Digital Commons Network^™

White Shark Occurrence In Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Revealed From Acoustic Telemetry In An Offshore Mpa, Michael A. Dance, Jay R. Rooker, R. J. David Wells, Megan V. Winton, Landes L. Randall, Marissa F. Nuttall, Brondum M. Krebs, Creed C. Branham, Brett B. Sweezey, Richard J. Kline

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) is characterized by unique bathymetric features that provide critical habitat for marine fauna. Here, we demonstrate the utility of large-scale acoustic telemetry for monitoring an oceanic marine protected area (MPA) and document the first known occurrences of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) within Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). White sharks were tagged with acoustic transmitters in the western North Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the United States and Canada. Nine white sharks were detected along the outer shelf ecosystem associated with FGBNMS over a three-year …

Hydro-Chemical And Bacteriological Assessment Of Zanzibar Groundwater Resources, Subira Munishi, Andrew Kimati

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Groundwater is the primary freshwater source in Zanzibar, sustaining domest ic, agricultural, and tourism needs. Increasing demand has intensified the pressure on this limited resource and has led to over-abstraction and contamination. Amid the growing demand and contamination pressures, this study examines the quality of groundwater in Zanzibar to clarify current conditions and emerging risks, and inform resource management and public health priority interventions. Particularly, the present hydro-chemical and bacteriological quality and variability was examined for both Unguja and Pemba Islands. A total of seventy-two samples were collected using a stratified random sampling approach, with the first field campaign focusing …

Hydrothermal Alteration Mapping Of The Northern Coongan Greenstone Belt Using Remote Sensing Imagery, Meaza Bogale, Elias Woldeyohanis

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Archean greenstone belts are well known for their ore deposits, diverse lithostratigraphy, and well-preserved evidence from the early Earth. The Northern Coongan Greenstone Belt is an Archean greenstone belt that is part of the Eastern Pilbara Craton of Western Australia. The rock units of this area have the potential to be sources of valuable mineral deposits, which could be economically beneficial for extraction. Studies have been conducted in the northern Coongan greenstone belt, mostly using geological field methods and geophysical interpretations, excluding remote sensing methods for mapping mineral indices. Therefore, this study aims at providing surface mineral distribution maps and …

The Evolution Characteristics Of Gas Pressure Around Coal Seam Directional Long Extraction Boreholes With Nonlinear Extraction Negative Pressure, Zhang Qi, Jia Jinlong, Li Zhiguo, Zhang Longgang, Qin Zhengyuan, Zhang Weizhong, Li Jin

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Nonlinear pressure of coal seam gas in the directional borehole and surrounding areas affects extraction efficiency. A multi-field coupling numerical model, including gas desorption, diffusion, fracture seepage, and borehole extraction, is developed for the No. 3 coal seam of the GJH mine. Using the numerical simulation method of control variables, extraction was developed to investigate the nonlinear evolution of axial pressure gradients in directional long borehole and the spatiotemporal response characteristics of gas pressure. Results show that coal seam seepage pressure exhibits a nonlinear radial gradient attenuation around the borehole, evolving through rapid pressure change, stabilization, and slow adjustment. The …

Monitoring System In The Georeactor Area During The Underground Coal Gasification Process, Aleksandra Tokarz, Jacek Grabowski, Krzysztof Korczak

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Safety control of the underground coal gasification (UCG) process involves ensuring that the process runs smoothly, monitoring changes occurring on the surface and in the rock mass, and counteracting the negative environmental impact of the process. The article presents the application of a monitoring system implemented in Poland, both in pilot tests conducted in shallow coal seams at the Barbara Experimental Mine and in deep coal seams at the Wieczorek mine, where a full-scale gasification process was tested. The analysis of the monitoring results carried out during the gasification experiment in an operating mine allowed for the identification of key …

Microwave Thermal Pre-Treatment To Improve Nickel Extraction From Lateritic Ore, Johana Borda, Daniel Sosa, Robinson Torres

