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Jared T Gooley

Jared Gooley is a Research Geologist at the USGS Alaska Science Center in Anchorage, AK. His work focuses on the tectonic and stratigraphic evolution of sedimentary basins.

Jared Gooley leads the Alaska Basins and Petroleum Systems Project, and his work supports the USGS Energy Resource Program. He also contributes to the Gulf Coast Geologic Energy Assessment and Research (GEAR) Project. Jared’s research investigates sedimentary basins using field and subsurface mapping, sediment provenance, and geochronology to reconstruct paleolandscapes and understand changing tectonic conditions. Ongoing work includes basin framework studies in Arctic Alaska and sediment provenance studies of the Gulf Coast and Atlantic margins. Past and ongoing projects also include Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the western United States and New Zealand.

 

Professional Experience

  • 2022 - Present: Research Geologist, USGS Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK

  • 2020 - 2022: USGS Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Reston, VA

  • 2014 - 2020: Graduate Fellow, Teaching, & Research Assistant, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

  • 2012 - 2014: Exploration Geologist, Chevron, Eastern Gulf of Mexico Exploration, Houston, TX

  • 2010 - 2012: Development Geologist, Chevron, East Texas Asset Development,  Houston, TX

  • 2008 - 2010: Graduate Research Assistant, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

  • 2009: Earth Science Intern, Chevron, Permian Basin Asset Development, Houston, TX

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D.   2020  Stanford University    Geological & Environmental Sciences

  • M.S.    2010   University of Utah      Geology

  • B.S.     2008   Miami University       Geology

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • Alaska Geological Society (AGS), 2020–present

  • Northern California Geological Society (NCGS), 2018–present

  • Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), 2015–present

  • American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2014–present

  • American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), 2008–present

  • Geological Society of America (GSA), 2005–present

Science and Products

link
An image of USGS research drilling rig on side of U.S. Route 90 in Kinney County, Texas. The sky is streaked with clouds.

Gulf Coast Geologic Energy Research

The Gulf Coast Geologic Energy Assessments and Research (GEAR) project also conducts research on the properties and processes relevant to the Gulf Coast Jurassic-Cretaceous-Tertiary composite total petroleum system (TPS). This research aims to improve ongoing and future undiscovered, technically recoverable hydrocarbon resources assessments on the onshore and State waters portion of the Gulf Coast...
By
Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center
link

Gulf Coast Geologic Energy Research

The Gulf Coast Geologic Energy Assessments and Research (GEAR) project also conducts research on the properties and processes relevant to the Gulf Coast Jurassic-Cretaceous-Tertiary composite total petroleum system (TPS). This research aims to improve ongoing and future undiscovered, technically recoverable hydrocarbon resources assessments on the onshore and State waters portion of the Gulf Coast...
Learn More
link
Atigun River in Atigun Gorge - Brooks Range in Alaska

Alaska Petroleum Systems

The Alaska Petroleum Systems project has three main objectives: (A) conduct research that increases our understanding of Alaska petroleum systems, (B) conduct assessments of undiscovered oil and gas resources, and (C) deliver energy-resource information to land and resource managers, policy makers, and the public.
By
Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Central Energy Resources Science Center
link

Alaska Petroleum Systems

The Alaska Petroleum Systems project has three main objectives: (A) conduct research that increases our understanding of Alaska petroleum systems, (B) conduct assessments of undiscovered oil and gas resources, and (C) deliver energy-resource information to land and resource managers, policy makers, and the public.
Learn More
No results found.

Crustal block-controlled contrasts in deformation, uplift, and exhumation in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA, imaged through apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology and 3-D geological modeling

Deformation along strike-slip plate margins often accumulates within structurally partitioned and rheologically heterogeneous crustal blocks within the plate boundary. In these cases, contrasts in the physical properties and state of juxtaposed crustal blocks may play an important role in accommodation of deformation. Near the San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA, the Pacific−North American pla
Authors
Curtis William Baden, David L. Shuster, Jeremy H. Hourigan, Jared T. Gooley, Melanie Cahill, George E. Hilley
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, Earthquake Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Spatial distribution and variability of lobe facies in a large sand-rich submarine fan system: Neoproterozoic Zerrissene Group, Namibia

The deposits of the upper Neoproterozoic Zerrissene Group of central-western Namibia represent a large siliciclastic deep-water depositional system that showcases the intricacies of facies and architectural relationships from bed-scale to fan-system-scale. The lack of vegetation in the Namib Desert and regular east–west repetition of folded stratigraphy (reflecting ca 50% tectonic shortening) prov
Authors
Nora Maria Nieminski, Tim McHargue, Jared T. Gooley, Andrea Fildani, Donald R Lowe
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Peak Cenozoic warmth enabled deep-sea sand deposition

