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Publications

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Assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources in the Monterey Formation, Los Angeles Basin Province, California, 2015

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed technically recoverable mean resources of 13 million barrels of oil, 22 billion cubic feet of gas, and 1 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the Monterey Formation of the Los Angeles Basin Province, California.
Authors
Marilyn E. Tennyson, Ronald R. Charpentier, Timothy R. Klett, Michael E. Brownfield, Janet K. Pitman, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Sarah J. Hawkins, Phuong A. Le, Paul G. Lillis, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Christopher J. Schenk

Assessment of shale-gas resources of the Karoo Province, South Africa and Lesotho, Africa, 2016

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resource of 44.5 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in the Karoo Province of South Africa and Lesotho, Africa.
Authors
Michael E. Brownfield, Christopher J. Schenk, Timothy R. Klett, Janet K. Pitman, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Tracey J. Mercier, Thomas M. Finn

Assessment of tight-gas resources in Canyon sandstones of the Val Verde Basin, Texas, 2016

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed mean resources of 5 trillion cubic feet of gas and 187 million barrels of natural gas liquids in tight-gas assessment units in the Canyon sandstones of the Val Verde Basin, Texas.
Authors
Christopher J. Schenk, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Timothy R. Klett, Tracey J. Mercier, Michael E. Brownfield, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Sarah J. Hawkins, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kristen R. Marra, Thomas M. Finn, Janet K. Pitman

The Pilot Valley shoreline: An early record of Lake Bonneville dynamics

The Pilot Valley shoreline is named for distinctive gravel beaches on the eastern, northern, and western sides of Pilot Valley playa, Utah. The shoreline has been identified across the Bonneville basin where it is characterized by one to three beach crests between ~ 1305 and 1309 m elevation, all overlain by deep-water marl of Lake Bonneville. It thus represents the lowest and earliest recognized
Authors
David M. Miller, Geoffrey Phelps

Contemporary deformation in the Yakima fold and thrust belt estimated with GPS

Geodetic, geologic and palaeomagnetic data reveal that Oregon (western USA) rotates clockwise at 0.3 to 1.0° Ma−1 (relative to North America) about an axis near the Idaho–Oregon–Washington border, while northeast Washington is relatively fixed. This rotation has been going on for at least 15 Ma. The Yakima fold and thrust belt (YFTB) forms the boundary between northern Oregon and central Washingto
Authors
Robert McCaffrey, Robert W. King, Ray Wells, Matthew Lancaster, M. Meghan Miller

Accretionary lapilli: what’s holding them together?

Accretionary lapilli from Tagus cone, Isla Isabela, Galápagos were analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) techniques. Our main findings are (1) the lapilli formed and hardened in a few minutes while still aloft in the dispersing eruption column. (2) Palagonite rinds developed first on the basaltic glass clasts, and subsequently crystallized
Authors
Paul M. Adams, David K. Lynch, David C. Buesch

Geology and hydrocarbon potential of the Hartford-Deerfield Basin, Connecticut and Massachusetts

The Hartford-Deerfield basin, a Late Triassic to Early Jurassic rift basin located in central Connecticut and Massachusetts, is the northernmost basin of the onshore Mesozoic rift basins in the eastern United States. The presence of asphaltic petroleum in outcrops indicates that at least one active petroleum system has existed within the basin. However, to-date oil and gas wells have not been dril
Authors
James L. Coleman

Examination of the Reelfoot Rift Petroleum System, south-central United States, and the elements that remain for potential exploration and development

The Reelfoot rift is one segment of a late Proterozoic(?) to early Paleozoic intracontinental rift complex in the south-central United States. The rift complex is situated beneath Mesozoic to Cenozoic strata of the Mississippi embayment of southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, and western Tennessee and Kentucky. The rift portion of the stratigraphic section consists primarily of synrift Ca
Authors
James L. Coleman, Thomas L. Pratt

Geology and hydrocarbon potential of the Dead Sea Rift Basins of Israel and Jordan

Following its middle Miocene inception, numerous basins of varying lengths and depths developed along the Dead Sea fault zone, a large continental transform plate boundary. The modern day left-lateral fault zone has an accumulated left-lateral offset of 105 to 110 km (65 to 68 mi). The deepest basin along the fault zone, the Lake Lisan or Dead Sea basin, reaches depths of 7.5 to 8.5 km (24,500 ft
Authors
James L. Coleman, Uri S. ten Brink

Chemical abrasion-SIMS (CA-SIMS) U-Pb dating of zircon from the late Eocene Caetano caldera, Nevada

Zircon geochronology is a critical tool for establishing geologic ages and time scales of processes in the Earth's crust. However, for zircons compromised by open system behavior, achieving robust dates can be difficult. Chemical abrasion (CA) is a routine step prior to thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) dating of zircon to remove radiation-damaged parts of grains that may have experience
Authors
Kathryn E. Watts, Matthew A. Coble, Jorge A. Vazquez, Christopher D. Henry, Joseph Colgan, David John

Impact of formation water geochemistry and crude oil biodegradation on microbial methanogenesis

Converting non-producible crude oil to CH4 via methanogenic crude oil biodegradation in oil reservoirs could serve as one way to increase our energy profile. Yet, field data supporting the direct relationship between methanogenesis and crude oil biodegradation are sparse. Indicators of methanogenesis, based on the formation water and gas geochemistry (e.g. alkalinity, δ13C–CO2) were compared with
Authors
Jenna L. Shelton, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Peter D. Warwick, John E. McCray