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Two heat treatment processes for a nickeliferous laterite sample are presented, one by the conventional muffle route and the other by microwave. The heating was carried out in order to improve the dissolution of nickel in an acid medium. The study describes the changes observed in the mineral for the increase in temperature as a consequence of radiation in the microwave and in the muffle. The changes in the mineral crystalline phases were analyzed by X-ray diffraction. The leaching media consisted of a 1 M sulfuric acid solution at ambient conditions for 7 h. The interaction between the reagent and …

Variability In Nutrient And Carbon Cycling Of Constructed Marshes, Alyssa Leclaire, Jenny Davis, Molly Bost, David De La Garza

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Salt marshes provide valuable ecosystem services, including filtering nutrients and trapping sediments from the water column, but are increasingly threatened by sea-level rise and coastal development. Constructed marshes offer a potential pathway to offsetting marsh loss, but the extent to which they can replace the ecosystem services provided by mature natural marshes is not well understood. Using a chronosequence of constructed marshes (1, 21, and 44 years old) and a natural reference marsh (>100y old) in Beaufort, NC, we assessed the development of plant communities, sediment characteristics, and nutrient and carbon cycling over time. We compared aboveground biomass, surface …

2026 Report On The State Of Great Salt Lake Social Science, Creed Jones, Avyrlie Smith, Shae Barber, Stacia Ryder, Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed, Georgie Corkery, Jennifer Givens, Anna Mcentire, Carla Trentelman, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, Kirsten Vinyeta, Bryn Watkins

Publications

Great Salt Lake (GSL) faces rapid decline that presents more than just a hydrological risk; it poses an existential social hazard. As water levels decline, ecosystems, economies, cultures, and societies face irreversible harm. Since the lake reached its lowest levels in 2022, this issue has specifically gained increased attention in Utah and beyond. Given both the degree to which human consumption contributes to the problem, and the potential risks that the drying of the lake poses for community health, social science research is a crucial for informing successful water management policies and mitigating impacts. The purpose of this report is …

Which Factors Are Most Important For Understanding Neighborhood-Scale Electrification Transitions In New York City, And How Do These Factors Interact Within Urban Energy Systems?, Aaryan Nair

Publications and Research

Building electrification has emerged as a central strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from urban areas, yet its implementation remains uneven across cities due to differences in buildings, infrastructure, and local conditions. This literature review examines the factors that influence neighborhood-scale electrification transitions in New York City and explores how these factors interact within urban energy systems. Drawing on research from building science, energy systems, infrastructure planning, and sustainability transitions, the paper identifies five recurring categories of influence: building characteristics, demand characteristics, infrastructure conditions, planning and investment capacity, and socioeconomic conditions. The review finds that building age, typology, density, and …

Aligning Tenure With Institutional Values: Supporting And Rewarding Engaged Scholarship In College Tenure Policies, Sian Bareket, Alexander R. Barron, Abigail O’Meara, Charavee Basnet Chettri

Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications

Scholars have described the current era as a polycrisis, with climate change overlapping and interacting with other social justice and environmental challenges. While the expertise and capacity housed in academia has tremendous potential to help society face these threats, scholars and others have long critiqued academia as too isolated from the practical problems of society and front-line communities. While engaged scholarship (ES) connects academia and real-world problems, tenure policies are usually designed to primarily reward “traditional” scholarship focused on journal articles and academic books. This study sought to investigate the contrast between higher education institutions’ publicly shared values aligned with …

State Of The Fisheries: Status Reports Of The Fisheries And Aquatic Resources Of Western Australia 2024/25, Stephen J. Newman, Ainslie Denham, Lebo Selemela, Jenny Moore

Status Reports of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources

The Status Reports of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of Western Australia (SRFAR) provides an annual update on the state of the fish stocks and other aquatic resources of Western Australia (WA). These reports outline the most recent assessments of the cumulative risk status for each of the aquatic resources (assets) within WA’s six bioregions using an Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) approach. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Dveelopment’s (DPIRD) risk based EBFM framework is the WA Government’s basis for management of all of WA’s aquatic resources.

