Paul C. Hackley, Ph.D.
Paul Hackley is a Research Geologist with the USGS Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center in Reston, VA.
As project chief of the Thermal Indices project I pursue research on thermal maturity, chemical composition and physical state of sedimentary organic matter. The Thermal Indices project is part of the Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center and is funded by the Energy Resources Program (ERP). The Thermal Indices project team develops and applies petrographic methods for the reliable identification of different types of sedimentary organic matter, and measures and interprets the response of organic matter to thermal stress in natural environments and in laboratory-based heating experiments. Improved understanding of the thermal evolution of sedimentary organic matter enables more accurate assessment of petroleum source rock maturation, thereby decreasing uncertainty in the determination of thermal histories, the timing of petroleum generation and the placement of resource assessment spatial boundaries. This leads to the overall goal of improving estimates of undiscovered petroleum resources, which is a central mission of the ERP.
My work focuses on four integrated research task areas which have petrographic approaches to thermal indices as their common denominator: 1) standardization and reproducibility of measurement, 2) utilization of hydrous pyrolysis for (artificial) thermal conversion of sedimentary organic matter, 3) petrographic innovation areas for thermal indices and organic evolution, and 4) petrographic laboratory support.
Thermal indices research is accomplished from the Organic Petrology and Hydrous Pyrolysis laboratories in Reston. The laboratories include facilities for sample preparation, hydrous pyrolysis, optical and fluorescence microscopy, and infrared spectroscopy. The Thermal Indices project team works with external collaborators from global academic, government and industry groups. All thermal indices research efforts reach toward the goal of improving fossil fuel resource assessments by generating new understanding of the processes occurring during thermal evolution of sedimentary organic matter and its conversion to petroleum.
Professional Experience
Unconventional petroleum systems
Conventional oil and gas assessment
Coalbed methane
Coal
Application of organic petrology techniques to fossil fuel resource assessment
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., George Mason University
M.S., George Washington University
B.A., Shippensburg State University
Affiliations and Memberships*
The Society for Organic Petrology (TSOP)
International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP)
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
Geological Society of America (GSA)
Science and Products
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Application of Raman spectroscopy as thermal maturity probe in shale petroleum systems: Insights from natural and artificial maturation series
Raman spectroscopy was studied as a thermal maturity probe in a series of Upper Devonian Ohio Shale samples from the Appalachian Basin spanning from immature to dry gas conditions. Raman spectroscopy also was applied to samples spanning a similar thermal range created from 72-h hydrous pyrolysis (HP) experiments of the Ohio Shale at temperatures from 300 to 360 °C and isothermal HP experiments las
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, N. Keno Lunsdorf
Using mercury injection pressure analyses to estimate sealing capacity of the Tuscaloosa marine shale in Mississippi, USA: Implications for carbon dioxide sequestration
This work used mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) analyses of the Tuscaloosa Group in Mississippi, including the Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS), to assess their efficacy and sealing capacity for geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. Tuscaloosa Group porosity and permeability from MICP were evaluated to calculate CO2 column height retention. TMS and Lower Tuscaloosa shale samples hav
Authors
Celeste D. Lohr, Paul C. Hackley
Suppression of vitrinite reflectance by bitumen generated from liptinite during hydrous pyrolysis of artificial source rock
Mean random vitrinite reflectance (Ro) is the most widely accepted method to determine thermal maturity of coal and other sedimentary rocks. However, oil-immersion Ro of polished rock or kerogen samples is commonly lower than Ro values measured in samples from adjacent vitrinite-rich coals that have undergone the same level of thermal stress. So-called suppressed Ro values have also been observed
Authors
Kenneth E. Peters, Paul C. Hackley, J. J. Thomas, A. E. Pomerantz
Assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources in the Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale of the U.S. Gulf Coast, 2018
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed mean undiscovered, technically recoverable continuousresources of 1.5 billion barrels of oil and 4.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale in onshore and State waters ofLouisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida in the U.S. Gulf Coast region.
