Images

Geologist examines f Faulted and folded petroleum source rocks in Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks (Kingak Shale, pebble shale unit, and gamma-ray zone of Hue Shale) in southern part of Western North Slope. Thermal maturity of these rocks is at the upper limit of oil preservations.

Overview of folded Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous rocks in southern part of Western North Slope.

Oil-saturated sandstone in the Nanushuk Formation in westernmost National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). Oil in these rocks likely was generated beneath Western North Slope and migrated northeastward into NPR-A.

Faulted and folded petroleum source rocks in Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks (Kingak Shale, pebble shale unit, and gamma-ray zone of Hue Shale) in southern part of Western North Slope. Thermal maturity of these rocks are at the upper limit of oil preservations.

Geochemists use platinum, silica, and ceramic crucibles, shown here in a glass container called a desiccator.  Silica is used because it is resistant to extremely high temperatures and because it is chemically inert. Silicon, linked up with a pair of oxygen molecules as silicon dioxide, is known as silica. 

The USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative and USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office, Natural Resources Conservation Services, and Bureau of Land Management have partnered to conduct airborne geophysical and 3DEP lidar surveys over parts of Nevada and California to collect information on undiscovered geothermal, criti

Oil, gas, and water separation vessels at a carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery operation, Horseshoe Atoll, Upper Pennsylvanian Wolfcampian play in the Permian Basin Province in Texas.

The Alaska North Slope is rich in gas hydrate-bearing formations which contain significant natural gas resources. The USGS has released a geologically based assessment for how much of these resources is technically recoverable.

To make America’s economy and defense more secure, the Administration has released “A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals.” Among other roles, these mineral commodities are vital to renewable energy infrastructure like solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries.

Blended photo of a wind and solar energy facilities.

This is a graphic from the USGS National Oil and Gas Assessment Explorer application, which allows user to drill into 70 oil and gas assessment provinces throughout the United States.

USGS personnel on the deck of the R/V Hugh R.

One charge of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Energy Resources Science Center is conducting field work to
better understand the distribution of hydrocarbon source rocks as input to USGS oil and gas
assessments. This 2015 image is a view to the south-southeast of rocks exposed along an unnamed

One charge of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Energy Resources Science Center is performing description
and analysis of hydrocarbon source rocks as input to USGS oil and gas assessments. This 2018 image
shows a coring and geophysical well-logging operation adjacent to U.S. Route 90, Kinney County, Texas.

USGS Denver Federal Center Building 25 Entrance

USGS researchers drill a research well located on the south side of U.S. 90, 7.1 miles east of Brackettville, Texas. This core was drilled by USGS during field work for an oil and gas assessment for the Eagle Ford of the Gulf Coast Basins. Cores like these provide information on the various rock layers, such as their make-up, their age, etc.

Tim Collett, USGS research geologist, presenting at the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources' (KIGAM)  international program for geoscience resources.

Core storage facility at the the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources in Daejeon, South Korea

Gas hydrate from offshore Korea courtesy of the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources.   Learn more about gas hydrates at https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/

 Seth Haines, USGS research geophysicist, on a Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources laboratory tour, which included stops at their gas hydrate and sediment pressure chamber - it's a whopping 320 gallons, dwarfing even Seth, a 6-footer.  The chamber is the silvery ring and the black cylinder beneath it.  It's so big and heavy

Tim Collett, research geologist in gas hydrates, is chief for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Energy Resources Program gas hydrate research efforts offering a presentation on unconventional oil and gas resources at KIGAM, the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources in Daejeon, South Korea