Publications
Listed below are publication products directly associated with the Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center:
Filter Total Items: 1158
Evaluation of portable Raman spectroscopic analysis for source-rock thermal maturity assessments on bulk crushed rock
This study presents a simplified method and empirical relationships for determining organic matter thermal maturity using a portable Raman system equipped with a 785 nm laser, for analysis of crushed, whole-rock samples. Suites of rocks represented by shale and coal samples with various mineralogical composition, thermal maturity, and total organic carbon (TOC) were used to test the method and bui
Authors
Martha (Rebecca) Stokes, Aaron M. Jubb, Paul C. Hackley, Justin E. Birdwell, Elliott Barnhart, Clint Scott, Jenna L. Shelton, Margaret M. Sanders, Javin J. Hatcherian
Canada Basin tectono-sedimentary element, Arctic Ocean
The Canada Basin (CB) formed during a short period of seafloor spreading inferred to be Early Cretaceous in age. Brookian strata of inferred Early Cretaceous–Holocene age comprise the sedimentary fill of the Canada Basin Tectono-Sedimentary Element (CB TSE). Although the CB has remained tectonically quiet since seafloor spreading ceased, both proximal and distal tectonism (Alpha Ridge magmatism, a
Authors
Deborah Hutchinson, David W. Houseknecht, David Mosher
Fluorine-rich mafic lower crust in the southern Rocky Mountains: The role of pre-enrichment in generating fluorine-rich silicic magmas and porphyry Mo deposits
Fluorine-rich granites and rhyolites occur throughout the southern Rocky Mountains, but the origin of F-enrichment has remained unclear. We test if F-enrichment could be inherited from ancient mafic lower crust by: (1) measuring amphibole compositions, including F and Cl contents, of lower crustal mafic granulite xenoliths from northern Colorado to determine if they are unusually enriched in halog
Authors
Joshua Mark Rosera, Ryan Edward Frazer, Ryan D. Mills, Kristin Jacob, Sean P. Gaynor, Drew S. Coleman, G. Lang Farmer
Scanning electron microscopic evaluation of broad ion beam milling effects to sedimentary organic matter: Sputter-induced artifacts or naturally occurring porosity?
Research examining organic-matter hosted porosity has significantly increased during the last decade due to greater focus on understanding hydrocarbon migration and storage in source-rock reservoirs, and technological advances in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) capabilities. The examination of nanometer-scale organic-matter hosted porosity by SEM requires the preparation of exceptionally flat g
Authors
Brett J. Valentine, Paul C. Hackley
Methane pore accessibility, densification, and accommodation by organic matter in the Niobrara Formation at wet-gas thermal maturity conditions
Petroleum within unconventional source-rock reservoirs is hosted in organic matter and mineral pore space as well as in voids and microfractures. Recent work has shown that for source-rock reservoirs in the dry gas window, significant portions of methane (CH4), the main component of petroleum at elevated maturities, can be stored within fine (<5 nm) organic matter porosity. However, within reservo
Authors
Aaron M. Jubb, Leslie F. Ruppert, Tristan G. A. Youngs, Tom Headen, Justin E. Birdwell, Michael Cheshire, Martha (Rebecca) Stokes
A residual oil zone (ROZ) assessment methodology with application to the central basin platform (Permian Basin, USA) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and long-term geologic CO2 storage
Residual oil zones (ROZ) form due to various geologic conditions and are located below the oil/water contact (OWC) of main pay zones (MPZ). Since ROZs usually contain immobile oil, they have not typically been considered commercially attractive for development by conventional primary recovery methods used in the initial phases of oil production. However, during the last decade some operators of th
Authors
C. Özgen Karacan, Sean T. Brennan, Marc L. Buursink, Philip A. Freeman, Celeste D. Lohr, Matthew D. Merrill, Ricardo A. Olea, Peter D. Warwick
Interlaboratory study: Testing reproducibility of solid biofuels component identification using reflected light microscopy
