Add to ORKGACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank M. Khachaturyan and A.J. Kaufman for laboratory assistance, H. LaGarry for field assistance, and NSF and GCAGS for funding. I would like to thank Clyde Moore at the Colorado School of Mines and Dave Moore at Illinois State University for Pierre shale samples. I would also like to thank Chee Haur Siew for assistance with analytical procedures. I would like to thank my major professor and mentor for the last three years Huiming Bao for guidance throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Jeff Hanor and Dr. William Blanford for sound advice and suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank my family, and most importantly Andrew Pasch, fo