csm aapg student chapter december 2012 report

0 Colorado School of Mines AAPG Student Chapter

Colorado School of Mines AAPG Chapter

December 2012 Report


MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Colorado School of Mines American Association of Petroleum Geologists Student Chapter is to promote geology related to the energy and production (E&P) industry through four themes: education, industry, networking and community involvement. We also intend to give students the opportunity to develop leadership skills and serve as a focal point for developing a sense of professionalism through meeting industry representatives.

December 2012 Report 2

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Expanding Our Horizons

In May 2012, the 2012-2013 Executive Committee of the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) AAPG student chapter set out to build upon the extraordinary accomplishments of the previous leadership team.

The 2011-2012 academic year was highlighted by an increase in informal membership from 30 to 70, a 3rd place finish in the international Imperial Barrel Award Program, and a fully funded field trip to the Gerace Research Center on the island of San Salvador, Bahamas. This year the chapter is well on its way to surpassing these numerous successes. So far, the chapter has doubled its informal membership from 70 to 145 and has sponsored or co-sponsored 30 events in the fall semester alone: a significant increase from 10 events per semester.

The chapter continues to provide its “traditional” events, which include technical presentations, workshops, field trips, networking, social, service, and philanthropy opportunities. New efforts that were established to promote and strengthen our chapter and the AAPG include early goal setting, communication with other chapters in our region, greater partnership with our sister chapter Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais, partnership with the local AAPG

young professionals group, collaboration with industry, support and attendance at fellow member thesis/dissertation defenses, and productive and diverse membership recruitment.

In October the Switch Energy Project Screening captivated the campus and our student chapter played a vital role in coordinating the event from start to finish. In cooperation with the Chevron Center of Research Excellence (CoRE), we successfully planned and executed the largest screening of Switch to date. We were proud to have participated and aided in organizing such a large, community-wide event that increased knowledge sharing of energy issues. To enhance the experience for our members, we ran two additional events prior to the Switch screening: a presentation by Dr. Daniel Kaffine on conventional and renewable energy economics and a meet-and-greet session with Dr. Scott Tinker, one of the film’s producers. Ultimately, all of the events surrounding Switch marked an exciting and enlightening time for all parties involved. Our chapter aspires to continue promoting energy intelligence to our members, campus, and community.


In addition to these traditional events, the executive committee has coordinated a number of events this semester with a focus on cross disciplinary studies to offer a greater breadth of knowledge to our members. Petroleum Engineering, energy economics, and geophysics have all been assimilated into our broadening of technical presentation topics. Technical presentations on the hot button issues of hydraulic fracturing and anthropogenic origin seismicity have been very popular. These presentations help increase our ability to discuss and make scientifically informed decisions regarding highly politicized issues.

We hope that as our chapter grows and advances that new, innovative programs will continue to be introduced and that a healthy balance of all of these efforts will be maintained.

In order to provide an outstanding experience to our membership it takes many dedicated parties. In closing, those parties deserve recognition. First the support of AAPG, Colorado School of Mines, and the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering for recognition and support of our chapter as a professional student association. Dr. Stephen Sonnenberg has been invaluable as chapter advisor and a devoted field trip leader. Debora Cockburn, department program assistant, has provided excellent guidance, feedback, and

assistance in securing and managing funding. Marilyn Schwinger, department administrative assistant, has been indispensable in planning logistics. Cathy Van Tassel, Partnership Manager of the Chevron CoRE, was vital to the success of the Switch screening and has been excellent to work with in AAPG and CoRE co-sponsorships. Tofer Lewis and David Thul, both industry professionals and student chapter members continuing their education, have enabled great learning through their leadership in field trips and short courses. John Warme, professor emeritus, and Chuck Kluth, visiting professor, have also been extremely helpful in organizing field trips and speakers. Chapter members Thomas Hearon, Phd candidate, and Jane Stammer, Phd candidate, have both been helpful in soliciting speakers. Finally, to the rest of the executive board who has donated countless hours to the success of this chapter, thank you for your commitment. There could not be a better team as we attempt to provide the best membership experience possible in pursuit of Outstanding Chapter of the Year 2013.

Martin C. Krueger IV President


Rebecca Johnson ([email protected]) Secretary

Steve Sonnenberg ([email protected]) Advisor AAPG Member Number: 161347

2012-2013 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Chairs

Alex Gibson Social & Outreach Chair Dylan Cobb Social & Outreach Chair Andrew Graham Undergraduate Liaison Mohammad Naqi Historian

Martin Krueger ([email protected]) President

Vivian Lin ([email protected]) Vice President

Evan Jones ([email protected]) Treasurer

mailto:[email protected]






8 Lunch & Learns

4 Community Service Events

16 Collaborations & Joint Events

1 Regional Field Trip

1 Distinguished Lecturer

30 Total Events and Activities

3 Social Events

14410 $ Remaining

1860 $ Spent

63 Registered AAPG Student Members

FALL 2012 IN NUMBERS


TABLE OF CONTENTS

7 Semester at a Glance 9 2012-2013 Vision and Goals

11 Event Promotion 12 First Meeting 13 Lunch & Learns 22 AAPG Distinguished Lecturers 24 Social Events 27 Community Service Events 30 Joint Events 39 Switch Energy Project 44 Niobrara Field Trip 45 Rocky Mountain Section AAPG Grand

Junction Meeting 47 Upcoming Events 48 Members 50 Budget

Appendix


SEPTEMBER 4 Lunch & Learn 1: Jennifer Miskimins, Hydraulic Fracturing 10 Lunch & Learn 2: Mike Medeiros, Deepwater Gulf of Mexico 10 Shell Chapter Recruitment: Thomas Boronow 10-12 Rocky Mountain Section AAPG Grand Junction Meeting 26 *Field Day* Postponed

OCTOBER 2 Lunch & Learn 3: Dan Kaffine, Renewable Energy: Economics and Policy 10 AAPG Distinguished Lecturer: Ronald Blakey, Paleogeography and Tectonic History of Western North America 10 Meet & Greet w/ Scott Tinker 10 Switch Screening 17 Earth Week Celebration: Mines Geology Guided Tour Joint Event with SEG 23 Lunch & Learn 4: Murray Hitzman, Induced Seismic Potential in Energy Technologies 24 Statoil 40th Year Anniversary Celebration 27 Geochemistry Workshop: David Thul

AUGUST 10-12 Global Student Chapter Leadership Summit 23 Meet and Greet Picnic 27 Mines Geology Trail Clean Up 28 First General Meeting: Summer Internship Experience 31 Celebration of Mines (Club Fair)

SEMESTER AT A GLANCE


NOVEMBER 1 Lunch & Learn 5: Bryan Bracken, The Petroleum Indsutry’s Love-Hate Relationship with Fluvial Hydrocarbon Reservoirs 6 Lunch & Learn 6: Greg Gordon, Tectonics and Sedimentation in the Ainsa Basin, Spain, Spring 2013 Field Seminar Preview 6 Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Collection 10-11 Niobrara Field Trip (Regional) 26 Lunch & Learn 7: Carl Fiduk, An Investigation of the Libyan Shelf Margin 27 Lunch & Learn 8: Dag Nummedal, Active-Margin Sedimentary Basins: Case Study of the U.S. Cretaceous Western Interior Basin

DECEMBER 8 Holiday Party Joint Event with SEG 13 Science Fair Judging Skinner Middle School


2012-2013 VISION AND GOALS

MOTTO Expanding Our Horizons

Vision

In conjunction with our Colorado School of Mines student chapter bylaws and the international American Association of Petroleum Geologists organization’s student chapter bylaws we intend to promote geology related to the energy and production (E&P) industry through four themes: education, industry, networking and community involvement. This year the CSM AAPG Student Chapter will continue to improve as we set out to achieve two accolades, 2012 Outstanding Student Chapter for the United States AAPG student chapters and Tier III student organization standing at CSM. Our goals this year reflect the efforts that will be made to attain both statuses.

Goals I: Increase undergraduate membership from the current ~10% to >20%.

This will effectively double our undergraduate membership. To achieve this two methods will be used. First, we will specifically recruit for membership in AAPG at undergraduate events such as Celebration of Mines and department welcome events. Second, we plan to give undergraduates an increased role in chapter functions. The majority of graduate students active in the organization are currently pursuing careers

in the E&P industry and, in order to most effectively promote petroleum geology, we must be more effective at targeting younger members who are currently undecided in career path. Furthermore, recruiting undergraduates will achieve greater membership retention as graduate student members may only be active in the student organization for two years and undergraduates recruited during their freshman year may be involved for 4 years or more if they continue their education. To help with this goal we have elected an undergraduate liaison. They will help in many aspects including recruiting and avoiding scheduling conflicts with undergraduate studies.

II: Sponsor and organize at least five technical and diverse presentations each semester to encourage knowledge sharing and networking.

The amount of technical presentations remains the same as last year. This goal resides in diversity of subject matter. We will continue to promote petroleum geology with invitations for technical presentations specifically within the field. We will also reach out to petroleum engineering, geophysics, and energy economics to offer a greater breadth of knowledge to our members. Renewable energy education will also

be a priority of the chapter this year.


III: Sponsor and organize at least 1 international and 1 regional field trip this academic year.

Field trips encompass all four of our themes and are one of the greatest benefits of student chapter membership. This goal is the same as last year. Holding the status quo would be an achievement as last year’s field trips to modern carbonate deposition in San Salvador, Bahamas, and Devonian carbonate and impact breccia outcrops in Alamo, NV where both great successes. This year a preliminary list of options include

international field trips to Spain, Belize, and Turks and Caicos. Regional options include: Outcrops along the Green River in Utah, and Pierre Shale Outcrops in Wyoming.

Achievement Goals

CSM Tier III Student Organization Requirements Tier III is the highest tier attainable for student organizations at Colorado School of Mines. This year we will be a Tier III probationary organization earning our status for the next academic year, 2013-2014. The requirements are as follows:

Organization Registration Form due at the beginning of each year and after Officer Transitions

Submit meeting dates/times to Student Activities

Goals Form due each Fall

Goals Evaluation Form due each Spring

Perform 3 Service Events each year (one Campus, one Community and one of either)

3 Service Event Evaluation Forms due each Spring

Maintain a club website

Attend all BSO meetings

Pursuit of AAPG Outstanding Chapter of the Year The student chapter officers believe our organization is worthy of Outstanding Chapter of the Year but we must capture our membership, activities, and achievements throughout the year more effectively. We must increase our transparency to both CSM and AAPG. To do this we have created committee chair positions for both photography and videography. Officers will also make an active effort to organize evidence of chapter activity throughout the year.


