Research Geologist with the Central Energy Resources Science Center.
Science and Products
Gulf Coast Petroleum Systems Project - Research
This site highlights the research on the processes that impact the formation, accumulation, occurrence, and alteration of hydrocarbon energy resources of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. The project also conducts assessments of undiscovered, technically recoverable hydrocarbon resources. The Gulf Coast Petroleum Systems Project focuses on the onshore and State waters portion of the Gulf Coast basin, and...
Controls on Unconventional Oil and Gas Production
This scoping task incorporates insights from new approaches to production of unconventional resources and currently focuses on conducting a pilot assessment of biogenic natural gas resources in the Permian Basin. For the pilot assessment to occur, we are developing a database that will host geochemical parameters known to be suggestive of microbial methanogenesis mined to the reservoir level for...
Gulf Coast Petroleum Systems Project - Assessments
This site highlights the assessments of the Gulf Coast Petroleum Systems Project. Scientifically robust assessments of undiscovered, technically recoverable hydrocarbon resources are published in a variety of USGS publications. This project also conducts research on the processes that impact the formation, accumulation, occurrence and alteration of hydrocarbon energy resources. The Gulf Coast...
Geochemical, Geochronologic, Rock-Eval, and Spectral Gamma Ray Data for Selected Triassic Rocks in Northwestern Alaska
This set of data files contains analyses of samples representing the Triassic Shublik and Otuk Formations in Alaska. The samples were collected from the Brontosaurus 1 well and measured stratigraphic sections at Surprise Creek and Cape Lisburne. The data set includes total organic carbon (TOC), Rock-Eval (Tmax) data, geochemical data from inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy-ma
Subsurface stratigraphic picks of the Middle-Upper Triassic Shublik Formation, Alaska North Slope
The Middle-Upper Triassic Shublik Formation is the main source rock for Arctic Alaska oil and gas accumulations, including the supergiant Prudhoe Bay field. A revised stratigraphic framework recently has been developed in outcrop for the Shublik and related strata that delineates three large-scale stratigraphic units: 1) the lower clastic (LC) unit, 2) the middle carbonate-chert (MCC) unit, and 3)
Filter Total Items: 43
Biosiliceous, organic-rich, and phosphatic facies of Triassic strata of northwest Alaska: Transect across a high-latitude, low-angle continental margin
The Shublik Formation (Middle and Upper Triassic) is a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate-phosphatic unit in northern Alaska. It generated oil found in Prudhoe Bay and other accumulations and is a prospective self-sourced resource play on Alaska’s North Slope. Its distal, deeper-water equivalent—the Otuk Formation—consists largely of radiolarian chert, mudstone, and limestone and contains potential gas
Authors
Julie A. Dumoulin, Katherine J. Whidden, William A. Rouse, Richard O. Lease, Adam Boehlke, Paul O'Sullivan
Assessment of water and proppant quantities associated with petroleum production from the Eagle Ford Group, Gulf Coast, Texas, 2019
Building on a geology-based assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable petroleum resources in the Eagle Ford Group in south Texas, the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated the required water and proppant demands and formation water production volumes associated with possible future development of these petroleum resources. The results of the water and proppant assessment are presented her
Authors
Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Katherine J. Whidden, Justin E. Birdwell, Lauri A. Burke, Ronald M. Drake, Thomas M. Finn, Katherine L. French, Karen E. Jenni, Scott A. Kinney, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier, Stanley T. Paxton, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, Brian N. Shaffer, Chilisa M. Shorten, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Cheryl A. Woodall
Integration of microfacies analysis, inorganic geochemical data, and hyperspectral imaging to unravel mudstone depositional and diagenetic processes in two cores from the Triassic Shublik Formation, Northern Alaska
The Middle – Upper Triassic Shublik Formation is an organic-rich heterogeneous carbonate-siliciclastic-phosphatic unit that generated much of the oil in the Prudhoe Bay field and other hydrocarbon accumulations in northern Alaska. A large dataset, including total organic carbon (TOC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) meas
Authors
Katherine J. Whidden, Justin E. Birdwell, Julie A. Dumoulin, Lionel C. Fonteneau, Brigette Martini
Assessment of undiscovered gas resources in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska, 2021
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1,407 billion (1.4 trillion) cubic feet of gas in conventional accumulations in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska.
