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Browse recent USGS publications related to energy resources. 

Filter Total Items: 2779

Rapid middle Miocene extension and unroofing of the southern Ruby Mountains, Nevada Rapid middle Miocene extension and unroofing of the southern Ruby Mountains, Nevada

Paleozoic rocks in the northern Ruby Mountains were metamorphosed during Mesozoic crustal shortening and Cenozoic magmatism, but equivalent strata in the southern Ruby Mountains were never buried deeper than stratigraphic depths prior to exhumation in the footwall of a west dipping brittle normal fault. In the southern Ruby Mountains, Miocene sedimentary rocks in the hanging wall of this...
Authors
Joseph Colgan, Keith Howard, Robert Fleck, Joseph L. Wooden

Geophysical framework of the northern San Francisco Bay region, California Geophysical framework of the northern San Francisco Bay region, California

We use geophysical data to examine the structural framework of the northern San Francisco Bay region, an area that hosts the northward continuation of the East Bay fault system. Although this fault system has accommodated ∼175 km of right-lateral offset since 12 Ma, how this offset is partitioned north of the bay is controversial and important for understanding where and how strain is...
Authors
Victoria E. Langenheim, Russell Graymer, Robert Jachens, Robert McLaughlin, D.L. Wagner, Donald Sweetkind

Algal blooms and "Marine snow": Mechanisms that enhance preservation of organic carbon in ancient fine-grained sediments Algal blooms and "Marine snow": Mechanisms that enhance preservation of organic carbon in ancient fine-grained sediments

Combined petrographic and geochemical methods are used to investigate the microfabrics present in thin sections prepared from representative organic carbon-rich mudstones collected from three successions (the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, the Jet Rock Member of the Whitby Mudstone Formation, and the pebble shale and Hue Shale). This study was initiated to determine how organic carbon-rich...
Authors
Joe Macquaker, Margaret Keller, Sarah J. Davies

Deglaciation in the southeastern Laurentide Sector and the Hudson Valley – 15,000 Years of vegetational and climate history Deglaciation in the southeastern Laurentide Sector and the Hudson Valley – 15,000 Years of vegetational and climate history

In this field trip, we provide a review of the significant controversy concerning the timing of deglaciation in the Hudson and Wallkill Valleys. We outline the differences in methodology and chronology with a circular route throughout the Hudson and Wallkill valleys. We begin the trip at Lake Mohonk near New Paltz led by Kirsten Menking and Dorothy Peteet, then continue to the “black...
Authors
Dorothy Peteet, John Rayburn, Kirsten Menking, Guy Robinson, Byron Stone

Compositional variation in the chevkinite group: new data from igneous and metamorphic rocks Compositional variation in the chevkinite group: new data from igneous and metamorphic rocks

Electron microprobe analyses are presented of chevkinite-group minerals from Canada, USA, Guatemala, Norway, Scotland, Italy and India. The host rocks are metacarbonates, alkaline and subalkaline granitoids, quartz-bearing pegmatites, carbonatite and an inferred K-rich tuff. The analyses extend slightly the range of compositions in the chevkinite group, e.g. the most MgO-rich phases yet...
Authors
Harvey Belkin, R. MacDonald, F. Wall, B. Baginski

First ever release of USGS offshore arctic resource assessment First ever release of USGS offshore arctic resource assessment

No abstract available.
Authors
Donald Gautier, Kenneth Bird, Ronald Charpentier, Arthur Grantz, David Houseknecht, Timothy Klett, Thomas Moore, Janet Pitman, Christopher Schenk, John Schuenemeyer, Kai Sorensen, Marilyn E. Tennyson

The geochemistry of environmentally important trace elements in UK coals, with special reference to the Parkgate coal in the Yorkshire–Nottinghamshire Coalfield, UK The geochemistry of environmentally important trace elements in UK coals, with special reference to the Parkgate coal in the Yorkshire–Nottinghamshire Coalfield, UK

The Parkgate coal of Langsettian age in the Yorkshire–Nottinghamshire coalfield is typical of many coals in the UK in that it has a high sulphur (S) content. Detailed information on the distribution of the forms of S, both laterally and vertically through the seam, was known from previous investigations. In the present work, 38 interval samples from five measured sections of the coal...
Authors
D.A. Spears, S.J. Tewalt

Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in the Arctic Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in the Arctic

Among the greatest uncertainties in future energy supply and a subject of considerable environmental concern is the amount of oil and gas yet to be found in the Arctic. By using a probabilistic geology-based methodology, the United States Geological Survey has assessed the area north of the Arctic Circle and concluded that about 30% of the world’s undiscovered gas and 13% of the world’s
Authors
Donald Gautier, Kenneth Bird, Ronald Charpentier, Arthur Grantz, David Houseknecht, Timothy Klett, Thomas Moore, Janet Pitman, Christopher Schenk, John Schuenemeyer, Kai Sorenson, Marilyn Tennyson, Zenon Valin, Craig Wandrey

Inference of distributional parameters from compositional samples containing nondetects Inference of distributional parameters from compositional samples containing nondetects

Low concentrations of elements in geochemical analyses have the peculiarity of being compositional data and, for a given level of significance, are likely to be beyond the capabilities of laboratories to distinguish between minute concentrations and complete absence, thus preventing laboratories from reporting extremely low concentrations of the analyte. Instead, what is reported is the...
Authors
Ricardo Olea

Quantifying the undiscovered geothermal resources of the United States Quantifying the undiscovered geothermal resources of the United States

In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released summary results of an assessment of the electric power production potential from the moderate- and high-temperature geothermal resources of the United States (Williams et al., 2008a; USGS Fact Sheet 2008-3082; http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3082). In the assessment, the estimated mean power production potential from undiscovered...
Authors
Colin Williams, Marshall Reed, Jacob DeAngelo, S. Peter Galanis

Digital coordinates and age for 3,869 foraminifer samples collected by Chevron Petroleum geologists in Washington and Oregon Digital coordinates and age for 3,869 foraminifer samples collected by Chevron Petroleum geologists in Washington and Oregon

The general location and age of more than 33,500 mostly foraminifer samples from Chevron Petroleum Company surface localities in California were provided by Brabb and Parker (2003, 2005). Malmborg and others (2008) provided digital latitude, longitude, and age for more than 13,000 of these samples. We provide here for the first time the digital latitude, longitude, and age for nearly 4...
Authors
William B. West, Earl Brabb, William Malmborg, John Parker

Assessment of Undiscovered Hydrocarbon Resources of the Western Oregon and Washington Province Assessment of Undiscovered Hydrocarbon Resources of the Western Oregon and Washington Province

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes of 2.2 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of undiscovered natural gas and 15 million barrels of oil (MMBO) in the Western Oregon and Washington Province. More than 67 percent, or 1.5 TCF, of the undiscovered natural gas is continuous gas estimated to be coalbed gas in Tertiary coals in western Oregon...
Authors
Michael Brownfield, Troy Cook, Timothy R. Klett, Richard Pollastro, Christopher Schenk
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