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Leslie F. (Jingle) Ruppert

Leslie (Jingle) Ruppert is a Supervisory Research Geologist with the USGS Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center in Reston, VA.

Jingle joined the USGS in 1979 and has worked on investigations of the mineralogy, geochemistry, and geology of coal, coal assessments, coal-bed gas, coal combustion products, and methodology development for the assessment of geologic carbon dioxide sequestration. She has been a project chief for over 25 years. Her current project is Geochemistry of Energy Fuels and she conducts research on improving our understanding of fluid flow through low and high permeable continuous reservoirs using neutron scattering techniques, the stimulation of biogenic natural gas in un-mineable coal beds, statistical methods to improve interpretation of compositional data, and the use of coal as an indicator of potentially economic mineral deposits.

Education and Certifications

  • M.S. Geology, George Washington University, 1984

  • B.S. Geology, the George Washington University, 1979

Science and Products

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Energy Geochemistry Project Science Object Representation Thumb

Geochemistry of Energy Fuels Project

Since its establishment in 1879, USGS geoscientists have investigated the geochemistry of energy resources. Research conducted in the Geochemistry of Energy Fuels project continues this tradition. Goals include 1) understanding the geologic, geochemical, microbiological, and other factors that control production, quality, and composition of coal, petroleum, and nuclear fuels, and 2) predicting the...
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center
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Geochemistry of Energy Fuels Project

Since its establishment in 1879, USGS geoscientists have investigated the geochemistry of energy resources. Research conducted in the Geochemistry of Energy Fuels project continues this tradition. Goals include 1) understanding the geologic, geochemical, microbiological, and other factors that control production, quality, and composition of coal, petroleum, and nuclear fuels, and 2) predicting the...
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Energy Geochemistry Solid Fuels Representation Thumb

Geochemistry of Energy Fuels Task

Geologic and geochemical processes that impact fuel quality, quantity, and availability can be best understood by utilizing a range of approaches, including, but not limited to isotopic signatures, inorganic and organic analyses, and neutron scattering techniques. Current work focuses on using neutron scattering to understand how fluids are stored and flow through tight continuous reservoirs and...
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center
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Geochemistry of Energy Fuels Task

Geologic and geochemical processes that impact fuel quality, quantity, and availability can be best understood by utilizing a range of approaches, including, but not limited to isotopic signatures, inorganic and organic analyses, and neutron scattering techniques. Current work focuses on using neutron scattering to understand how fluids are stored and flow through tight continuous reservoirs and...
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Total neutron scattering of methane in Niobrara Formation samples at the wet-gas maturity level

Petroleum within unconventional source-rock reservoirs is hosted in organic matter and mineral pore space as well as in voids and microfractures. Recent work has shown that for source-rock reservoirs in the dry gas window, significant portions of methane (CH4), the main component of petroleum at elevated maturities, can be stored within fine organic matter porosity. However, within reservoirs at l
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Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Geochemistry of the Leatherwood coal in eastern Kentucky

The Middle Pennsylvanian (Bolsovian) Leatherwood coal in central eastern Kentucky is a moderately thick (up to >1.6 m in the sites examined in this study) coal bed that has been one of the major sources of electricity in the region. To document and understand the organic petrology and inorganic chemistry of the Leatherwood coal, geologists from the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Coking coal of the United States: Modern and historical locations of coking coal mining locations and chemical, rheological, petrographic, and other data from modern samples

For the open-file report we collected new coking coal samples from Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arkansas and analyzed them for proximate and ultimate analyses; calorific value; sulfur forms; major-, minor-, and trace-element abundances; free swelling indices; Gieseler plasticity; ASTM dilatation; coal petrography, and several other tests [air-dry loss (ADL), residual moisture (RM), equilibrium
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Injection of Deuterium and Yeast Extract at USGS Birney Field Site, Powder River Basin, Montana, USA, 2016-2020

Subsurface microbial (biogenic) methane production is an important part of the global carbon cycle and has resulted in natural gas accumulations in many coal beds worldwide. Laboratory experiments indicate coal beds can act as natural geobioreactors and produce additional low carbon renewable natural gas with algal or yeast compounds, yet the effectiveness of these nutrients in situ are unknown. T
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Results from surveys to academic and industry and government geoscientists on the future of coal geoscientists

At recent technical conferences, many coal geoscientists in academia and government institutions as well as in industry organizations have expressed concern about the dwindling number of students and young staff members interested in careers in coal geoscience. To better understand what is driving these trends and to identify potential ways that the community can increase interest and participatio
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center
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Methane pore accessibility, densification, and accommodation by organic matter in the Niobrara Formation at wet-gas thermal maturity conditions

Petroleum within unconventional source-rock reservoirs is hosted in organic matter and mineral pore space as well as in voids and microfractures. Recent work has shown that for source-rock reservoirs in the dry gas window, significant portions of methane (CH4), the main component of petroleum at elevated maturities, can be stored within fine (<5 nm) organic matter porosity. However, within reservo
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Aaron M. Jubb, Leslie F. Ruppert, Tristan G. A. Youngs, Tom Headen, Justin E. Birdwell, Michael Cheshire, Martha (Rebecca) Stokes
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Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Broadening the perspectives of sedimentary organic matter analysis to understand Earth system response to change

This paper broadens the description of sedimentary organic matter from the conventional use of coal petrography to include palynological and geochemical sedimentary organic matter. Palynological sedimentary organic matter includes all chemically resistant organic microfossils, such as pollen and spores, dinocysts, microforaminifera (chitinoid-like linings of foraminifera), microscopic algae, charc
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Debra A. Willard, Leslie F. Ruppert
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