EVENT PROMOTION

Traditionally our events have been advertised via e-mail both to our membership as well as to the geology department. Over the past year, we have had a number of requests for different forms of event reminders ranging from Facebook events to physical posters. To accommodate some of these requests, we have made a few changes to our event promotion process.

a. FLYERS: For every event we post flyers around the geology department a week in advance to reach people who typically do not read organizational e-mails. You will find most of these flyers attached in our appendix.

b. ORGSYNC: We have moved from our original website to a planning website called Orgsync, which allows any of our executive committee members to post events without needing to understand how to code. The website is monitored by the CSM Board of Student Organizations so it also makes the process of event approval easy. Additionally, orgsync allows us to send out e-mail invitations with the push of a button. Orgsync membership has grown from 36 to 75 members since we began actively promoting its use in early October.

c. NEW CHAPTER E-MAIL: Instead of sending out e-mails from our individual addresses, we created a new gmail account ([email protected]) that we use to send all of our e-mails to the general body. This change provides some professionalism to our communications.

We have not asked for feedback on these changes so have no direct way to gauge the effectiveness of these new promotion methods, however, there has not been the usual drop in attendance over the course of the semester. Also, members respond to the new chapter e-mails in a more professional manner likely because it does not feel like they are simply e-mailing one of their fellow students.



FIRST MEETING October 28, 2012 Attendees: 56 people With students back on campus, the executive committee was immediately busy planning our first meeting of the academic year. We did not have a technical presenter for this first meeting but instead focused on sharing summer internship and research experiences. Ice breaker type questions were used to prompt discussion and encourage interaction among members. Other objectives of the first

general meeting were to enroll new members, collect membership dues, sign up or renew AAPG membership, share upcoming events, and present the chapters goals for the year. We also discussed past and upcoming field trip opportunities which always energizes the chapter. For the rest of the semester, similar general meeting information was shared prior to introduction of the presenters.

The first chapter meeting of the semester helped the executive committee gauge how many

attendees to expect at each meeting with more than fifty students in attendance.


LUNCH & LEARNS

Time and time again, our Lunch & Learns are the most popular chapter events. This year, one of our goals was to diversify the technical presentations beyond our minimum of 5 petroleum geology related talks to other relevant fields including petroleum engineering, geophysics, and energy economics. We believe that this diversification will help our members gain an understanding of current activities, issues, and technologies as well as the potential future of energy.

The CSM AAPG Student Chapter invites speakers from industry and academia to give technical presentations throughout the semester. These lunch & learns usually act as our general meetings and we give a 5-10 minute update on upcoming events and opportunities. Since Denver is a major oil and gas hub and the Colorado School of Mines has many alumni and connections in industry, our chapter is often approached with requests from industry professionals to give presentations. Out of the 8 lunch & learns we hosted this semester, 5 required initial contact by the chapter. The student chapter provides lunch, snacks, and refreshments and covers any fees associated with bringing the speaker in. Lunch is rotated between pizza, sandwiches, and mexican food to provide some variety and set ourselves apart from other meetings that typically provide only pizza. Each lunch & learn generally has around 30 members in attendance unless the meeting coincides with other major events such as the career fair. The attendee numbers listed are total counts from sign-in sheets and are slightly depressed due to sign-ins missed by attendees.

1. Hydraulic Fracturing

Dr. Jennifer Miskimins, Professor in Petroleum Engineering, Colorado School of Mines September 4, 2012 Attendees: 32 members On September 4th, the first Lunch & learn of the year featured a talk titled “The Technical Aspects of Hydraulic Fracturing: Fact Versus Fiction” given by Jennifer L. Miskimins, an Associate Professor in the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Miskimins holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in petroleum engineering. Prior to joining CSM, she worked

for Marathon Oil Company in a variety of locations. Dr. Miskimins is the founder and Director of the Fracturing, Acidizing, Stimulation Technology (FAST) Consortium at CSM. Dr. Miskimins served as the Executive Editor for the SPE Production & Operations Journal from 2008-2011 and was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer for 2010-2011.


The talk attempted (and succeeded!) to distinguish what is fact in the midst of the hype and heated emotions of the hydraulic fracturing “controversy.” While the press discusses the technique as if it is a recently developed technology, it has in fact been around for 60-plus years. Dr. Miskimins explained the process of fracturing, when it is appropriate to use this technique, the materials used, and the potential risks associated with the technique. She also

identified areas where the petroleum industry has handled this technique well and where they have great need for improvement, both technically and in terms of public relations. This talk was a wonderful overview for the current and future petroleum geologists in attendance. Importantly, it was simple and direct enough to also be educational for those in the audience with little to no petroleum background.

2. Great White WM12 Reservoir, A New Development in the Ultra-Deepwater, Perdido Fold Belt, Gulf of Mexico

Mr. Mike Medeiros, Shell Exploration & Production Company September 10, 2012 Attendees: 18 members Hydrocarbon exploration is continually pushing into deeper water, and the Lower Tertiary plays in the Gulf of Mexico have the potential to produce billions of barrels of hydrocarbons if engineering practice and geological understanding can keep pace with demand. Shell’s Perdido platform has set the world record for drilling at subsea depths greater than 9,000 feet.

While engineering challenges are of utmost importance in an ultra-deepwater play, understanding reservoir quality and continuity is crucial for a successful drilling program. The WM12 sand is a sequence of turbidite deposits with good reservoir quality. Faulting and reservoir compartmentalization is the key to risk assesment in the field. Uncertainty related to the number of faults, fault transmissability, and downdip limit of hydrocarbon accumulation have presented

Cartoon of hydraulic fracturing


significant challenges in reservoir modeling. High quality 3-D seismic and petrophysical datasets have allowed for successful drilling program implementation, and have improved the understanding of the new Lower Tertiary plays in the Gulf of Mexico.

Fewer members were in attendance for this talk for three reasons. The first is that many of our members were presenting at the Rocky Mountain Section Grand Junction Meeting, which ran from September 10-12. The second is that a large, required undergraduate geology class coincided with the meeting. The third was that this lunch & learn was the day before the career fair and many students were preparing resumes. While we would like

for every meeting to be well attended, this was simply unfortunate timing that was unavoidable since Shell could only present to our chapter in conjunction with their trip up for the Mines Career Day.

3. Renewable Energy: Economics and Policy

Dr. Daniel Kaffine, Assistant Professor in the Division of Economics and Business, Colorado School of Mines October 2, 2012 Attendees: 31 members Energy demand in the U.S. is expected to rise significantly over the next few decades. Some of this increase will be compensated for by improvements in energy efficiency. Most of the energy supply will continue to come from non-renewable sources such as coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear, however, it is important for the energy industry to invest in the

transition to other, more sustainable energy sources. Renewable energies currently supply around 10% of energy consumption in the U.S. and, while this percentage is increasing each year, the available technologies are far from competitive with fossil fuels. In this talk,

Dr. Daniel Kaffine

Perdido spar


Daniel Kaffine reviews all of the currently available renewable energies including their strengths, weaknesses, and potential for scaling up. The renewable energy sources he reviews include wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass. These technologies and their potential are becoming increasingly important as efforts to reduce CO2 emissions continue. It is important to note that the transition to renewable energy sources will be slow and in the meantime switching to natural gas will be important for reducing emissions. There are two sides to energy demand: transportation and electricity. Wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal are specific to electricity supply (unless you are counting on a rapid expansion of electrically-powered vehicles, which would require major advancements in batteries). Biomass is the only one relevant to transportation energy supply. The steady increase in renewable energy contributions to energy supply has been due primarily to the expansion of wind energy. OVERVIEW OF STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES WIND AND SOLAR Peak supply during lowest demand (at

night) Intermittent energy supply

o Since supply cannot be controlled, when wind or solar supply increases, natural gas supply is dialed down

Wind and solar is not consistently available everywhere and often times are best where population is low

Solar is very expensive and not economically competitive with other energy sources

HYDRO Old, reliable source of energy Supply cannot be increased

GEOTHERMAL Not available everywhere Well-developed technology that has been

proven effective in other countries Little waste (closed system)

BIOMASS Some forms compete with food supply Requires a lot of acreage to produce High input cost to develop (fertilizer,

maintenance, harvesting, etc.) Some forms may be used in any typical car

engine without modification Still have issue of CO2 emissions Currently does not provide as much energy

as petroleum fuels Dr. Kaffine highlighted biomass and wind as the two energy sources with the most potential for expansion, although both energies have challenges. All of these energy sources will be needed to help offset fossil fuels and facilitate the transition to sustainable energy. The presentation was well received and there were a number of questions following the talk regarding other energy sources, such as nuclear, and foreign energy policies. Members seemed to recognize that this topic is particularly relevant to our generation and our careers. This talk was intended to be a primer for the Switch screening.