Assets examined in each bioregion include the meso-scale ecosystems and aquatic …

Collecting Holistic Evidence On Agroecology Performance To Accelerate Sustainable Food System Transitions, Sarah K. Jones, Andrea Cecilia Sánchez, Chris Dickens, Matthias S. Geck, Chaturangi Wickramaratne, Veronique Alary, Peter Bolo, Dennis Junior Choruma, Somphasith Douangsavanh, Modou Gueye Fall, Gatien Falconnier, Shweta Gupta, Chris Kettle, Smitha Krishnan, Sylvia Nyawira, Guillermo Orjuela-Ramirez, Boko Michel Orounladji, Piedad Pareja, Telma Sibanda, Christine Lamanna

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

A growing body of research shows the potential of agroecology for enabling a shift to planet-friendly and socially just agrifood systems through context-specific transition pathways. We conduct a scoping review to identify and evaluate the potential of 42 existing agroecology adherence and/or agricultural performance assessment tools to generate credible, legitimate, salient and transferable evidence to inform these transitions. Results show that while multiple relevant tools exist, each of them can be strengthened in at least one area. While most tools are transferable (low time and resource requirements) and have legitimacy (open access with transparent methods), tools have variable saliency (holistic …

Toward Equitable Energy Futures: The Influence Of Digital Government And Financial Development On Clean Energy Justice, Martin Spraggon, Muhammad Hafeez, Sana Ullah, Chanyanan Somthawinpongsai, Zurul Aisya Osman, Sidra Sohail

All Works

Fossil fuel energy is the largest source of carbon emissions and the main driver of climate change and global warming. Therefore, the world is switching towards clean and green energy sources as an alternative to fossil fuel-based energy sources. Nevertheless, the equitable distribution of clean energy resources in urban and rural areas among every segment of society has become a concern for policymakers. Thus, urban-rural clean energy justice is an investigation topic that needs our attention. In this analysis, our main focus is on investigating the influence of financial development and digital government on clean energy justice using an advanced …

Sea-Level Rise And Regional Economic Adjustment On The U.S. Gulf Coast, Md A M Hasif, Juhee Lee, Robin A. Choudhury

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Sea-level rise (SLR) poses escalating risks to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where critical industries, infrastructure, and populations are concentrated in low-lying areas. This study estimates the short- and long-run economic effects of SLR using a panel autoregressive distributed lag-pooled mean group framework applied to county-level data from 26 coastal counties across five Gulf Coast states from 2005 to 2021. Over this period, mean sea level increased by approximately 11 cm on average across counties, with cumulative changes ranging from about 4 cm to over 24 cm and substantial cross-county variation, providing a meaningful empirical setting for identifying economic adjustment. We …

Remote Sensing Integrated Modeling Of Fall Armyworm Parasitoid Interactions In Africa Using Fractional Differential Equations, Marian Adan, Steeven Belvinos Affognon, Henri E.Z. Tonnang, Klaus Greve, Christian Borgemeister, Georg Goergen

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The invasion of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda; FAW) into Africa poses a major threat to agricultural systems, particularly maize production, necessitating effective biological control strategies. This study presents an ecological modelling framework that integrates temperature data with fractional differential equations (FDEs) to investigate interactions between FAW and its parasitoid natural enemies. By incorporating temperature-driven effects on life-history traits and ecological memory dynamics, the model captures key features of host–parasitoid interactions under variable environmental conditions. Equilibrium states corresponding to FAW extinction, parasitoid extinction, and coexistence were analytically derived, and sensitivity analysis of the FAW reproduction number highlighted its central role in …

From Green Presence To Perceived Greenery: Everyday Mobility And Perceptual Availability In Singapore, Ziheng Zeng, Sonny Rosenthal, Orlando Woods

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Urban greenery may be abundant in transit-oriented cities, yet green presence does not necessarily become perceptually available to people moving through it. This paper distinguishes green supply, perceived greenery, and green experience, and examines the step at which greenery enters awareness during travel. The study combined 21 days of ecological momentary assessment from 68 participants in Singapore, yielding 6,794 in-trip moments, and 25 route-reconstruction interviews. A satellite normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) provided a top-down baseline of green supply, and a street-level green view index (GVI) from Google Street View (GSV), matched to 5,824 moments, provided a co-located eye-level baseline. …

