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Christopher S Swezey, Ph.D.

Christopher Swezey is the Program Coordinator of the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program. He leads strategic planning and coordination to meet Program requirements, including implementation and funding of FEDMAP, STATEMAP, EDMAP, and the National Geologic Map Database. This work is done in collaboration with State Geological Surveys, federal scientists, and academic partners.

Employment

2024-Present: Program Coordinator, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP), Reston, Virginia

April 2022-January 2023: Acting Associate Program Coordinator (Science Lead for EDMAP, Earth MRI, and Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition), USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Reston, Virginia

2018-2023: Research Geologist, USGS Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Reston, Virginia

            - Project Lead, Glaciated Regions Geologic Mapping Project (2022-2023)

            - Project Lead, Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Project (2019-2022)

            - Project Lead, Geology of the Appalachian and Illinois Basins (2018-2019)

2009-2018: Research Geologist, USGS Eastern Geology & Paleoclimate Science Center, Reston, Virginia

            - Project Lead, Eastern Coastal Plain Geologic Mapping Project (2017-2018)

            - Associate Project Lead, Eastern Coastal Plain Studies Project (2015-2017)

            - Geologist, Geology of Atlantic Watersheds Project (2009-2015)

2000-2009: Research Geologist, USGS Eastern Energy Resources Team, Reston, Virginia

            - Task Lead (2007-2009), Eastern Oil Shale Assessment Task of National Oil and Gas Assessment (NOGA)

            - Task Lead (2005-2009), Illinois Basin Oil and Gas Assessment Task of NOGA

            - Task Lead (2002-2005), Michigan Basin Oil and Gas Assessment Task of NOGA

            - Geologist (2000-2002), Appalachian Basin Oil and Gas Assessment Task of NOGA

1997-2000: Geologist, BP Exploration (Gulf of Mexico), Houston, Texas

1996-1997: Research Assistant, Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin, Texas

1988-1992: Teaching Assistant, Department of Geology, The University of Texas at Austin

1987-1988: Physical Science Technician, USGS Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy, Menlo Park, California

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D. (1997) - Geology, The University of Texas at Austin. Dissertation: Climatic and Tectonic Controls on Quaternary Eolian Sedimentary Sequences of the Chott Rharsa Basin, Southern Tunisia

  • M.A. (1991) - Geology, The University of Texas at Austin.  Thesis: Description and Interpretation of the Jurassic J-2 Unconformity of the Western Interior (U.S.A.)  

  • B.S. (1987) - Geology, French (double major), Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

    Université de Paris VII (1985-1986), Paris, France

    St. Christopher’s High School (1983), Richmond, Virginia

Honors and Awards

  • 2018  Fellow of the Geological Society of America

  • 2008  American Association of Petroleum Geologists George V. Cohee Public Service Award

  • 1995  Chateaubriand Scholarship, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France

  • 1992-1993  J. William Fulbright Scholarship, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France

  • 1992  Smithsonian Institution Fellowship, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC

  • 1987  T.V. Laska Award, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (Most outstanding undergraduate senior in geology)

Science and Products

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Filter Total Items: 35

White-nose syndrome: comment

No abstract available.
Authors
C. Swezey
By
Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Some notes on the geology of Cave Mountain Cave, Pendleton County, West Virginia

No abstract available.
Authors
C.S. Swezey, Frank T. Dulong
By
Florence Bascom Geoscience Center

Cenozoic stratigraphy of the Sahara, Northern Africa

This paper presents an overview of the Cenozoic stratigraphic record in the Sahara, and shows that the strata display some remarkably similar characteristics across much of the region. In fact, some lithologies of certain ages are exceptionally widespread and persistent, and many of the changes from one lithology to another appear to have been relatively synchronous across the Sahara...
Authors
Christopher S. Swezey

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Illinois Basin, 2007

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the following quantities of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Illinois Basin, USA: (1) a mean of 214 million barrels of oil; (2) a mean of 4.65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas; and (3) a mean of 24 million barrels of natural gas liquids.
Authors
Christopher S. Swezey

In search of a Silurian Total Petroleum System in the Appalachian Basin of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia

This report provides an evaluation of the source rock potential of Silurian strata in the U.S. portion of the northern Appalachian Basin, using new TOC and RockEval data. The study area consists of all or parts of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The stratigraphic intervals that were sampled for this study are as follows: 1) the Lower Silurian Cabot Head Shale, Rochester...
Authors
Robert T. Ryder, Christopher S. Swezey, Michael H. Trippi, Erika Lentz, K. Lee Avary, John M. Harper, William M. Kappel, Ronald G. Rea