Authors
David W. Houseknecht, Tracey J. Mercier, Christopher J. Schenk, Thomas E. Moore, William A. Rouse, Julie A. Dumoulin, William H. Craddock, Richard O. Lease, Palma J. Botterell, Margaret M. Sanders, Rebecca A. Smith, Christopher D. Connors, Christopher P. Garrity, Katherine J. Whidden, Jared T. Gooley, John W. Counts, Joshua H. Long, Christina A. DeVera
Energy and minerals division tight oil and gas committee: Activities and commodity report for 2019-2020
In 2019, total daily tight oil and gas production increased in the United States month over month, with annualized growth of 14% for oil and 12% for gas. Those gains leveled off in the first quarter of 2020 due to aggressive price competition and increases in international production. Then came the pandemic with a substantially larger dose of economic turmoil, driving down demand due in part to sh
Authors
Justin E. Birdwell, Kent Bowker, Ben Burke, Thomas Chidsey, Ursula Hammes, Bo Henk, Zachary Hollon, Shu Jiang, Peng Li, Kristen R. Marra, Jock McCracken, Richard Nyahay, Abbas Seyedolali, Katie Schmid, Beau Tinnin, Katherine J. Whidden
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk and Tokio and Eutaw Formations, U.S. Gulf Coast, 2019
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 6.9 billion barrels of oil and 41.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in conventional and continuous accumulations in the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk and Tokio and Eutaw Formations onshore and in State waters of the U.S. Gulf Coast region.
Authors
Janet K. Pitman, Stanley T. Paxton, Scott A. Kinney, Katherine J. Whidden, Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Christopher J. Schenk, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ofori N. Pearson, Lauri A. Burke, Phuong A. Le, Justin E. Birdwell, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Katherine L. French, Ronald M. Drake, Thomas M. Finn, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Chilisa M. Shorten
Surface to subsurface correlation of the Middle-Upper Triassic Shublik Formation within a revised sequence stratigraphic framework
Recent work on cores and outcrops of the Middle-Upper Triassic Shublik Formation has facilitated surface to subsurface correlation of depositional sequences across the Alaska North Slope. Five transgressive-regressive depositional sequences have been defined within three large-scale stratigraphic units. Outcrop spectral gamma-ray (GR) profiles were used to correlate observed stacking patterns with
Authors
William A. Rouse, Katherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, David W. Houseknecht
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Central North Slope of Alaska, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 3.6 billion barrels of oil and 8.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (associated and nonassociated) in conventional accumulations in Mississippian through Paleogene strata in the central North Slope of Alaska.
Authors
David W. Houseknecht, Katherine J. Whidden, Christopher D. Connors, Richard O. Lease, Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, William A. Rouse, Palma J. Botterell, Rebecca A. Smith, Margaret M. Sanders, William H. Craddock, Christina A. DeVera, Christopher P. Garrity, Marc L. Buursink, C. Özgen Karacan, Samuel J. Heller, Thomas E. Moore, Julie A. Dumoulin, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Katherine L. French, Cheryl A. Woodall, Ronald M. Drake, Kristen R. Marra, Thomas M. Finn, Scott A. Kinney, Chilisa M. Shorten
Element cycling in the Middle-Late Triassic Shublik Formation: Mineralization vs. recycling of biolimiting nutrients in an unconventional resource play
The Triassic Shublik Formation in northern Alaska is one of the major source rocks in North America, having generated much of the petroleum in Prudhoe Bay and associated fields. The middle Shublik Formation, the focus of this study, is a highly phosphatic, organic-rich carbonate mudstone interval. Apatite cements can occur as phosphatic peloids, steinkerns, elongate or angular nodules, and shells
Authors
Katherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, James Macquaker, Justin E. Birdwell, Adam Boehlke, Katherine L. French
Geochemistry of a thermally immature Eagle Ford Group drill core in central Texas
The Upper Cretaceous Eagle Ford Group displays significant lateral and vertical geochemical variability. Much of the work on the Eagle Ford Group has been focused southwest of the San Marcos arch. To more fully characterize the Eagle Ford across the entire region, a thermally immature drill core was acquired north of the San Marcos arch that recovered the Pepper Shale and the Eagle Ford Group. Mol
Authors
Katherine L. French, Justin E. Birdwell, Katherine J. Whidden
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the South Florida basin, 2016
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 49 million barrels of oil and 18 billion cubic feet of gas in the onshore and State waters part of the South Florida basin.
