Advancements in Geochemistry and Geomicrobiology of Energy Resources (AGGER)
The AGGER project’s purpose is to advance the understanding of geologic energy sources, generation, composition, movement, and production potential, including resource recovery from energy wastes.
This purpose manifests in three broad objectives:
- Assessing subsurface microorganisms in order to stimulate or retard biogenic gas production;
- Linking macroscale geologic energy phenomena (e.g., petroleum recoverability or carbon sequestration) to nanoscale parameters (e.g., pore accessibility); and
- Developing standardized approaches to evaluate both the resource potential and environmental risks of energy related wastes.
Achieving these objectives relates to the DOI Strategic Objective 3.2 Current Energy Needs Are Met Through Balanced Resource Use, and informs Congress, State and Federal agencies, private organizations, and the public on the U.S. energy endowment.
The AGGER project is currently divided into 7 research tasks, detailed below, and funds three research laboratories.
- Controls on microbial methanogenesis in shale deposits and strategies for enhancement - Task leads: Elliott Barnhart and Matthew Varonka
- Structure and composition of energy materials - Task lead: Aaron Jubb
- NORM products, byproducts and wastes from energy resource life cycles - Task lead: Bonnie McDevitt
- Spectroscopic investigations of energy materials - Task lead: Aaron Jubb
- Remote sensing techniques to quantify energy resources in wastes at abandoned mines - Task lead: Bernard Hubbard
- Scoping innovative approaches in advanced field measurements and data analysis - Task lead: Elisha ‘Eli’ Moore
- Assessing critical minerals and contaminants in coal mine drainage - Task lead: Bonnie McDevitt
The following 3 laboratories are associated with the AGGER project:
- Eastern Energy and Environmental Laboratory (EEEL)
- Raman Spectroscopy Laboratory (RSL)
- Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material Laboratory (NORM)
The data releases listed below are associated with the AGGER project.
The publications listed below are associated with the AGGER project.
Molecular mechanisms of solid bitumen and vitrinite reflectance suppression explored using hydrous pyrolysis of artificial source rock
In situ enhancement and isotopic labeling of biogenic coalbed methane
Activity-based, genome-resolved metagenomics uncovers key populations and pathways involved in subsurface conversions of coal to methane
Machine learning can assign geologic basin to produced water samples using major ion geochemistry
Effect of an algal amendment on the microbial conversion of coal to methane at different sulfate concentrations from the Powder River Basin, USA
Compositional evolution of organic matter in Boquillas Shale across a thermal gradient at the single particle level
Insights on the characteristics and sources of gas from an underground coal mine using compositional data analysis
A review of spatially resolved techniques and applications of organic petrography in shale petroleum systems
Investigating the effects of broad ion beam milling to sedimentary organic matter: Surface flattening or heat-induced aromatization and condensation?
Effect of temperature, nitrate concentration, pH and bicarbonate addition on biomass and lipid accumulation in the sporulating green alga PW95
Examination of inertinite within immature Eagle Ford Shale at the nanometer-scale using atomic force microscopy-based infrared spectroscopy
Photoluminescence imaging of whole zircon grains on a petrographic microscope—An underused aide for geochronologic studies
The refractory nature of zircon to temperature and pressure allows even a single zircon grain to preserve a rich history of magmatic, metamorphic, and hydrothermal processes. Isotopic dating of micro-domains exposed in cross-sections of zircon grains allows us to interrogate this history. Unfortunately, our ability to select the zircon grains in a heavy mineral concentrate that records the most ge
The AGGER project’s purpose is to advance the understanding of geologic energy sources, generation, composition, movement, and production potential, including resource recovery from energy wastes.
This purpose manifests in three broad objectives:
- Assessing subsurface microorganisms in order to stimulate or retard biogenic gas production;
- Linking macroscale geologic energy phenomena (e.g., petroleum recoverability or carbon sequestration) to nanoscale parameters (e.g., pore accessibility); and
- Developing standardized approaches to evaluate both the resource potential and environmental risks of energy related wastes.
Achieving these objectives relates to the DOI Strategic Objective 3.2 Current Energy Needs Are Met Through Balanced Resource Use, and informs Congress, State and Federal agencies, private organizations, and the public on the U.S. energy endowment.
The AGGER project is currently divided into 7 research tasks, detailed below, and funds three research laboratories.
- Controls on microbial methanogenesis in shale deposits and strategies for enhancement - Task leads: Elliott Barnhart and Matthew Varonka
- Structure and composition of energy materials - Task lead: Aaron Jubb
- NORM products, byproducts and wastes from energy resource life cycles - Task lead: Bonnie McDevitt
- Spectroscopic investigations of energy materials - Task lead: Aaron Jubb
- Remote sensing techniques to quantify energy resources in wastes at abandoned mines - Task lead: Bernard Hubbard
- Scoping innovative approaches in advanced field measurements and data analysis - Task lead: Elisha ‘Eli’ Moore
- Assessing critical minerals and contaminants in coal mine drainage - Task lead: Bonnie McDevitt
The following 3 laboratories are associated with the AGGER project:
- Eastern Energy and Environmental Laboratory (EEEL)
- Raman Spectroscopy Laboratory (RSL)
- Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material Laboratory (NORM)
The data releases listed below are associated with the AGGER project.
The publications listed below are associated with the AGGER project.
Molecular mechanisms of solid bitumen and vitrinite reflectance suppression explored using hydrous pyrolysis of artificial source rock
In situ enhancement and isotopic labeling of biogenic coalbed methane
Activity-based, genome-resolved metagenomics uncovers key populations and pathways involved in subsurface conversions of coal to methane
Machine learning can assign geologic basin to produced water samples using major ion geochemistry
Effect of an algal amendment on the microbial conversion of coal to methane at different sulfate concentrations from the Powder River Basin, USA
Compositional evolution of organic matter in Boquillas Shale across a thermal gradient at the single particle level
Insights on the characteristics and sources of gas from an underground coal mine using compositional data analysis
A review of spatially resolved techniques and applications of organic petrography in shale petroleum systems
Investigating the effects of broad ion beam milling to sedimentary organic matter: Surface flattening or heat-induced aromatization and condensation?
Effect of temperature, nitrate concentration, pH and bicarbonate addition on biomass and lipid accumulation in the sporulating green alga PW95
Examination of inertinite within immature Eagle Ford Shale at the nanometer-scale using atomic force microscopy-based infrared spectroscopy
Photoluminescence imaging of whole zircon grains on a petrographic microscope—An underused aide for geochronologic studies
The refractory nature of zircon to temperature and pressure allows even a single zircon grain to preserve a rich history of magmatic, metamorphic, and hydrothermal processes. Isotopic dating of micro-domains exposed in cross-sections of zircon grains allows us to interrogate this history. Unfortunately, our ability to select the zircon grains in a heavy mineral concentrate that records the most ge