The early Eocene (~ 56–48 million years ago) was marked by peak Cenozoic warmth and sea levels, high CO2, and largely ice-free conditions. This time has been described as a period of increased continental erosion and silicate weathering. However, these conclusions are based largely on geochemical investigation of marine mudstones and carbonates or study of intermontane Laramide basin settings. Her
Authors
Zachary FM Burton, Tim McHargue, Christopher H. Kremer, Richard B Bloch, Jared T. Gooley, Chayawan Jailka, Jake Harrington, Stephan A. Graham
By
Energy Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

New Idria serpentinite protrusion, Diablo Range, California: From upper mantle to the surface

The New Idria serpentinite body in the Coast Ranges of California is a diapir that resulted from the interaction of the migrating Mendocino trench-ridge-transform fault triple junction, transpression, metasomatic fluids, and previously subducted oceanic crust and mantle. Northward propagation of the San Andreas fault progressively eliminated the original subduction zone, allowing seawater to penet
Authors
Robert G. Coleman, Jared T. Gooley, Robert T. Gregorory, Stephan A. Graham
By
Energy Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Detrital zircon provenance of the Cretaceous-Neogene East Coast Basin reveals changing tectonic conditions and drainage reorganization along the Pacific margin of Zealandia

The Upper Cretaceous–Pliocene strata of New Zealand record ~100 m.y. of Zealandia’s evolution, including development of the Hikurangi convergent margin and Alpine transform plate boundary. A comprehensive, new detrital zircon U-Pb data set (8315 analyses from 61 samples) was generated along a ~700 km transect of the East Coast Basin of New Zealand. Age distributions were analyzed and interpreted i
Authors
Jared T. Gooley, Nora Maria Nieminski
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Assessment of undiscovered gas resources in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska, 2021

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1,407 billion (1.4 trillion) cubic feet of gas in conventional accumulations in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska.
Authors
David W. Houseknecht, Tracey J. Mercier, Christopher J. Schenk, Thomas E. Moore, William A. Rouse, Julie A. Dumoulin, William H. Craddock, Richard O. Lease, Palma J. Botterell, Margaret M. Sanders, Rebecca A. Smith, Christopher D. Connors, Christopher P. Garrity, Katherine J. Whidden, Jared T. Gooley, John W. Counts, Joshua H. Long, Christina A. DeVera
By
Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Ecosystems Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Kukla, T., Ibarra, D.E., Caves Rugenstein, J.K., Gooley, J.T., Mullins, C.E., Kramer, S., Moragne, D.Y., and Chamberlain, C.P., (2021), High-resolution paleotopography of the John Day region, Oregon, USA: Frontiers in Earth Science, doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.635181.
Gooley, J.T., Grove, M., and Graham, S.A., 2021, Tectonic evolution of the central California margin as reflected by detrital zircon composition in the Mount Diablo region, in Sullivan, R., Sloan, D., Unrah, J.R., and Schwartz, D.P., eds., Regional Geological Framework of Mount Diablo, California: Its Tectonic Evolution on the North America Plate Boundary: Geological Society of America Memoir 217, p. 305–329, doi: 10.1130/2021.1217(14).
Gooley, J.T., Sharman, G.R., and Graham, S.A., 2021, Reconciling along-strike disparity in slip displacement of the San Andreas fault, central California, USA: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 133, no.7–8, p. 1441–1464, doi:10.1130/B35681.1.
Hilley, G.E., Sare, R.M., Aron, F., Baden, C.W., Castillo, C.M., Dobbs, S.C., Gooley, J.T., Johnstone, S.A., Lieu, F., McHargue, T.R., Nevitt, J.M., Paull, C.K., Shumaker, L.E., Traer, M.M., and Young, H.H., 2020, Coexisting seismic behavior of transform faults revealed by high-resolution bathymetry: Geology, v. 48, p. 379–384, doi:10.1130/G46663.1.
Dobbs, S.C., McHargue, T., Malkowski, M.A., Gooley, J.T., Jaikla, C., White, C.J., and Hilley, G.E., 2019, Are submarine and subaerial drainages morphologically distinct?: Geology, v. 47, doi: 10.1130/G46329.1.
Rech, J., Currie, B.S., Jordan, T.E., Riquelme, R., Lehmann, S.B., Kirk-Lawlor, N.E., Li, S., and Gooley, J.T., 2019, Massive middle Miocene gypsic paleosols in the Atacama Desert and the formation of the Central Andean rainshadow: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 506, p. 184–194, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.040.
Gooley, J.T., Johnson, C.J., and Pettinga, L., 2016, Spatial and temporal variation of fluvial architecture in a prograding clastic wedge of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Basin (Kaiparowits Plateau), USA: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 86, n. 3, p. 125–147, doi:10.2110./jsr.2016.11.
Allen, J.L, Johnson, C., Gallin, W., Gooley, J., and Heumann, M., 2012, New technology and methodology for assessing sandstone composition: a case study using a Quantitative Electron Microscope Scanner (QEMSCAN), in Rasbury T., Hemming, S., and Riggs, N. (eds.), Geochemical Approaches to Provenance: Geological Society of America Special Publication, v. 487, p. 177–194.