Allochthonous Particulate Organic Carbon In Blue Carbon Ecosystems: Implications For Accounting, Stability, And Policy, Anirban Akhand, Inés Mazarrasa, Stacey M. Trevathan-Tackett, K. M.G. Mostofa, Abhra Chanda, Hongbin Liu, Hiroshi Sakugawa, Si Liang Li, Cong Qiang Liu, Catherine E. Lovelock, Paul Lavery, Hilary Kennedy, Peter I. Macreadie

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) store a significant amount of organic carbon (OC) in their soils, including OC sequestered by other ecosystems and transported into these ecosystems, referred to as allochthonous OC. This study reviews the state-of-the-art knowledge on the abundance and sources (including still unexplored ones) of allochthonous particulate organic carbon (POC) and reviews the ways allochthonous POC is managed under the current blue carbon policy frameworks for carbon benefits accounting in blue carbon restoration and conservation projects. Based on a review of 102 studies, we find that 56 ± 25% of the soil organic carbon (SOC) deposits in BCEs …

Soil Organic Carbon Stocks And Sequestration Rates In Western Australia’S Mangroves, Enric Gomis, Cristian Salinas, Madison Williams-Hoffman, Nicole E. Said, Marta Sánchez Alarcón, Connor Gorham, Axel Werner, Paul S. Lavery, Karina Inostroza, Tegan Davies, Pauline F. Grierson, Sharyn Hickey, Ben Radford, Enrique Ballesteros, Jeffrey J. Kelleway, Pere Masqué, Eduard Serrano, Peter I. Macreadie, Catherine E. Lovelock, Anna Lafratta, Micheli Duarte De Paula Costa, Ruth Reef, Vladimir Levchenko, Fiona Doessel, Matthew A. Hayes, Stacey M. Trevathan-Tackett, I. Noyan Yilmaz, Pawel Waryszak, Rory Crofts, Oscar Serrano

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Mangroves are widely recognized for their contribution to climate change mitigation. This study provides the first comprehensive assessment of top 1-m and 30-cm soil organic carbon (OC) stocks and accumulation rates across Western Australia’s mangroves, spanning multiple bioregions, geomorphological settings, and intertidal positions. The results revealed (mean ± SE) 236 ± 13 Mg and 83 ± 4 Mg OC ha−1 in top 1-m and 30-cm soils, respectively, accumulated at 443 ± 83 and 215 ± 22 kg OC ha−1 yr−1 over the past 100 and 500 years, respectively. Mangroves across Western Australia exhibited up to 3-fold differences in top 1-m …

Paper Wasp Species Polistes Fuscatus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Tracks Urban Lead (Pb) Levels More Than Polistes Dominula, Lindsey R. Kemmerling, Anna L. Lovat, Allison A. Hanka, Emilie C. Snell-Rood

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Lead (Pb) is a persistent, toxic pollutant with widespread but inequitably distributed impacts, especially for humans in urban areas. The impacts of lead pollution on other organisms is largely unknown, even as they commonly experience exposure to lead alongside humans. We tested hypotheses regarding the lead concentrations of paper wasps across a gradient of pollution relative to soil and human lead levels, and correlations with wasp body condition. We collected two species of paper wasp across an urban gradient of lead pollution: Polistes fuscatus (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), native to our study location, and Polistes dominula (Christ), nonnative to our study …

Long-Term Monitoring And Response Of Papaipema Sciata Bird (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) To Prescribed Fire In Michigan (Usa), Gregory J. Norwood, Logan M. Rowe, Brett A. Degregorio, David L. Cuthrell, Aaron D. Meredith, Steven M. Gray

The Great Lakes Entomologist

The Culver’s root borer moth (Papaipema sciata) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a rare Noctuid that requires Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum) to complete its lifecycle within remnant native grasslands and open woodlands in the midwest and northeast United States. We report on 26 years of monitoring this species’ colonization of Culver’s root stems at Algonac State Park (ASP) in Michigan, where prairies have been maintained by prescribed fire since 1990. P. sciata is considered fire sensitive because eggs spend the dormant season in the combustible prairie litter and duff near host plants. The objectives were to determine the …

Infrared Detectability Of Whale Species And Behaviors To Enhance Automatic Detection For Real-Time Vessel Strike Avoidance, Laura J. Howes