Authors
Tina L. Roberts-Ashby, Paul C. Hackley, Celeste D. Lohr, Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Katherine J. Whidden, Phuong A. Le, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Cheryl A. Woodall, Michael E. Brownfield, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Thomas M. Finn
U.S. Geological Survey input-data forms for the assessment of the Upper Jurassic Bossier Formation, U.S. Gulf Coast, 2016
IntroductionIn 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an updated assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Upper Jurassic Bossier Formation of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast Province (Paxton and others, 2017). The Bossier Formation was assessed using both the standard continuous (unconventional) and conventional methodologies established by the USGS f
Authors
Stanley T. Paxton, Janet K. Pitman, Scott A. Kinney, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Ofori N. Pearson, Katherine J. Whidden, Russell F. Dubiel, Christopher J. Schenk, Lauri A. Burke, Timothy R. Klett, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Tracey J. Mercier, Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Phuong A. Le, Thomas M. Finn, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Sarah J. Hawkins, Kristen R. Marra, Marilyn E. Tennyson
Science and Products
- Science
Gulf Coast Petroleum Systems Project - Research
This site highlights the research on the processes that impact the formation, accumulation, occurrence, and alteration of hydrocarbon energy resources of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. The project also conducts assessments of undiscovered, technically recoverable hydrocarbon resources. The Gulf Coast Petroleum Systems Project focuses on the onshore and State waters portion of the Gulf Coast basin, and...Controls on Unconventional Oil and Gas Production
This scoping task incorporates insights from new approaches to production of unconventional resources and currently focuses on conducting a pilot assessment of biogenic natural gas resources in the Permian Basin. For the pilot assessment to occur, we are developing a database that will host geochemical parameters known to be suggestive of microbial methanogenesis mined to the reservoir level for...Gulf Coast Petroleum Systems Project - Assessments
This site highlights the assessments of the Gulf Coast Petroleum Systems Project. Scientifically robust assessments of undiscovered, technically recoverable hydrocarbon resources are published in a variety of USGS publications. This project also conducts research on the processes that impact the formation, accumulation, occurrence and alteration of hydrocarbon energy resources. The Gulf Coast... - Data
Geochemical, Geochronologic, Rock-Eval, and Spectral Gamma Ray Data for Selected Triassic Rocks in Northwestern Alaska
This set of data files contains analyses of samples representing the Triassic Shublik and Otuk Formations in Alaska. The samples were collected from the Brontosaurus 1 well and measured stratigraphic sections at Surprise Creek and Cape Lisburne. The data set includes total organic carbon (TOC), Rock-Eval (Tmax) data, geochemical data from inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy-maSubsurface stratigraphic picks of the Middle-Upper Triassic Shublik Formation, Alaska North Slope
The Middle-Upper Triassic Shublik Formation is the main source rock for Arctic Alaska oil and gas accumulations, including the supergiant Prudhoe Bay field. A revised stratigraphic framework recently has been developed in outcrop for the Shublik and related strata that delineates three large-scale stratigraphic units: 1) the lower clastic (LC) unit, 2) the middle carbonate-chert (MCC) unit, and 3) - Publications
Filter Total Items: 43
Biosiliceous, organic-rich, and phosphatic facies of Triassic strata of northwest Alaska: Transect across a high-latitude, low-angle continental margin
The Shublik Formation (Middle and Upper Triassic) is a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate-phosphatic unit in northern Alaska. It generated oil found in Prudhoe Bay and other accumulations and is a prospective self-sourced resource play on Alaska’s North Slope. Its distal, deeper-water equivalent—the Otuk Formation—consists largely of radiolarian chert, mudstone, and limestone and contains potential gasAuthorsJulie A. Dumoulin, Katherine J. Whidden, William A. Rouse, Richard O. Lease, Adam Boehlke, Paul O'SullivanAssessment of water and proppant quantities associated with petroleum production from the Eagle Ford Group, Gulf Coast, Texas, 2019
