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Terrence J. Donovan

Publications and source records attributed to Terrence J. Donovan.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1980

Biogeochemical evidence for subsurface hydrocarbon occurrence, Recluse oil field, Wyoming: Preliminary results

Anomalously high manganese-to-iron ratios occurring in pine needles and sage leaves over the Recluse oil field, Wyoming, suggest effects of petroleum microseepage on the plants. This conclusion is supported by iron and manganese concentrations in soils and carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in rock samples. Seeping hydrocarbons provided reducing conditions sufficient to enable divalent iron and manganese to be organically complexed or adsorbed on solids in the soils. These bound or adsorped elements in the divalent state are essential to plants, and the plants readily assimilate them. The magnitude of the plant anomalies, combined with the supportive isotopic and chemical evidence confirming petroleum leakage, makes a strong case for the use of plants as a biogeochemical prospecting tool.

Wyoming↗
USGS1980

Integration of geological, geochemical, and geophysical spatial data of the Cement oil field, Oklahoma, test site

Measurement pertaining to geology, geochemistry, and geophysics of the Cement oil field, Oklahoma, test site were collected employing both airborne sensors and ground-based data collection. The measurements include: (1) airborne gamma-ray spectrometry (supplying bismuth 214, thalium 208, and potassium 40 gamma-ray intensities); (2) aeromagnetic survey data; (3) multi-frequency airborne resistivity survey data (supplying apparent electrical resistivity of near surface materials); (4) gravity data; (5) geological and topographic maps; and (6) image data from Landsat MSS and U-2 photography.

Oklahoma↗
USGS1979

Late diagenetic indicators of buried oil and gas: II, Direct detection experiment at Cement and Garza oil fields, Oklahoma and Texas, using enhanced LANDSAT I and II images

The Cement oil field, Oklahoma, was a test site for an experiment designed to evaluate LANDSAT's capability to detect an alteration zone in surface rocks caused by hydrocarbon microseepage. Loss of iron and impregnation of sandstone by carbonate cements and replacement of gypsum by calcite are the major alteration phenomena at Cement. The bedrock alterations are partially masked by unaltered overlying beds, thick soils, and dense natural and cultivated vegetation. Interpreters biased by detailed ground truth were able to map the alteration zone subjectively using a magnified, filtered, and sinusoidally stretched LANDSAT composite image; other interpreters, unbiased by ground truth data, could not duplicate that interpretation. Similar techniques were applied at a secondary test site (Garza oil field, Texas), where similar alterations in surface rocks occur. Enhanced LANDSAT images resolved the alteration zone to a biased interpreter and some individual altered outcrops could be mapped using higher resolution SKYLAB color and conventional black and white aerial photographs suggesting repeat experiments with LANDSAT C and D.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1977

Late diagenetic indicators of buried oil and gas

At least three hydrocarbon seepage mechanisms are interpreted to operate over oil and gas fields. These are: (1) effusion ofh ydrocarbons through inadequate caprocks and along faults and fractures, (2) low-molecular-weight hydrocarbons dissolved in water moving vertically through capping shales as a result of a hydrodynamic or chemical potential drive, and (3) diffusion of gases dissolved in water. Combinations of these mechanisms may also occur. Seeping hydrocarbons are oxidized near the earth's surface, and the resulting carbon dioxide reacts with water producing bicarbonate ions, which combine with calcium and magnesium dissolved in ground waters to yield isotopically distinctive pore-filling carbonate cements and surface rocks. The passage of hydrocarbons and associated compounds such as hydrogen sulfide through surface rocks causes a reducing environment and consequent reduction, mobilization, and loss of iron from iron-bearing minerals commonly resulting in a discoloration. Other metals such as manganese are also mobilized and redistributed. These changes in the physical and chemical properties of surface rocks correlate with the subsurface distribution of petroleum, and potentially can be detected from both airborne and spaceborne platforms.

Open-File Report↗