In situ enhancement and isotopic labeling of biogenic coalbed methane

Subsurface microbial (biogenic) methane production is an important part of the global carbon cycle that has resulted in natural gas accumulations in many coal beds worldwide. Laboratory studies suggest that complex carbon-containing nutrients (e.g., yeast or algae extract) can stimulate methane production, yet the effectiveness of these nutrients within coal beds is unknown. Here, we use downhole
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Elliott Barnhart, Leslie F. Ruppert, Randy Heibert, Heidi J. Smith, Hannah Schweitzer, Arthur Clark, Edwin Weeks, William H. Orem, Matthew S. Varonka, George A. Platt, Jenna L. Shelton, Katherine J Davis, Robert Hyatt, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Kilian Ashley, Shuhei Ono, Anna M. Martini, Keith Hackley, Robin Gerlach, Lee Spangler, Adrienne Phillips, Mark Barry, Alfred B. Cunningham, Matthew W. Fields
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Water Resources Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, National Innovation Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

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
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C. Özgen Karacan, Josep Antoni Martín-Fernández, Leslie F. Ruppert, Ricardo A. Olea
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Coking coal of the United States—Modern and historical coking coal mining locations and chemical, rheological, petrographic, and other data from modern samples

Coking coal, or metallurgical coal, has been produced in the United States for nearly 200 years. Coking coal is primarily used in the production of coke for use in the steel industry, and for other uses (for example, foundries, blacksmithing, heating buildings, and brewing). Currently, U.S. coking coal is produced in Alabama, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Virginia , and West Virginia. Historically, coki
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Michael H. Trippi, Leslie F. Ruppert, Cortland F. Eble, James C. Hower
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Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Exploring methane behavior in Marcellus Shale micropores via contrast matching neutron scattering

Petroleum in shale reservoirs is hosted in organic matter and mineral pores as well as in natural fractures and voids. For thermally mature plays, e.g., the Marcellus Shale, methane and other light alkane gases are thought to be primarily contained in organic matter pores with radii ≦50 nm. Thus, in order to understand natural gas occurrence, transport, storage, and recoverability within unconvent
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Aaron M. Jubb, Leslie F. Ruppert, Tristan G. A. Youngs, Thomas Headen
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Repetitive sampling and control threshold improve 16S rRNA results from produced waters associated with hydraulically fractured shales

Sequencing microbial DNA from deep subsurface environments is complicated by a number of issues ranging from contamination to non-reproducible results. Many samples obtained from these environments - which are of great interest due to the potential to stimulate microbial methane generation - contain low biomass. Therefore, samples from these environments are difficult to study as sequencing result
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Jenna L. Shelton, Elliott Barnhart, Leslie F. Ruppert, Aaron M. Jubb, Madalyn S. Blondes, Christina A. DeVera
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Brine Research Instrumentation and Experimental (BRInE) Laboratory

Impacts of mineralogical variation on CO2 behavior in small pores from producing intervals of the Marcellus Shale: Results from neutron scattering

The Near and InterMediate Range Order Diffractometer (NIMROD) was used to examine the potential impact of shale mineralogy on CO2 behavior within micropores. Two samples with varying mineral compositions were obtained from producing intervals in the dry gas window in the Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale. One of the samples contained relatively high amounts of quartz and clay and low carbonate, the
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Leslie F. Ruppert, Aaron M. Jubb, Thomas F Headen, Tristan G. A. Youngs, Bryan Bandli
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Self-organizing maps for compositional data: coal combustion products of a Wyoming power plant

A self-organizing map (SOM) is a non-linear projection of a D-dimensional data set, where the distance among observations is approximately preserved on to a lower dimensional space. The SOM arranges multivariate data based on their similarity to each other by allowing pattern recognition leading to easier interpretation of higher dimensional data. The SOM algorithm allows for selection of differen
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Josep M. Martín-Fernández, Mark A. Engle, Leslie F. Ruppert, Ricardo A. Olea
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Compositional data analysis of coal combustion products with an application to a Wyoming power plant

A mathematically sound approach for summarizing chemical analyses of feed coal and all its combustion products (bottom ash, economizer fly ash, and fly ash) is presented. The nature of the data requires the application of compositional techniques when conducting statistical analysis, techniques that have not been applied before to the study of partitioning of elements between the coal that enters
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J. A. Martín-Fernández, Ricardo A. Olea, Leslie F. Ruppert
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Cadmium isotope fractionation during coal combustion: Insights from two U.S. coal-fired power plants

Coal combustion, one of the principal energy sources of electricity in the United States, produces over 100 million tons of coal combustion products (CCPs) per year in the U.S. The reuse and disposal of CCPs has the potential to release toxic trace elements, including cadmium (Cd), into the environment. In this study, we investigated CCPs, including bottom ash (BA), economizer fly ash (EFA), and f
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Fotio Fouskas, Ma Lin, Mark A. Engle, Leslie F. Ruppert, Nicholas J. Geboy, Matthew A. Costa
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Porosity of the Marcellus Shale: A contrast matching small-angle neutron scattering study

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 matching compo
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Jitendra Bahadur, Leslie F. Ruppert, Vitaliy Pipich, Richard Sakurovs, Yuri B. Melnichenko
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Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center
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Appalachian Basin Energy Resources — A New Look at an Old Basin

Appalachian coal and petroleum resources are still available in sufficient quantities to contribute significantly to fulfilling the nation’s energy...

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