4. Induced Seismic Potential in Energy Technologies

Dr. Murray Hitzman, Charles Fogarty Professor of Economic Geology, Colorado School of Mines October 23, 2012 Attendees: 34 members Induced seismicity is an issue that many people are concerned about especially since several recent induced seismic events related to energy technology development projects in the United States have drawn heightened public attention. Although none of these events resulted in loss of life or significant structural damage, their effects were felt by local residents, some of whom also experienced minor property damage. Particularly in areas where tectonic (natural) seismic activity is uncommon and energy development is ongoing, these induced seismic events, though small in scale, can be disturbing to the public and raise concern about increased seismic activity and its potential consequences. The National Research Council requested that Dr. Hitzman conduct a study on induced seismic events since no one had ever gathered together a list of all of the induced

seismic event occurrences and assessed the dataset for range, magnitude, cause, and other relationships. The main findings of this report were 1) the process of hydraulic fracturing does not pose a high risk for inducing felt seismic events, 2) injection for disposal of waste water derived from energy technologies into the subsurface poses some risk for induced seismicity, but very few events have been documented relative to the large number of disposal wells in operation, and 3) carbon capture and storage due to the large net volumes of injected fluids may have potential for inducing larger seismic events. Hydraulic fracturing has only caused one recorded small seismic event in the world of magnitude 2.8 out of ~35,000 wells total. Waste water disposal wells account for 8 felt induced seismic events, 7 of which were above magnitude 4.0 but all less than or equal to magnitude 4.8. Carbon capture and storage has had no reported induced seismic

Dr. Murray Hitzman


events although it is unclear what the long-term effects may be. Induced seismicity related to fluid injection or withdrawal, such as in waste water disposal and carbon capture and storage, is related to changes in pore pressures and stresses in the subsurface near faults. Overall, it seemed that the energy industry had a good grasp of the general mechanisms for inducing seismic events but are unable to accurately predict the magnitude or timing of the events due to lack of comprehensive data on complex natural rock systems. Past events do not suggest that induced seismic events will be extremely dangerous, although the potential exists. Dr. Hitzman’s basic recommendations to avoid inducing seismic

events are to take a look at geologic maps of the area for faults that are oriented in directions that may be affected by your planned activity. Additionally, activities in areas where seismic events have occurred before should be approached with caution. This talk was particularly relevant because just the day before, on October 22nd, Italian courts convicted 6 geologists for multiple manslaughter because they failed to predict a major earthquake occurrence. This news emphasizes the importance for us, as petroleum geologists, to understand the facts behind our industry’s science as well as for us to be able to communicate those facts properly and accurately to the public.

5. The Petroleum Industry's Love-Hate Relationship with Fluvial Hydrocarbon Reservoirs

Dr. Bryan Bracken, Research Consultant at Chevron Technology Company November 1, 2012 Attendees: 42 members Bryan Bracken, research consultant to Chevron Technology Company in San Ramon, California gave a Lunch & Learn talk on November 1 titled “The Petroleum Industry's Love-Hate Relationship with Fluvial Hydrocarbon Reservoirs: 2012 Update.” Bracken introduced the basic characteristics of fluvial reservoirs, highlighted their great complexity, and established the importance of understanding the 2D and 3D architecture, stacking patterns, and connectivity of fluvial reservoirs. Bryan gave an overview of existing depositional and sequence stratigraphic models, explaining that these are entirely inadequate when it comes to predicting reservoir potential and developing accuracy and consistency in production. His new and ongoing research attempts to give geologists and engineers greater understanding of fluvial

reservoirs in order to improve tools, techniques, and models used to minimize the uncertainty about reservoir distribution and connectivity in either sparse or dense well settings.

Dr. Bryan Bracken


6. Tectonics and Sedimentation in Ainsa Basin, Spain, Spring 2013 Field Seminar Preview

Mr. Greg Gordon, Ph.D. Student in the Geology and Geological Engineering Department, Colorado School of Mines November 6, 2012 Attendees: 38 members The Ainsa Basin Field Seminar has been an exciting project in the works with the Chevron CoRE. Greg Gordon, one of the course instructors, gave this presentation as an overview of the tectonic control on sedimentation that students would be able to witness in outcrop during the field seminar. This course, which is promoted by the AAPG Student Chapter, will culminate in a week long field trip to the Ainsa Basin in Spain. As expected, many students were very excited for the opportunity to visit world class

outcrops in Spain over the scheduled spring break 2013. The system that will be studied in the Ainsa Basin includes siliclastic and carbonate marine strata as well as fluvial strata. The complex tectonic forcing on the transformation between these depositional systems will be a highlight of the learning. The breadth of systems that can be observed in this locale are truly exceptional. Four course instructors, with extensive knowledge on carbonates, turbidites and these specific outcrops, will teach the seminar.

Bounding anticlines of the Ainsa Basin, Spain.


7. An Investigation of the Libyan Shelf Margin

Dr. Carl Fiduk, Chief Geologist at CGG Veritas November 26, 2012 Attendees: 22 members Carl Fiduk’s presentation was quite a treat. Dr. Fiduk shared excellent seismic data from an area of the world none of our members have expierence in. The Libyan shelf can be divided into three provinces known as the Pelagian Shelf, the Sirt Embayment, and Offshore Cyrenaica. Dr. Fiduk shared interpreted data

from each area and suggested areas of hydrocarbon potential. Positive and negatives for each province were also used to clarify where and how easily resources may be exploited. The chapter was honored to have Dr. Fiduk present exploration data that widened our worldy resource knowledge.

Geologic map of the Libyan margin from Carl Fiduk’s presentation.


8. Active-Margin Sedimentary Basins: Case Study of the U.S. Cretaceous Western Interior Basin

Dr. Dag Nummedal, Director of the Colorado Energy Research Institute, Colorado School of Mines November 27, 2012 Attendees: 21 members For our final lunch & learn of the semester we could not have asked for a better presenter. Dag Nummedal’s extensive biography also includes the honor of being a past AAPG Distinguished Lecture. Dr. Nummedal shared his latest research with Shaofeng Liu and Lijun Liu on Dynamic Subsidence in the Cretaceous Western Interior Basin. With numerous chapter members focusing on research related to the world class outcrop and subsurface data of the cretaceous Rocky Mountain area this presentation was extremely relevant. Data and conclusions from Nummedal’s work with backstripping and decompaction modeling fit closely to observations from students who shared their thoughts in a collaborative effort during the question and answer session.

In total Nummedal suggests much of the accommodation space in the western interior during the Cretaceous was due to dynamic subsidence and not a result of foreland basin loading and flexural relationships. Nummedal also illustrates that parallel basins’ accommodation space during the Cretaceous are a result of similar subduction and dynamic

subsidence. Other topics of interest included mean age of oceanic lithosphere and glacio-eustatic relationships during the Cretaceous.

Nummedal’s complex published cross

section explaining the location of the

Farallon plate and related dynamic

subduction throughout the history of the

Cretaceous Westrn Interior Basin across

central Utah and Colorado (Liu et al.,

2011, Geology)


AAPG DISTINGUISHED LECTURERS

Each year the CSM Chapter takes advantage of the Distinguished Lecturer Series program offered by AAPG. These presentations are always widely advertised in our department and typically have an impressive turn-out. Often times we co-host the lecturers with the Geology and Geological Engineering Department and encourage anyone interested to attend. This semester we were scheduled to have two distinguished lecturers visit our campus.

1. Ronald Blakey October 10, 2012 Attendees: 50+ members We were honored to have Dr. Ronald C. Blakey give a lecture titled “Using Paleogeographic Maps to Portray Phanerozoic Geologic and Paleotectonic History of Western North America” on the afternoon of October 10. Despite this being a busy time in the semester, we were pleased to have over 40 students, faculty, and staff in attendance. The lecture, given as part of the AAPG Distinguished Lecturer Tour, was modified to fit the audience here at Mines. Dr. Blakey focused his talk on the Paleogeographic reconstruction of Colorado. He explained the

methods he employs to create the beautiful, accurate, and widely used maps. He then went step by geologic step through the Phanerozoic history of the Western United States, explaining difficulties and defending his interpretations while displaying his most up-to-date maps. This lecture, of all the lecturers of the fall semester received the

Crowd at Blakey Talk

Dr. Ronald Blakey


most positive feedback. Immediately after his presentation, students and faculty lined up to ask questions or simply meet the guy responsible for these famous maps.

Prior to the presentation, the officers and several CSM faculty members treated Dr. Blakey to lunch. The informal social atmosphere was enjoyed by all.

2. Marek Kacewicz: Rescheduled Spring 2013 November 6, 2012 Attendees: N/A AAPG Distinguished Lecturer Marek Kacewicz, research consultant and basin modeler at Chevron Technology Company, was scheduled to stop in Golden during his November tour. Sadly, Marek’s mother died shortly before he had planned to begin travelling. While our most sincere condolences go out to Marek and his family, we are excited to have Dr. Kacewicz visiting in March of 2013 on a rescheduled Distinguished Lecturer tour.


SOCIAL EVENTS

As a continuation of the goals of the previous leadership team, we have continued hosting the occassional social event. The chapter’s first social events were hosted in Spring 2012 and received a lot of positive feedback. While the majority of our focus remains on the professional and technical aspects of the organization, we have tried to offer a few social events throughout the semester. Additionally, we recently appointed two Social and Outreach chairs, Alex Gibson and Dylan Cobb, to plan and organize these events in the coming semester.

1. Meet and Greet Picnic October 17, 2012 Attendees: ~200 people Annually each Fall the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines holds a meet and greet picnic. The event begins with an opportunity for professors and lab managers to introduce themselves, their work, and their labs in our lecture hall. Each student also introduces themselves and shares a bit about their focus for graduate education. Many undergraduates attend the event but the majority of attendees are graduate students. Before the picnic officially begins there is also an opportunity for professional student organizations to share their purpose and schedules. This year the executive board shared our vision and date of our first meeting. During the picnic officers also approached individuals to further interest new students in the AAPG Student Chapter. Many students explained that their focus was unrelated to our organization’s interests. We quickly countered with the benefits across the field of geology, the greater breadth of subjects that would be involved, and of course free food.

Many of the initially hesitant students agreed that membership would still be beneficial to their academic and professional careers. In contrast, we had several new students eager to sign up with membership dues in hand as we exited the auditorium. This early semester event enabled the chapter to recruit new members prior to our first general meeting.

This year the chapter volunteered to help set up before and clean up after the picnic. Unfortunately, due to poor weather, the picnic was moved indoors. This reduced the amount of set up and clean up required. We utilized tables for buffet style food and beverage sharing and classrooms for seating. The outdoor picnic would have been more conducive to socializing because everyone is in a central location. The downfall of moving indoors was the separation that occurred when groups spread out to available seating in different classrooms. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative in the future.


HOLIDAY PARTY


2. AAPG Field Day: Postponed until Spring 2013 September 26, 2012 Attendees: N/A A field day was scheduled for the afternoon of September 26. The plan was to meet on the intramural fields on campus for a few hours of ultimate Frisbee, soccer, socializing, and food

and drinks. Unfortunately, that day was frigid and rainy. This field day has been postponed until the spring semester.