Building on a geology-based assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable petroleum resources in the Eagle Ford Group in south Texas, the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated the required water and proppant demands and formation water production volumes associated with possible future development of these petroleum resources. The results of the water and proppant assessment are presented herAuthorsNicholas J. Gianoutsos, Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Katherine J. Whidden, Justin E. Birdwell, Lauri A. Burke, Ronald M. Drake, Thomas M. Finn, Katherine L. French, Karen E. Jenni, Scott A. Kinney, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier, Stanley T. Paxton, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, Brian N. Shaffer, Chilisa M. Shorten, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Cheryl A. WoodallIntegration of microfacies analysis, inorganic geochemical data, and hyperspectral imaging to unravel mudstone depositional and diagenetic processes in two cores from the Triassic Shublik Formation, Northern Alaska
The Middle – Upper Triassic Shublik Formation is an organic-rich heterogeneous carbonate-siliciclastic-phosphatic unit that generated much of the oil in the Prudhoe Bay field and other hydrocarbon accumulations in northern Alaska. A large dataset, including total organic carbon (TOC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measAuthorsKatherine J. Whidden, Justin E. Birdwell, Julie A. Dumoulin, Lionel C. Fonteneau, Brigette MartiniAssessment of undiscovered gas resources in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska, 2021
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1,407 billion (1.4 trillion) cubic feet of gas in conventional accumulations in Upper Devonian to Lower Cretaceous strata of the western North Slope, Alaska.AuthorsDavid W. Houseknecht, Tracey J. Mercier, Christopher J. Schenk, Thomas E. Moore, William A. Rouse, Julie A. Dumoulin, William H. Craddock, Richard O. Lease, Palma J. Botterell, Margaret M. Sanders, Rebecca A. Smith, Christopher D. Connors, Christopher P. Garrity, Katherine J. Whidden, Jared T. Gooley, John W. Counts, Joshua H. Long, Christina A. DeVeraEnergy and minerals division tight oil and gas committee: Activities and commodity report for 2019-2020
In 2019, total daily tight oil and gas production increased in the United States month over month, with annualized growth of 14% for oil and 12% for gas. Those gains leveled off in the first quarter of 2020 due to aggressive price competition and increases in international production. Then came the pandemic with a substantially larger dose of economic turmoil, driving down demand due in part to shAuthorsJustin E. Birdwell, Kent Bowker, Ben Burke, Thomas Chidsey, Ursula Hammes, Bo Henk, Zachary Hollon, Shu Jiang, Peng Li, Kristen R. Marra, Jock McCracken, Richard Nyahay, Abbas Seyedolali, Katie Schmid, Beau Tinnin, Katherine J. WhiddenAssessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk and Tokio and Eutaw Formations, U.S. Gulf Coast, 2019
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 6.9 billion barrels of oil and 41.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in conventional and continuous accumulations in the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk and Tokio and Eutaw Formations onshore and in State waters of the U.S. Gulf Coast region.AuthorsJanet K. Pitman, Stanley T. Paxton, Scott A. Kinney, Katherine J. Whidden, Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Christopher J. Schenk, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ofori N. Pearson, Lauri A. Burke, Phuong A. Le, Justin E. Birdwell, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Katherine L. French, Ronald M. Drake, Thomas M. Finn, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Chilisa M. ShortenSurface to subsurface correlation of the Middle-Upper Triassic Shublik Formation within a revised sequence stratigraphic framework
Recent work on cores and outcrops of the Middle-Upper Triassic Shublik Formation has facilitated surface to subsurface correlation of depositional sequences across the Alaska North Slope. Five transgressive-regressive depositional sequences have been defined within three large-scale stratigraphic units. Outcrop spectral gamma-ray (GR) profiles were used to correlate observed stacking patterns withAuthorsWilliam A. Rouse, Katherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, David W. HouseknechtAssessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Central North Slope of Alaska, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 3.6 billion barrels of oil and 8.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (associated and nonassociated) in conventional accumulations in Mississippian through Paleogene strata in the central North Slope of Alaska.AuthorsDavid W. Houseknecht, Katherine J. Whidden, Christopher D. Connors, Richard O. Lease, Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, William A. Rouse, Palma J. Botterell, Rebecca A. Smith, Margaret M. Sanders, William H. Craddock, Christina A. DeVera, Christopher P. Garrity, Marc L. Buursink, C. Özgen Karacan, Samuel J. Heller, Thomas E. Moore, Julie A. Dumoulin, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Katherine L. French, Cheryl A. Woodall, Ronald M. Drake, Kristen R. Marra, Thomas M. Finn, Scott A. Kinney, Chilisa M. ShortenElement cycling in the Middle-Late Triassic Shublik Formation: Mineralization vs. recycling of biolimiting nutrients in an unconventional resource play
The Triassic Shublik Formation in northern Alaska is one of the major source rocks in North America, having generated much of the petroleum in Prudhoe Bay and associated fields. The middle Shublik Formation, the focus of this study, is a highly phosphatic, organic-rich carbonate mudstone interval. Apatite cements can occur as phosphatic peloids, steinkerns, elongate or angular nodules, and shellsAuthorsKatherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, James Macquaker, Justin E. Birdwell, Adam Boehlke, Katherine L. FrenchGeochemistry of a thermally immature Eagle Ford Group drill core in central Texas
The Upper Cretaceous Eagle Ford Group displays significant lateral and vertical geochemical variability. Much of the work on the Eagle Ford Group has been focused southwest of the San Marcos arch. To more fully characterize the Eagle Ford across the entire region, a thermally immature drill core was acquired north of the San Marcos arch that recovered the Pepper Shale and the Eagle Ford Group. MolAuthorsKatherine L. French, Justin E. Birdwell, Katherine J. WhiddenAssessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the South Florida basin, 2016
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 49 million barrels of oil and 18 billion cubic feet of gas in the onshore and State waters part of the South Florida basin.AuthorsTina L. Roberts-Ashby, Paul C. Hackley, Celeste D. Lohr, Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Katherine J. Whidden, Phuong A. Le, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Cheryl A. Woodall, Michael E. Brownfield, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Thomas M. FinnU.S. Geological Survey input-data forms for the assessment of the Upper Jurassic Bossier Formation, U.S. Gulf Coast, 2016
IntroductionIn 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an updated assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Upper Jurassic Bossier Formation of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast Province (Paxton and others, 2017). The Bossier Formation was assessed using both the standard continuous (unconventional) and conventional methodologies established by the USGS fAuthorsStanley T. Paxton, Janet K. Pitman, Scott A. Kinney, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Ofori N. Pearson, Katherine J. Whidden, Russell F. Dubiel, Christopher J. Schenk, Lauri A. Burke, Timothy R. Klett, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Tracey J. Mercier, Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Phuong A. Le, Thomas M. Finn, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Sarah J. Hawkins, Kristen R. Marra, Marilyn E. Tennyson - News