Graduate Masters Theses

Real-time detection of large whales at sea is critical for mitigating serious injury and mortality from ship strikes and other human activities such as seismic surveys, especially for endangered species such as the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Traditional marine mammal observers are limited by environmental conditions and human factors, necessitating a robust, 24-hour solution. This study investigates the efficacy of a novel onboard detection tool infrared (IR) technology to detect whale blows and body parts. While IR is a promising advancement, its performance under varying sea conditions (e.g., fog, humidity) and its ability to …

Addressing Sustainability Challenges: Perspectives From Bhagavad Gītā, B Mahadevan, Dhrithi Mahadevan

International Journal of Traditional Knowledge

The industrialization-driven growth has ushered in economic progress over the past few centuries. However, it has also raised serious concerns about the sustainability of life on this planet. Despite considerable attempts to address sustainability issues using newer frameworks and efforts by corporates as well as governmental, and non-governmental institutions, we have remained ineffective in implementing sustainable solutions. The “last mile” to successfully implementing sustainable solutions is the individual. This calls for addressing individual values and aligning them to sustainability. This paper presents a fresh perspective on the problem by drawing some insights from the Bhagavad Gītā. We introduce the basic …

Gaining From Captured Indian Traditional Knowledge Systems: Paths Taken And Way Forward, Ramasami T

International Journal of Traditional Knowledge

India’s scientific heritage is deeply reflected in Ayurveda, a tradition of integrative medicine documented for over two millennia. P.C. Ray, the father of modern chemistry in India, highlighted the depth of ancient chemical knowledge and early use of mercury compounds, while M.S. Valiathan later revived and analyzed the classical texts of Charaka, Sushruta, and Vagbhata to bridge Ayurveda with modern science. Building on this foundation, the Government of India launched initiatives linking Ayurveda with genomics, personalized medicine, and rasayana therapies, yielding promising insights such as the genetic basis of prakriti classifications and protective effects of Amalaki Rasayana. Efforts like the …

Deep Learning-Based Burned Area Mapping Of California Wildfires Using Sentinel-2 And Landsat-8 Imagery Enhanced With Super-Resolution Techniques, Youngmin Seo, Seung Hee Kim, Menas Kafatos, Jinsoo Kim, Yangwon Lee

Institute for ECHO Articles and Research

The increasing frequency of wildfires under a changing climate has led to extensive ecosystem destruction, highlighting the need for reliable burned area assessment using satellite imagery. Single-satellite data are constrained by observation gaps and interference from smoke and clouds, whereas multi-satellite data fusion can mitigate these limitations. Nonetheless, the fusion techniques still encounter challenges such as spatial information loss from resolution differences and cross-satellite domain mismatch. This study presents a burned area mapping framework that integrates super-resolution (SR) with transfer learning to address spatial and domain gaps in multi-satellite data. Specifically, Landsat-8 imagery is super-resolved to 7.5 m resolution, and …

Resilience-Oriented Geological Safeguards For Damage Mitigation In Coal Resource Exploitation, Wang Shuangming, Sun Qiang, Yan Meixin, Miao Lintian, Liu Lang, Qiao Junwei, Niu Chao, Geng Jishi, Fang Chenxi, Zhang He, Xiao Lele, Li Shibo

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background Coal remains a fundamental component of China’s energy security system. With the westward shift of coal development and continuous expansion into deeper strata, coal mining is confronted with increasingly complex geological conditions and growing ecological constraints. Geological damage induced by mining disturbance has evolved from isolated geological issues into a coupled Earth-system problem involving the lithosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere, characterized by uncertainty, hysteresis, concealment, and cross-scale accumulation. Resilience-based damage mitigation emphasizes reducing the probability, intensity, and recovery costs of geological damage through proactive identification, dynamic regulation, damage suppression, and post-disturbance restoration under mining disturbance and external environmental …

Mechanisms And Implications Of The Novel Cast Model Of Coal Graphitization, Wang Shaoqing, Zhang Jingzhe, Zhang Xiaomei, Wang Xiaoshuai, Chen Hao, Wang Xiaoling, Li Wu, Tang Yuegang

