OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists
Volume 68 • No. 7 • July 2019
The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists
2019 Summit Sponsors PLATINUM SPONSOR
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Vol. 68, No. 7 | 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
RMAG STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Barbara Kuzmic bkuzmic@rmag.org
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
Kira Timm kira.k.timm@gmail.com
1st VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT
SECRETARY
Ben Burke bburke@hpres.com
Anna Phelps aphelps@sm-energy.com
Courtney Beck Courtney.Beck@halliburton.com
2nd VICE PRESIDENT
COUNSELOR
Sophie Berglund sberglund@raisaenergy.com
Donna Anderson danderso@rmi.net
Kathy Mitchell-Garton kmitchellgarton@rmag.org CO-EDITORS
Jesse Melick jesse.melick@bpx.com MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST
Debby Watkins dwatkins@rmag.org
ADVERTISING INFORMATION
Rates and sizes can be found on page 3. 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. The Outcrop is a monthly publication of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists
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PROJECTS SPECIALIST
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DESIGN/LAYOUT
Nate Silva nate@nate-silva.com
WEDNESDAY NOON LUNCHEON RESERVATIONS
RMAG Office: 800-970-7624 Fax: 888-389-4090 staff@rmag.org or www.rmag.org
Outcrop | July 2019 OUTCROP
Summer is officially here. Have you registered? July 13, 2019
RMNP Glacial Geology Hike Location: Estes Park, CO Trip Limit 12
August 17, 2019
Pennsylvanian Fossil Trip Location: McCoy, CO Trip Limit 30 - Family Trip
October 12, 2019 Hygiene Sandstone Location: Boulder, CO Trip Limit 20
October 13-18, 2019 Permian Basin Trip
Location: El Paso,TX & Carlsbad, NM; Trip Limit 20 Trip details, pricing and registration information at:
www.rmag.org
email: staff@rmag.org
phone: 800.970.7624
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1999 Broadway, Ste. 730, Denver, CO, 80202
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OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists
CONTENTS FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
14 Lead Story: The Western Grid, Explained
6 RMAG June 2019 Board of Directors Meeting
32 Mineral Of The Quarter: Cinnabar
10 President’s Letter
ASSOCIATION NEWS
30 RMAG Luncheon programs: Walter Nelson
2 RMAG Summit Sponsors
28 RMAG Luncheon programs: Ken Kittleson
4 RMAG On the Rocks Field Trips
43 Welcome New RMAG Members!
7 RMAG July Short Course
43 Outcrop Advertising Rates
9 RMAG Drone Pilot Training Course
44 In The Pipeline
11 RMAG August Short Course 13 RMAG Permian Basin Short Course/Field Trip
46 Advertiser Index
COVER PHOTO Evergreen, CO Photo by Courtney Beck
46 Calendar
17 New RMAG Publication: Subsurface Cross sections 26 Mudrock Sedimentology And Sequence Stratigraphy Core Workshop 45 2019 Outcrop Cover Photo Competition
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RMAG JUNE 2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING By Anna Phelps, Secretary aphelps@sm-energy.com
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due to marketing, fundraising, and general operations. The Continuing Education Committee has luncheon talks booked through the rest of 2019. There are several exciting short courses coming up, including Unconventional Resource Assessment and Valuation taught by Bryce Kalynchuk with Rose and Associates on July 25 and Practical Aspects of Petroleum Geochemistry for Conventional and Resource Plays taught by Dr. John Curtis and Catherine Donohue with GeoMark Research on August 27. The Membership Committee has two new co-chairs, Anne Steptoe and Sandra Labrum. The Committee would like to thank the out-going Chair, Brandy Butler, for her work and service to the Committee and RMAG. Thank
Happy summer rockhounds! It is officially summer, although a cold month on the Front Range is making it feel more like spring. I hope everyone is enjoying the long days and opportunities to get your hands on the outcrop. Maybe the high elevation outcrops will be accessible by September, ha! The June meeting of the RMAG Board of Directors was held on June 19, 2019 at 4:00 PM. All board members expect Eryn Bergin were present. Director Barbara Kuzmic reported that there are 1,609 members. The new Special Publication, Subsurface Cross Sections of the Southern Rocky Mountain Basins, is on the new website and has been selling digital copies. Treasurer-Elect Chris Eisinger reported that recent events have been making a profit and that expenses are up
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RMAG July Short Course Unconventional Resource Assessment and Valuation (URAV) Bryce Kalynchuk, Rose & Associates Rose & Associates’ short course focuses on a staged investment approach for dealing with low permeability resource size and value characterization of candidate multi-well projects. URAV emphasizes the need to develop the participant’s competency in the use of probability, uncertainty, and aggregation to assess and develop unconventional resources. The premise for this short course is that sound estimation of key engineering, geotechnical, and economic parameters is essential for maximizing profitability. Type curves and sequential aggregation techniques are discussed. Composite mapping strengths and chance assessment guidelines for tight sands, carbonates and shales are provided. Due to uncertainty and the huge capital outlays at risk, unconventional resource characterization requires a staged, probabilistic approach conducive to more informed decision-making and portfolio management.
July 25, 2019 1999 Broadway
$250/members $275/non-members Register at www.rmag.org email: staff@rmag.org
phone: 800.970.7624
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING 17. The Educational Outreach Committee is planning a booth for a science fair in November and continues to work on making contacts at schools and recruiting volunteers. In honor of the On the Rocks fossil fish collecting trip to Wyoming this month, June’s geologic news is related to new fossils discovered in Australia. A new species of herbivorous dinosaur was discovered in New South Wales, Australia. The Cenomanian ornithopod, Fostoria dhimbangunmal, was an early duck-billed dinosaur. The specimen was found in an opal mine and was preserved entirely in opal. Those sound like some shimmery fossils!
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you, Brandy! The Publications Committee reported that the Mountain Geologist has several issues getting ready in the queue for this summer and fall including a Big Horn Basin series. On the Rocks has been busy running many field trips this summer. There are still several field trips open for registration, including the Rocky Mountain National Park Glacial Geology Hike on July 13 and Pennsylvanian Fossil Collecting on August
SOURCE:
Bell, P.R., Brougham , T., Herne, M.C., Frauenfelder, T., Smith, E.T. (2019) Fostoria dhimbangunmal, gen. et sp. nov., a new iguanodontian (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from the mid-Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1564757.
COLORADO BORN. COLORADO BUILT. Colorado Committed. WE ARE GREAT WESTERN. WE ARE
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Drones are becoming the de-facto standard tool for capturing aerial imagery and mapping remote locations for Geologists.
DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES FOR TAKEOFF? YOU WILL. Drone Pilot Ground & Flight School with FAA Part 107 Online Test August 24th & 25th, 2019 9:00AM-5:30PM Location: TBD COST: RMAG Members $1500 and Non-members $1525 AeroVista Drone Academy’s Drone Pilot Training is a 2-day hands-on class comprised of in-person Ground School & Flight School modules and online Part 107 Test Prep. This course was developed from the ground up by our experienced team of Pilots. It is the most efficient and safe way of building your UAV pilot knowledge and skills. Course Goal: Equip students with the requisite knowledge and experience to successfully pass their Part 107 aeronautical knowledge test and equip students to begin operating their UAS safely and proficiently for commercial operations. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: Pass their FAA 107 Test • FAA Regulations • Airspace Classifications and Authorization Procedures • Understanding Sectional Charts, Supplements, and Airport Diagrams • Weather • Human Factors Applying these principles to real-world flights: • • • • •
Preflight Inspection Perform manual takeoff and landing procedures Flight automation features Crew Resource Management Risk Management & Aeronautical Decision Making Skills • Inflight Emergencies • Understand how to pre-flight your mission – weather, airspace, equipment readiness • Execute basic and advanced flight maneuvers (takeoff and landing to advanced procedures) Mapping & Photogrammetry: • Recognize and understand the function and theory of photogrammetric operations • Plan and execute a photogrammetry flight plan • Process, analyze, and interpret photogrammetric maps and models Vol. 68, No. 7 | www.rmag.org 9 of Geologists To Register Contact: Rocky Mountain Association www.rmag.org | staff@rmag.org | 800.970.7624
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PRESIDENT’S LETTER By Tom Sperr
Fun With Big Iron Is there no adult supervision in your company? So get out there, touch some iron. It helps keep you honest and motivated. For when you do go to the well, I have collected a few rules that you might remember. On the well-site everything is a snake and all those snakes are poisonous. You can get hurt, so take care and don’t get in the way. Everything on a rig is heavier than you think. Always look up - nothing on the ground is going to fall on you. If a hand asks you to do something, he is messing with you. There is no such thing as a key or extender. If the crew needed a key or extender they could find them. Don’t smell or taste anything that you did not bring with you. Steel toed footwear is a fashion statement on a rig. There is nothing to paint if you don’t have toes. If you see everyone running from the rig, get ahead of them. Always show up with a box of donuts for the doghouse. If you fail the drug test, while the rest of the crew has passed, you have a real problem and should seek professional help. Take care of your car keys and cellphone in the outhouse as there are no fishing tools for these objects.
Going out on a well can be a joy. Granted, as an office geologist it’s pretty easy; you witness a test or a logging run, look at a few samples and swap lines with the company man. I took our young son with me to see the Frontier sandstones drilled on a wildcat north of Rawlins, WY. The rig broke down on our way out there and we stayed for several days in Rawlins in a motel waiting on repairs. Ben thought this geology stuff was a pretty cool job; a pool to play in and pizza every night. We also spent a couple of cold, starry nights in the sand dunes north of Rawlins sleeping in the back of my truck after we resumed drilling. And I’ll never forget watching from the rig floor a thunderstorm flash lightning as it walked its way across eastern Montana, or coyotes howling at sunset while hiking the backside of Teddy Roosevelt National Park near our rig. We really should take time out of our busy office life to get out to the field. It’s sobering when you pull up and see all the equipment and people on site and realize this was just a spot on a map in your office last week. Is this really the best place to drill? Did you do everything you could to pick the right location? Why did anyone listen to you?
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RMAG August Short Course 8/27/2019 Location TBD Register at www.rmag.org Price: $250/members $275/non-members
Dr. John Curtis & Catherine Donohue, GeoMark Research
Practical Aspects of Petroleum Geochemistry for Conventional and Resource Plays This one-day applied geochemistry course will cover source rock evaluation, crude oil geochemistry and correlation, natural gas geochemistry, and the application and integration of reservoir geochemistry.
email: sta@rmag.org
phone: 800.970.7624
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PRESIDENT’S LETTER can. The two best vehicles to take to the rig are a rental car and a company car. The only thing that can go farther than a 4X4 is a company car. Don’t ask where: you can find a good vegan meal or a good glass of pinot noir, or where the nearest Starbucks is. The best steak in town is often in the gas station. Just because the bars in the next state are open an hour later is not a good reason to visit them. A passing nod at the rancher on the road is a big ‘Howdy’ in Wyoming. Remember these other Wyoming rules: only open one car door at a time, sit in the corner of the bar where you can see the front door, speed limits are merely suggestions, and no, those oysters are not fresh and not from the ocean. Hot dogs can be roasted at the flare line, but beware of condensate. And always, always, don’t forget your phone charger. Have a good visit and be sure to show up with the donuts.
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Challenge yourself to be warm enough in North Dakota in January; it’s not possible. The plug in front of your motel is not for your Tesla. You will be longer at the rig than you think. The common rule is to multiply any time estimate times 2 and add 2 more. Remember 2n+2 where ‘n’ may be minutes, hours or days. Take plenty of underwear. If you wanted to have a family, you shouldn’t have gone into the oil business. No, they don’t shut down for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah or Christmas. Cows don’t die on locations. Look for the drag marks behind them and see where they come from. All dead cows on locations are prize cows, which is why the cow was dragged there. Don’t lend the mud-logger money, it only encourages them. “We don’t do it that way in Texas” is not an excuse. Prognoses are like models. All are wrong and some are occasionally useful. Just because the water truck got through that puddle doesn’t mean you
Steer & Study Horizontals, with Confidence!
SES is for geologists who are dissatisfied with drafting or gridding-tool methods of geosteering horizontal wellbores. SES is 3D technical geosteering software that makes wellbore stratigraphic tracking quick-n-easy, accurate, and easily shared. Unlike any other geosteering software,SES provides a complete suite of software features to handle your horizontal drilling needs. To learn more and get a free trial, please contact us at:
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Phone 720-279-0182 support@makinhole.com
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9/4-5/2019 10/13-18/2019
Short Course Field Trip
Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists
Permian Basin Short Course & Field Trip Register for either or both!
Join us for this unique opportunity to explore and learn about the mixed siliciclastic-carbonate system in the Permian Basin in the classroom and the field! Dr. Rick Sarg of the Colorado School of Mines will present a 2day short course in September and then lead a 5-day field trip in October. Short Course: This two-day workshop provides an introduction to the application of carbonate and sandstone facies, diagenesis, and seismic sequence stratigraphy to exploration and production focused on the Late Paleozoic carbonates and siliciclastics of the Permian basin. This includes conventional and unconventional reservoirs. The workshop combines seismic, well log and rock data, and the concepts of sequence stratigraphy to develop interpretations of Permian basin hydrocarbon systems, and characterize reservoirs and seals. Field Trip: This field trip will introduce participants to a series of some of the finest outcrop exposures of carbonate and deepwater siliciclastic rocks in the world. Participants will meet in El Paso, Texas, and travel as a group to Carlsbad, New Mexico. Trip cost include 5 nights hotel stays, breakfast and lunch for Monday through Friday, transportation, and one special dinner/social gathering. Airfare may be purchased through RMAG or on your own.
Register at www.rmag.org Short Course only: $450 Field trip only (no airfare): $2000 Field trip only (with airfare from Denver): $2200 Short Course & Field Trip (no airfare): $2200 Short Course & Field Trip (with airfare from Denver): $2600 email: sta@rmag.org
phone: 800.970.7624
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LEAD STORY
THE WESTERN GRID, EXPLAINED BY GREG BUNCE, MAR 11, 2019
Gunter was not just a mathematician; he was also an English clergyman, a geometer, and an astronomer. He made several contributions to society, but we’re going to focus on his invention of the Gunter Chain in 1620 (Fig 2). The Gunter Chain, which was used for surveying, was quickly adopted as a statutory measurement in England and in the British Empire. What made it so popular was its ease of measuring and surveying plots of land for legal purposes. The Gunter Chain measures 66 feet in length and contains 100 links, making it very portable and convenient when working with English units. Measuring an acre (a standard British parcel) was as easy as laying out 10 square chains. When working with smaller plots of land, you’d simply divide the links by 100,000 to get the acres. Additionally, a statute mile was 80 chains.
Have you ever wondered why the patterns of development in the Western United States are so orthogonal (i.e., “right-angled”)? Pan around a map and you’ll see the confines of the grid just about everywhere. Grid-like development is nothing new — it can be traced back to early developments in the Middle East. But, why is it so prevalent in the West? It turns out this gridiron pattern is connected to a 17th-century mathematician, the Treaty of Paris, and Thomas Jefferson. Yup, there’s definitely a connection here, which also helps explain the West’s notoriously wide streets and big city blocks, as well as our nation’s entangled dependence on feet, yards, and miles (i.e., the United States customary units). Read on and we will explore the Western Grid more.
THE SURVEY CHAIN
Let’s start with the previously mentioned 17th-century mathematician: Edmund Gunter.