3. Holiday Party with SEG Student Chapter December 8, 2012 Attendees: 50+ people On the last Friday of the fall semester, we hosted a Holiday party in conjunction with the Colorado School of Mines Student Chapter Society of Economic Geologist. The CSM Student Chapter SEG is one of the most prominent student societies within the Department of Geology and Geologic Engineering. Generally, if a student is not involved in AAPG, s/he is involved with SEG.

We were pleased to have a great venue, with plenty of space for the 50 or more guests. The evening’s activities included a highly competitive game of spoons and other games, a dance party, and a tacky sweater contest. Guests enjoyed holiday cookies and eggnog while meeting and socializing with fellow students.

Holiday Party


COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENTS

Our chapter has a number of “heritage” community service events that we run each year including care and maintenance of the Mines Geology Trail and volunteer-work with both girl scouts and boy scouts. This semester we have added a couple new events including fundraising for Hurricane Sandy relief and volunteering at local science fairs.

1. Mines Geology Trail Clean Up August 27, 2012 Attendees: 8 members On the morning of August 27, seven AAPG student members met to clean up the Mines geology Trail. This trail is used by undergraduate geology classes, local schools, and Golden, CSM, or the Mines Geology Museum visitors. The self-guided trail takes about 2 hours to walk and exposes visitors to the outstanding outcrops of Pre-Cambrian through Cenozoic rocks on the Front Range. Stops include exposed dinosaur tracks in the Lyons sandstone, pits created as clay mines in

the 1800s, and Pre-Cambrian granitic blocks. The students spent 3 hours clearing the trail of brambles and other overgrowth, realigning signs, raking the gravel on the trail, and general tidying up. The day after this service project was completed, the entire Department of Geology and Geophysics took a walk through the trail guided by professor emeritus Dr. Bob Weimer. This service project allowed new students, returning students, faculty, and staff to experience the amazing geology of the area without having to hack their way through the overgrowth or avoid washed out trails.

Members cleaning the trail

Walking along

the trail


2. Mines Geology Trail Bench Resealing October 31, 2012 Attendees: 4 members Wooden benches are one of those things that does not get preserved in the Fossil record. Sometimes we luck out and the carbon is replaced by silica. In general though, park benches don't last millions of years; one or two decades if you're lucky. Such is the case with the Bob Weimer Geology Trail. The benches were suffering from sun exposure. They were fading and the elements were creeping in. Thanks to the steadfast awareness and delegation of Martin Krueger, Steve Sonnenberg and Debbie Cockburn, the chairs will last many years to come. They will also look inviting for parents during Parents’ Weekend.

Debbie issued me a pay-order form, which I took to Mayer Hardware store. Those chipper fellows explained what tools I'd need and the proper sealant. Before my 501 Stratigraphy class, I snuck out of the office for a little handyman work. In an hour or two, I'd delicately slapped enough sealant on those benches to keep them holding color and standing strong for years!

- Alex Gibson, Social and Outreach Co-Chair

3. Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Collection November 6, 2012 Attendees: N/A During the Nov. 6th lunch & learn presentation by Greg Gordon the AAPG Student Chapter collected funds for the American Red Cross Disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy victims. Prior to the chapter meeting members were notified by email of the collection and recommended to bring a donation if able. The chapter arrived in a generous mood as $132.00 was collected and donated to the

American Red Cross. We were proud that on short notice such a great amount of money was able to be collected and donated.

Untaping the

benches


4. Science Fair Judging at Skinner Middle School December 12, 2012 Attendees: 5 members Five members of the organization got a unique and exciting opportunity to take a break away from studying to volunteer as judges at a science fair involving students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades at Skinner Middle School, in Denver. A wide range of experiments provided a welcome break from geology, including experiments looking at airplane wing designs, what type of music makes you smarter, or even how soda can dissolve an egg. Not only did everyone have a great time interacting with the students on a personal and professional level, but many of us learned something new that we could use to impress our friends at back at Mines. This kind of involvement is not only a great opportunity to give back to the community but also to help encourage students to get into the sciences. Hopefully one of these talented middle-school students will be inspired to follow in an AAPG-ers footsteps at Mines.

Member, Michele Wiechman, in front of a

science fair poster


JOINT EVENTS

As part of our chapter’s effort to diversify its events, we have established a number of relationships with other professional organizations and groups including the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) student chapter at CSM, the CU-Boulder AAPG student chapter, our AAPG sister chapter at Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais, and the local AAPG Young Professionals group in Denver.

1. AAPG Global – Student Chapter Leadership Summit and Annual Leadership Days August 7-12, 2012 Tulsa, Oklahoma Prior to the start of the semester, our chapter’s Vice President, Vivian Lin, attended the G-SCLS and Annual Leadership Days. The G-SCLS was intended to bring together 24 chapters, two from each region and section, for three days of discussion to promote sharing of best practices as well as to give the Student Chapter Committee a better sense of the issues and successes that chapters were having around the world. Through this event, our chapter was also able to develop a number of connections with other student chapters with whom we could collaborate. There really were too many learnings gained from these events so we will only highlight the ones most applicable to the CSM AAPG chapter. One of the most useful learning from the G-SCLS was that each new leadership team should develop a mission and vision for the year. Our chapter took this learning and met the first week of school to outline a mission, visions, and goals that were realistic for the coming year. From then on, all of our efforts were focused around hosting events that met the goals we had defined.

Another useful learning came from the discussion on report guidelines (or lack thereof). We have been motivated since the 2011-2012 academic year to obtain the AAPG Outstanding Chapter of the Year award because we are confident that our chapter offers a remarkable program each year. The discussions at the G-SCLS helped us recognize that our reports simply were not reflecting the success we had with our events. The absolute requirements that were identified by the SCC were a chapter roster with member numbers, a budget, and a clearly defined vision. At the beginning of the semester we determined a number of changes we would need to make in order to meet this minimum requirement. These changes included having members sign up for national membership during our first meeting, having sign-in sheets at every meeting for attendance estimates, regularly asking members to send us their member numbers, defining the mission and vision as mentioned before, and adding the budget to the report. Additionally, we modeled the layout of our report based on executive reports in industry rather than on basic student reports in order to raise the bar of excellence.


At the G-SCLS, the CSM AAPG chapter also developed relationships with our sister chapter at Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais and the nearby CU-Boulder chapter. Since then we have run at least one program/event with each of these chapters. The executive committee for our chapter has taken advantage of the best practices for running meetings that were presented by Gretchen Gillis. For each of our executive committee meetings, the President e-mails out an agenda ahead of time, he reviews at the beginning of the meeting updates on previous action items, works through the agenda for feedback/discussion, allows time for additional comments, and our Secretary takes notes on decisions and action items during the meeting. This has proven to be a very effective system for running our meetings. At the G-SCLS, the SCC mentioned an association problem where they lose AAPG members when they transition from students to young professionals. Our chapter has taken this to heart and, while we have not done much this semester to address this issue,

we plan to emphasize the importance of maintaining AAPG membership as a young professional as graduation approaches in the spring. The SCC also provided a number of suggestions on how to get funding from AAPG National particularly for meetings such as ACE and the Student Expos. Our chapter hopes to continue utilizing the ACE bookstore volunteering program to fund more members to attend the convention. Our chapter took note of the Youtube contest and hopes to submit a video this year. While we tried to find a member with a video recorder to record our events, none existed so we have been recording events with phone cameras. We have a couple of great ideas for the video and are excited to hear more about the competition soon. Finally, the G-SCLS has helped to re-emphasize the importance of turnover folders when changing leadership. This is already a practice our chapter incorporated several years ago but we hoped to make it more organized and straightforward.

Annual Leadership Days


2. Meet and Greet Picnic with the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering August 23, 2012 Attendees: ~200 people See the Social Events section for more information.

3. Celebration of Mines August 23, 2012 Attendees: ~800 people One of our goals this year was to increase undergraduate participation in our chapter. As part of this initiative, our leadership team invested a lot of effort into recruitment at the annual club fair, Celebration of Mines, which primarily attracts freshmen just beginning their collegiate careers. Our booth included a large tri-fold poster board highlighting the major CSM AAPG chapter events planned for the coming year. One of our members, Henriette Eidsnes, also acquired a number of brochures, flyers, and AAPG freebies from Mike Mlynek that helped us attract people to our booth as well as explain the main benefits of being a national AAPG member. Additionally, we bought several boxes of popsicles and ice

cream bars that drew a lot of freshmen to our booth, giving us an opportunity to convince them to join. Since Mines is a heavily petroleum-focused school, many of the freshmen were already determined to join the industry but most were set on being engineers. Some of the freshmen had not yet chosen their major so we encouraged them to consider geology and emphasized the uniqueness of the science. Overall the event was a success and 60 people signed up for our mailing list. Several of the people who signed up during Celebration of Mines have attended our lunch & learn events, although their attendance is intermittent due to the overlap with undergraduate classes.

4. AAPG Distinguished Lecturer Ronald Blakey with AAPG October 10, 2012 Attendees: 45 members See the Distinguished Lecturer section for more information.

5. Switch Screening October 10, 2012 Attendees: 1000+ people See Switch Energy Project section for more information.

CELEBRATION

OF MINES


Upper left: Part of the group in touring exhibit wing. Upper right: An intriguing exhibit of carved snuff bottles. Lower left: An example of one of the many impressive mineral specimens the museum owns. Lower right: The petrified wood exhibit illustrating the paleo differences in species.

6. Earth Sciences Week Celebration: Mines Geology Museum Guided Tour with SEG Student Chapter October 17, 2012 Attendees: 8 people In honor of Earth Sciences Week the AAPG Student Chapter teamed up with the SEG Student Chapter to organize a guided tour of the Mines Geology Museum. Although many members have visited the museum on their own, few had been on guided tours. The Mines Geology Museum provides world class exhibits of minerals mined from Colorado. Touring exhibits also are frequently on display. The popular touring exhibit during our tour was the carved snuff bottles from China. This exhibit caught everyone’s attention due to the intricate stone carving and use of many scarce or rare minerals in utility pieces. Other popular exhibits included the petrified wood, ultraviolet minerals, and extraterrest-

rial specimens. The petrified wood, cataloged by species, illustrated intricate tree growth rings and patterns as well as vibrant colors of petrification. The ultraviolet mineral display, located in Blaster’s Uranium Mine, illustrated the gamut of mineral fluorescence. The lunar rock and asteroid exhibit was also impressive as the Mines Geology Museum possesses one of the states two Goodwill moon rocks. The museum tour was a great opportunity for camaraderie between hard rock and soft rock geologists in which participation from all made the afternoon especially enjoyable. Attendance for this event was lower than usual due to the overlap with a general graduate stratigraphy course.


