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Evidence 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 qua
Authors
Andrew 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 West

Element cycling in the Middle-Late Triassic Shublik Formation: Mineralization vs. recycling of biolimiting nutrients in an unconventional resource play

The Triassic Shublik Formation in northern Alaska is one of the major source rocks in North America, having generated much of the petroleum in Prudhoe Bay and associated fields. The middle Shublik Formation, the focus of this study, is a highly phosphatic, organic-rich carbonate mudstone interval. Apatite cements can occur as phosphatic peloids, steinkerns, elongate or angular nodules, and shells
Authors
Katherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, James Macquaker, Justin E. Birdwell, Adam Boehlke, Katherine L. French

Implications of aggregating daily production data on estimates of ultimate recovery from horizontal hydraulically fractured Bakken oil wells

The level to which data are aggregated can impact analytical and predictive modeling results. In this short paper we discuss some of our findings regarding the impacts of data aggregation on estimating change points in the production profiles of horizontal hydraulically fractured Bakken oil wells. Change points occur when production transitions from one flow regime to another. Change point determi
Authors
T. C. Coburn, Emil D. Attanasi

Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in Jurassic Posidonia Shales of Greece and Albania, 2019

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 118 million barrels of continuous oil and 170 billion cubic feet of continuous gas in the Jurassic Posidonia Shale Total Petroleum System of western Greece and southern Albania.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Thomas M. Finn, Cheryl A. Woodall, Michael E. Brownfield, Kristen R. Marra, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Phuong A. Le, Ronald M. Drake

Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in Jurassic Shales of the eastern Arabian Peninsula, 2019

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 5.6 billion barrels of oil and 109.1 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Jurassic Hanifa-Tuwaiq Total Petroleum System of the Arabian Peninsula.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Thomas M. Finn, Michael E. Brownfield, Kristen R. Marra, Phuong A. Le, Ronald M. Drake, Scott A. Kinney

Berea 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 b
Authors
T. Marty Parris, Stephen F. Greb, Cortland F. Eble, Paul C. Hackley, David C. Harris

A probabilistic assessment methodology for carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery and associated carbon dioxide retention

The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 authorized the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a national assessment of the potential volume of hydrocarbons recoverable by injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into known oil reservoirs with historical production. The implementation of CO2 enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) techniques could increase the U.S. recoverable hydrocarbon resource
Authors
Peter D. Warwick, Emil D. Attanasi, Ricardo A. Olea, Madalyn S. Blondes, Philip A. Freeman, Sean T. Brennan, Matthew D. Merrill, Mahendra K. Verma, C. Özgen Karacan, Jenna L. Shelton, Celeste D. Lohr, Hossein Jahediesfanjani, Jacqueline N. Roueché

Assessment of coal resources and reserves in the Little Snake River coal field and Red Desert assessment area, Greater Green River Basin, Wyoming

The assessment of the Little Snake River coal field and Red Desert area covers approximately 2,300 square miles in the eastern portion of the Greater Green River Basin in south-central Wyoming. Coal-bearing formations are present throughout the Eocene, Paleocene, and Cretaceous strata in the assessment area. Paleogene-age coal beds are present in the Eocene Wasatch Formation and Paleocene Fort Uni
Authors
Brian N. Shaffer, Paul E. Pierce, Scott A. Kinney, Ricardo A. Olea, James A. Luppens

Coal geology and assessment of resources and reserves in the Little Snake River Coal Field and Red Desert Assessment Area, Greater Green River Basin, Wyoming

The U.S. Geological Survey is studying regional-scale assessments of resources and reserves of primary coal beds in the major coal bed basins in the United States to help formulate policy for Federal, State, and local energy and land use. This report summarizes the geology and coal resources and reserves in the Little Snake River coal field and Red Desert assessment area in the Greater Green River
Authors
David C. Scott, Brian N. Shaffer, Jon E. Haacke, Paul E. Pierce, Scott A. Kinney

Shift in the Raman symmetric stretching band of N2, CO2, and CH4 as a function of temperature, pressure, and density

The Raman spectra of pure N2, CO2, and CH4 were analyzed over the range 10 to 500 bars and from −160°C to 200°C (N2), 22°C to 350°C (CO2), and −100°C to 450°C (CH4). At constant temperature, Raman peak position, including the more intense CO2 peak (ν+), decreases (shifts to lower wave number) with increasing pressure for all three gases over the entire pressure and temperature (PT) range studied.
Authors
D. Matthew Sublett Jr., Eszter Sendula, Hector Lamadrid, Matthew Steele-MacInnis, Georg Spiekermann, Robert Burruss, Robert J. Bodnar

Economic analysis for U.S. Geological Survey Coal Basin Assessments

This report presents economic principles and applications as they pertain to the U.S. Geological Survey’s U.S. Coal Resources and Reserves Assessment Project. This report compares commercial and governmental applications of economic principles and evaluation techniques. Common practices are described for evaluating the commercial investment potential of coal properties and calculating the governme
Authors
Paul E. Pierce

Testing 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. Al
Authors
Paul 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 Zapata