Assessment of Appalachian basin oil and gas resources: Devonian shale— Middle and Upper Paleozoic Total Petroleum System

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an assessment of the technically recoverable undiscovered hydrocarbon resources of the Appalachian Basin Province. The assessment province includes parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. The assessment was based on six major petroleum systems, which include...
Authors
Robert C. Milici, Christopher S. Swezey

Undiscovered oil and gas resources underlying the U.S. portions of the Great Lakes, 2005

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the U.S. portions of the Appalachian Basin and the Michigan Basin in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Following the assessments of these two basins, oil and gas allocations were assigned to the U.S. portions of the Great Lakes - Lake Superior (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin), Lake...
Authors
James L. Coleman, Christopher S. Swezey, Robert T. Ryder, Ronald Charpentier
By
Energy Resources Program

Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the U.S. portion of the Michigan Basin, 2004

No abstract available.
Authors
Christopher S. Swezey, Joseph R. Hatch, Daniel O. Hayba, John E. Repetski, Ronald Charpentier, Troy A. Cook, Timothy R. Klett, Richard M. Pollastro, Christopher J. Schenk
By
Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Anacacho Limestone, Texas, USA

The Upper Cretaceous Anacacho Limestone is exposed in outcrops between the cities of San Antonio and Del Rio, Texas. A detailed study of four outcrops (Blanco Creek section, Sabinal River section, Seco Creek section, Hondo Creek section) shows that the Anacacho Limestone rests on the Upson Clay (which contains fauna of early Campanian age) and is overlain by the Corsicana Marl (which...
Authors
C.S. Swezey, E.C. Sullivan

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Appalachian Basin Province, 2002

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 70.2 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, a mean of 54 million barrels of undiscovered oil, and a mean of 872 million barrels of undiscovered natural gas liquids in the Appalachian Basin Province.
Authors
Robert C. Appalachian Basin Province Assessment Team: Milici, Robert T. Ryder, Christopher S. Swezey, Ronald Charpentier, Troy A. Cook, Robert A. Crovelli, Timothy R. Klett, Richard M. Pollastro, Christopher J. Schenk

Eolian sediment responses to late Quaternary climate changes: Temporal and spatial patterns in the Sahara

This paper presents a compilation of eolian-based records of late Quaternary climate changes in the Sahara. Although the data are relatively sparse, when viewed as a whole, they reveal a general pattern of widespread eolian sediment mobilization prior to 11,000 cal. years BP, eolian sediment stabilization from 11,000 to 5000 cal. years BP, and a return to widespread eolian sediment...
Authors
C. Swezey

Non-USGS Publications**

Swezey, C., 1999, A very old Sahara: Science, v. 286, no. 5438, p. 243.
Swezey, C.S., 1999, The lifespan of the Complexe Terminal Aquifer, Algerian-Tunisian Sahara: Journal of African Earth Sciences, v. 28, no. 3, p. 751-756.
Swezey, C., Lancaster, N., Kocurek, G., Deynoux, M., Blum, M., Price, D., and Pion, J.-C., 1999, Response of aeolian systems to Holocene climatic and hydrologic changes on the northern margin of the Sahara: A high-resolution record from the Chott Rharsa basin, Tunisia: The Holocene, v. 9, no. 2, p. 141-147.
Swezey, C., 1998, The identification of eolian sands and sandstones: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences [France], serie IIa, v. 327, no. 8, p. 513-518.
Swezey, C.S., 1997, Climatic and Tectonic Controls on Quaternary Eolian Sedimentary Sequences of the Chott Rharsa Basin, Southern Tunisia (Doctoral dissertation). https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/61424
Swezey, C., Deynoux, M., and Jeannette, D., 1996, Sandstone depositional environments of the Upper Permian Champenay Formation, Champenay Basin, northeast France: Sedimentary Geology, v. 105, nos. 1-2, p. 91-103.
Swezey, C.S., 1996, Structural controls on Quaternary depocentres within the Chotts Trough region of southern Tunisia: Journal of African Earth Sciences, v. 22, no. 3, p. 335-347.
Swezey, C.S., 1991, A review of changes in the geomorphology and hydrology of Waller Creek (Austin, Texas) as a result of urban development: The Texas Journal of Science, v. 43, no. 3, p. 315-323.
Swezey, C.S., 1991, Description and Interpretation of the Jurassic J-2 Unconformity of the Western Interior (U.S.A.) (Master's thesis). https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/19402

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

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