In 2006, Rock Well Petroleum drilled and logged nearly 1,600 feet (ft) of continuous core on the southern part of the Casper arch in Natrona County, Wyoming (see fig1.png). The core hole, named the Poison Spider core #8 penetrated the interval extending from the Upper Cretaceous Frontier Formation to the Triassic Alcova Limestone. The core was subsequently donated to the U.S. Geological Survey Core Research Center (CRC) in Lakewood, Colorado, where it was sampled to evaluate the hydrocarbon source rock potential of the Lower and lowermost Upper Cretaceous marine shales.

In 2013 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drilled a continuous core in the southeastern part of the Wind River Basin, Wyoming to evaluate the source rock potential of the Lower and lowermost Upper Cretaceous marine shales . The well, named the Alcova Reservoir AR–1–13, located on the northeast flank of the Alcova anticline was spud in the lower part of the Frontier Formation and ended in the upper part of the Cloverly Formation recovered core between 40.5 feet (ft) and 623 ft. Thirty-nine samples were selected to evaluate the source rock potential of the marine shales in the cored interval as determined by total organic carbon (TOC) and programmed pyrolysis analysis. Five samples are from the lower part of the Frontier Formation, 24 from the upper siliceous part of the Mowry Shale, 4 from the lower Mowry Shale (Shell Creek Shale of Eicher, 1962), and 6 from the Thermopolis Shale. TOC content was determined using the Leco combustion method after carbonate removal (see Jarvie, 1991 for details), and the programmed pyrolysis analysis was done using a Hydrocarbon Analyzer with Kinetics (HAWK, Wildcat Technologies) instrument (see Espitalie and others, 1977; Tissot and Welte, 1978; Peters, 1986; and Hunt, 1996 for detailed discussions of the pyrolysis method). The results of the analyses are presented in the data table.

In 2013 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drilled a continuous core in the southeastern part of the Wind River Basin, Wyoming to evaluate the source rock potential of the Lower and lowermost Upper Cretaceous marine shales . The well, named the Alcova Reservoir AR–1–13, located on the northeast flank of the Alcova anticline was spud in the lower part of the Frontier Formation and ended in the upper part of the Cloverly Formation recovered core between 40.5 feet (ft) and 623 ft. Thirty-nine samples were selected to evaluate the source rock potential of the marine shales in the cored interval as determined by total organic carbon (TOC) and programmed pyrolysis analysis. Five samples are from the lower part of the Frontier Formation, 24 from the upper siliceous part of the Mowry Shale, 4 from the lower Mowry Shale (Shell Creek Shale of Eicher, 1962), and 6 from the Thermopolis Shale. TOC content was determined using the Leco combustion method after carbonate removal (see Jarvie, 1991 for details), and the programmed pyrolysis analysis was done using a Hydrocarbon Analyzer with Kinetics (HAWK, Wildcat Technologies) instrument (see Espitalie and others, 1977; Tissot and Welte, 1978; Peters, 1986; and Hunt, 1996 for detailed discussions of the pyrolysis method). The results of the analyses are presented in the data table.

This compilation presents total organic carbon and pyrolysis analysis data for the Pierre Shale, Niobrara Formation, and other Cretaceous marine shales in the Raton Basin-Sierra Grande Uplift Province. The data was used to characterize these potential source rock intervals in support of the oil and gas resource assessment in the province. The data was compiled from the publicly available files at the USGS Core Research Center in Lakewood, Colorado and from published literature.

This compilation presents total organic carbon and pyrolysis analysis data for the Pierre Shale, Niobrara Formation, and other Cretaceous marine shales in the Raton Basin-Sierra Grande Uplift Province. The data was used to characterize these potential source rock intervals in support of the oil and gas resource assessment in the province. The data was compiled from the publicly available files at the USGS Core Research Center in Lakewood, Colorado and from published literature.

The U.S. Geological Survey assessed undiscovered petroleum resources in the downdip Paleogene formations of the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2018. During the assessment new data and information were collected to evaluate thermal maturity, source rock character, and unconventional reservoir rock prospectivity for the Cenozoic-aged section in south Louisiana. Samples were analyzed using multiple analytical approaches, including programmed pyrolysis (Rock-Eval), Leco TOC, organic petrographic analysis including vitrinite reflectance (Ro, %), and X-ray diffraction mineralogy.

The U.S. Geological Survey assessed undiscovered petroleum resources in the downdip Paleogene formations of the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2018. During the assessment new data and information were collected to evaluate thermal maturity, source rock character, and unconventional reservoir rock prospectivity for the Cenozoic-aged section in south Louisiana. Samples were analyzed using multiple analytical approaches, including programmed pyrolysis (Rock-Eval), Leco TOC, organic petrographic analysis including vitrinite reflectance (Ro, %), and X-ray diffraction mineralogy.

This data release contains geochemical and mineralogical laboratory results from core samples collected from the USGS Cow Creek 1-21 well. The well was drilled and cored in 2022 and targeted the Lewis Shale on the eastern edge of the Washakie Basin in Carbon County, Wyoming. The core data include results from total organic carbon (TOC) and total carbon (TC) analysis, programmed pyrolysis, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (ICP-OES/MS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), stable isotope (C-13) analysis, and vitrinite reflectance analysis. A separate data release contains 4 geophysical wire line logs and is available at .