7. Statoil 40th Year Anniversary Celebration October 24, 2012 Attendees: 20 members Statoil Day at Colorado School of Mines culminated in their 40th anniversary celebration, which the AAPG chapter was invited to participate. The evening began with numerous chapter members socializing with Statoil employees in exploration and research and development. This was a great opportunity for one on one conversation with industry professionals. Conversations ranged from professional development to hobbies. After the socializing, attendees were invited into an auditorium to watch a local professional dance crew. Later, the audience watched Statoil corporate videos and listened

to Statoil management present on their company’s accomplishments over the last 40 years as well as where they plan to go in the future. With Statoil’s recent acquisitions and focus on US resources this was also a great opportunity for chapter members interested in employment with Statoil to continue the recruitment process. The evening ended with dinner and raffle drawings. One of our own members, Timothy Gross, even won an iPad during the raffle. Our chapter’s presence and interaction during the event was very rewarding.

8. Geochemistry Workshop with CU-Boulder AAPG Chapter David Thul, Dolan Integration Group October 27, 2012 Attendees: 16 members (around half from each chapter) In late October the chapter sponsored an organic geochemistry workshop and invited the CU-Boulder AAPG chapter members to attend. A total of 16 people attended the workshop, about half from each chapter. The workshop was run by David Thul from Dolan Integration Group and was a day-long commitment with lunch provided by the CSM chapter. The presentation covered fundamental types of source rock geochemical data, highlighting the truths of geochemical datasets. The day was broken up into three modules: an introduction to geochemistry, interpretations and errors of real world data, and a number of case studies. Some of the errors Mr. Thul highlighted include skewing of pseudo Van Krevelen diagrams (Oxygen Index vs. Hydrogen Index)

due to increases in Oxygen Index numbers resulting from contamination by air, particularly the CO2 in air. Mr. Thul also recommends that when you look at Tmax values graphed against Hydrogen Index, always fit your curve model to the maximum values since there are many errors that may make these values lower but none that may make them higher. He also talked about the differences between measurements from core vs. cuttings. Our presenter, David Thul, attended to most of the communications with CU-Boulder since he had obtained a B.S. from the school and his advisor is their current AAPG chapter advisor. Our chapter booked the venue and ordered

Workshop attendees


the pizza as well as communicated the schedule to the CU-Boulder chapter. Overall, the workshop was a success and attendees from both chapters enjoyed it. The one suggestion we had was that more breaks

during the workshop would have been appreciated since it was a long day. We will be sure to schedule in breaks every hour next time we run a workshop.

9. Lunch & Learn 5: Bryan Bracken with CoRE Education Series November 1, 2012 Attendees: 42 members See the Lunch & Learn section for more information.

10. Lunch & Learn 6: Greg Gordon with CoRE Education Series November 1, 2012 Attendees: 38 members See the Lunch & Learn section for more information.

11. Niobrara Field Trip with the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering November 10-11, 2012 Attendees: 19 members See the Niobrara Regional Field Trip section for more information.

12. Holiday Party with SEG Student Chapter December 8, 2012 Attendees: ~50 people See the Social Events section for more information.

13. Science Fair Judging at Skinner Middle School with Community Resources, Inc. December 12, 2012 Attendees: 5 members See the Community Service Events section for more information.


14. YP-Student Collaboration: Bridging the Gap The Colorado School of Mines AAPG student chapter is lucky to be situated in proximity to a major oil & gas hub, the City of Denver. To take advantage of this, the Mines chapter built up a relationship with the AAPG Young Professionals network in Denver. Thus far we have had two small meetings including a dinner at the RMS AAPG Grand Junction Meeting and a happy hour at the Golden City Brewery. Our leadership team has communicated semi-regularly with the main RMAG YP contact, Cat Campbell, and plan to run a more official social event together as part of a YP-Student pilot program in the Spring. The goal of this program is to provide student members with the opportunity to ask YP’s about life in industry as well as to highlight the benefits of continuing their AAPG membership after graduation.

15. International Newsletter with LaSalle Beauvais AAPG sister chapter During the G-SCLS in August, the Colorado School of Mines AAPG Student Chapter and the Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais AAPG Student Chapter partnered up as sister chapters and planned to work together on a few “virtual” events. The first idea we set into motion was an “International Newsletter,” based on newsletters that the LaSalle Beauvais chapter creates each semester. We contacted all of the chapters that attended the G-SCLS to see if any of them would be interested in submitting articles for the newsletter. 10 chapters and the Student Chapter Committee Chair, Richard Ball, have indicated interest and the LaSalle Beauvais chapter is currently compiling the articles into the newsletter. We hope that this newsletter will be a good follow-up to the G-SCLS and will help keep all of the chapters connected.

CSM students and RMS YPs at “Evening in Jurrassic Park”.


Participating student chapters include: UNIVERSITY COUNTRY Colorado School of Mines United States Kuwait University Kuwait LaSalle Beauvais France Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Nigeria New Mexico Tech United States Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates Queen’s University Canada San Diego State University United States Univeristy of Colorado – Boulder United States University of Pembangunan Nasional Veteran (UPN) Indonesia

16. Distinguished Lecturer (Ronald Blakey) Presentation Recording for LaSalle Beauvais AAPG sister chapter One idea of how to increase communication and partnership with our sister chapter Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais was to skype the chapter in on one of our technical presentations. With time and schedule differences we decided it would be better if we could send a recording of a presentation with attached slide show for the chapter at LaSalle Beauvais for them to view when it was most convenient for them. When looking at our chapter’s schedule of presenters we thought who better than Dr. Ron Blakey. Dr. Blakey graciously agreed to be recorded and to leave a copy of his presentation. After further editing over the upcoming holiday break the recording of Blakey’s presentation, question and answer session, and slide deck will be ready to be sent to our sister chapter at LaSalle Beauvais.


SWITCH ENERGY PROJECT

This semester, the CSM AAPG Student Chapter worked hard to bring the screening of Switch to the larger Mines community. Months of planning and a jam-packed day of events culminated in a full auditorium.

1. Switch Screening October 10, 2012 Attendees: 1000+ people After months of preparation, ticket allotment, sell-out, second ticket allotment, and second sell-out, the Colorado School of Mines Switch Screening was a huge success. So successful, that it remains the largest screening to date nationwide despite the small student body size. More than a thousand attended the screening with Dr. Scott Tinker making an appearance to introduce the film and to lead the question and answer session following the film.

The AAPG student chapter was involved in the screening in several capacities. Initially AAPG officers and several members acted as ambassadors to spread the word about the event. Switch was a highlight of conversation during Celebration of Mines as well as a topic discussed during each AAPG meeting and in

each chapter email. Several undergraduate petroleum engineers were also recruited to aid in promotion within their respective peer group.

Cathy Van Tassel, Partnership Manager of the Chevron CoRE, coordinated sponsorship and volunteers for the event. The chapter was in constant communication with Cathy to ensure all related tasks were completed. Meetings with department chairmen and on campus organization leadership took place preceding the event for both promotion and to provide

Question and answer session with Dr. Scott Tinker (left) and packed Bunker Auditorium (right)

Poster at the screening


an opportunity for input from other campus resources. With a focus on word of mouth and email advertising the original ticket allotment of 1100 tickets was claimed more than a month before the screening. A second allotment of 200 tickets was released to assure a full auditorium. The second ticket allotment was also claimed more than a week before the event. The evening of the event AAPG volunteers checked tickets, directed the audience to their seats, and provided microphones to audience members during the question and answer session. The AAPG student chapter was honored to volunteer and participate in such a rewarding experience.

The Switch Energy Project offers an excellent unbiased and scientifically based outlook on the future of the world’s energy. Dr. Tinker compiles a decade of his own research in global energy production and consumption and three years of filming into an enlightening and entertaining 98 minutes of film. Switch is sectioned into case studies of successful forms of energy across the globe including hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, wind, nuclear, biofuels, coal, natural gas, and oil. Each form of energy has its costs and benefits which, in most cases, vary by region. For example, Norway generates 99% of their

electricity from hydroelectric dams. This same capacity of generation is not possible anywhere else in the world however because the geographic conditions are less than ideal. Prime examples for each of the aforementioned energy sources are explained throughout the film. Switch also includes considerations of environmental impacts, geopolitical factors, and the highly politicized issues of hydraulic fracturing and carbon emission and sequestration. In the films closing Dr. Tinker makes his final but most crucial point that efficiency and individual responsibility to lessen consumption would have the most influential impact on the future of the world’s energy.

After the film finished Dr. Tinker invited a question and answer session that was very well received. Audience members from the community, student body, and faculty asked a broad range of questions from the motivation behind the film and funding sources to the geopolitical future and effect of liquefied natural gas (LNG). After more than an hour of questions concluded, a line of ten or more audience members formed to continue Q&A with Dr. Tinker. Once Dr. Tinker was finished answering audience questions he ended with answering a few questions from AAPG officers.

DR. SCOTT

TINKER WITH

CSM AAPG

STUDENT

CHAPTER

PRESIDENT

AND VICE

PRESIDENT

AFTER THE

SWITCH

SCREENING


2. Meet and Greet with Dr. Scott Tinker October 10, 2012 Attendees: 17 people Dr. Tinker arrived on the Colorado School of Mines campus early on the afternoon of Oct. 10th to hold a meet and greet with the AAPG Student Chapter. This took place directly after Ron Blakey’s AAPG Distinguished Lecture and Dr. Blakey was able to join us at the meet and greet. The informal format allowed chapter members and faculty to approach Dr.

Tinker with questions and comments stemming from industry interaction, Dr. Kaffine’s energy economics presentation, and from previous viewings of Switch. Conversations were dominated by geopolitics and nuclear waste recycling facilities. In all, it was a treat for Scott Tinker to address the student chapter.

AAPG meet and greet with Dr. Scott Tinker


NIOBRARA

FIELD TRIP

Funny group picture

The dam at Rockafellow Park.

