NC Dept of Env. & Natural Resources statement on USGS survey
It's Triassic Basin, if that means anything to you geologically. All I know is the Triassic had dinosaurs. And cavemen!
“All I know is the Triassic had dinosaurs. And cavemen!”
I believe that there were some early dinosaurs during that period, but it was a bit early for cavemen, 245 to 208 million years ago.
Just because the USGS says that deposits there that doesn’t mean they are commercially viable, but maybe so. After all much of the oil and gas being produced today wasn’t viable a few years ago. New technolgy and increasing prices can change everything.
I am not totally familiar with the Triassic of the Eastern Seaboard but in the 1980’s, there was some deep drilling in what was called the Newark Basin. From what I remember, there aren’t any associated source beds as the rocks are similar to what is being deposited in something like the Dead Sea of today. It was a rift-valley with either a freshwater lake or a very salty inland sea that filled it. Although, there are some freshwater lakes that have served as source rocks in the Uinta Basin in the Rockies and elsewhere around the globe. Those USGS studies are put out by the same type of people who seek grant money for global warming studies on spotted owls. But, as the saying in our profession goes, where oil (and gas) are ultimately found is in the minds of men. Someone with deep pockets just needs to poke a few more holes in the ground. With natural gas prices in the toilet for the foreseeable future, it may be a few decades away.