identify future rese
Authors
Tamara Wilson, Ryan P. Boyles, Nicole DeCrappeo, Judith Z. Drexler, Kevin D. Kroeger, Rachel A. Loehman, John M. Pearce, Mark P. Waldrop, Peter D. Warwick, Anne M. Wein, Sara L. Zeigler, T. Douglas Beard,
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Volcano Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, California Water Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Volcano Science Center, Western Geographic Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Arctic Alaska deepwater organic carbon burial and environmental changes during the late Albian–early Campanian (103–82 Ma)
The middle Cretaceous greenhouse period experienced profound environmental change including episodes of enhanced global burial of organic carbon marked by carbon isotopic excursions (CIEs). However, the role and response of polar regions like the newly formed, partially enclosed Arctic Ocean Basin during middle Cretaceous carbon burial remains enigmatic. We present the first Arctic deepwater CIE r
Authors
Richard O. Lease, Katherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, David W. Houseknecht, Palma J. Botterell, Mark F. Dreier, Neil Patrick Griffis, Roland Mundil, Andrew Kylander-Clark, Margaret M. Sanders, John W. Counts, Jean Self-Trail, Jared T. Gooley, William A. Rouse, Rebecca A. Smith, Christina A. DeVera
Insights on using solid bitumen reflectance as a thermal maturity proxy in the Bakken Formation, Williston Basin, USA
To further refine the use of solid bitumen reflectance (BRo in %) as a measurement of thermal maturity in source-rock reservoirs, we examined its relationship to other thermal proxies in the Bakken Formation. Comparisons included criteria from programmed temperature pyrolysis, gas chromatography (GC), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Thirty-two organic-rich samples from the lowe
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, Clint Scott, Justin E. Birdwell, Jennifer Nedzweckas, Brett J. Valentine, Tongwei Zhang, Timothy O Nesheim
Decoding paleomire conditions of Paleogene superhigh-organic-sulfur coals
Superhigh-organic‑sulfur (SHOS) coals (coals with organic sulfur content >4 wt%) are unique coal deposits found at a few notable locations in the world. Specific peat accumulation and preservation conditions must be met to form SHOS coals. Organic sulfur is a major constituent of such coals, and it may have various sources depending on the prevailing paleomire conditions. Understanding such paleom
Authors
Tushar Adsul, Molly D. O'Beirne, David Fike, Santanu Ghosh, Josef P. Werne, William P. Gilhooly, Paul C. Hackley, Javin J. Hatcherian, Bright Philip, Bodhisastwa Hazra, Sudip Bhattachryya, Ritam Konar, Atul Kumar Varma