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FIGURE 1: 1891 Salt Lake City Bird’s Eye View
FIGURE 2: Gunter Chain
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FIGURE 3: Northwest Territory
thirteen colonies, a large swath of land, referred to as the Northwestern Territory (Fig 3), was ceded to the United States. This was good news for a new nation carrying a sizable amount of wartime debt. Fortunately, the largely uninhabited Northwest Territory could be divided and sold off in sections (parcels) to generate revenue for the new nation. Though, first, this land had to be surveyed. The early American Congress further solidified the acre as the official unit of land measurement with the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the resulting Northwest Ordinance of 1787. These ordinances provided the framework for public lands and the procedures for organizing territorial lands west of the Appalachian Mountains.
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Because of its ease in calculations, the Gunter Chain was quickly adopted and became widely used for surveying and land management records. In fact, it was so popular that it made its way across the Atlantic with the early colonists. The acre, noted in the Articles of Confederation (1781), was declared the standard unit of land measurement for the new nation. The Gunter Chain made a huge impact when it was developed, and we can still see its lasting effect as we begin to look closer at the western United States grid.
STANDARD UNITS OF MEASURE (THE ACRE)
Okay, let’s jump ahead to 1783 and the Treaty of Paris. At this point in American history, the thirteen original colonies had just pulled off the seemingly impossible and defeated the British Empire, ending its colonial rule. This treaty marked the official end of the Revolutionary War and the beginning of independent American governance. In addition to the
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PUBLIC LAND SURVEY SYSTEM
I know, I know… that was probably more history than you were looking for, but really, that’s the annotated crash course for understanding the basis of
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New RMAG Publication! Subsurface Cross Sections of the Southern Rocky Mountain Basins In 1977 RMAG published Subsurface Cross Sections of Colorado, a compilation of stratigraphic cross sections from all Colorado basins. This publication has been a valuable resource for geologists wanting to establish a basis for stratigraphic correlations. Well logs were presented on all cross sections, which was very helpful in understanding the log response for the different stratigraphic picks. During the 41 years since this publication, numerous wells have been drilled and digital logs now allow cross sections to be easily enhanced with color. In this update of the 1977 publication, we have expanded this volume to the southern Rocky Mountain basins. Some of the cross sections in this volume are timely in that there are emerging plays associated with the basin and stratigraphic interval represented in the cross sections.
Member price: $60 Non-member: $75 Purchase and download at www.rmag.org
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LEAD STORY
FIGURE 4: PLSS Principal Meridians
the present-day Public Land Survey System (PLSS) (Fig 4). This system was originally proposed by Thomas Jefferson and was mandated by Congress to oversee the cadastral surveys of the public lands. Essentially, it was set up to facilitate the transfer of federal lands to private citizens. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the official record keeper of the surveys. Over the past 200 years, almost 1.5 billion acres have been surveyed into townships (and ranges) and sections. These surveys were conducted primarily west of the original thirteen colonies and north of Texas (Texas has Spanish roots and Spanish land grants). Presently, areas of Alaska are still being surveyed. As with any measuring system, you need a starting point. Within each PLSS system, this is where a defined meridian line (north-south) meets a defined base line (east-west). Most of Utah is within the Salt Lake Meridian PLSS system for which the base and
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FIGURE 5: Salt Lake Meridian
meridian intersection point is at Main Street and South Temple in downtown SLC (Fig 5). A small portion of NE Utah is governed by the Uintah Special Meridian which is its own separate PLSS system whose base and meridian lines intersect in the city of
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LEAD STORY
FIGURE 6: Townships, Ranges and Sections
Roosevelt. All official surveys in Utah have an underlying reference to one of these two points. In other words, every township and section in Utah is numbered off of these locations. Other PLSS states have their own unique meridians (Fig 4). Townships are made up of thirty-six square miles, with each square mile known as a section. Sections are eventually subdivided down to an acre by way of half sections, quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections, etc. (Fig 6). An acre, again, is simply 10 square chains, and there are 640 acres in a section (a square-mile) or 40 acres in a quarter-quarter section. Hence the phrase, “40 acres and mule” is all you needed to be self-sufficient. No matter how you shake it, though, land measurements in the West are consistently divisible by the magic 66-foot Gunter Chain. You’ll see its effect everywhere. This measuring unit was so successful because it made the math easy — and many early surveyors had a shaky grasp of mathematics and they were required to work quickly. These early surveyors typically placed a permanent monument at section and quarter-section corners. These markers are still heavily used today and are the starting point for almost every Western legal description you’ll encounter, including land deeds (the transfer of private property), water rights (well
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locations), and taxing areas, as well as municipal annexations and, consequently, voting districts. Because of this, it has been difficult for the US to adopt the International System of Units (the modern metric system). It is precisely this survey pattern that explains why the western United States is so orthogonal. Although the grid is not unique to the West, it’s certainly at the core of all land sales and, as a result, it influences many development patterns. Let’s look at a few examples.