Member, Justin Palmer, examines a bentonite marker. Railroad at Rockafellow Park

Bowling in the middle of Fort Hays limestone outcrop at

Pueblo Nature Center


NIOBRARA REGIONAL FIELD TRIP

Each year our chapter tries to run at least 1 international and 1 regional field trip. This semester our chapter advisor, Stephen Sonnenberg, and a professional master’s student, Tofer Lewis, led a field trip to the Pueblo and Canon City area in Colorado.

The 2-day field trip, organized in conjunction with the Geology and Geological Engineering Department, featured Pueblo and Canon City outcrops in central Colorado with a focus on the Sharon Springs Member of the Pierre Shale, Niobrara, Fort Hays, Juana Lopez, Codell, and Greenhorn. The group of 19 visited several stops over the weekend and by the end were able to recognize the general characteristics of each of these formations and members. OVERVIEW OF EACH STOP STOP 1a: Highway 115 “Turkey Creek” – Southwest of Colorado Springs

Nice roadside exposure of Blue Hill shale (creates the slope and is weathered),

Codell sandstone, Juana Lopez brown calcarenite, and Fort Hays limestone.

This stop was a great introductory stop where it was easy to learn some of the main formations and see them clearly.

STOP 1b: further along off-road

Greenhorn formation: see cyclicity from alternating relatively small beds of shales, marls, and chalky-limestone packages. o Has a very distinct look o Some bentonites o Dr. Sonnenberg talked about the

history of how it was determined that cyclicity caused the alternating packages and how the beds were dated to match different aspects of the

The group at stop 6 at the end of the field trip.


FIELD TRIP DETAILS November 10-11, 2012 17 participants 2 trip leaders

Milankovitch cycles (eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession)

o Also discussed the regional extent of these beds

o Dr. Sonnenberg pointed out that fracture spacing appeared to be proportional to bed thickness

STOP 2: Sharon Springs Member of the Pierre Shale

Near a quarry Black, organic rich shale Abundant in pyrite Is the same shale that burns in other

locations STOP 3: Road cut

Shows faulting in the Fort Hays limestone o Had a discussion on whether the

faulting was reverse or normal with no agreement made in the end

Also observe burrowing STOP 4: Rockafellow Park

This stop had three stops in total to cover the entire section

Walked upsection from Dakota sandstone through the lower Smoky Hill member (Niobrara)

Pulled together nicely all of the sections we had observed up until now in one continuous section

Observed a number of distinct bentonite markers

This was the only location where we were able to walk through most of the Niobrara

STOP 5: Pueblo Nature Center

Walked from Greenhorn through Smoky Hill member

Saw giant Inoceramus that were a few meters in length in the Niobrara

Saw the type section of the Fort Hays limestone with beautiful bedding and joints

STOP 6: Railroad cut Looked at some kind of storm or

catastrophic event bedding with a surprising concentration of Inoceramus

Also observed conjugate fractures

Throughout the weekend everyone was on the lookout for shark’s teeth and Ammonites in the Juana Lopez and Inoceramus in the Niobrara interval. At stop 1b, our group also took a detour to look at some dinosaur footprints on an exposed surface. Members really enjoyed this field trip and said it was a good trip for learning about more local geology. Some of the attendees joined because they are studying the Niobrara and wanted to see the rocks in outcrop. Others were interested in broadening their exposure to different rock types since “the best geologist is the one that has seen the most rocks.” We also had a few petroleum engineers in the group, which allowed them to learn the basics of field geology and challenged the geologists to be able to explain everything simply but accurately to the engineers. Funding for the trip was provided by Anadarko. They generously covered lunch on both days and a hotel stay for all attendees. Anadarko provides us with semi-annual funding to run these local trips so we expect to be able to continue offering similar field trips in the future.


Rocky Mountain Section AAPG Grand Junction Meeting

September 10-12, 2012 Attendees: 16 members The CSM AAPG chapter typically has a large presence at the Rocky Mountain Section AAPG Meetings in the Fall and this year was no exception. 14 student members presented their research at the Grand Junction Meeting. 8 were posters and 6 were oral presentations. Many attendees commented on the excellent presentation skills of the Mines students. A couple non-presenting students also attended the Grand Junction Meeting to attend talks and network. In addition to the technical program, some of our members participated in other events including the all-convention luncheon, the icebreaker, volunteering for the Switch screening, and joining the Young Professionals for “An Evening at Jurassic Park.” Several members also attended the “Regional Geology of the Niobrara” field trip, the “Wine and Geology in the Palisade Area” field trip,

and the “ExxonMobil Play Assessment Methodology” short course. Our chapter always sends a large number of presenters to these meetings thanks to encouragement of the CSM graduate advisors. Unfortunately, it is difficult to convince non-presenting members, particularly undergraduates, to attend the meetings due to a lack of funding and clear incentive. Additionally, the RMS AAPG Meetings typically occur on or near the Mines career fair. If the regional meetings hope to attract more student attendees, we would recommend adding student-targeted events. Since there are none currently, we found it difficult to network with other chapters that were present. Professional attendees may also be encouraged to engage students in conversations and discussions.

Some of the RMS AAPG Meeting attendees from the CSM chapter.


PRESENTERS FROM CSM AAPG CHAPTER AT GRAND JUNCTION MEETING

Oral Presenters Title

Alyssa Franklin Bakken and Three Forks Petroleum Development, Production and Potential, Western Williston Basin, Northeastern Montana

Dylan Cobb Characterization of Thickness Anomalies within the Three Forks Formation, Lower Bakken Shale, and Middle Bakken Siltstone Members, North Central North Dakota, U.S. and Southwestern Manitoba, CA

Bryan McDowell Reservoir Characteristics and Gas Flow in Tight-Gas Sands, Upper Williams Fork Formation, Northeastern Piceance Basin, Colorado

VIvian Lin Integrated seismic and geologic analysis of high density fracture zones within the Niobrara Formation in Moffat County, NW Colorado

Cosima Theloy Factors Influencing Productivity in the Bakken Play, Williston Basin

David Underwood Polygonal Fault Systems - A New Structural Style for the Niobrara Formation, Denver Basin, CO

Poster Presenters Title Michele Wiechman Preliminary Facies Analysis, Regional Sequence Stratigraphy and Distribution of

Stratigraphically controlled Mechanical Units of the middle and upper Williams Fork Formation, Piceance Basin, CO

Hui Jin Source Rock Evaluation for the Bakken Petroleum System in the Williston Basin, North Dakota and Montana

Rebecca Johnson Pronghorn Member, Bakken Formation, Williston Basin, USA: lithology, stratigraphy, and reservoir quality

Thomas Arthur Petroleum Geology of the West Puerto Chiquito Field Area, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, San Juan Basin, U.S.A.

Korey Harvey Analysis and Correlation of Growth Strata of the Lower Dawson Formation: Insight into the Tectono-stratigraphic Evolution of the Colorado Front Range

Kati Tanavsuu-Milkeviciene

Climate Control on Sequence Stratigraphy in Organic-Rich Lake Basin: Green River Formation, Lake Uinta, Colorado and Utah

Paul Schietinger Upper Devonian - Lower Mississippian Stratigraphy of Northwestern Montana: A Petroleum System Approach

David Thul Evidence of Multiple Vitrinite Populations in the Niobrara Formation of the Denver Basin and their Implications for Petroleum Exploration and Development

Collage of six of the CSM AAPG chapter poster presenters.


UPCOMING EVENTS

With one busy semester behind us we are very much looking forward to events in the works for next semester and continual pursuit of this year’s tall goals.

EVENTS PLANNED FOR NEXT SEMESTER

CSM Club Fair, Jan. 18th - This will be a great opportunity to continue recruitment, especially of undergraduate members.

Declaration Day: Majors and Minors Fair, Jan. 29th- We have been asked by the department to participate in marketing of the Geology program. This will again be a great opportunity to continue recruitment of undergraduate members and also be an opportunity to promote geology as a career path.

Science Fair Judging, Jan. 11, 15, 17, 26, Feb. 7- Numerous opportunities for chapter members to volunteer in the community.

Young Professionals and Student Chapter joint networking event with a Q&A session on the importance of continued AAPG membership post-graduation

White Cliffs and Lyons Field Trip January 2013- This local field trip will be on the books for a Saturday in January and run when a pleasant weekend weather-wise presents itself.

Ainsa Basin Field Seminar, March 10-17th - An opportunity for our chapter to promote and support a world class field trip

Alternate Spring Break Field Trip to the Guadalupe Mountains, March 10-17th- This trip is still in the planning phase

Imperial Barrel Award Promotion

Book Cliffs Field Trip, CO/UT, dates TBD ~April

AAPG Annual Conference and Exhibition, May 19th-22nd

3 AAPG Distinguished Lecturers

Minimum of 5 Lunch & Learn presentations, may include AAPG Distinguished Lecturers

Minimum of 1 Short Course, Structural Focus

Minimum of 1 Campus Service Opportunity

Social events: end-of-year BBQ, bowling, and field day


MEMBERS

One of the main goals identified this year was to increase total chapter membership while also increasing the ratio of undergraduate to graduate student membership. It was crucial that students involved with the chapter also become national AAPG members. Instructional resources provided by AAPG as well as laptop access during meetings allowed us to encourage and help with the process of becoming a national member. There is still work to be done towards fulfillment of this goal however the progress is in the numbers. Last year there were 70 members on our chapter email list and currently there are 145. In one semester’s time we have more than doubled the number of students who are in contact with the chapter. In terms of registered AAPG members we have grown from an unknown number to the 63 listed in this report. Finally in terms of orgsync members we have grown from 36 to 75 students who have access to a calendar of events among other orgsync tools. With recurrent efforts to increase student involvement in the chapter, AAPG national membership, and orgsync members these reported numbers will continue to grow.

MEMBER LIST

NAME AAPG MEMBER ID LEVEL PAID CHAPTER DUES?

