Publications
Browse recent USGS publications related to energy resources.
Filter Total Items: 2807
Surface slip during large Owens Valley earthquakes Surface slip during large Owens Valley earthquakes
The 1872 Owens Valley earthquake is the third largest known historical earthquake in California. Relatively sparse field data and a complex rupture trace, however, inhibited attempts to fully resolve the slip distribution and reconcile the total moment release. We present a new, comprehensive record of surface slip based on lidar and field investigation, documenting 162 new measurements...
Authors
E.K. Haddon, C.B. Amos, O. Zielke, Angela S. Jayko, R. Burgmann
Assessment of continuous (unconventional) oil and gas resources in the Late Cretaceous Mancos Shale of the Piceance Basin, Uinta-Piceance Province, Colorado and Utah, 2016 Assessment of continuous (unconventional) oil and gas resources in the Late Cretaceous Mancos Shale of the Piceance Basin, Uinta-Piceance Province, Colorado and Utah, 2016
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed a geology-based assessment of the continuous (unconventional) oil and gas resources in the Late Cretaceous Mancos Shale within the Piceance Basin of the Uinta-Piceance Province (fig. 1). The previous USGS assessment of the Mancos Shale in the Piceance Basin was completed in 2003 as part of a comprehensive assessment of the greater UintaPiceance...
Authors
Sarah J. Hawkins, Ronald R. Charpentier, Christopher J. Schenk, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Timothy R. Klett, Michael E. Brownfield, Tom M. Finn, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Phoung A. Le, Tracey J. Mercier, Janet K. Pitman, Marilyn E. Tennyson
Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources—Southern Rocky Mountain Basins: Chapter M in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources—Southern Rocky Mountain Basins: Chapter M in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources
The U.S. Geological Survey has completed an assessment of the potential geologic carbon dioxide storage resources in the onshore areas of the United States. To provide geological context and input data sources for the resources numbers, framework documents are being prepared for all areas that were investigated as part of the national assessment. This report, chapter M, is the geologic...
Authors
Matthew D. Merrill, Ronald M. Drake, Marc L. Buursink, William H. Craddock, Joseph A. East, Ernie R. Slucher, Peter D. Warwick, Sean T. Brennan, Madalyn S. Blondes, Philip A. Freeman, Steven M. Cahan, Christina A. DeVera, Celeste D. Lohr
Reevaluation of the Crooked Ridge River- Early Pleistocene (ca. 2 Ma) age and origin of the White Mesa Alluvium, northeastern Arizona Reevaluation of the Crooked Ridge River- Early Pleistocene (ca. 2 Ma) age and origin of the White Mesa Alluvium, northeastern Arizona
Essential features of the previously named and described Miocene Crooked Ridge River in northeastern Arizona (USA) are reexamined using new geologic and geochronologic data. Previously it was proposed that Cenozoic alluvium at Crooked Ridge and southern White Mesa was pre–early Miocene, the product of a large, vigorous late Paleogene river draining the 35–23 Ma San Juan Mountains...
Authors
Richard Hereford, Sue Beard, William R. Dickinson, Karl E. Karlstrom, Matthew T. Heizler, Laura J. Crossey, Lee Amoroso, Kyle House, Mark Pecha
Geologic map of the Morena Reservoir 7.5-minute quadrangle, San Diego County, California Geologic map of the Morena Reservoir 7.5-minute quadrangle, San Diego County, California
Introduction Mapping in the Morena Reservoir 7.5-minute quadrangle began in 1980, when the Hauser Wilderness Area, which straddles the Morena Reservoir and Barrett Lake quadrangles, was mapped for the U.S. Forest Service. Mapping was completed in 1993–1994. The Morena Reservoir quadrangle contains part of a regional-scale Late Jurassic(?) to Early Cretaceous tectonic suture that...
Authors
Victoria R. Todd
Seasonal changes in atmospheric noise levels and the annual variation in pigeon homing performance Seasonal changes in atmospheric noise levels and the annual variation in pigeon homing performance
Repeated releases of experienced homing pigeons from single sites were conducted between 1972 and 1974 near Cornell University in upstate New York and between 1982 and 1983 near the University of Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania, USA. No annual variation in homing performance was observed at these sites in eastern North America, in contrast to results from a number of similar...
Authors
Jonathan T. Hagstrum, Hugh P. McIsaac, Douglas P. Drob
Calorific value and compositional ultimate analysis with a case study of a Texas lignite Calorific value and compositional ultimate analysis with a case study of a Texas lignite
Measurements to determine coal quality as fuel include proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and calorific value. The latter is an attribute taking non-negative real values, so a simple transformation is sufficient for its spatial modeling applying geostatistics. The analyses, however, involve proportions that follow the properties of compositional data, thus requiring special...
Authors
Ricardo A. Olea, James Luppens, Juan J. Egozcue, Vera Pawlowsky-Glahn
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the Cooper and Eromanga Basins, Australia, 2016 Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the Cooper and Eromanga Basins, Australia, 2016
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean conventional resources of 68 million barrels of oil and 964 billion cubic feet of gas in the Cooper and Eromanga Basins of Australia.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Tracey J. Mercier, Timothy R. Klett, Thomas M. Finn, Phuong A. Le, Michael E. Brownfield, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Sarah J. Hawkins, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Janet K. Pitman
Mercury in U.S. coal—Priorities for new U.S. Geological Survey studies Mercury in U.S. coal—Priorities for new U.S. Geological Survey studies
In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced emissions standards, known as Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), for a range of toxic constituents from coal-fired utility power stations and other combustion sources. This report presents the findings of an expert panel convened in September 2014 to assess the role of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in new coal
Authors
Allan Kolker
Geologic history of the Blackbird Co-Cu district in the Lemhi subbasin of the Belt-Purcell Basin Geologic history of the Blackbird Co-Cu district in the Lemhi subbasin of the Belt-Purcell Basin
The Blackbird cobalt-copper (Co-Cu) district in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho occupies the central part of the Idaho cobalt belt—a northwest-elongate, 55-km-long belt of Co-Cu occurrences, hosted in grayish siliciclastic metasedimentary strata of the Lemhi subbasin (of the Mesoproterozoic Belt-Purcell Basin). The Blackbird district contains at least eight stratabound...
Authors
Arthur A. Bookstrom, Stephen E. Box, Pamela M. Cossette, Thomas P. Frost, Virginia Gillerman, George King, N. Alex Zirakparvar
Geology of the Greenwater Range, and the dawn of Death Valley, California—Field guide for the Death Valley Natural History Conference, 2013 Geology of the Greenwater Range, and the dawn of Death Valley, California—Field guide for the Death Valley Natural History Conference, 2013
Much has been written about the age and formation of Death Valley, but that is one—if not the last—chapter in the fascinating geologic history of this area. Igneous and sedimentary rocks in the Greenwater Range, one mountain range east of Death Valley, tell an earlier story that overlaps with the formation of Death Valley proper. This early story has been told by scientists who have...
Authors
J.P. Calzia, O.T. Ramo, Robert Jachens, Eugene Smith, Jeffrey Knott