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Science and Products

  • Science
    link
    An image of USGS research drilling rig on side of U.S. Route 90 in Kinney County, Texas. The sky is streaked with clouds.

    Gulf Coast Geologic Energy Research

    The Gulf Coast Geologic Energy Assessments and Research (GEAR) project also conducts research on the properties and processes relevant to the Gulf Coast Jurassic-Cretaceous-Tertiary composite total petroleum system (TPS). This research aims to improve ongoing and future undiscovered, technically recoverable hydrocarbon resources assessments on the onshore and State waters portion of the Gulf Coast...
    By
    Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center
    link

    Gulf Coast Geologic Energy Research

    The Gulf Coast Geologic Energy Assessments and Research (GEAR) project also conducts research on the properties and processes relevant to the Gulf Coast Jurassic-Cretaceous-Tertiary composite total petroleum system (TPS). This research aims to improve ongoing and future undiscovered, technically recoverable hydrocarbon resources assessments on the onshore and State waters portion of the Gulf Coast...
    Learn More
    link
    Atigun River in Atigun Gorge - Brooks Range in Alaska

    Alaska Petroleum Systems

    The Alaska Petroleum Systems project has three main objectives: (A) conduct research that increases our understanding of Alaska petroleum systems, (B) conduct assessments of undiscovered oil and gas resources, and (C) deliver energy-resource information to land and resource managers, policy makers, and the public.
    By
    Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Central Energy Resources Science Center
    link

    Alaska Petroleum Systems

    The Alaska Petroleum Systems project has three main objectives: (A) conduct research that increases our understanding of Alaska petroleum systems, (B) conduct assessments of undiscovered oil and gas resources, and (C) deliver energy-resource information to land and resource managers, policy makers, and the public.
    Learn More
  • Multimedia
    No results found.
  • Publications

    Crustal block-controlled contrasts in deformation, uplift, and exhumation in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA, imaged through apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology and 3-D geological modeling

    Deformation along strike-slip plate margins often accumulates within structurally partitioned and rheologically heterogeneous crustal blocks within the plate boundary. In these cases, contrasts in the physical properties and state of juxtaposed crustal blocks may play an important role in accommodation of deformation. Near the San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA, the Pacific−North American pla
    Authors
    Curtis William Baden, David L. Shuster, Jeremy H. Hourigan, Jared T. Gooley, Melanie Cahill, George E. Hilley
    By
    Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, Earthquake Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

    Spatial distribution and variability of lobe facies in a large sand-rich submarine fan system: Neoproterozoic Zerrissene Group, Namibia

    The deposits of the upper Neoproterozoic Zerrissene Group of central-western Namibia represent a large siliciclastic deep-water depositional system that showcases the intricacies of facies and architectural relationships from bed-scale to fan-system-scale. The lack of vegetation in the Namib Desert and regular east–west repetition of folded stratigraphy (reflecting ca 50% tectonic shortening) prov
    Authors
    Nora Maria Nieminski, Tim McHargue, Jared T. Gooley, Andrea Fildani, Donald R Lowe
    By
    Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

    Peak Cenozoic warmth enabled deep-sea sand deposition

    The early Eocene (~ 56–48 million years ago) was marked by peak Cenozoic warmth and sea levels, high CO2, and largely ice-free conditions. This time has been described as a period of increased continental erosion and silicate weathering. However, these conclusions are based largely on geochemical investigation of marine mudstones and carbonates or study of intermontane Laramide basin settings. Her
    Authors
    Zachary FM Burton, Tim McHargue, Christopher H. Kremer, Richard B Bloch, Jared T. Gooley, Chayawan Jailka, Jake Harrington, Stephan A. Graham
    By
    Energy Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

    New Idria serpentinite protrusion, Diablo Range, California: From upper mantle to the surface

