Paul C. Hackley, Ph.D.
Paul Hackley is a Research Geologist with the USGS Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center in Reston, VA.
As project chief of the Thermal Indices project I pursue research on thermal maturity, chemical composition and physical state of sedimentary organic matter. The Thermal Indices project is part of the Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center and is funded by the Energy Resources Program (ERP). The Thermal Indices project team develops and applies petrographic methods for the reliable identification of different types of sedimentary organic matter, and measures and interprets the response of organic matter to thermal stress in natural environments and in laboratory-based heating experiments. Improved understanding of the thermal evolution of sedimentary organic matter enables more accurate assessment of petroleum source rock maturation, thereby decreasing uncertainty in the determination of thermal histories, the timing of petroleum generation and the placement of resource assessment spatial boundaries. This leads to the overall goal of improving estimates of undiscovered petroleum resources, which is a central mission of the ERP.
My work focuses on four integrated research task areas which have petrographic approaches to thermal indices as their common denominator: 1) standardization and reproducibility of measurement, 2) utilization of hydrous pyrolysis for (artificial) thermal conversion of sedimentary organic matter, 3) petrographic innovation areas for thermal indices and organic evolution, and 4) petrographic laboratory support.
Thermal indices research is accomplished from the Organic Petrology and Hydrous Pyrolysis laboratories in Reston. The laboratories include facilities for sample preparation, hydrous pyrolysis, optical and fluorescence microscopy, and infrared spectroscopy. The Thermal Indices project team works with external collaborators from global academic, government and industry groups. All thermal indices research efforts reach toward the goal of improving fossil fuel resource assessments by generating new understanding of the processes occurring during thermal evolution of sedimentary organic matter and its conversion to petroleum.
Professional Experience
Unconventional petroleum systems
Conventional oil and gas assessment
Coalbed methane
Coal
Application of organic petrology techniques to fossil fuel resource assessment
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., George Mason University
M.S., George Washington University
B.A., Shippensburg State University
Affiliations and Memberships*
The Society for Organic Petrology (TSOP)
International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP)
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
Geological Society of America (GSA)
Science and Products
High Microscale Variability in Raman Thermal Maturity Estimates from Shale Organic Matter - Data Release
DDT and related compounds in pore water of shallow sediments on the Palos Verdes Shelf, CA
Petroleum geology data from Mesozoic rock samples in the eastern U.S. Gulf Coast collected 2011 to 2017
Appendices for Transgressive-regressive cycles in the metalliferous, oil shale-bearing Heath Formation (Upper Mississippian), central Montana
Sample mounting for organic petrology: No thermal effects from transient exposure to elevated temperatures
Fluorescence spectroscopy of ancient sedimentary organic matter via confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM)
Oil-source rock correlation studies in the unconventional Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS) petroleum system, Mississippi and Louisiana, USA
Evidence of wildfires and elevated atmospheric oxygen at the Frasnian–Famennian boundary in New York (USA): Implications for the Late Devonian mass extinction
Applications of correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) to organic matter in the North American shale petroleum systems
A chemo-mechanical snapshot of in-situ conversion of kerogen to petroleum
Evidence of cosmic impact at Abu Hureyra, Syria at the Younger Dryas Onset (~12.8 ka): High-temperature melting at >2200 °C
Berea Sandstone petroleum system
Testing reproducibility of vitrinite and solid bitumen reflectance measurements in North American unconventional source-rock reservoir petroleum systems
Organic petrography of Leonardian (Wolfcamp A) mudrocks and carbonates, Midland Basin, Texas: The fate of oil-prone sedimentary organic matter in the oil window
Experimental study on the impact of thermal maturity on shale microstructures using hydrous pyrolysis
Nanoscale molecular fractionation of organic matter within unconventional petroleum source beds
Science and Products
- Science
- Data
Filter Total Items: 40
High Microscale Variability in Raman Thermal Maturity Estimates from Shale Organic Matter - Data Release
