Leslie F (Jingle) Ruppert
Leslie (Jingle) Ruppert is a Supervisory Research Geologist with the USGS Eastern Energy Resources Science Center in Reston, VA.
Biography
Jingle joined the USGS in 1979 and has worked on investigations of the mineralogy, geochemistry, and geology of coal, coal assessments, coal-bed gas, coal combustion products, and methodology development for the assessment of geologic carbon dioxide sequestration. She has been a project chief for over 25 years. Her current project is Geochemistry of Energy Fuels and she conducts research on improving our understanding of fluid flow through low and high permeable continuous reservoirs using neutron scattering techniques, the stimulation of biogenic natural gas in un-mineable coal beds, statistical methods to improve interpretation of compositional data, and the use of coal as an indicator of potentially economic mineral deposits.
Education
- M.S. Geology, George Washington University, 1984
- B.S. Geology, the George Washington University, 1979
Science and Products
Geochemistry of Energy Fuels Task
Geologic and geochemical processes that impact fuel quality, quantity, and availability can be best understood by utilizing a range of approaches, including, but not limited to isotopic signatures, inorganic and organic analyses, and neutron scattering techniques. Current work focuses on using neutron scattering to understand how fluids are stored and flow through tight continuous reservoirs...
Geochemistry of Energy Fuels Project
Since its establishment in 1879, USGS geoscientists have investigated the geochemistry of energy resources. Research conducted in the Geochemistry of Energy Fuels project continues this tradition. Goals include 1) understanding the geologic, geochemical, microbiological, and other factors that control production, quality, and composition of coal, petroleum, and nuclear fuels, and 2)...
Self-organizing maps for compositional data: coal combustion products of a Wyoming power plant
A self-organizing map (SOM) is a non-linear projection of a D-dimensional data set, where the distance among observations is approximately preserved on to a lower dimensional space. The SOM arranges multivariate data based on their similarity to each other by allowing pattern recognition leading to easier interpretation of higher dimensional data...
Martín-Fernández, Josep M.; Engle, Mark A.; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Olea, Ricardo A. Compositional data analysis of coal combustion products with an application to a Wyoming power plant
A mathematically sound approach for summarizing chemical analyses of feed coal and all its combustion products (bottom ash, economizer fly ash, and fly ash) is presented. The nature of the data requires the application of compositional techniques when conducting statistical analysis, techniques that have not been applied before to the study of...
Martín-Fernández, J. A.; Olea, Ricardo A.; Ruppert, Leslie F. Cadmium isotope fractionation during coal combustion: Insights from two U.S. coal-fired power plants
Coal combustion, one of the principal energy sources of electricity in the United States, produces over 100 million tons of coal combustion products (CCPs) per year in the U.S. The reuse and disposal of CCPs has the potential to release toxic trace elements, including cadmium (Cd), into the environment. In this study, we investigated...
Fouskas, Fotio; Lin, Ma; Engle, Mark A.; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Geboy, Nicholas J.; Costa, Matthew A. Porosity of the Marcellus Shale: A contrast matching small-angle neutron scattering study
Neutron scattering techniques were used to determine the effect of mineral matter on the accessibility of water and toluene to pores in the Devonian Marcellus Shale. Three Marcellus Shale samples, representing quartz-rich, clay-rich, and carbonate-rich facies, were examined using contrast matching small-angle neutron scattering (CM-SANS) at...
Bahadur, Jitendra; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Pipich, Vitaliy; Sakurovs, Richard; Melnichenko, Yuri B. Nanometre-sized pores in coal: Variations between coal basins and coal origin
We have used small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to investigate the differences in methane and hexane penetration in pores in bituminous coal samples from the U.S., Canada, South Africa, and China, and maceral concentrates from Australian coals. This work is an extension of previous work that showed consistent differences between the extent of...
Sakurovs, Richard; Koval, Lukas; Grigore, Mihaela; Sokolava, Anna; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Melnichenko, Yuri B. Neutron scattering measurements of carbon dioxide adsorption in pores within the Marcellus Shale: Implications for sequestration
Shale is an increasingly viable source of natural gas and a potential candidate for geologic CO2sequestration. Understanding the gas adsorption behavior on shale is necessary for the design of optimal gas recovery and sequestration projects. In the present study neutron diffraction and small-angle neutron scattering measurements of adsorbed CO2...
Stefanopoulos, Konstantinos L.; Youngs, Tristan G. A.; Sakurovs, Richard; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Bahadur, Jitendra; Melnichenko, Yuri B. Leaching of trace elements from Pittsburgh coal mill rejects compared with coal combustion products from a coal-fired power plant in Ohio, USA
We investigated the leachability of elements from mill rejects from the high-sulfur, bituminous Upper Pennsylvanian Pittsburgh coal, using the synthetic groundwater leaching procedure (SGLP), long-term leaching (LTL), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), and...
Jones, Kevin B.; Ruppert, Leslie F. Carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of coal and carbon dioxide derived from laboratory coal combustion: A preliminary study
The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has dramatically increased from the start of the industrial revolution in the mid-1700s to present levels exceeding 400 ppm. Carbon dioxide derived from fossil fuel combustion is a greenhouse gas and a major contributor to on-going climate change. Carbon and oxygen stable isotope...
Warwick, Peter D.; Ruppert, Leslie F. Hydrogeochemistry and coal-associated bacterial populations from a methanogenic coal bed
Biogenic coalbed methane (CBM), a microbially-generated source of natural gas trapped within coal beds, is an important energy resource in many countries. Specific bacterial populations and enzymes involved in coal degradation, the potential rate-limiting step of CBM formation, are relatively unknown. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has...
Barnhart, Elliott P.; Weeks, Edwin P.; Jones, Elizabeth J.P.; Ritter, Daniel J.; McIntosh, Jennifer C.; Clark, Arthur C.; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Cunningham, Alfred B.; Vinson, David S.; Orem, William H.; Fields, Matthew W. Notes on the origin of copromacrinite based on nitrogen functionalities and δ13C and δ15N determined on samples from the Peach Orchard coal bed, southern Magoffin County, Kentucky
This paper represents the first attempt to show, by means other than just petrographic ones, that one type of macrinite, herein designated copromacrinite, may result from macrofauna feces. For that purpose a combination of coal petrography, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and elemental-analysis continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry...
Valentim, Bruno; Algarra, Manuel; Guedes, Alexandra; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Hower, James C. Radiometric dating of marine-influenced coal using Re–Os geochronology
Coal deposits are integral to understanding the structural evolution and thermal history of sedimentary basins and correlating contemporeous estuarine and fluvial delatic strata with marine sections. While marine shales may readily lend themselves to Re–Os dating due to the dominance of hydrogenous Re and Os, the lack of a chronometer for...
Tripathy, Gyana Ranjan; Hannah, Judith L.; Stein, Holly J.; Geboy, Nicholas J.; Ruppert, Leslie F. Re–Os age for the Lower–Middle Pennsylvanian Boundary and comparison with associated palynoflora
The Betsie Shale Member is a relatively thick and continuous unit that serves as a marker bed across the central Appalachian basin, in part because it includes an organic-rich shale unit at its base that is observable in drill logs. Deposited during a marine transgression, the Betsie Shale Member has been correlated to units in both Wales and...
Geboy, Nicholas J.; Tripathy, G.R; Ruppert, Leslie F.; Eble, C.F.; Blake, B.M.; Hannah, J.L.; Stein, H.J.
Appalachian Basin Energy Resources — A New Look at an Old Basin
Appalachian coal and petroleum resources are still available in sufficient quantities to contribute significantly to fulfilling the nation’s energy needs, according to a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey.