December 2019 Outcrop by The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

Volume 68 • No. 12 • December 2019

The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

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OUTCROP | December 2019

Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

1999 Broadway • Suite 730 • Denver, CO 80202 • 800-970-7624 The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) is a nonprofit organization whose purposes are to promote interest in geology and allied sciences and their practical application, to foster scientific research and to encourage fellowship and cooperation among its members. The Outcrop is a monthly publication of the RMAG.

2019 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT

2st VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT

Tom Sperr tsperr@bayless-cos.com

Dan Bassett dbassett@sm-energy.com

PRESIDENT-ELECT

TREASURER

Jane Estes-Jackson janeestesjackson@gmail.com

Eryn Bergin eryn.bergin@aec-denver.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT

TREASURER-ELECT

Heather LaReau heatherthegeologist@gmail.com

Chris Eisinger chris.eisinger@state.co.us

1st VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT

SECRETARY

Ben Burke bburke@hpres.com

Anna Phelps aphelps@sm-energy.com

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

COUNSELOR

Sophie Berglund sberglund@raisaenergy.com

Donna Anderson danderso@rmi.net

RMAG STAFF DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Kathy Mitchell-Garton kmitchellgarton@rmag.org DIRECTOR OF MEMBER SERVICES

Debby Watkins dwatkins@rmag.org CO-EDITORS

Courtney Beck Courtney.Beck@halliburton.com Jesse Melick jesse.melick@bpx.com Wylie Walker wylie.walker@gmail.com DESIGN/LAYOUT

Nate Silva nate@nate-silva.com

ADVERTISING INFORMATION

Rates and sizes can be found on page 33. Advertising rates apply to either black and white or color ads. Submit color ads in RGB color to be compatible with web format. Borders are recommended for advertisements that comprise less than one half page. Digital files must be PC compatible submitted in png, jpg, tif, pdf or eps formats at a minimum of 300 dpi. If you have any questions, please call the RMAG office at 800-970-7624. Ad copy, signed contract and payment must be received before advertising insertion. Contact the RMAG office for details. DEADLINES: Ad submissions are the 1st of every month for the following month’s publication.

WEDNESDAY NOON LUNCHEON RESERVATIONS

RMAG Office: 800-970-7624 Fax: 323-352-0046 staff@rmag.org or www.rmag.org

The Outcrop is a monthly publication of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

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Outcrop | December 2019 OUTCROP

RMAG/DWLS

FALL SYMPOSIUM

Thanks to our Sponsors

And Exhibitors

Thanks to all who attended! OUTCROP | DecemberRMAG 2019

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Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

CONTENTS FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

12 Lead Story: Geology & Trains

6 RMAG November 2019 Board of Directors Meeting

28 Tribute: Frederick “Fritz” Upham

10 President’s Letter 20 RMAG Luncheon programs: Ben Burke, PhD

ASSOCIATION NEWS 2 RMAG Summit Sponsors

24 RMAG Luncheon programs: Rick Fritz

4 RMAG/DWLS Fall Symposium sponsors

32 In The Pipeline

7 RMAG Data Science Symposium Call for Papers

33 Welcome New RMAG Members!

27 2019 Outcrop Cover Photo Competition

33 Outcrop Advertising Rates

32 Cartoon

COVER PHOTO Platte Canyon, Colorado Photograph by William Henry Jackson, 1899 Library of Congress control number 2016802665

34 Advertiser Index 34 Calendar

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OUTCROP | December 2019

RMAG NOVEMBER 2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING By Anna Phelps, Secretary aphelps@sm-energy.com

was a huge success! The event sold out, the auction did well, and auction winners went home with some wonderful mineral specimens and books. The Continuing Education Committee is busy planning the Data Science Symposium: Digital Workflows in Oil & Gas scheduled for April 7, 2020. The abstract submission for the Data Science Symposium is now open. The Committee is also working on a Python course for geologists in 2020. The Membership Committee is planning college outreach talks for 2020 and is finalizing the Membership Survey, which will be emailed out by the end of the year. The Publications Committee reported that the Mountain Geologist has two papers in review for 2020 and that

Happy holiday season! It’s cheery and bright on the Front Range. The holiday lights are popping up around Denver and Rockbuster’s Bash was a ball! Don’t forget to finish your holiday wish list, and check it twice, you don’t want to forget that new hand lens, or fresh field notebook for next year’s adventures. The November meeting of the RMAG Board of Directors was held on November 20, 2019 at 4:00 PM. All board members except Tom Sperr and Heather LaReau were present. Treasurer Eryn Bergin presented the 2020 Budget to the Board. There was some discussion and changes made. The budget will be finalized and voted on by the Board in December. Kathy and Debby reported that Rockbuster’s Ball

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OUTCROP | December 2019

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RMAG Data Science Symposium ‘Digital Workflows in Oil and Gas’

The RMAG is hosting a 1 day symposium featuring data science and software development in the oil and gas industry

April 7, 2020 at the Denver Athletic Club The RMAG is excited to host a 1 day symposium entitled ‘Digital Workflows in Oil and Gas’. Data analytics is leading companies to new ways of thinking and faster insights. Come share a workflow or case study which demonstrates how you’re incorporating analytics or software development. Talks will be 20-25 min with additional time for Q&A

Possible presentation topics: • Key play performance indicators • Applications to petrophysics/geophysics/stratigraphy • Showcase the analytical tools that you have built to enhance your workflows • Synthesis of production, completion, and geologic data

Abstract submissions due Jan 17, 2020 Acceptances sent Jan 31st Send abstracts to staff@rmag.org Questions? Contact Sophie Berglund, Dan Bassett, or Kurt Rucker

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

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the Outcrop has a strong queue of lead articles for 2020. The On the Rocks Committee is working on the field trip program for 2020 and already has eight trips planned to look forward to. The Educational Outreach Committee attended the Colorado Science Conference in early November and made a lot of contacts with teachers and Colorado educational outreach organizations. I must seem obsessed with the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction (and I am!), but this news is not to be missed because it comes out of our own Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Colorado geology. A team led by Denver Museum of Nature and Science Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Tyler Lyson and Ian Miller, Curator of Paleobotany and Director of Earth and Space Sciences, made a fascinating fossil discovery near Colorado Spring. The fossils, found at an outcrop at Corral Bluffs, in the Denver Basin, are incredibly preserved, complete fossils of mammals, reptiles, and plants that record the biotic recovery in the first million years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction. The fossils record mammalian taxonomic increase, as well as increase in mammalian body mass, likely associated with climatic warming that bolstered plant richness and improved food sources. The team published an article in Science in October and there is an accompanying NOVA episode “Rise of the Mammals,” which is streaming now on PBS online (www.pbs.org). If you’re in the Denver area, you can see some of the fossils for yourself at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science exhibit, “After the Asteroid: Earth’s Comeback Story.”

Source: T. R. Lyson, I. M. Miller, A. D. Bercovici, K. Weissenburger, A. J. Fuentes, W. C. Clyde, J. W. Hagadorn, M. J. Butrim, K. R. Johnson, R. F. Fleming, R. S. Barclay, S. A. Maccracken, B. Lloyd, G. P. Wilson, D. W. Krause, and S. G. B. Chester. (2019) Exceptional continental record of biotic recovery after the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction, Science, vol. 366, no. 6468, 977-983. DOI: 10.1126/science.aay2268. OUTCROP | December 2019

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Come out of the Cold and Enjoy a PTTC Workshop Permian Basin Core Workshop: Grayburg, San Andres and Clear Fork Fms. Tuesday, December 17, 2019 Location: Colorado School of Mines, Berthoud Hall Rm 243 Fee: $250, includes snacks, class notes, and PDH certificate Instructor: Robert F. Lindsay; Lindsay Consulting & Brigham Young University

The Permian Basin has experienced a revolution in hydrocarbon production and is the most prolific and profitable basin in North America. The basin contains: 1) conventional highly productive carbonate and siliciclastic reservoirs along the Northwest Shelf, Eastern Shelf, Central Basin Platform, and Horseshoe Atoll; and 2) unconventional highly productive siliceous shale reservoirs in the Midland and Delaware Basins. Unconventional reservoirs have gained the spot light, but come with a high price tag to lease acreage, drill, and complete horizontal wells. Conventional reservoirs offer lower cost exploration/development–re-development/partnering opportunities, including horizontal wells. Cumulative production from 1920’s-2000 was 29 BBO from conventional reservoirs and from 2001-2017 rose to 39 BBO from a mixture of conventional and unconventional reservoirs. This core workshop will focus on “classic” conventional Permian Basin reservoirs. Cores to be presented are from the following stratigraphic intervals:   

Grayburg Formation (second largest conventional production) San Andres Formation (largest conventional production) Clear Fork Formation (highly heterogeneous conventional reservoir)

Grayburg core will be from a highly productive conventional reservoir, tied to a reservoir scale sequence stratigraphic model and contains a down-dip residual oil zone (ROZ). San Andres core (image to right) will be from a highly productive conventional reservoir where a CO2 pilot was conducted. An additional San Andres core will be from a completely cored underlying ROZ. A fourth core will be from a highly heterogeneous Clear Fork conventional reservoir along the Northwest Shelf. Some Clear Fork reservoirs are plagued by migration of dolomite fines. Class Descriptions and Register Online: www.pttcrockies.org For more information, contact Mary Carr, 303.273.3107, mcarr@mines.edu

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OUTCROP | December 2019

PRESIDENT’S LETTER By Tom Sperr

Numbers

RMAG’s continuing education committee is working on a data analytics symposium for early next year that I think will be pretty exciting. We don’t have a time or place as yet as they firm up our speakers and a venue, but you should hear shortly. There was a good quote in the Wall Street Journal recently from a Google VP, Darryl Willis. “Energy companies have reams of data but only use 5% of it, a serious problem in the digital economy.” This has set me thinking, as I am in the twilight of my career, of how the practice of geology has changed. Geology really started as a descriptive science and as an undergraduate most of what was taught and studied was descriptive, non-numeric facts. Even the numbers encountered were usually descriptive; perhaps the chemical compositions of rocks and minerals, or the travel time of a P or S wave after an earthquake. In graduate school, there was a geo-statistics class taught, which I didn’t take and didn’t really consider taking. The professor was on the faculty of both the geology and the math department. I was scared to death when I heard he had been assigned

to my thesis committee. He was a nice enough man. I knew him from around the department, but he dealt with numbers! I had done something akin to point counts on several outcrops in my thesis area to describe the variable content of ‘foreign’ rock inclusions. I included an estimate of the percentage of the whole these rocks made up in an outcrop in my thesis. Of course, his first question concerned these point counts and if had I done any statistics on my data. ‘Oh no!’, I thought, ‘I am never going to graduate. I’m going back to the grocery store.’ My prepared answer was that I did not have sufficient points to describe them statistically. The professor smiled and replied, ‘Of course you don’t, and as long as you don’t think you do, you are all right.’ I slid through the defense and rest is history. My first brush with statistics in my career was looking at the Minnelusa play, which at the time we thought was about a one in ten chance of success. We had drilled six dry holes and our manager stated that the risk must have been higher than one in ten based on these results. I had recently taken a statistics class at night, so I rushed back to my office to get my book and returned to tell him that we would need to drill seventeen wells to have any idea what the risk was in the area we were drilling. He responded there was no way he was going to drill eleven more wells to find out. Numbers can be tough. The statistics class that I had taken was taught by the head of the department at DU. The professor had done a lot of consulting for businesses in the Denver area and used many of these real-life

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problems in class. The results were fascinating and often counter intuitive. Today when I read the newspaper or listen to the news, I am often struck by what appears to be the misuse of numbers and the confusion this can bring. The world around we geologists is changing quickly. The day of big data is here and even those of us who work for smaller independents will need to understand the power of big data. As we move from a descriptive science to a more numeric science, many of us we be required to clean up and verify that this data. We will be need to determine if the data, and the results, are even geologically probable. Many old paradigms will be proved wrong. It’s a brave new world.

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LEAD STORY

Geology

&Trains An Intertwined History By Dr. Ben Burke

FIGURE 1:

Ruby Canyon, Utah, near the Colorado border in 1900 by American photographer William Henry Jackson. The Detroit Publishing Company’s special photo train is in the foreground. The 2018 Geotrain passed through this canyon between Denver and Salt Lake City (Library of Congress LOT 3888, no. 28)

As a lead up to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) annual convention and exposition (ACE) in 2018 in Salt Lake City and 2019 in San Antonio, RMAG members and fellow travelers enjoyed a scenic geologic field trip via train. The RMAG Geotrain trips are not simply geologic cruises on steel wheels: they are the intersection of geographic and geologic exploration, energy transitions, scientific progress, and modern convenience. This article explores the threads of transportation, energy, and scientific development that have interwoven geoscience and railroads from the early nineteenth century onwards, from the beginning of both railroads in their current form and geoscience as a distinct physical science. The railroad, as defined by steam locomotion and iron rails, was invented in England in the early nineteenth century, although tracked tramways are recorded in the historical record back to ancient times. In the United States, the first railroad, Baltimore & Ohio, was chartered in 1827 and began operations in 1830 first carrying freight. The 1830s were a busy time in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern US as many regional railroads began operations, connecting ports and population centers. Railroad development in the eastern United States increased through the 1840s and 1850s. During that time, railroads were the fastest way for passengers to travel between both regional and national destinations. During that same timeframe, many roads were poorly surfaced, frequently rutted, and impacted by poor weather. Road travel also moved at the pace of the horse until the invention of the automobile in the late 1800’s.

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FIGURE 2: Original Description: “Map of routes for a Pacific railroad, compiled to accompany the report of the Hon.

Jefferson Davis, Sec. of War. This is a hurried compilation of all the authentic surveys and is designed to exhibit the relations of the different routes to each other: the topography represents only those great divides which form summits on the profiles of the routes.” By G. K. Warren, 1857. (Library of Congress G3701.P3 1857 .W31)

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Throughout the nineteenth century, as engineers innovated steam locomotion to haul increasingly heavy loads over ever-longer distances, growth in the geographic, geologic, and biological sciences was fueled by U.S. government support of expeditions into the western regions of North America. These expeditions were tasked to map, document, and explore those regions poorly understood by the young nation based on the east coast. Jeremy Vetter, in his recent book Field Life, traces the development of field sciences, particularly biosciences, throughout this time through the lens of transportation and communication development, and from east coast-centric centers of academic and governmental knowledge to a more geographically distributed knowledge base. Dr. Vetter points out that prior to the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, scientific expeditions took many months to years. Travel was slow, particularly in untracked areas west of the Mississippi River, moving either entirely on foot or with wagons. Infrastructure to support travelers was non-existent, and, where present, was often provided by the U.S. military at forts or at Native American and fur trapping settlements. Communication, if available at all, was restricted to the written word and was extremely slow. Shipping collections and finds, such as dinosaur bones and casts, was either impossible or extremely laborious, and prone to loss. Consequently, expeditions into the western territories were only possible with significant U.S. government support, of which the 1804–1805 expedition of Lewis and Clarke is probably the most well-known. By the 1850s, a series of government-supported expeditions for the express purpose of scouting and surveying a transcontinental railroad route added considerably to our geologic knowledge of the mountain west. This is the first direct connection of geology and railroads, and uniquely so, where the potential for the railroad was the cause for the expedition rather than simply a means of transport. The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 with the connection of the Western Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads on the windswept high plain at Promontory, Utah. Other transcontinental routes, both across the northern and southern tiers and in Canada, soon followed throughout the 1870s and 1880s. Telegraph wires paralleled the railroad

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tracks. Scientific travel now could occur during the summer season, with large finds and heavy loads moving quickly by train back to academic and government centers in the east. Slow, overland travel was relegated to what twenty-first century society calls the “first mile/last mile problem” and urgent communications could now be sent and received quickly by telegraph at low expense. Increasingly, proximity to stations and rail lines prompted nearby scientific documentation and collecting. Railroads and resources, as well as the geologic understanding of those resources, transformed North America after the 1870s. Mr. Vetter, in Field Life, points out how the development of fossil fuels, primarily coal, allowed trains to travel further and with greater consistency than when running on biomass (wood). Biomass supplies were also limited in many parts of the western United States, thus coal tenders replaced wood tenders behind the boilers on locomotives. The specific energy density of bituminous coal is 24-35 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg), versus 11-18 in an equivalent volume of softwood, according to the Biomass Energy Foundation. Access to water for steam locomotives was still an issue. In the western United States, this explains why railroads established settlements every 8-10 miles for rewatering trains. An example of this is the consistent 8-10 mile distances between the cities of Broomfield, Loveland, Berthoud, and Fort Collins, Colorado. Ultimately, the lack of need for rewatering, as well as the increased energy density of diesel fuel (46 MJ/kg) versus coal, drove the shift from steam to diesel, just as it had driven the same change in how naval fleets around the world were powered in the second decade of the twentieth century. Coal, both as a marketable resource in general, and as a fuel source specifically, drove the development of railroads from the beginning of the industrial revolution. Coal was therefore a very important target of early geologists and mapmakers. As described in the Simon Winchester’s 2001 book, The Map That Changed The World, William Smith, the English mapmaker and geologist, noticed repeating coal seams exposed along the Somersetshire Coal Canal in the late 1790s. Smith’s seminal finding was that the coal seams were not unique individual horizons, but rather different outcrops of the same seam which were shaped by

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Pacific Railroad, a partner in the first transcontinental railroad, and a major freight railroad today, spun tectonic processes following initial deposition in the off its resource business as Union Pacific Railroad Relate Paleozoic era. sources. That company was later acquired by AnadarIn the pre-railroad era, canals were the preferred ko, and the “in perpetuity” subsurface royalty intermethod for transporting coal from interior mining reests are now part of Occidental Petroleum. In a similar gions to and between end users in coastal areas. The manner, Burlington Northern Railroad spun off Burlhegemony of canals did not last long, however. In the ington Resources in 1988. That company was acquired eastern United States from the 1820s through the by ConocoPhillips in 2006. 1870s, canal barges hauled coal at the lowest shipping The transcontinental railroads initially ordained rates until railroad trackage extent and locomotive inCheyenne as the major train town of the Front Range, novation, specifically the invention of the air brake, albut its primacy did not last long. In the Rocky Mounlowed railroads to undercut the canal companies. A tains, resource development drove settlement of the good example of this economic tension is the ChesaKansas Territory with the foundpeake & Ohio Canal connecting ing of Denver in 1858 during a Washington D.C. with Cumbergold rush. With the discovery of land, Maryland. The canal opened The single biggest near-surface coal between Boulfor traffic in stages from Washconnection between der and Denver, as well as clay and ington to Cumberland between bentonite resources near Mor1830 and 1850. Operated first as railroads and energy rison and Golden, narrow gauge a tollway traversed by indepenresources was the Pacific and standard gauge tracks soon dent barge operators, then as a closed waterway by coal compacriss-crossed Colorado as well as Railroad Acts of 1862 ny barges, the canal lost its ecoother western states in order to (12 Statutes at Large, nomic edge when the Baltimore carry these resources to market. & Ohio Railroad lowered its haulAlong the Front Range, differ489) with subsequent age rates below that of the canal ent railroad companies vied for legislative additions in the mid-1870s, according to the easiest way over the RockWilliam Davies in a guide to the ies to the Pacific, consistent with each year between engineering and geology of the transcontinental ambitions. 1863 and 1866. canal published in 1999. FollowRoutes along waterways usually ing catastrophic flooding in 1889, offered the gentlest grades, since the B&O Railroad purchased the trains that were not on some sort bankrupt canal company, leaving only the Western of traction system, such as a cog, could rarely traMaryland Railroad as its competition. verse persistent grades steeper than 4%. The physThe single biggest connection between railroads ics of motive traction of steel on steel precludes anyand energy resources was the Pacific Railroad Acts of thing steeper. 1862 (12 Statutes at Large, 489) with subsequent legUp until the late nineteenth century, the interconislative additions each year between 1863 and 1866. nection of geoscience and trains revolved around railThis piece of legislation is an early example of what roads as a motive for exploration as transcontinennow would be called a “public-private partnership.” tal routes were scouted and laid, as well as a tool for The U.S. Government incentivized railroad companies academic and government exploration of the westto risk massive capital and debt outlays in exchange ern U.S. Following the completion of transcontinenfor surface and subsurface land grants and royalty intal routes, as well as the development of western popterest in a checkerboard pattern on either side of the ulation centers containing a rising middle class that tracks. Now, railroads were in the real estate and rehad leisure time available for touring, passenger train source business—an involvement that would last trips evolved from a means of transport into a form of through much of the twentieth century. The Union CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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FIGURE 3: An example of geotourism in the early 20th century: the authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grandfather, a Philadelphia lawyer,

touristing on the rear observation car of the Union Pacific Yellowstone Express, at Reas Pass, West Yellowstone, Montana, 1929.

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70. Prior to the financial Panic of 1893 and subsequent removal of the silver standard by the Sherman Act, the entertainment. The creation of national parks in the Georgetown and Silver Plume areas were a silver and western United States provided new and remarkable gold mining hub. Following the initiation of rail service destinations for pleasure travel. in 1884, freight trains hauled ore from various mines Between 1915 and 1922, the U.S. Geological Surto mills in Idaho Springs and Denver, and all the while, vey published a Guidebook of the Western United day trippers could leave Denver’s Union Station and States in five parts, Bulletins 611 through 614 and have lunch on mountain peaks above Silver Plume, Bulletin 707. These were the Roadside Geology guides returning to Denver in time for of their time, describing the gedinner, as detailed in the imagology and geography of the landes and captions of Allan Lewis’ scapes of four transcontinental An example of Victorian2004 book, Images of Rail: Colorarail routes as well as the Califordo & Southern Railway Clear Creek nia coast rather than presenting style geologic and Narrow Gauge. Unfortunately, the geology state by state. The final outdoor tourism, line was abandoned and removed installment of these guidebooks in 1941. was Bulletin 907, the geology of combined with resource Likewise, the Strontia Springs the Alaska Railroad, published extraction is the now Resort along the South Platte Rivin 1940. er southwest of Denver enter“These books are educationdefunct rail line from tained tourists in Victorian outal in purpose, but the method adDenver to Silver Plume doors fashion. The trip from opted is to entertain the traveler by Denver involved a short ride up making more interesting what he via Clear Creek, along a Waterton Canyon, a trip that tosees from the car window. The plan route now traversed by day can be done by bicycle up the of the series is to present authoriold rail grade that is maintained tative information that may enable Route 6 and Interstate 70. by Denver Water. The ruins of the reader to realize adequately the resort site is now submerged the scenic and material resources under the waters of Strontia of the region he is traversing...” Springs Reservoir. With that, geologic tourism by train, which had beThroughout the twentieth century, automobile gun informally in the 1880s, was formalized. An examusage increased. Passenger travel by commercial airple of Victorian-style geologic and outdoor tourism, craft eclipsed train-based passenger travel in the late combined with resource extraction is the now defunct 1950s. For example, in 1916, 98% of intercity comrail line from Denver to Silver Plume via Clear Creek, mercial travel occurred on railroads. By 1940, railalong a route now traversed by Route 6 and Interstate roads’ market share had dropped to 67%, further down to 46% by 1950, and 32% by 1957, according to John Stover in his book, American Railroads. Through the 1960s, the increase in commercial passenger aviation and the buildout of the Federal Interstate Highway network doomed rail as a primary form of passenger transport in the United States. It was likely during this time that geologic field work switched to being automobile based from rail based. The death knell for privately run passenger rail in the United States was the 1967 decision by the US Postal Service to switch from rail-based to truck-based mail transport. Railroads that previously ran mandated passenger service

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LEAD STORY Denver and Salt Lake City, in particular. Today, the Zephyr traverses much of the same trackage covered in Bulletin 707, with the major exception being the route through the Moffatt Tunnel connecting the Front Range to Winter Park, Colorado, which had not yet been completed. In 1922, trains had to go south to Pueblo, Cañon City, up the Royal Gorge, and over Tennessee Pass near Leadville. The 2019 trip traversed more geologically subtle country of central Texas from the southern end of the Fort Worth Basin and then along the eastern edge Edwards Pleateau. It crossed surface exposures of the Eagle Ford Formation, the limestones of the Edwards Aquifer, and exposures of other production oil and gas bearing formations in the Eagle Ford trend to the southeast of the rail line. This route variously followed trackage laid originally in the late nineteenth century that has been in use ever since. Texas railroad routes were never chronicled by the U.S. Geological Survey bulletin series. A potential May 2020 trip from New Orleans to Houston, the location of the AAPG 2020 ACE, an eight hour ride, has not yet been planned. A Geotrain trip from Denver to Grand Junction, Colorado, also an 8 hour ride, is under consideration as a field trip for the September 2020 Rocky Mountain Section AAPG meeting. The intersection of geoscience and railroads is a diverse mix of the history of science, energy, transportation technology, and communication. In the western United States in particular, one can still see the landscape passing from train windows just as early geoscience and resource pioneers did starting 150 years ago.

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as a condition of the mail contract filed for passenger route abandonment en masse, having lost what was effectively a Postal Service subsidy. By 1970, the Federal government deregulated passenger rail and created Amtrak in order to relieve the railroads of their newly unprofitable passenger operations. Today, Amtrak has a quasi-monopoly on long distance passenger rail, although a private operator in Florida now runs a higher speed line between Miami and West Palm Beach that will soon extend to Orlando. Private operators are also in early stages of building true high speed rail in Texas and California. Today, RMAG continues to support the interconnection of geology and railroads with the 2018 Geotrain trip between Denver and Salt Lake City on Amtrak’s California Zephyr and the 2019 trip from Fort Worth to San Antonio on Amtrak’s Texas Eagle. The 2018 trip was a cross section of the entire Rocky Mountains, including the Front Range, Colorado’s western slope, the grand staircase, and the Wasatch Front, exposing riders to numerous tunnels, canyons, and areas both next to and away from any roads, as well as the resource development of the North Park, Piceane, and Uintah Basins. Stephen Hodgetts presented a talk via the railcar intercom on Cretaceous paleoenvironments. Dr. Tim Ruble presented a talk on resource development of the Uintah Basin and the role short line railroads played in the extraction of gilsonite. The accompanying guidebook drew on many sources of information, USGS Bulletin 707, the 1922 Denver and Rio Grande Western route guide between

Well Log Digitizing • Petrophysics Petra® Projects • Mud Log Evaluation Bill Donovan

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(720) 351-7470 donovan@petroleum-eng.com Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | December 2019

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Ben Burke, PhD | December 4, 2019

Hydrothermal Processes at Hereford Field, DJ Basin, CO: Implications for Niobrara & Codell Development & Production By Ben Burke, PhD, HighPoint Resources, Denver, Colorado

BEN BURKE is an experienced geoscientist and manager with experience at large and small public as well as at private equity-backed oil and gas operators. He is currently the geoscience advisor at HighPoint Resources (HPR) in Denver. Previously, he was the geologist and geoscience manager at Fifth Creek Energy (FCE) in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Fifth Creek combined with Bill Barrett Corporation to form HighPoint Resources in March 2018. Previous to HPR/FCE, OUTCROP | December 2019

are well documented in pure and applied geologic literature, particularly mining-related studies on ore genesis. Few studies exist on hydrothermal processes in sedimentary basins beneath minable depths. Using an integrated analysis of a variety of data types, including elemental chemistry, minerology, 3D seismic, regional wireline logs, regional gravity data, pyrolysis, and drilling parameters, this study interprets a hydrothermally emplaced ore body at depth in the Cretaceous Codell sandstone in the northern DJ Basin of Colorado. Elevated copper, lead, and zinc values observed by x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of cuttings

The Colorado Mineral Belt (CMB) is present as a result of hydrothermal processes affecting a large swath of Colorado from southwest to northeast. Many of the state’s precious metals mining areas are present as a result of that hydrothermal activity. The sedimentary system expression of this deformation are the five major fault zones cutting through the center of the DJ Basin of northeastern Colorado. More recently, workers have documented a probable relationship between the CMB, faulting, and organic maturity in the northern DJ Basin of far northern Weld County, Colorado, and southeastern Wyoming. Modern and paleo-hydrothermal processes and their associated host rocks and mineral assemblages

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he was a senior geologist for Fidelity Exploration & Production Company in Denver working east Texas, Power River Basin, and Williston Basin assets. He worked in operations geoscience and production asset stewardship for Noble Energy’s Denver-based DJ Basin team. He started his oil and gas career with ExxonMobil Exploration, Development, and Production companies in Houston working a variety of assets worldwide with a focus on West African deepwater. Prior to graduate school, he worked 20

for Woodard & Curran environmental consultants in Cheshire, Connecticut, collecting and analyzing water chemistry pre- and post- remediation at hazardous contamination sites in the northeastern US. He holds an AB magna cum laude from Bowdoin College in geology and Russian language, a MBA in general management from Texas A&M University, and a PhD in Earth Sciences (geomorphology and trace metals geochemistry) from Dartmouth College. Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

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RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS This zone is bounded by an upper and lower bioturbated zone that has a different porosity and permeability relationship than laminated sand. The immediate implication of the ore body presence is that the hydrothermal system expression can be a geohazard. Some wells saw slower drilling rates of penetration (ROP), others did not. Where ROP was affected, it was affected dramatically. Initial production gas in the Codell had composition and stable isotope values not statistically significantly different from other Codelll wells at Hereford, whereas the Niobrara gas showed incremental lower maturity, but maturity still within the oil window. Regional well log-based mapping suggest lowered deep resistivity could be an expression of this hydrothermal activity. The area of likely hydrothermal impact does not see lowered production volumes. A fundamental petroleum system implication relates to the timing of when the petroleum system developed relative to the hydrothermal system.

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appear at locations along wellbores in Hereford Field where a 3D seismic bulk density inversion volume shows edges of higher bulk density in the Codell Formation. Careful analysis of drilling and geosteering parameters, confirmed by further XRF and x-ray diffraction spectrometry indicate the metals are present in the sand-rich laminated facies of the Codell, a zone that is 4-8 feet thick in this part of the basin.

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Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | December 2019

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Rick Fritz | January 8, 2020

State of Oil: Musings of a Pessimistic Optimist By Rick Fritz, AAPG President-Elect

RICHARD (RICK) FRITZ is a native Oklahoman who spent much of his youth around the oil patch in Osage County, Oklahoma. His dad, granddad, great-granddad and many of his uncles worked as pumpers or roughnecks. Currently, Rick is the President of Fritz Energy Partners. The goal of Fritz Energy Partners is to develop new resource play ideas using advanced geoscience, engineering and analytical methods. Rick is also the 2020 AAPG President. Rick started his career in 1977 by working for Exxon (before +Mobil) in development geology in South Texas and later as an exploration geologist in the Mid-continent.

OUTCROP | December 2019

U.S? It spells the end of the net asset value (NAV) model that supported the quick and high returns for the private-equity programs. The A&D market is lousy. Cash-flow is king! Public and private companies must live within their means. So what do we do? There is always hope that drilling, completion and production technologies will improve. This often is the case during a major downturn in the industry. The “haves” will continue to develop their inventory and improve cash flow. The “have-nots” need to find another way. All need

The petroleum industry is in the low-end of another cycle. Global political and economic uncertainty, commodity vs. production pressures, and climate related anti-fossil fuel concerns question the value of investing in petroleum. The reality is most unconventional plays are not economical at $55 per barrel oil. Only the best sweet spots in the major plays continue to shine; however, these plays are plagued by reserve issues with parent-child relationships. Do moderately low oil prices along with low gas and NGL prices spell the end of most exploration in the

»»CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Post Exxon, Rick became president of Masera Corporation and supervised major exploration research projects in the U.S., and in the Middle East and Africa. From 1999 to 2011, Rick was the Executive Director of AAPG. He was responsible for the management of AAPG headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the oversight of numerous programs for AAPG’s 34,000+ members. In 2011 Rick was hired to work in SM Energy Company’s new venture exploration team in Tulsa. Rick studied active resource plays to understand the parameters that made some successful and others marginal. From 2015-18 Fritz was the CEO of Council Oak Resources, 24

an EnCap private equity start-up focused on the Midcontinent. Rick bleeds orange having graduated from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater in 1978. He is an active member of the OSU Geoscience Alumni Advisory Board and has working with Boone Pickens to improve the School of Geology at OSU through fundraising and oversight. One of Rick’s favorite Oklahomans is Will Rogers. Like Will, Rick is a “people person” and enjoys working with and managing professionals, especially young professionals. In his roles at AAPG and OSU Rick has enjoyed working on numerous programs for students.

Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

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OUTCROP | December 2019

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS doors for their younger colleagues. Professionals will need to know more about geo-analytics and big data as AI and machine learning becomes a prerequisite. Mid-career geologists will need management training and the knowledge to integrate new technologies. Senior geologists will have the opportunity to take many paths including mentorship, entrepreneurship and exploration. Yes, I said “exploration.” We are in a depletion industry and we will need oil and gas exploration for future supply demands. As the Halbouty Lecturer at the last ACE in San Antonio, Stephen Greenlee, ExxonMobil’s President gave a great talk on “Making the Case for Exploration”.* He stated that, “The whole idea that we are in a sunset industry, that lower investment is going to destroy the industry, couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said. “There is a tremendous and exciting future for those who make a decision to study geoscience.”

»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24

to find investment. All need people with new ideas. In a professional society like AAPG, the most important issue facing our members are job security and jobs in general. This is not just true in the US it is also a factor outside the US as oil prices are too low to start key projects. Nonetheless it is a fact that the “great crew change” is already happening as baby boomers gradually decide to retire opening

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Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | December 2019

Frederick “Fritz” Upham A Tribute to a Colorado Geologist and the son of a Civil War Veteran By Mitchell Grimm, mitchellgrimm2120@gmail.com

was released in a prisoner exchange in 1862 (Pletkovich, 2006). Wisconsin Senator James Doolittle Frederick “Fritz” Upham (1921-2018) was the arranged for a meeting between William and Presison of the late Wisconsin Governor William H. Updent Lincoln in Washington, D.C. Lincoln took a likham, who personally knew President Abraham Lincoln ing to William and personally sent him to West Point and fought in the Civil War. At the age of 80, GoverAcademy. While William was at nor Upham welcomed a son, Fritz, West Point, Lincoln came to visinto the world, but when Fritz was it him on three separate occasions. just four years old, his father passed William served in the United States away. From that moment on, Fritz Army until 1869 and rose to the lived up to high expectations, helprank of First Lieutenant. Later in ing run the family lumber yard. After William’s career, he served one WWII, Fritz married Jean Krueger term as the Governor of Wisconsin and he attended the University of (1895-1897). Wisconsin, studying Geology and Fritz’s father passed away in Bacteriology. Soon after graduat1924 when Fritz was just four-years ing, Fritz moved his family to Coloraold. Fritz became an optimistic famdo where he spent most of his career ily man who was thoroughly inas an Exploration Geologist for 40+ spired by history and geology. Since years throughout the Rocky Mounhis youth, his hard work and tenacitain Region. ty helped pave his way to a long and enjoyable geology career. INTRODUCTION Born in Marshfield, Wisconsin Frederick “Fritz” Upham died in 1921, Fritz had high hopes of atDecember 30, 2018, in Ft. Collins at tending the University of Wiscon97. He had the extraordinary disFIGURE 1: Fritz was a flight instructor sin. He studied briefly there betinction that his father – not his in Lansing, Michigan (1943-1944) with the fore moving to Colorado with the grandfather or great-grandfather Civilian Pilot Training Program. anticipation of attending Colora- personally knew President Abrado College but ended up working ham Lincoln. many different jobs and skiing as During the First Battle of Bull Run, William Upmuch as he could. In 1941, Fritz was skiing Berthoud ham was shot in the shoulder and was taken prisonPass when he heard about the attack on Pearl Harer by Confederate troops. After being held prisoner bor. Shortly after he enlisted, hoping to be a part of at the infamous Libby Prison in Richmond, William CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

ABSTRACT

»»

OUTCROP | December 2019

Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

TRIBUTE: FREDERICK UPHAM

»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28

the Navy Air Corps, but due to poor eyesight he was rejected and was placed in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (Figure 1). Fritz was discharged from the Air Corps in 1944 and was drafted into the Navy, where he specialized in meteorology before being honorably discharged. Fritz married his long-time friend Jean Krueger from Marshfield, WI in Oakland, CA in 1945 (Figures 2 and 3). Once WWII was over Fritz used the GI Bill to finish his studies at UW, earning a BS in Geology and Bacteriology.

GEOLOGIST

FIGURE 2: Fritz and Jean after their wedding in

1945 in Oakland, California.

Fritz was an Exploration Geologist, working the Rocky Mountain region for over 40 years (Figure 4). He worked for Ward Oil, Schlumberger, and a handful of small independent companies. His first job as a geologist was in the 1950s working in the Medicine Bow area of Wyoming, field mapping outcrops in the mountains that would lead to promising sources for future oil production. Fritz worked the Bighorn

Basin, Powder River Basin, Teapot Dome, Green River Basin, and finished his career working the Denver-Julesburg Basin. Fritz’s career was spent exploring the Rocky Mountain Region by double-checking cross-sections and trying to connect the dots

»»CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

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Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | December 2019

TRIBUTE: FREDERICK UPHAM

»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29

between core and logs to get the best possible results in each basin he worked. Fritz was enamored with core, keen to better understand how the petroleum systems worked. He would bring core samples home in an aluminum tube, taking them straight to his basement, sliding it onto his draftsman table to be fully examined. He was notorious for analyzing core into the early hours of the morning, shining a black light on the core, hoping for oil fluorescence. His two sons were always fascinated by the rich odor that permeated the basement, and even more curious about why their dad would stare at the rock with a Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass.

THE MAN EVERYONE KNEW

FIGURE 3: Jean and Fritz were married for over

50-years and raised four kids together.

OUTCROP | December 2019

Throughout the Rocky Mountain Region, Fritz was known for his geologic expertise. He was said to have had “a knack to know everything there is to know about geology and production of oil.” Fritz was known to his children as “Pa” and brought his two boys, Rick and Tim, along on just about every geology field excursion he went on, even out to the drilling rigs. The younger son, Tim, shared many stories about Pa taking him and his older brother Rick to a drillsite. The two boys would play cowboys and Indians, shooting their lever-action Remington BB guns at different parts of the rigs and sometimes catching samples for Pa. Tim also shared how Pa would take his boys on company geology field trips. Being the only kids on the trip, Rick and Tim were put to work, climbing up the tougher outcrops to fetch rock samples. When Fritz was not in the field he would take his boys to the Brown Palace for lunch. Tim recalls, “The minute Pa would walk into the hotel everyone would be shouting, ‘Fritz!, Fritz!’”

Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

TRIBUTE: FREDERICK UPHAM

»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30

Fritz’s death represents the end of an era. As we lose our veterans of WWII like Fritz, his death gives us an opportunity to reflect on the greatest tragedy of our history, the American Civil War. It makes us grateful for the long lives of Fritz and his father, as well as for the service and sacrifices made by people like them.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The impetus for this article was to celebrate the fact that the father of one our own fellow geologists, still living in Colorado, personally knew President Abraham Lincoln. Sadly, I was not able to meet Fritz in person, but I did have a handful of phone conversations with him just prior to his death. He was always full of cheer, life, and optimism. Thank you to Matt Silverman for the story idea and for editing. Additional editorial help from Phyllis Grimm, Robin Swank, and Rob Sterling is much appreciated. Thank you also to Fritz’s children: Tim (who provided all the photos), Amy, Rick, and Pam for your assistance and interviews.

FIGURE 4: Fritz was one heck of geologist,

fascinated with the science behind finding oil and the means to make it more efficient to produce.

the Civil War in World War 11, Vandamere Pr, 290 pp.

REFERENCES

News Desk., 2019, Last Living son of Governor William H. Upham Dies at 97: last assessed 1/11/2019, https://www.onfocus.news/lastliving-son-of-governor-william-h-upham-diesat-97/ Pletkovich, T., 2006, Civil War Fathers: Sons of

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mitchell Grimm is a geologist with Confluence Resources in Denver. His keen interests lie in connecting the impacts that history and geology have had on the world.

Digital Rock Imaging Platform Whole Core | Plugs and Cuttings | Thin Section Dragonfly Deep Rocks delivers advanced feature sets in an intuitive interface to solve complex challenges in reservoir and source rock image characterization and analysis. cha

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OUTCROP | December 2019

IN THE PIPELINE DECEMBER 4, 2019

DECEMBER 10, 2019

DECEMBER 13, 2019

RMAG Luncheon. Speaker Ben Burke. “Hydrothermal Processes at Hereford Field, DJ Basin, CO: Implications for Niobrara & Codell Development & Production”. Maggiano’s Downtown Denver.

RMS-SEPM Luncheon (Rescheduled from October). Speaker Ali Jaffri. “A Virtual Tour to the Modern Indus Delta”. Wynkoop Brewery Downtown Denver.

DIPS Luncheon. Members $25 and Nonmembers $30. For more information visit www. dipsdenver.org. RSVP via email to tim@rivunc.com.

DECEMBER 6, 2019

COGA Connect Lunch. 11:30 AM-1:00 PM. Four Seasons Hotel, Denver.

RMMS Holiday Party. Watch the Parade of Lights from the Crowne Plaza Networking Event. 6PM. Downtown Denver.

DECEMBER 11, 2019

CARTOON

OUTCROP | December 2019

DECEMBER 17, 2019 PTTC Rockies Permian Basin Core Workshop Grayburg, San Andres and Clear Fork Formations. CSM, Golden, CO.

By Kira Timm

Vol. 68, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!

Tracey Chancellor

is an Independent V.P. Geosciences in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Alexander Claypool is an Exploration Manager at Charter Energy Partners in Littleton, Colorado.

James Evans

is a Professor at Utah State University in North Logan, Utah.

Elizabeth Horne

works at Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin and lives in Golden, Colorado.

Marvin Jimenez lives in Willis, Texas.

Todd Kaul

is a Business Development Manager at Apex Petroleum Engineering in Centennial, Colorado.

Danielle Leighton

works at Enverus in Austin, Texas.

Devin Rowland

is a Geology Manager at KODA Resources in Evergreen, Colorado.

Lloyd Sobel

lives in Centennial, Colorado.

Ryan Strehlow

Paul Mehring

is a Geologist at Sundance Energy in Denver, Colorado.

works at Fracture ID Inc. in Denver, Colorado.

is an Exploration and Geoscience Manager - Permian at SM Energy in Denver, Colorado.

is a Geologist in Parker, Colorado.

Selena Neale

Mike O’Keeffe

Andrew Urie

lives in Littleton, Colorado.

James Phelps

is a Sr Geologist at Berry Petroleum in Edmond, Oklahoma.

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CALENDAR – DECEMBER 2019 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

RMAG Luncheon. Speaker Ben Burke.

10 RMS-SEPM Luncheon

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DIPS Luncheon.

COGA Connect Lunch.

SATURDAY

PTTC Rockies Permian Basin Core Workshop

24 CHRISTMAS EVE The RMAG office will be closed.

CHRISTMAS DAY The RMAG office will be closed.

31 NEW YEAR’S EVE The RMAG office will be closed.

OUTCROP | December 2019

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December 2019 Outcrop

Articles inside

Geology &Trains: An Intertwined History