Publications

This report summarizes the activities and results of the Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) working group (WG) of the International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP), from its inception in September, 2015, to the present day (September, 2021). The purpose of this report is to document the history of the working group and to compile and evaluate its results. The CLSM...

The uranium (U) content, and more recently, the ratio between 238U and 235U in black shales are commonly applied as a proxy to determine redox conditions and infer organic-richness. Uranium contents typically display a linear relationship with total organic carbon (TOC) in shales. This relationship is due to the processes and mechanisms responsible for the incorporation of U into the...

Organic matter (OM) accumulation in organic matter-rich mudstones, or black shales, is generally recognized to be controlled by combinations of bioproductivity, preservation, and dilution. However, specific triggers of OM deposition in these formations are commonly difficult to identify with geochemical proxies, in part because of feedbacks that cause geochemical proxies for these...

Vitrinite is a maceral group (a set of organic matter types with similar properties and appearance) derived from the remains of woody material from vascular plants and is composed of the thermally evolved products of lignin and cellulose. Vitrinite is the dominant component of humic coal and is found as a minor component dispersed into sedimentary rocks, especially mudrocks, the primary...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 4.3 billion barrels of oil and 4.9 trillion cubic feet of gas (associated) in the Bakken and Three Forks Formations of the Williston Basin Province, North Dakota and Montana.

Traditional petrophysical methods to evaluate organic richness and mineralogy using gamma-ray and resistivity log responses are not diagnostic in source rocks. We have developed a deterministic, nonproprietary method to quantify formation variability in total organic carbon (TOC) and three key mudrock mineralogical components of nonhydrocarbon-bearing source rock strata of the Eagle Ford...

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 13.4 billion barrels of oil and 244.4 trillion cubic feet of gas in nine geologic provinces of China.

No abstract available.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assesses potential for undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in priority geologic provinces and quantifies resource volume estimates within subdivisions called assessment units (AUs). AU boundaries are defined by USGS geologists using quantitative and qualitative geologic information. Variables contained in IHS Markit’s well and...

This Interagency Agreement supports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its research partners in understanding, predicting, and testing the recoverability and potential production characteristics of onshore natural gas hydrate in the Greater Prudhoe Bay area on the Alaska North Slope (ANS: Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk River, and Milne Point areas) or other areas deemed suitable by DOE and...

Executive Summary Managers of our Nation’s resources face unprecedented challenges driven by the convergence of increasing, competing societal demands and a changing climate that affects the stability, vulnerability, and predictability of those resources. To help meet these challenges, the scientific community must take advantage of all available technologies, data, and integrative Earth...

The widespread application of directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies expanded oil and gas (OG) development to previously inaccessible resources. A single OG well can generate millions of liters of wastewater, which is a mixture of brine produced from the fractured formations and injected hydraulic fracturing fluids (HFFs). With thousands of wells completed each year...