Undiscovered Continuous Oil, Colorado Plateau

This dataset is based on U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) resource assessments for “undiscovered” oil resources, which are resources that have not yet been extensively proven by drilling (USGS 2014). Individual resource assessments describe the amount of petroleum resources in units with similar geologic features. We focused on the amount of undiscovered continuous oil because technological advances have made exploitation of continuous resources increasingly profitable and large amounts remain undeveloped in comparison with conventional resources. We quantified the density of continuous oil resources by adding together the amounts in spatially overlapping assessment units and dividing these totals by polygon areas. Since assessments for geologic areas used in this analysis were completed at various times, the certainty related to these values is likely to vary according to geologic unit. USGS [U.S. Geological Survey]. 2014. Energy Resources Program. Oil and gas: assessments data. Department of the Interior, Reston, Virginia, USA.

本数据集基于美国地质调查局（U.S. Geological Survey, USGS）针对“未发现”石油资源的资源评估，此类资源尚未通过钻井开展大规模勘探验证（USGS 2014）。单项资源评估会对具有相似地质特征的单元内的石油资源量进行刻画。本研究聚焦于未发现的连续型石油（continuous oil）资源，原因在于技术进步使得连续型石油资源的开采愈发具备经济可行性，且相较于常规石油资源，该类资源仍有大量尚未得到开发。我们通过将空间重叠的评估单元中的资源量求和，再将总和除以对应多边形的面积，以此量化连续型石油资源的密度。由于本次分析所采用的地质区域评估工作完成于不同时期，因此这些评估值的确定性可能会随地质单元的不同而存在差异。
参考文献：美国地质调查局[U.S. Geological Survey]. 2014年. 能源资源项目. 石油与天然气：评估数据. 美国内政部，弗吉尼亚州雷斯顿市。