    The New Idria serpentinite body in the Coast Ranges of California is a diapir that resulted from the interaction of the migrating Mendocino trench-ridge-transform fault triple junction, transpression, metasomatic fluids, and previously subducted oceanic crust and mantle. Northward propagation of the San Andreas fault progressively eliminated the original subduction zone, allowing seawater to penet
    Authors
    Robert G. Coleman, Jared T. Gooley, Robert T. Gregorory, Stephan A. Graham
    By
    Energy Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

    Detrital zircon provenance of the Cretaceous-Neogene East Coast Basin reveals changing tectonic conditions and drainage reorganization along the Pacific margin of Zealandia

    The Upper Cretaceous–Pliocene strata of New Zealand record ~100 m.y. of Zealandia’s evolution, including development of the Hikurangi convergent margin and Alpine transform plate boundary. A comprehensive, new detrital zircon U-Pb data set (8315 analyses from 61 samples) was generated along a ~700 km transect of the East Coast Basin of New Zealand. Age distributions were analyzed and interpreted i
    Authors
    Jared T. Gooley, Nora Maria Nieminski
    By
    Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

    Assessment of undiscovered gas resources in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska, 2021

    Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1,407 billion (1.4 trillion) cubic feet of gas in conventional accumulations in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska.
    Authors
    David W. Houseknecht, Tracey J. Mercier, Christopher J. Schenk, Thomas E. Moore, William A. Rouse, Julie A. Dumoulin, William H. Craddock, Richard O. Lease, Palma J. Botterell, Margaret M. Sanders, Rebecca A. Smith, Christopher D. Connors, Christopher P. Garrity, Katherine J. Whidden, Jared T. Gooley, John W. Counts, Joshua H. Long, Christina A. DeVera
    By
    Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Ecosystems Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

    Non-USGS Publications**

    Kukla, T., Ibarra, D.E., Caves Rugenstein, J.K., Gooley, J.T., Mullins, C.E., Kramer, S., Moragne, D.Y., and Chamberlain, C.P., (2021), High-resolution paleotopography of the John Day region, Oregon, USA: Frontiers in Earth Science, doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.635181.
    Gooley, J.T., Grove, M., and Graham, S.A., 2021, Tectonic evolution of the central California margin as reflected by detrital zircon composition in the Mount Diablo region, in Sullivan, R., Sloan, D., Unrah, J.R., and Schwartz, D.P., eds., Regional Geological Framework of Mount Diablo, California: Its Tectonic Evolution on the North America Plate Boundary: Geological Society of America Memoir 217, p. 305–329, doi: 10.1130/2021.1217(14).
    Gooley, J.T., Sharman, G.R., and Graham, S.A., 2021, Reconciling along-strike disparity in slip displacement of the San Andreas fault, central California, USA: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 133, no.7–8, p. 1441–1464, doi:10.1130/B35681.1.
    Hilley, G.E., Sare, R.M., Aron, F., Baden, C.W., Castillo, C.M., Dobbs, S.C., Gooley, J.T., Johnstone, S.A., Lieu, F., McHargue, T.R., Nevitt, J.M., Paull, C.K., Shumaker, L.E., Traer, M.M., and Young, H.H., 2020, Coexisting seismic behavior of transform faults revealed by high-resolution bathymetry: Geology, v. 48, p. 379–384, doi:10.1130/G46663.1.
    Dobbs, S.C., McHargue, T., Malkowski, M.A., Gooley, J.T., Jaikla, C., White, C.J., and Hilley, G.E., 2019, Are submarine and subaerial drainages morphologically distinct?: Geology, v. 47, doi: 10.1130/G46329.1.
    Rech, J., Currie, B.S., Jordan, T.E., Riquelme, R., Lehmann, S.B., Kirk-Lawlor, N.E., Li, S., and Gooley, J.T., 2019, Massive middle Miocene gypsic paleosols in the Atacama Desert and the formation of the Central Andean rainshadow: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 506, p. 184–194, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2018.10.040.
    Gooley, J.T., Johnson, C.J., and Pettinga, L., 2016, Spatial and temporal variation of fluvial architecture in a prograding clastic wedge of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Basin (Kaiparowits Plateau), USA: Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 86, n. 3, p. 125–147, doi:10.2110./jsr.2016.11.
    Allen, J.L, Johnson, C., Gallin, W., Gooley, J., and Heumann, M., 2012, New technology and methodology for assessing sandstone composition: a case study using a Quantitative Electron Microscope Scanner (QEMSCAN), in Rasbury T., Hemming, S., and Riggs, N. (eds.), Geochemical Approaches to Provenance: Geological Society of America Special Publication, v. 487, p. 177–194.

    **Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government