1 Abdulla, Mohamed 10074809

f12

2 Al Ibrahim, Mustafah 10068261 MSc f12

3 Anderson, Laura 10086870 BS 4 Andrews, Ben 10623251 BS f12

5 Antoni, Radi 10086620 6 Buchanan, Schaefer pending

f12

7 Buchanan, Wesley 10041605 PhD f12

8 Carver, Franki 10059328 MSc f12

9 Cobb, Dylan 10076496 MSc f12

10 Comegys, Lilian 10085767 MSc f12

11 Cyrs, Zeb 10092224 12 Eidsnes, Henriette 10061576 MSc

13 El Khoury, Paul M. 10085396 14 Fehrs, Ellen 10086618 MSc f12

15 Finley, Elena 1007191 MSc f12

16 Fithian, Matt 10086906 MSc 17 Franklin, Alyssa 10057708 MSc 18 Frierson, Allen 10053161 MSc f12

19 Geesaman, Patrick 10078499 MSc

20 Gibson, Alexander T. 10083577 MSc f12


21 Gordon, Greg 825852 PhD 22 Graham, Andrew 10065591 BS f12

23 Hallau, Daniel 10033810 MSc 24 Hanneman, Harry 10092245 MSc f12

25 Harvey, Korey 10061163 MSc 26 Hearon, Thomas 10008590 PhD 27 Hefton, Lindsay pending

28 Hollon, Zachary 10075095 MSc f12

29 Huskey, Oliver 10091521 BS 30 Jacob, Dayna 10076502 MSc f12

31 Jin, Hui 10058014 PhD f12

32 Jobe, T. Dawn 10038174 PhD f12

33 Johannessen, Tone 10622615 BS f12

34 Johnson, Rebecca L. 10067549 MSc f12

35 Jones, Evan 10075020 MSc f12

36 Jones, Macy 10086902 BS f12

37 Kaykun, Armagan 10086630 Msc 38 Kernan, Henrey Ted 10090854 MSc f12

39 Kerr, Nicholas 10045889 MSc f12

40 Kreidler, Mason pending MSc f12

41 Krueger, Martin C. 10057690 MSc f12

42 Lee, Erik 10092314 BS

43 Li, Xiaopeng (Roy) 10086929 MSc f12

44 Lin, Vivian 10056907 Msc f12

45 Listiono, Geraldus pending BS f12

46 Mathhies, Nick 10087257

f12

47 Matthews, Jess 10086911 PhD f12

48 McDowell, Bryan 10064919 MSc f12

49 Moody, Jeremiah 10033052

f12

50 Muhammad Abduh, Nur Amalina 10092258

51 Nakamura, Kazumi 10063114 PhD 52 Nandy, Dipanwita pending PhD 53 Naqi, Mohammad 10047448

f12

54 Nolting, Andrea pending

f12

55 Nuse, Bradley 10075120

f12

56 Palmer, Justin 10092226 MSc f12

57 Pisel, Jesse 10071133 MSc 58 Pless, Claire 10086619 MSc f12

59 Scheitinger, Paul 10086379 MSc f12

60 Sendziak, Kassandra 10067056 MSc f12

61 Stammer, Jane 10067704 PhD f12


62 Teklu, Tadesse 10080879 PhD 63 Theloy, Cosima 10074930 PhD f12

64 Tifani, Syania 10086826 65 Underwood, David 10074883 MSc

66 Wagner, Justin 10086454 BS f12

67 Wiechman, Michele 10050222 MSc f12

68 Williams, Austin 10086857 69 Wu, Long 10035497 PhD

70 Zellman, Kristine pending MSc f12

BUDGET

Traditionally, our chapter has been very good at keeping track of our budget since our treasurers have always been great with their turnover folder and end of year meeting. This year was no exception. The first table lists the sources for chapter funds for this semester. The majority of funds are rollover from last year’s remaining funds. Most of the chapter dues paid by our members are kept as petty cash and is used for smaller items for which processing paperwork is excessive. This petty cash is kept with the Geology and Geological Engineering Department’s Program Assistant, Deborah Cockburn, in a locked cabinet for security. The budget flux is also summarized in the first table with total funds, current expenses, remaining balance, projected expenses, and the estimated funds that need to be raised. Listed in the second table are costs for similar events from the previous year, estimated costs for this year, and the actual expenditures made during the Fall 2012 semester.

AAPG Chapter Budget Fall 2012 - Spring 2013

INCOME

BUDGET 1) ASCSM Allocation $2500

Current Income $16,270

2) Rollover Funds $11,000

Current Expenses $1,860

3) Dues $420

Current Balance $14,410

4) Student Charges for Field Trips 0

Projected Expenses $28,225

5) Student Charges for T-Shirts 0

Funds to be Raised $13,815

6) Donations Chevron $750

Marathon (for distinguished lecturer) $600

7) Department Support 0 8) Rocky Mountain Section AAPG $1000


EXPENDITURES 1) AAPG Lunch and Learns/ Meetings Spent:

2011-12 Cost: $1,190

1) 1st meeting $145

Projected Cost: $2,100

2) Shell L&L $0

3) J. Miskimins L&L $148

4) D. Kaffine L&L $189

5) B. Bracken L&L $0

6) M. Hitzman L&L $168

7) Ainsa Basin L&L $0

8) C. Fiduk L&L $122

2) D. Nummedal L&L $138

Total $910

Left Over $1,190

2) AAPG Distinguished Lecturers

Spent: 2011-12 Cost: $3,684

1) Ron Blakey


Hotel $257

Shuttle $63

Dinner $144

2) Marek Kacewicz Postponed

Total $464

Left Over $3,136

3) International Field Trip

Spent: 2011-12 Cost: $30,024

1) Ainsa Basin

Projected Cost $40,000

Donation 2000?

Total 2000?

Left Over

4) Domestic Field Trip

Spent:

2011-12 Cost: $17,000

1) Niobrara Field Trip $0


Total $0

Left Over $18,000

5) Local Field Trip

Spent: 2011-12 Cost: $0

1) Whiting Rig Visit Postponed

Projected Cost: $250

Total $0

Left Over $250

6) Short Courses

Spent: 2011-12 Cost: $0

1) Geochem Short Course


Food&Drink $240


Total $240

Left Over $260

7) ACE Conference Travel Support

Spent: 2011-12 Cost: $2,000

Total $0

Projected Cost $2,000

Left Over $2,000

8) Outreach

Spent: 2011-12 Cost: $200

1) Bench Finishing $45


2) Geo Trail Cleanup $0

3) Hurricane Sandy Donation $66

Total $111

Left Over $189

9) Social Events

Spent: 2011-12 Cost: $300

1) Ultimate Frisbee $24


2) Christmas Party $75

Total $99

Left Over $301

10) T-Shirts

Spent 2011-12 Cost: $823

Total $0


Left Over $875

11) Misc

Spent: Projected Cost $200

1) Cooler $36

Total $36

Left Over $164

i Colorado School of Mines AAPG Student Chapter

APPENDIX

ii. 1st General Meeting flyer iii. Lunch & Learn 1: The Technical Aspects of Hydraulic Fracturing flyer iv. Lunch & Learn 2: Great White WM12 Reservoir – A new Development in the Ultra-Deepwater,

Perdido Fold Belt, Gulf of Mexico flyer v. Lunch & Learn 3: Renewable Energy: Economics and Policy flyer vi. AAPG Distinguished Lecturer: Ronald C. Blakey flyer

vii. Lunch & Learn 4: Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies flyer viii. Lunch & Learn 5: The Petroleum Industry’s Love-Hate Relationship with Fluvial Hydrocarbon

Reservoirs – 2012 Update flyer ix. Lunch & Learn 6: Tectonics and Sedimentation in Ainsa Basin, Spain, Spring 2013 Field Seminar

Preview flyer x. Lunch & Learn 7: An Investigation of the Libyan Shelf Margin flyer xi. Lunch & Learn 8: Active-Margin Sedimentary Basins – Case Study of the U.S. Cretaceous Western

Interior Basin flyer

December 2012 Report ii

AAPG Colorado School of Mines Student Chapter

1st General Meeting

12-1PM Berthoud Hall Rm 108 | Tuesday, Aug 28 2012

Alamo, Nevada Spring 2012

JOIN US on Tuesdayfor info on upcoming events,

meeting new & old members,

and a free lunch!

Monday, Aug 279am @ North steps of Berthoud

Mines Geology Trail Cleanup

ALSO VOLUNTEER

Questions? E-mail [email protected]

BECOME A MEMBERRegister online & pay duesPay your $10 dues to any officer to qualify for the free food and field trips.

Benefits of online registration: monthly AAPG Bulletin and Explorer,

discounts on courses and publications, and eligibility for AAPG funding.

iii Colorado School of Mines AAPG Student Chapter

AAPGColorado School of Mines

Student Chapter

12-1PM Berthoud Hall Rm 108 | Tuesday, September 4, 2012


The Technical Aspects of

Hydraulic Fracturing

Fact Versus FictionThere is no doubt that hydraulic fracturing has received its fair share of press during the

recent years. Everywhere you turn, there is a newspaper article, TV show, or blog discussing the pros and cons of this “new” technique. However, hydraulic fracturing is a 60-year-old stimulation technique that has been used around the world in numerous hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs. The main reason for the renewed interest and public attention to the technique is the advent of unconventional reservoirs during the past two decades, both domestically and internationally. Unconventional reservoirs, due to their low permeabilities, require some type of stimulation to produce economically, and hydraulic fracturing is generally the method of choice. This means that hydraulic fracturing is being used in new areas and at levels never before achieved.

This talk will discuss exactly what hydraulic fracturing is and why it is or isn’t used in certain reservoirs. Additionally, the materials that are used during the process and certain monitoring techniques will be addressed. Wellbore construction, which is a critical component of the practice, and horizontal versus vertical completion types, will be reviewed. Attendees should come away with a better understanding of the overall hydraulic fracturing process and be able to separate fact from fiction.

Biography: Jennifer L. Miskimins is an Associate Professor in the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in Golden, Colorado, USA. Dr. Miskimins holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in petroleum engineering. Prior to joining CSM, she worked for Marathon Oil Company in a variety of locations. Dr. Miskimins is the founder and Director of the Fracturing, Acidizing, Stimulation Technology (FAST) Consortium at CSM. Dr. Miskimins served as the Executive Editor for the SPE Production & Operations Journal from 2008-2011 and was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer for 2010-2011.

Lunch Provided

December 2012 Report iv

The Great White Field (Alaminos Canyon Block 857) is located in the Perdido Fold Belt of the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. The ultra-deepwater development is a joint venture between Shell, BP, and Chevron. Eight exploration and appraisal wells and six development wells have been drilled, with initial field development efforts focused on the Upper Wilcox (Eocene) “WM12” sand. In March 2010, the first Paleogene production in the GOM was initiated from the WM12 at the Shell-operated Perdido Spar in 7800 feet of water.