Here the spatial variation in Raman estimates of thermal maturity within individual organic domains from several shale geologic reference materials originating from the Boquillas, Marcellus, Niobrara, and Woodford Formations are assessed from the respective Raman response. We show that for all four shales the thermal maturity parameters extracted from Raman spectra by iterative peak fitting can vaDDT and related compounds in pore water of shallow sediments on the Palos Verdes Shelf, CA
For nearly two and a half decades following World War II, production wastes from the worlds largest manufacturer of technical DDT were discharged into sewers of Los Angeles County. Following treatment, the wastes were released via a submarine outfall system to nearshore coastal waters where a portion accumulated in shallow sediments of the Palos Verdes Shelf (PVS). An investigation of the pore-watPetroleum geology data from Mesozoic rock samples in the eastern U.S. Gulf Coast collected 2011 to 2017
This data release contains Rock-Eval pyrolysis, organic petrographic (reflectance), and X-ray diffraction mineralogy data for subsurface Mesozoic rock samples from the eastern onshore Gulf Coast Basin (primarily Mississippi and Louisiana). Samples were analyzed in support of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessment of undiscovered petroleum resources in the Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine sAppendices for Transgressive-regressive cycles in the metalliferous, oil shale-bearing Heath Formation (Upper Mississippian), central Montana
This set of data files are the appendices for paper titled Transgressive-regressive cycles in the metalliferous, oil shale-bearing Heath Formation (Upper Mississippian), central Montana. The dataset consists of 8 appendices, including a histogram of solid bitumen and vitrinite Ro values, gas chromatograms, isotopic data, organic and inorganic geochemical analyses, and x-ray diffraction mineralogy - Publications
Filter Total Items: 139
Sample mounting for organic petrology: No thermal effects from transient exposure to elevated temperatures
For sample mounting, organic petrology laboratories typically use cold-setting epoxy-resin (e.g., 40 °C, used by Oklahoma Geological Survey, OGS) or heat-setting thermoplastic (e.g., 180 °C, used by U.S. Geological Survey, USGS). Previous workers have suggested a systematic huminite/vitrinite reflectance (VRo) increase was associated with the thermoplastic preparation process, relative to epoxy moAuthorsPaul C. Hackley, Brian J. CardottFluorescence spectroscopy of ancient sedimentary organic matter via confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM)
Fluorescence spectroscopy via confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to analyze ancient sedimentary organic matter, including Tasmanites microfossils in Devonian shale and Gloecapsomorpha prisca (G. prisca) in Ordovician kukersite from North American basins. We examined fluorescence emission as a function of excitation laser wavelength, sample orientation, and with respect to locationAuthorsPaul C. Hackley, Aaron M. Jubb, Robert Burruss, Amy E BeavenOil-source rock correlation studies in the unconventional Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS) petroleum system, Mississippi and Louisiana, USA
The U.S. Geological Survey assessed undiscovered unconventional hydrocarbon resources reservoired in the Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS) of southern Mississippi and adjacent Louisiana in 2018. As part of the assessment, oil-source rock correlations were examined in the TMS play area where operators produce light (38–45° API), sweet oil from horizontal, hydraulically-fractured wellsAuthorsPaul C. Hackley, Kristin Opferkuch Dennen, Daniel Garza, Celeste Lohr, Brett Valentine, Javin J. Hatcherian, Catherine B. Enomoto, Frank T. DulongEvidence of wildfires and elevated atmospheric oxygen at the Frasnian–Famennian boundary in New York (USA): Implications for the Late Devonian mass extinction
The Devonian Period experienced significant fluctuations of atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels (∼25–13%), for which the extent and timing are debated. Also characteristic of the Devonian Period, at the Frasnian–Famennian (F–F) boundary, is one of the “big five” mass extinction events of the Phanerozoic. Fossilized charcoal (inertinite) provides a record of wildfire events, which in turn can provide inAuthorsZeyang Liu, David Selby, Paul C. Hackley, Jeffrey OverApplications of correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) to organic matter in the North American shale petroleum systems
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has revolutionized our understanding of shale petroleum systems through microstructural characterization of dispersed organic matter (OM). However, due to the low atomic weight of carbon, all OM appears black in SEM (BSE image) regardless of differences in thermal maturity or OM type (kerogen types or solid bitumen). Traditional petrographic identification of OMAuthorsBrett J. Valentine, Paul C. HackleyA chemo-mechanical snapshot of in-situ conversion of kerogen to petroleum
