Publications

The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (Public Law 110–140) directs the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a national assessment of potential geologic storage resources for carbon dioxide (CO2). The methodology used by the USGS for the national CO2 assessment follows up on previous USGS work. The methodology is non-economic and intended to be used at regional to subbasinal scales. Thi

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey have completed the first assessment of the undiscovered, technically recoverable gas hydrate resources beneath the North Slope of Alaska. This assessment indicates the existence of technically recoverable gas hydrate resources—that is, resources that can be discovered, developed, and produced using current technology. The approach used in this assessment

Hydrous-pyrolysis experiments at 360°C (680°F) for 72 h were conducted on 53 humic coals representing ranks from lignite through anthracite to determine the upper maturity limit for hydrocarbon-gas generation from their kerogen and associated bitumen (i.e., primary gas generation). These experimental conditions are below those needed for oil cracking to ensure that generated gas was not derived fr

The Triassic-Jurassic Otuk Formation is a potentially important source rock in allochthonous structural positions in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range in the North Slope of Alaska. This study focuses on three localities of the Upper Triassic (Norian) limestone member, which form a present-day, 110-km-long, east-west transect in the central Brooks Range. All three sections are within the s

A recent U.S. Geological Survey analysis of the Green River Formation of the Piceance Basin in western Colorado shows that about 920 and 352 billion barrels of oil are potentially recoverable from oil shale resources using oil-yield cutoffs of 15 and 25 gallons per ton (GPT), respectively. This represents most of the high-grade oil shale in the United States. Much of this rich oil shale is found i

So as to better understand how the gas generation potential of coal changes with increasing rank, same-seam samples of bituminous coal from the Illinois Basin that were naturally matured to varying degrees by the intrusion of an igneous dike were subjected to hydrous pyrolysis (HP) conditions of 360 °C for 72 h. The accumulated methane in the reactor headspace was analyzed for δ13C and δ2H, and mo

We used Rock-Eval pyrolysis and vitrinite reflectance to examine the petroleum source potential of rock samples from the Sheep Creek 1 well in the Susitna basin of south-central Alaska. The results show that Miocene nonmarine coal, carbonaceous shale, and mudstone are potential sources of hydrocarbons and are thermally immature with respect to the oil window. In the samples that we studied, coals

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Surface-wave dispersion analysis is useful for estimating near-surface shear-wave velocity models, designing receiver arrays, and suppressing surface waves. Here, we analyze whether passive seismic noise generated during hydraulic-fracturing operations can be used to extract surface-wave dispersion characteristics. Applying seismic interferometry to noise measurements, we extract surface waves by

Continuous hydrocarbon accumulations in shale reservoirs appear to be characterized by common paleotectonic and paleogeographic histories and are limited to specific intervals of geologic time. In addition, most North American self-sourced shale correlates with geologic time periods of calcitic seas and greenhouse conditions and with evolutionary turnover of marine metazoans. More knowledge about

The Upper Devonian and Lower Mississippian Woodford Shale is an important petroleum source rock for Mississippian reservoirs in the Anadarko Basin Province of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado, based on results from a 4D petroleum system model of the basin. The Woodford Shale underlies Mississippian strata over most of the Anadarko Basin portions of Oklahoma and northeastern Texas. The Kansas