Considering global market trends and concerns about climate change and sustainability, increased biomass use for energy is expected to continue. As more diverse materials are being utilized to manufacture solid biomass fuels, it is critical to implement quality assessment methods to analyze these fuels thoroughly. One such method is reflected light microscopy (RLM), which has the potential to comp
Authors
Agnieszka Drobniak, Maria Mastalerz, Zbigniew Jelonek, Iwona Jelonek, Tushar Adsul, Neža Malenšek Andolšek, Omid Haeri Ardakani, Tara Congo, Batbold Demberelsuren, Bryon S. Donohoe, Ashley Douds, Deolinda Flores, Ranjin Ganzorig, Santanu Ghosh, Andrew Gize, Paula Alexandra Goncalves, Paul C. Hackley, Javin J. Hatcherian, James C. Hower, Stavros Kalaitzidis, Sławomir Kędzior, Wayne Knowles, Jolanta Kus, Kacper Lis, Grzegorz Lis, Bei Liu, Qingyong Luo, Meili Du, Divya Mishra, Magdalena Misz-Kennan, Theophile Mugerwa, Jennifer Nedzweckas, Jennifer M. K. O'Keefe, Jackie Park, Richard Pearson, Henrik I. Petersen, Julito Reyes, Joana Ribeiro, Genaro de la Rosa-Rodriguez, Piotr Sosnowski, Brett J. Valentine, Atul Kumar Varma, Małgorzata Wojtaszek-Kalaitzidi, Zhanjie Xu, Alexander Zdravkov, Konrad Ziemianin
Photochemical mobilization of dissolved hydrocarbon oxidation products from petroleum contaminated soil into a shallow aquifer activate human nuclear receptors
Elevated non-volatile dissolved organic carbon (NVDOC) concentrations in groundwater monitoring wells under oil-contaminated hydrophobic soils originating from a pipeline rupture at the National Crude Oil Spill & Natural Attenuation Research Site near Bemidji, MN are documented.. We hypothesized the elevated NVDOC is comprised of water-soluble photooxidation products transported from the surface t
Authors
Phoebe Zito, Barbara A. Bekins, Dalma Martinović-Weigelt, Maxwell L. Harsha, Katherine E. Humpal, Jared J. Trost, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Lynn R. Mazzoleni, Simeon K. Schum, David C. Podgorski
Geology and assessment of coal resources for the Cherokee coal bed in the Fort Union Formation, south-central Wyoming
The Cherokee coal bed is a locally thick and laterally continuous coal bed in the Overland Member of the Paleocene Fort Union Formation in south-central Wyoming. It represents a significant resource that is easily accessible and may be extractable through both surface and underground mining methods. A database of more than 600 data points, comprising coalbed methane wells, coal exploration drill h
Authors
Brian N. Shaffer, Ricardo A. Olea
Merging machine learning and geostatistical approaches for spatial modeling of geoenergy resources
Geostatistics is the most commonly used probabilistic approach for modeling earth systems, including quality parameters of various geoenergy resources. In geostatistics, estimates, either on a point or block support, are generated as a spatially-weighted average of surrounding samples. The optimal weights are determined through the stationary variogram model which accounts for the spatial structur
Authors
Gamze Erdogan Erten, Oktay Erten, C. Özgen Karacan, Jeff Boisvert, Clayton V. Deutsch
Distribution of rare earth and other critical elements in lignites from the Eocene Jackson Group, Texas
Coal is increasingly evaluated as a source of rare earth elements (REEs) in the United States to address the overreliance on imported REEs. The objective of this study was to assess the distribution of REEs in lignites from selected mining areas in the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain region. Thirty-one archived lignite and rock samples previously collected by the U.S. Geological Survey were analyzed for
Authors
James C. Hower, Peter D. Warwick, Bridget R. Scanlon, Robert C. Reedy, Tristan M. Childress
Automated georeferencing and feature extraction of geologic maps and mineral sites
The predictive power of mineral prospectivity analysis depends on high quality, spatially accurate, analysis-ready datasets. Of paramount importance are geologic maps and mineral site data, but the state of readiness for utilizing these datasets remains sub-optimal for advanced computational techniques. As the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) fulfils its mission to map the distribution of critical mi
Authors
Graham W. Lederer, Joshua Mark Rosera, Margaret A. Goldman, Garth E. Graham, Asitang Mishra, Amanda Towler, Brian Wilson, Dustin Graf, Michael Milano, Elizabeth Roberts, Gabrielle Hedrick, Carsten Oertel, Anastassios Dardas, Thomas McEntee