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Browse recent USGS publications related to energy resources. 

Filter Total Items: 2835

The Columbia River Basalt Group: from the gorge to the sea The Columbia River Basalt Group: from the gorge to the sea

Miocene flood basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Group inundated eastern Washington, Oregon, and adjacent Idaho between 17 and 6 Ma. Some of the more voluminous flows followed the ancestral Columbia River across the Cascade arc, Puget-Willamette trough, and the Coast Range to the Pacific Ocean. We have used field mapping, chemistry, and paleomagnetic directions to trace individual...
Authors
Ray E. Wells, Alan R. Niem, Russell C. Evarts, Jonathan T. Hagstrum

High-resolution seismic-reflection images across the ICDP-USGS Eyreville deep drilling site, Chesapeake Bay impact structure High-resolution seismic-reflection images across the ICDP-USGS Eyreville deep drilling site, Chesapeake Bay impact structure

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) acquired two 1.4-km-long, high-resolution (~5 m vertical resolution) seismic-reflection lines in 2006 that cross near the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP)–USGS Eyreville deep drilling site located above the late Eocene Chesapeake Bay impact structure in Virginia, USA. Five-meter spacing of seismic sources and geophones...
Authors
David S. Powars, Rufus D. Catchings, Mark R. Goldman, Gregory Gohn, J. Wright Horton,, Lucy E. Edwards, Michael J. Rymer, G. Gandhok

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 L. Gautier, Kenneth J. Bird, Ronald R. Charpentier, Arthur Grantz, David W. Houseknecht, Timothy R. Klett, Thomas E. Moore, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, John H. Schuenemeyer, Kai Sorensen, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Zenon C. Valin, Craig J. Wandrey

Evaluation of procedures for prediction of unconventional gas in the presence of geologic trends Evaluation of procedures for prediction of unconventional gas in the presence of geologic trends

This study extends the application of local spatial nonparametric prediction models to the estimation of recoverable gas volumes in continuous-type gas plays to regimes where there is a single geologic trend. A transformation is presented, originally proposed by Tomczak, that offsets the distortions caused by the trend. This article reports on numerical experiments that compare...
Authors
E. D. Attanasi, T.C. Coburn

Unconventional energy resources: 2007-2008 review Unconventional energy resources: 2007-2008 review

This paper summarizes five 2007–2008 resource commodity committee reports prepared by the Energy Minerals Division (EMD) of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Current United States and global research and development activities related to gas hydrates, gas shales, geothermal resources, oil sands, and uranium resources are included in this review. These commodity reports...
Authors
Peter D. Warwick

Processes that initiate turbidity currents and their influence on turbidites: A marine geology perspective Processes that initiate turbidity currents and their influence on turbidites: A marine geology perspective

How the processes that initiate turbidity currents influence turbidite deposition is poorly understood, and many discussions in the literature rely on concepts that are overly simplistic. Marine geological studies provide information on the initiation and flow path of turbidity currents, including their response to gradient. In case studies of late Quaternary turbidites on the eastern...
Authors
David J. W. Piper, William R. Normark

CO2 storage resources, reserves, and reserve growth: Toward a methodology for integrated assessment of the storage capacity of oil and gas reservoirs and saline formations CO2 storage resources, reserves, and reserve growth: Toward a methodology for integrated assessment of the storage capacity of oil and gas reservoirs and saline formations

Geologically based methodologies to assess the possible volumes of subsurface CO2 storage must apply clear and uniform definitions of resource and reserve concepts to each assessment unit (AU). Application of the current state of knowledge of geologic, hydrologic, geochemical, and geophysical parameters (contingencies) that control storage volume and injectivity allows definition of the...
Authors
Robert Burruss

Petroleum systems used to determine the assessment units in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California Petroleum systems used to determine the assessment units in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California

For the San Joaquin Basin Province in California (fig. 8.1), six petroleum systems were identified, mapped, and described to provide the basis for the five total petroleum systems (TPS) and ten related assessment units (AU) used in the 2003 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Oil and Gas Assessment (table 8.1; Gautier and others, 2004; Hosford Scheirer, 2007). The petroleum pools in...
Authors
Leslie B. Magoon, Paul G. Lillis, Kenneth E. Peters

Eocene total petroleum system — North and East of the Eocene West Side Fold Belt Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province Eocene total petroleum system — North and East of the Eocene West Side Fold Belt Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province

The North and East of Eocene West Side Fold Belt Assessment Unit (AU) of the Eocene Total Petroleum System of the San Joaquin Basin Province comprises all hydrocarbon accumulations within the geographic and stratigraphic limits of this confirmed AU. Oil and associated gas accumulations occur in Paleocene through early middle Miocene marine to nonmarine sandstones found on the...
Authors
Donald L. Gautier, Allegra Hosford Scheirer
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