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Publications

Listed below are publication products directly associated with the Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center:

Filter Total Items: 1166

Organic petrology and geochemistry of the Sunbury and Ohio Shales in eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio

As part of a study to determine the origin of oil and gas in the Berea Sandstone in northeastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio, 158 samples of organic-rich shale from the Upper Devonian Olentangy and Ohio Shales and the Lower Mississippian Sunbury Shale, collectively referred to as the “black shale,” were collected and analyzed from 12 cores. The samples were analyzed for total organic carbon (TO
Authors
Cortland F. Eble, Paul C. Hackley, Thomas M. Parris, Stephen F. Greb

Oil–source correlation studies in the shallow Berea Sandstone petroleum system, eastern Kentucky

Shallow 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. Potential nearby source rocks, namely, the overlying Mississippian Sunbury Shale and underlying Ohio Shale, are immature for commercial oil generation according to vitrinite reflectance and programmed pyrolysis analyses
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, T.M. Parris, C. F. Eble, S. F. Greb, D.C. Harris

Potential Pb+2 mobilization, transport, and sequestration in shallow aquifers impacted by multiphase CO2 leakage: A natural analogue study from the Virgin River Basin in Southwest Utah

Geological carbon sequestration (GCS) is necessary to help meet emissions reduction goals, but groundwater contamination may occur if CO2 and/or brine were to leak out of deep storage formations into the shallow subsurface. For this study, a natural analogue was investigated: in the Virgin River Basin of southwest Utah, water with moderate salinity and high CO2 concentrations is leaking upward int
Authors
Michelle R. Plampin, Madalyn S. Blondes, Eric Sonnenthal, William H. Craddock

Organic petrographic evaluation of carbonaceous material in sediments of the Kinnickinnic River, Milwaukee, WI, U.S.A.

This study examines the use of organic petrology techniques to quantify the amount of coal and carbonaceous combustion by-products (i.e., coke, coal tar/pitch, cenospheres) in sediments taken from the Kinnickinnic River adjacent to the former site of the Milwaukee Solvay Coke and Gas Company. These materials are of concern as contaminants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known to r
Authors
Brett J. Valentine, John H Krahling Jr, Stephen D. Mueller

Molecular and isotopic gas composition of the Devonian Berea Sandstone and implications for gas evolution, eastern Kentucky

Since 2011, the Devonian Berea Sandstone in northeastern Kentucky has produced oil where thermal maturity studies indicate that likely source rocks, namely, the Devonian Ohio Shale and Mississippian Sunbury Shale, are thermally immature. Downdip, where source rocks are mature for oil, the Berea Sandstone and Ohio Shale primarily produce gas. To investigate this thermal maturity discordancy, the mo
Authors
T. M. Parris, Paul C. Hackley, S. F. Greb, C. F. Eble

Geochemical advances in Arctic Alaska oil typing - North Slope oil correlation and charge history

The Arctic Alaska petroleum province is geologically and geochemically complex. Mixed hydrocarbon charge from multiple source rocks and/or levels of thermal maturity is common within an individual oil pool. Biomarker and chemometric statistical analyses were used to correlate twenty-nine oils to five oil families derived from: (1) Triassic Shublik Formation (calcareous organofacies), (2) Triassic
Authors
Palma J. Botterell, David W. Houseknecht, Paul G. Lillis, Silvana M. Barbanti, Jeremy E. Dahl, J. Michael Moldowan

The role of hydrates, competing chemical constituents, and surface composition on CLNO2 formation

Atomic chlorine (Cl•) affects air quality and atmospheric oxidizing capacity. Nitryl chloride (ClNO2) – a common Cl• source–forms when chloride-containing aerosols react with dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5). A recent study showed that saline lakebed (playa) dust is an inland source of particulate chloride (Cl–) that generates high ClNO2. However, the underlying physiochemical factors responsible for o
Authors
Haley M. Royer, Dhruv Mitroo, Sarah M. Hayes, Savannah Haas, Kerri A Pratt, Patricia Blackwelder, Thomas E. Gill, Cassandra J. Gaston

Syntrophotalea acetylenivorans sp. nov., a diazotrophic, acetylenotrophic anaerobe isolated from intertidal sediments

A Gram-stain-negative, strictly anaerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated SFB93T, was isolated from the intertidal sediments of South San Francisco Bay, located near Palo Alto, CA, USA. SFB93T was capable of acetylenotrophic and diazotrophic growth, grew at 22–37 °C, pH 6.3–8.5 and in the presence of 10–45 g l−1 NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed tha
Authors
Shaun Baesman, John M. Sutton, Janna L. Fierst, Denise M. Akob, Ronald S. Oremland

Computational methodology to analyze the effect of mass transfer rate on attenuation of leaked carbon dioxide in shallow aquifers

Exsolution and re-dissolution of CO2 gas within heterogeneous porous media are investigated using experimental data and mathematical modeling. In a set of bench-scale experiments, water saturated with CO2 under a given pressure is injected into a 2-D water-saturated porous media system, causing CO2 gas to exsolve and migrate upwards. A layer of fine sand mimicking a heterogeneity within a shallow
Authors
Radek Fucik, Jakub Solovsky, Michelle R. Plampin, Hao Wu, Jiri Mikyska, Tissa H. Illangasekare

Mineral deposits of the Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift System in the Lake Superior region – Metallogeny of the prolifically mineralized Keweenawan LIP

The Keweenawan large igneous province (LIP) of the Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) of North America is perhaps the most prolifically and diversely mineralized LIP known on Earth (Nicholson et al., 1992). The MRS is an approximately 2,200 km curvilinear continental rift that stretches from Kansas northeast to the Lake Superior region where it turns southeast and extends through lower Michigan (Fig.
Authors
Laurel G. Woodruff, Klaus Schulz, Suzanne Nicholson, Connie L. Dicken

Implications of aggregating and smoothing daily production data on estimates of the transition time between flow regimes in horizontal hydraulically fractured Bakken oil wells

The level to which data are aggregated or smoothed can impact analytical and predictive modeling results. This paper discusses findings regarding such impacts on estimating change points in production flow regimes of horizontal hydraulically fractured shale oil wells producing from the middle member of the Bakken Formation. Change points that signal transitions in flow regimes are important becaus
Authors
T. C. Coburn, Emil D. Attanasi

Two-event genesis of Butte lode veins: Geologic and geochronologic evidence from ore veins, dikes, and host plutons

The long-standing ore-genesis model for world-class deposits of the Butte mining district, Montana, is of deep pre-Main Stage porphyry Cu-Mo and overlying Main Stage Ag-Zn-Cu-zoned lode veinsformed from discrete hydrothermal systems related to rhyolite dikes. The lode-specific model describes metals zones that formed in the lode veins as hydrothermal processes diminished in intensity (changing tem
Authors
Karen Lund, Ryan J. McAleer, John N. Aleinikoff, Michael Cosca