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Browse recent USGS publications related to energy resources. 

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Chevkinite-group minerals from granulite-facies metamorphic rocks and associated pegmatites of East Antarctica and South India Chevkinite-group minerals from granulite-facies metamorphic rocks and associated pegmatites of East Antarctica and South India

Electron microprobe data are presented for chevkinite-group minerals from granulite-facies rocks and associated pegmatites of the Napier Complex and Mawson Station charnockite in East Antarctica and from the Eastern Ghats, South India. Their compositions conform to the general formula for this group, viz. A4BC2D2Si4O22 where, in the analysed specimens A = (rare-earth elements (REE), Ca...
Authors
Harvey E. Belkin, R. Macdonald, E.S. Grew

Geologic columns for the ICDP-USGS Eyreville A and C cores, Chesapeake Bay impact structure: Postimpact sediments, 444 to 0 m depth Geologic columns for the ICDP-USGS Eyreville A and C cores, Chesapeake Bay impact structure: Postimpact sediments, 444 to 0 m depth

A 443.9-m-thick, virtually undisturbed section of postimpact deposits in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure was recovered in the Eyreville A and C cores, Northampton County, Virginia, within the "moat" of the structure's central crater. Recovered sediments are mainly fine-grained marine siliciclastics, with the exception of Pleistocene sand, clay, and gravel. The lowest postimpact unit...
Authors
Lucy E. Edwards, David S. Powars, J.V. Browning, P.P. McLaughlin, K.G. Miller, A.A. Kulpecz, T. Elbra

Postimpact deposition in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure: Variations in eustasy, compaction, sediment supply, and passive-aggressive tectonism Postimpact deposition in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure: Variations in eustasy, compaction, sediment supply, and passive-aggressive tectonism

The Eyreville and Exmore, Virginia, core holes were drilled in the inner basin and annular trough, respectively, of the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, and they allow us to evaluate sequence deposition in an impact crater. We provide new high-resolution geochronologic (
Authors
A.A. Kulpecz, K.G. Miller, J.V. Browning, Lucy E. Edwards, David S. Powars, P.P. McLaughlin, A.D. Harris, M.D. Feigenson

Pore-throat sizes in sandstones, tight sandstones, and shales Pore-throat sizes in sandstones, tight sandstones, and shales

Pore-throat sizes in silidclastic rocks form a continuum from the submillimeter to the nanometer scale. That continuum is documented in this article using previously published data on the pore and pore-throat sizes of conventional reservoir rocks, tight-gas sandstones, and shales. For measures of central tendency (mean, mode, median), pore-throat sizes (diameters) are generally greater...
Authors
Philip H. Nelson

Thermodynamic model for uplift and deflation episodes (bradyseism) associated with magmatic-hydrothermal activity at the Campi Flegrei (Italy) Thermodynamic model for uplift and deflation episodes (bradyseism) associated with magmatic-hydrothermal activity at the Campi Flegrei (Italy)

Campi Flegrei (CF) is a large volcanic complex located west of the city of Naples, Italy. Repeated episodes of bradyseism (slow vertical ground movement) near the town of Pozzuoli have been documented since Roman times. Bradyseismic events are interpreted as the consequence of aqueous fluid exsolution during magma solidification on a slow timescale (103–104 yr) superimposed upon a...
Authors
Annamaria Lima, Benedetto De Vivo, Fran J. Spera, Robert J. Bodnar, Alfonsa Milia, Concettina Nunziata, Harvey E. Belkin, Claudia Cannatelli

Geophysical setting of western Utah and eastern Nevada between latitudes 37°45′ and 40°N Geophysical setting of western Utah and eastern Nevada between latitudes 37°45′ and 40°N

Gravity and aeromagnetic data refine the structural setting for the region of western Utah and eastern Nevada between Snake and Hamlin Valleys on the west and Tule Valley on the east. These data are used here as part of a regional analysis. An isostatic gravity map shows large areas underlain by gravity lows, the most prominent of which is a large semi-circular low associated with the...
Authors
Edward A. Mankinen, Edwin H. McKee

Seismic analysis of clinoform depositional sequences and shelf-margin trajectories in Lower Cretaceous (Albian) strata, Alaska North Slope Seismic analysis of clinoform depositional sequences and shelf-margin trajectories in Lower Cretaceous (Albian) strata, Alaska North Slope

Lower Cretaceous strata beneath the Alaska North Slope include clinoform depositional sequences that filled the western Colville foreland basin and overstepped the Beaufort rift shoulder. Analysis of Albian clinoform sequences with two‐dimensional (2D) seismic data resulted in the recognition of seismic facies inferred to represent lowstand, transgressive and highstand systems tracts...
Authors
David W. Houseknecht, Kenneth J. Bird, Christopher J. Schenk

Learning to wait: A laboratory investigation Learning to wait: A laboratory investigation

Human subjects decide when to sink a fixed cost C to seize an irreversible investment opportunity whose value V is governed by Brownian motion. The optimal policy is to invest when V first crosses a threshold V* = (1 + w*) C, where the wait option premium w* depends on drift, volatility, and expiration hazard parameters. Subjects in the Low w* treatment on average invest at values quite...
Authors
Ryan Oprea, Daniel Friedman, Steven T. Anderson

Cenozoic evolution of the abrupt Colorado Plateau–Basin and Range boundary, northwest Arizona: A tale of three basins, immense lacustrine-evaporite deposits, and the nascent Colorado River Cenozoic evolution of the abrupt Colorado Plateau–Basin and Range boundary, northwest Arizona: A tale of three basins, immense lacustrine-evaporite deposits, and the nascent Colorado River

In northwest Arizona, the relatively unextended Colorado Plateau gives way abruptly to the highly extended Colorado River extensional corridor within the Basin and Range province along a system of major west-dipping normal faults, including the Grand Wash fault zone and South Virgin–White Hills detachment fault. Large growth-fault basins developed in the hanging walls of these faults...
Authors
J. E. Faulds, Keith A. Howard, E. M. Duebendorfer

Assessment of Undiscovered Technically Recoverable Oil and Gas Resources of the Bakken Formation, Williston Basin, Montana and North Dakota, 2008 Assessment of Undiscovered Technically Recoverable Oil and Gas Resources of the Bakken Formation, Williston Basin, Montana and North Dakota, 2008

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has completed an assessment of the undiscovered oil and associated gas resources of the Upper Devonian to Lower Mississippian Bakken Formation in the U.S. portion of the Williston Basin of Montana and North Dakota and within the Williston Basin Province. The assessment is based on geologic elements of a total petroleum system (TPS), which include (1)...
Authors
R. M. Pollastro, L. N. R. Roberts, T. A. Cook, M. D. Lewan

Models for gas hydrate-bearing sediments inferred from hydraulic permeability and elastic velocities Models for gas hydrate-bearing sediments inferred from hydraulic permeability and elastic velocities

Elastic velocities and hydraulic permeability of gas hydrate-bearing sediments strongly depend on how gas hydrate accumulates in pore spaces and various gas hydrate accumulation models are proposed to predict physical property changes due to gas hydrate concentrations. Elastic velocities and permeability predicted from a cementation model differ noticeably from those from a pore-filling...
Authors
Myung W. Lee

Comparison of the modified Biot-Gassmann theory and the Kuster-Toksöz theory in predicting elastic velocities of sediments Comparison of the modified Biot-Gassmann theory and the Kuster-Toksöz theory in predicting elastic velocities of sediments

Elastic velocities of water-saturated sandstones depend primarily on porosity, effective pressure, and the degree of consolidation. If the dry-frame moduli are known, from either measurements or theoretical calculations, the effect of pore water on velocities can be modeled using the Gassmann theory. Kuster and Toksoz developed a theory based on wave-scattering theory for a variety of...
Authors
Myung W. Lee
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