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective and Methods Coal graphitization is a multi-stage process with abrupt changes rather than linear evolution. So far, its inherent driving mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated. Notably, twisted graphene was observed in the process of coal graphitization in 2025, providing a new opportunity to reveal the essence of this structural transformation. Results and Conclusions By combining previous research results, this study proposes a novel coal graphitization model that consists of condensation, alignment, stacking, and twisting (CAST). The four parts of the CAST model are organically integrated, collectively forming a continuous and dynamic evolutionary process. Most especially, no absolute …

Spatial Topological Configurations Of Cleats And Geometrical Quantitative Characterization Of Matrix Blocks In Deep Coal Seams, Shen Jian, Li Wei, Tian Yongjing, Ma Tianyu, Zhang Hewei, Dong Jiying, Zhu Peipei

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective Cleats in deep coal seams are characterized by strong heterogeneity, and their topological configurations, as well as their topological relationships with matrix blocks, remain poorly understood. On the other hand, the assumptions regarding the size and geometry of matrix blocks adopted in representative reservoir structure models and numerical simulations do not fully reflect actual reservoir conditions. Methods Deep coal cores collected from the northeastern Ordos Basin were investigated in this study. Using CT scanning and topological theory, a multi-dimensional topological parameter system was established to characterize cleats in deep coal seams. Furthermore, four topological configurations of cleats in deep …

Stable Isotope-Based Origin Identification And Enrichment Zone Division Of Medium- To Low-Rank Coalbed Methane, Wang Qiong, Xu Fengyin, Ren Pengfei, Xu Hao, Lu Pengda, Hu Han, Zhou Siyuan

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective Medium-to low-rank coalbed methane (CBM) exhibits complex origins with significant vertical differentiation, leading to unclear origin identification and enrichment patterns. This study aims to determine the genetic mechanisms, enrichment patterns, and efficient exploitation pathways of medium- to low-rank CBM. This will help improve the theoretical system for the exploration and exploitation of such CBM. Methods CBM data from 14 typical low- to medium-rank coalfields and coal-bearing basins across the world were comprehensively analyzed, including CBM compositions C₁/(C₂+C₃), carbon and hydrogen isotopes of CH₄ (δ¹³C-CH₄ and δD-CH_{4 …}

Dynamic-To-Static Elastic Parameter Conversion Models For Coals Under Temperature-Pressure Coupling: A Case Study Of The No. 8 Coal Seam In The Daning-Jixian Block, Zhang Wei, Wu Peng, Liu Conghui, Zhang Sidun, Sun Xuedong, Yang Haixing, Ma Zhuang, Shi Rui, Shen Jian

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective Existing dynamic-to-static elastic parameter conversion models for coals fail to fully account for the actual in situ pressure and temperature conditions of deep reservoirs. This leads to significant deviations in directly evaluating the mechanical properties of reservoirs using log-derived dynamic parameters. To address this challenge, this study investigated dynamic-to-static elastic parameter conversion under the in situ stress and geotemperature conditions of strata. Accordingly, high-precision parameter conversion models were established. Methods This study examined coal samples from the No. 8 coal seam at a burial depth of approximately 1200 m in the Daning-Jixian block along the eastern margin of the …

A Geochemical Evaluation Method For Geological Sweet Spots Of Marine-Continental Transitional Shale Gas: A Case Study Of The Shan$^3_2 $ Sub-Member, Eastern Margin Of The Ordos Basin, Zhu Xingcheng, Li Yong, Lu Jungang, He Qingbo, Li Shuxin, Xiao Zhenglu, Li Xiang, Jiang Qijun

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background China boasts abundant marine-continental transitional shale gas resources. However, marine-continental transitional shales in the country exhibit complex geological conditions characterized by rapid lateral facies transition, vertical superimposition of multiple lithologies, and small single-layer thickness. These characteristics pose a challenge to shale gas sweet spot prediction. Therefore, establishing a sweet spot grading and evaluation system tailored to these shales is of great significance for guiding decision-making in hydrocarbon exploration and supporting large-scale production. Methods Based on core observations, this study systematically evaluated the geochemical characteristics of marine-continental transitional shales in the 3rd submember of the 2nd member of the Permian …