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, Catherine B. Enomoto, Brett J. Valentine, William A. Rouse, Celeste D. Lohr, Frank T. Dulong, Javin J. Hatcherian, Sean T. Brennan, William H. Craddock, Thomas M. Finn, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier, Stanley T. Paxton, Katherine J. Whidden, Cheryl A. Woodall, Christopher J. Schenk
Understanding and distinguishing reflectance measurements of solid bitumen and vitrinite using hydrous pyrolysis: Implications to petroleum assessment
Solid bitumen is a common organic component of thermally mature shales and typically is identified by embayment against euhedral mineral terminations and by groundmass textures. However, because these textures are not always present, solid bitumen can be easily misidentified as vitrinite. Hydrous-pyrolysis experiments (72 hr, 300°C–360°C) on shale and coal samples show that solid-bitumen reflectan
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, Michael Lewan
DDT and related compounds in pore water of shallow sediments on the Palos Verdes Shelf, California, USA
For nearly two and a half decades following World War II, production wastes from the world's largest manufacturer of technical DDT (1-chloro-4-[2,2,2-trichloro-1-(4-chlorophenyl)ethyl]benzene) were discharged into sewers of Los Angeles County. Following treatment, the wastes were released via a submarine outfall system to nearshore coastal waters where a portion accumulated in shallow sediments of
Authors
Robert P. Eganhouse, Erica L. DiFilippo, James Pontolillo, William H. Orem, Paul C. Hackley, Brian Edwards
On the petrographic distinction of bituminite from solid bitumen in immature to early mature source rocks
The oil-prone maceral bituminite (and its equivalents: ‘amorphous organic matter’, ‘sapropelinite’, ‘amorphinite’, etc.) converts to petroleum during thermal maturation of source rocks, resulting in formation of a mobile saturate-rich hydrocarbon and a polar-rich residue of solid bitumen. Evidence of this transition is preserved in immature to early mature source rocks (e.g., Alum, Bakken, Kimmeri
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, Brett J. Valentine, Javin J. Hatcherian
Quantitative evaluation of vitrinite reflectance and atomic O/C in coal using Raman spectroscopy and multivariate analysis
Vitrinite reflectance (VRo) is a standard petrographic method for assessing thermal maturity (rank) of coal. The vitrinite reflectance technique, however, requires significant petrographic experience, can be time-consuming, and may be biased by analyst subjectivity. Correlations between coal rank and Raman spectral properties are a promising alternative that can supplant some of the limitations in
Authors
Jason S. Lupoi, Luke P Fritz, Paul C. Hackley, Logan Solotky, Amy Weislogel, Steve Schlaegle
Development of Raman spectroscopy as a thermal maturity proxy in unconventional resource assessment
The objective of this study was to correlate shale hydrous pyrolysis with thermal maturity measurements based on solid bitumen reflectance (BRo) at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Raman microscopy (RM) at WellDog. In semi-blind Phase I, BRo values of the initial set of 8 samples were withheld prior to RM analysis. As reported previously, a strong correlation was observed between BRo and Rama
Authors
Grant A. Myers, Kelsey Kehoe, Paul C. Hackley
Application of organic petrology in high maturity shale gas systems
Application of incident light microscopy techniques for organic petrology in high temperature thermogenic shale gas systems demonstrates that solid bitumen is the dominant organic matter. Solid bitumen is retained as a residual conversion product as oil-prone kerogen cracks to hydrocarbons or occurs from the cracking of once liquid oil. Oil-prone Type I/II kerogens are not present in shale gas res
Authors
Paul C. Hackley
Analysis of artificially matured shales with confocal laser scanning raman microscopy: Applications to organic matter characterization
Raman spectroscopy has been suggested as a method for characterizing the thermal maturity of rocks. The literature contains many empirical correlations between thermal maturity proxies, such as vitrinite reflectance (VRo) and pyrolysis-Tmax, with spectral metrics such as Raman peak-widths, peak-center positions, peak-areas and all manner of differences and ratios of these parameters. However, whil
Authors
Grant A. Myers, Kelsey Kehoe, Paul C. Hackley
Nanoscale geochemical and geomechanical characterization of dispersed organic matter in shale by infrared nanoscopy
Solid organic matter (OM) plays an essential role in the generation, migration, storage, and production of hydrocarbons from economically important shale rock formations. Electron microscopy images have documented spatial heterogeneity in the porosity of OM at nanoscale, and bulk spectroscopy measurements have documented large variation in the chemical composition of OM during petroleum generation
Authors
Jin Yang, Javin J. Hatcherian, Paul C. Hackley, Andrew Pomerantz
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 44
No Result Found
Filter Total Items: 145
Application of Raman spectroscopy as thermal maturity probe in shale petroleum systems: Insights from natural and artificial maturation series
Raman spectroscopy was studied as a thermal maturity probe in a series of Upper Devonian Ohio Shale samples from the Appalachian Basin spanning from immature to dry gas conditions. Raman spectroscopy also was applied to samples spanning a similar thermal range created from 72-h hydrous pyrolysis (HP) experiments of the Ohio Shale at temperatures from 300 to 360 °C and isothermal HP experiments las
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, N. Keno Lunsdorf
Using mercury injection pressure analyses to estimate sealing capacity of the Tuscaloosa marine shale in Mississippi, USA: Implications for carbon dioxide sequestration
This work used mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) analyses of the Tuscaloosa Group in Mississippi, including the Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS), to assess their efficacy and sealing capacity for geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. Tuscaloosa Group porosity and permeability from MICP were evaluated to calculate CO2 column height retention. TMS and Lower Tuscaloosa shale samples hav
Authors
Celeste D. Lohr, Paul C. Hackley
Suppression of vitrinite reflectance by bitumen generated from liptinite during hydrous pyrolysis of artificial source rock
Mean random vitrinite reflectance (Ro) is the most widely accepted method to determine thermal maturity of coal and other sedimentary rocks. However, oil-immersion Ro of polished rock or kerogen samples is commonly lower than Ro values measured in samples from adjacent vitrinite-rich coals that have undergone the same level of thermal stress. So-called suppressed Ro values have also been observed
Authors
Kenneth E. Peters, Paul C. Hackley, J. J. Thomas, A. E. Pomerantz
Assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources in the Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale of the U.S. Gulf Coast, 2018
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed mean undiscovered, technically recoverable continuousresources of 1.5 billion barrels of oil and 4.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale in onshore and State waters ofLouisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida in the U.S. Gulf Coast region.