Organic matter (OM) from various biogenic origins converts to solid bitumen in-situ when it undergoes thermal maturation. It is well documented that during this process, the ratios of both hydrogen and oxygen to carbon will decrease, resulting in an increase in OM aromaticity and molecular chemo-mechanical homogeneity. Although there have been extensive efforts to reveal molecular alteration occurAuthorsArash Abarghani, Mehdi Ostadhassan, Paul C. Hackley, Andrew E. Pomerantz, Siamak NejatiEvidence of cosmic impact at Abu Hureyra, Syria at the Younger Dryas Onset (~12.8 ka): High-temperature melting at >2200 °C
At Abu Hureyra (AH), Syria, the 12,800-year-old Younger Dryas boundary layer (YDB) contains peak abundances in meltglass, nanodiamonds, microspherules, and charcoal. AH meltglass comprises 1.6 wt.% of bulk sediment, and crossed polarizers indicate that the meltglass is isotropic. High YDB concentrations of iridium, platinum, nickel, and cobalt suggest mixing of melted local sediment with small quaAuthorsAndrew M.T. Moore, James P. Kennett, Douglas J. Kennett, William M. Napier, Ted E. Bunch, James C. Weaver, Malcolm A. LeCompte, Victor Adedji, Paul C. Hackley, Jacob B. Lowenstern, Gunther K. Kletetschka, Brendan J. Culleton, Robert E. Hermes, James H. Wittke, Joshua J. Razink, Michael Gaultois, Allen WestBerea Sandstone petroleum system
Since 2011, production of sweet high gravity oil from the Upper Devonian Berea Sandstone in northeastern Kentucky has caused the region to become the leading oil producer in the state. Remarkably, Berea oil is being produced at depths of 2,200 ft or less and in an area in which the prospective source rocks—the overlying Mississippian Sunbury Shale and underlying Devonian Shale—are interpreted to bAuthorsT. Marty Parris, Stephen F. Greb, Cortland F. Eble, Paul C. Hackley, David C. HarrisTesting reproducibility of vitrinite and solid bitumen reflectance measurements in North American unconventional source-rock reservoir petroleum systems
An interlaboratory study (ILS) was conducted to test reproducibility of vitrinite and solid bitumen reflectance measurements in six mudrock samples from United States unconventional source-rock reservoir petroleum systems. Samples selected from the Marcellus, Haynesville, Eagle Ford, Barnett, Bakken and Woodford are representative of resource plays currently under exploitation in North America. AlAuthorsPaul C. Hackley, Carla V. Araujo, Angeles G. Borrego, Antonis Bouzinos, Brian J. Cardott, H. Carvajal-Ortiz, Martha Rocio Lopez Cely, Vongani Chabalala, Peter J. Crosdale, Thomas D. Demchuk, Cortland F. Eble, Deolinda Flores, Agnieszka Furmann, Thomas Gentzis, Paula Goncalves, Carsten Guvad, M. Hamor-Vido, Iwona Jelonek, M. Johnston, Tatiana Juliao-Lemus, Stavros Kalaitzidis, Wayne Knowles, Jolanta Kus, Zhongsheng Li, Gordon Macleod, Maria Mastalerz, Taissa Rego Menezes, Seare Ocubalidet, Richard Orban, Walter Pickel, Paddy Ranasinghe, Joana Ribeiro, Olga Patricia Gomez Rojas, Ricardo Ruiz-Monroy, Jaques Schmidt, Abbas Seyedolali, Georgios Siavalas, Isabel Suarez-Ruiz, Carlos Vargas Vargas, Brett J. Valentine, Nicola Wagner, Bree Wrolson, Julian Esteban Jaramillo ZapataOrganic petrography of Leonardian (Wolfcamp A) mudrocks and carbonates, Midland Basin, Texas: The fate of oil-prone sedimentary organic matter in the oil window
To better understand evolution of oil-prone sedimentary organic matter to petroleum and expulsion from source rock, we evaluated organic petrographic features of Leonardian Wolfcamp A repetitive siliceous and calcareous mudrock and fine-grained carbonate lithofacies cycles occurring in the R. Ricker #1 core from Reagan County, Midland Basin, Texas. The objectives of the petrographic investigationAuthorsPaul C. Hackley, Tongwei Zhang, Aaron M. Jubb, Brett J. Valentine, Frank T. Dulong, Javin J. HatcherianExperimental study on the impact of thermal maturity on shale microstructures using hydrous pyrolysis
Hydrous pyrolysis was applied to four low-maturity aliquots from the Utica, Excello, Monterey, and Niobrara Shale Formations in North America to create artificial maturation sequences, which could be used to study the impact of maturation on geochemical and microstructural properties. Modified Rock-Eval pyrolysis, reflectance, organic petrology, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) wAuthorsKouqi Liu, M. Ostadhassan, Paul C. Hackley, T. Gentzis, J. Zou, Y. Yuan, H. Carvajal-Ortiz, R. Rezaee, B. BubachNanoscale molecular fractionation of organic matter within unconventional petroleum source beds
Fractionation of petroleum during migration through sedimentary rock matrices has been observed across lengths of meters to kilometers. Selective adsorption of specific chemical moieties at mineral surfaces and/or the phase behavior of petroleum during pressure changes typically are invoked to explain this behavior. Such phenomena are of interest as they impact both the quality and recoverabilityAuthorsAaron M. Jubb, Paul C. Hackley, Javin J. Hatcherian, Jing Qu, Timothy O Nesheim - Web Tools
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government