The WM12 sand is a proximal turbidite lobe sequence, comprised predominantly of high quality, amalgamated sheet sands with minor thin shales and calcite-cemented zones. Availability of high-quality 3D seismic has been instrumental in the interpretation of reservoir extent, fluid-fill, and faulting at the WM12 objective. Great White is structurally very complex, with over 200 faults interpreted at the WM12 level. Consequently, compartmentalization is considered to be the primary risk to reservoir and well performance. Uncertainty related to the number and transmissibility of faults, downdip limit of hydrocarbons in untested fault blocks, and prediction of reservoir quality away from well control have presented significant challenges for reservoir modeling and field development planning.

Results from a suite of WM12 reservoir models were used for input into an “Experimental Design” to capture the range of in-place and recoverable volumes and form the basis for a staged field development plan. The initial stage includes 13 producers and a targeted waterflood with 4 injectors in the large WM12 “Main” fault block. Contingent on drilling results and production performance, subsequent development in the WM12 will include wells in more complex areas of the field and expansion of the waterflood in up to three additional reservoirs. Given success, the Great White WM12 development program will ultimately include a total of 21 producers and 9 water injectors. The high quality 3D seismic and extensive petrophysical and reservoir dataset gathered during exploration and appraisal drilling has enhanced the predictions of sand quality, thickness, and hydrocarbon distribution. Reservoir thickness and quality in the initial six WM12 development wells has met or exceeded expectations. A comparison of

pre-drill estimates and early well results, as well as an update of well performance will be shown.

Mike Medeiros earned his BS in Geology from University of Memphis in 1982 and MS from Vanderbilt University in 1984. He’s worked at Shell Exploration & Production Company for 27 years. He’s worked multiple EP projects in the Gulf of Mexico involving shelf deltaic and deepwater turbidite depositional systems and reservoirs. For the last 21 years he’s led subsurface work for several deepwater field developments, interpreting seismic and building static reservoir models to capture the resource range these assets. Mike is an active member of AAPG.

Free

Lunch

v Colorado School of Mines AAPG Student Chapter


Student Chapter

12-1PM Berthoud Hall Rm 108 | Tuesday, October 2, 2012


Renewable Energy:Economics and Policy

An AAPG Sponsored Lunch and Learn to introduce important terms and data in renewable energy prior to the Oct. 10th Switch event.

Renewable energy encompasses many different mechanisms of alternative energy production. Wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass are several sources of energy that reside under the renewable energy umbrella. Each has its own complexities as a source of energy and in policies. Continued pressure to reduce emissions and strengthen the United States’ energy security encourages research and development of renewable energies that otherwise may not be economically advantageous. Policy at both the state and federal levels impact the plausibility of renewable energy. Understanding how renewable energies and their policies fit into the larger puzzle of the domestic energy outlook adds valuable context to the daily media coverage of energy economics and policy. Every American is a participant in the domestic energy outlook and as such, greater knowledge sharing on the topic of renewable energy must occur.

Biography:Daniel Kaffine is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Economics and Business at the Colorado School of Mines since 2007. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California – Santa Barbara in 2007, and holds an M.A. in Economics, B.S. in Physics, and B.A. in Applied Mathematics. His teaching and research interests have focused on resource, energy, and environmental economics. Recent work has examined wind energy, spatial resource management, consumer response to energy prices, and comparisons of alternative environmental policies. His research has recently appeared in Energy Journal, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Journal of Law and Economics, and Review of Economics and Statistics.

Lunch Provided

December 2012 Report vi

AAPGColorado School of

Mines

Student

Chapter

3:00 PM Berthoud Hall Rm 241 | Wednesday October 10, 2012


Using Paleogeographic Maps to Portray Phanerozoic Geologic and Paleotectonic History of

Western North America

Paleogeographic maps provide clear, concise pictures of the evolving complex geologic events of Western North America. Time slices are selected to show critical stages in the geologic history thereby providing a continuous view of the evolution of the region and clearly showing sequences of paleogeography and paleotectonics. The maps are particularly effective in demonstrating the geometry and history of terrane accretion and the affects of accretionary events on the growth of Western North America from Devonian to Present. The maps are also powerful tools for comparing varying or contrasting models of various terrane-accretion events and for showing cause and effect across broad geologic provinces. Other maps (isopach, paleogeology, facies, paleocurrent, etc.) can be used in conjunction with paleogeographicmaps to further explain the geologic history.The models presented here are derived and modified from the geologic literature. Data is plotted on basemaps and paleogeography is cloned from digital elevation maps to match the inferred distribution of landforms at given times and places. The paleogeography is shown in palinspastic restoration with reference to present political boundaries. The maps are finished in a fashion to show how paleogeography might have appeared as if seen from space. Colors suggest paleovegetation and inferred paleoclimate. Water depths are shown in shades of blue from evidence presented in the literature and presumed modern analogs. Although maps are assigned a specific geologic age, ranges are given to suggest the interval for which the maps are valid. The resulting series of paleogeographic maps provides a coherent picture of the geologic and tectonic history of Western North America that respects known and inferred geologic rates and geodynamic models.

Biography:Ron Blakey is recently Professor Emeritus at Northern Arizona University following 34 years of teaching and research in the Department of Geology. During his tenure at NAU, he studied and published on the stratigraphy and sedimentology of many Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic rock units on the Colorado Plateau. His specific interests are eolian and fluvial depositional systems. This nurtured his interest in paleogeography and for the last 15 years, he has been heavily involved in producing paleogeographic maps that range from regional to global in scope. Many of these maps appear on his two websites, jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7 and cpgeosystems.com. His latest endeavors have merged these two disciplines into books published by the Grand Canyon Association, "Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau" and Springer, “Plate Tectonics, Continental Drift, and Mountain Building”. His degrees are from Wisconsin (BS), Utah (MS), and Iowa (PhD).

vii Colorado School of Mines AAPG Student Chapter

December 2012 Report viii

ix Colorado School of Mines AAPG Student Chapter

December 2012 Report x


Student Chapter

12-1PM Berthoud Hall Rm 108 | Monday, November 26, 2012

E-mail [email protected]

An Investigation of the

Libyan Shelf Margin

The Mediterranean margin of Libya can be divided into three physiographic provinces, the Pelagian Shelf, the SirtEmbayment, and Offshore Cyrenaica. The petroleum potential of the Pelagian Shelf has been investigated but the SirtEmbayment and Offshore Cyrenaica are almost unexplored. During 2004-2005, new 2D pre-stack time-migrated seismic data were acquired and used to examine the large-scale structural, depositional, and salt tectonic features of the Libyan shelf and slope. The data cover approximately 38,000 line kilometers in water depths ranging from under 50 to over 3000 meters.Cenozoic strata along much of the Libyan margin have a demonstrable progradational character punctuated by surfaces of erosion and margin failure. Within the Sirt Embayment the most visible retrogradational surface becomes seismically coincident with the top of Messinian unconformity. This retrogradational surface extends for over 700 km along strike and cuts both sides of the Sirt Embayment. Over 5000 cubic kilometers of material are missing from above this surface. There are two ideas for how retrogradation occurred. One idea relates the retrogradation to margin erosion during the Messinian salinity crisis. The other idea suggests that a large part of the Libyan margin experienced a cataclysmic failure during the late Miocene.Some existing models for offshore Libya have interpreted a widespread layer of halite lying within the Messinian which thickens basinward. This interpretation was probably based on the fact seismic reflection continuity was lost over much of the Sirt Embayment on older data beneath the top Messinian unconformity. The loss of good reflection character adversely affected exploration efforts by obscuring deep structures. Recent seismic data and a current understanding of salt behavior do not support the interpretation of thick halite within the Messinian section. Regional observations do not indicate any mobile halite present in the Sirt Embayment. There is a relatively thin, high amplitude and high velocity layer of non-halite evaporites (mainly anhydrite) which caps the Messinian section. Where this high amplitude and high velocity layer is absent or eroded, seismic continuity within the Messinian interval is restored. Limited available well data support this interpretation.True mobile halite is interpreted to exist in offshore Libya only in the far west of the Pelagian Shelf near the Tunisian border. Beneath the Pelagian Shelf are a series of tight contractional folds that are interpreted to be salt cored. Basins adjacent to the folds display geometries characteristic of salt withdrawal. The fold crests formed bathymetric highs which served as nucleation sites for nummulitic shoal development. These shoals are the principal reservoirs of the PelagianShelf.

Lunch Provided

An AAPG Sponsored Lunch and Learn with Carl Fiduk of CGG Veritas

xi Colorado School of Mines AAPG Student Chapter


Student Chapter

12-1PM Berthoud Hall Rm 108 | Tuesday, November 27, 2012

E-mail [email protected]

Dynamic Subsidence at Active-Margin Sedimentary Basins:

Case Study of the U.S. Cretaceous Western Interior Basin

Lunch Provided

An AAPG Sponsored Lunch and Learn with Dag Nummendal, PhD

Dag Nummedal is the Director of the Colorado Energy Research Institute, an institute at the Colorado School of Mines focused on broad multi-disciplinary research programs in both fossil and renewable energy. He is also the director of the Colorado Carbon Management Center, a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional center engaged in research on geological and terrestrial carbon sequestration, as well as economic and policy analysis of different approaches to reductions in carbon emissions from global energy systems.Nummedal has an MS from the University of Oslo, Norway, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining the Colorado School of Mines in 2004, Nummedal served as professor of geology and geophysics at Louisiana State University and the University of Wyoming. He also served for five years as manager of exploration and production technology at the Unocal Corporation. Dag Nummedal has served as president of SEPM and as an AAPG distinguished speaker. He is currently board member at RPSEA, the S&T committee at the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, the Energy Security Advisory Board at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Norwegian carbon sequestration research center SUCCESS, the Energy Council, and the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory. He is a guest professor at the China University of Geosciences, Beijing.

December 2012 Report xii

xiii Colorado School of Mines AAPG Student Chapter

COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES AAPG STUDENT CHAPTER

csm aapg student chapter december 2012 report

Documents