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, Catherine B. Enomoto, Brett J. Valentine, William A. Rouse, Celeste D. Lohr, Frank T. Dulong, Javin J. Hatcherian, Sean T. Brennan, William H. Craddock, Thomas M. Finn, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier, Stanley T. Paxton, Katherine J. Whidden, Cheryl A. Woodall, Christopher J. Schenk
Understanding and distinguishing reflectance measurements of solid bitumen and vitrinite using hydrous pyrolysis: Implications to petroleum assessment
Solid bitumen is a common organic component of thermally mature shales and typically is identified by embayment against euhedral mineral terminations and by groundmass textures. However, because these textures are not always present, solid bitumen can be easily misidentified as vitrinite. Hydrous-pyrolysis experiments (72 hr, 300°C–360°C) on shale and coal samples show that solid-bitumen reflectan
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, Michael Lewan
DDT and related compounds in pore water of shallow sediments on the Palos Verdes Shelf, California, USA
For nearly two and a half decades following World War II, production wastes from the world's largest manufacturer of technical DDT (1-chloro-4-[2,2,2-trichloro-1-(4-chlorophenyl)ethyl]benzene) were discharged into sewers of Los Angeles County. Following treatment, the wastes were released via a submarine outfall system to nearshore coastal waters where a portion accumulated in shallow sediments of
Authors
Robert P. Eganhouse, Erica L. DiFilippo, James Pontolillo, William H. Orem, Paul C. Hackley, Brian Edwards
On the petrographic distinction of bituminite from solid bitumen in immature to early mature source rocks
The oil-prone maceral bituminite (and its equivalents: ‘amorphous organic matter’, ‘sapropelinite’, ‘amorphinite’, etc.) converts to petroleum during thermal maturation of source rocks, resulting in formation of a mobile saturate-rich hydrocarbon and a polar-rich residue of solid bitumen. Evidence of this transition is preserved in immature to early mature source rocks (e.g., Alum, Bakken, Kimmeri
Authors
Paul C. Hackley, Brett J. Valentine, Javin J. Hatcherian
Quantitative evaluation of vitrinite reflectance and atomic O/C in coal using Raman spectroscopy and multivariate analysis
Vitrinite reflectance (VRo) is a standard petrographic method for assessing thermal maturity (rank) of coal. The vitrinite reflectance technique, however, requires significant petrographic experience, can be time-consuming, and may be biased by analyst subjectivity. Correlations between coal rank and Raman spectral properties are a promising alternative that can supplant some of the limitations in
Authors
Jason S. Lupoi, Luke P Fritz, Paul C. Hackley, Logan Solotky, Amy Weislogel, Steve Schlaegle
Development of Raman spectroscopy as a thermal maturity proxy in unconventional resource assessment
The objective of this study was to correlate shale hydrous pyrolysis with thermal maturity measurements based on solid bitumen reflectance (BRo) at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Raman microscopy (RM) at WellDog. In semi-blind Phase I, BRo values of the initial set of 8 samples were withheld prior to RM analysis. As reported previously, a strong correlation was observed between BRo and Rama
Authors
Grant A. Myers, Kelsey Kehoe, Paul C. Hackley
Application of organic petrology in high maturity shale gas systems
Application of incident light microscopy techniques for organic petrology in high temperature thermogenic shale gas systems demonstrates that solid bitumen is the dominant organic matter. Solid bitumen is retained as a residual conversion product as oil-prone kerogen cracks to hydrocarbons or occurs from the cracking of once liquid oil. Oil-prone Type I/II kerogens are not present in shale gas res
Authors
Paul C. Hackley
Analysis of artificially matured shales with confocal laser scanning raman microscopy: Applications to organic matter characterization
Raman spectroscopy has been suggested as a method for characterizing the thermal maturity of rocks. The literature contains many empirical correlations between thermal maturity proxies, such as vitrinite reflectance (VRo) and pyrolysis-Tmax, with spectral metrics such as Raman peak-widths, peak-center positions, peak-areas and all manner of differences and ratios of these parameters. However, whil
Authors
Grant A. Myers, Kelsey Kehoe, Paul C. Hackley
Nanoscale geochemical and geomechanical characterization of dispersed organic matter in shale by infrared nanoscopy
Solid organic matter (OM) plays an essential role in the generation, migration, storage, and production of hydrocarbons from economically important shale rock formations. Electron microscopy images have documented spatial heterogeneity in the porosity of OM at nanoscale, and bulk spectroscopy measurements have documented large variation in the chemical composition of OM during petroleum generation
Authors
Jin Yang, Javin J. Hatcherian, Paul C. Hackley, Andrew Pomerantz
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government