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THE WESTERN GRID
One of the more dominant patterns you’ll see in the West is the rectangular city block. You could argue that the Mormon pioneers helped carry this development pattern west from Missouri with their Plat of Zion (Fig 7) and their subsequent establishment of more than 700 communities. Contrast this pattern with the pre-PLSS pattern of the early colonial settlers in Boston (Fig 8). Large city blocks are a common theme in the West. They typically vary between 198 feet, 330 feet, and 660 feet (which is 3, 5, and 10 chains). Often, two sides of the block are 660 feet, with the adjacent sides being 198 feet or 330 feet. Looking at Portland
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LEAD STORY
FIGURE 7: Plat of Zion
(Fig 9), their blocks are unusually small for the West at 198 feet x 198 feet. On the other side of the spectrum, Salt Lake City (Fig 9) is known for having the largest blocks in the West at 660 feet x 660 feet. Blocks are more rectangular in San Francisco (Fig 9) and Phoenix (Fig 9), as they measure 660 feet x 198 feet and 660 feet x 330 feet, respectively. If you have ever tried to cross the street in downtown Salt Lake City, you know our intersections are
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extremely wide. You’ll see the Gunter Chain’s lasting mark at these intersections as well. Looking at Portland (Fig 9) and Salt Lake City (Fig 9) again, you’ll notice two variations of the chain. Salt Lake City (Fig 9) has large intersections that are based on two chain lengths (132 feet), whereas in Portland and San Francisco intersections measure half a chain (33’). In Phoenix (Fig 9), you’ll notice intersections measure one full chain length (66 feet).
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LEAD STORY
FIGURE 8: Colonial Boston
is the disguised grid. These are often large communities where the land is typically purchased by the section (or more) and then is made to feel less grid-like. Two good examples of this pattern are Sun Lakes (Fig 11) and Sun City in Arizona. As you move through these communities, you forget that you’re on the grid. It’s remarkable how a few key points in history have permanently affected the growth and development patterns in the western United States. It’s also interesting how these same decisions have made it difficult for us to turn our backs on the imperial-based measurement system (i.e., United States customary units). So, the next time you’re out wandering the
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SECTION LINES AND ADDRESSING Another notable mention are “section line roads.” These roads are laid out in a one-mile by one-mile grid pattern that follows the section lines. Figure 10 shows a good example of this southwest of Boise, Idaho. This pattern is also very popular in Phoenix and Las Vegas. Section lines in North Dakota and South Dakota are often used as the basis for their street numbering systems. In Salt Lake City, a similar section-based addressing system is used, where the 100 blocks (e.g., from 100 E to 200 E) are ten chains, or 660 feet, or quarter-quarter-quarter sections (10 chains or 660 feet). One last notable Western development pattern
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LEAD STORY
FIGURE 9: Variations on the Western Urban Grid
FIGURE 10: Section Line Roads Southwest of Boise, ID
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Western Grid and you encounter a large intersection or a big city block, you can think back to Edmund Gunter, the Treaty of Paris, and Thomas Jefferson.
FULL REFERENCE LIST
American Publishing Company, “Salt Lake City 1891 Bird’s Eye View,” Historic Map Works, Residential Genealogy, accessed March 1, 2019. http://www.historicmapworks.com. “Gunter Chain,” (image) John Johnson (owner), Smithsonian National Museum of American History, accessed March 01, 2019. http:// americanhistory.si.edu. Golbez, “States and Territories of the United States of America August 7 1789 to April 2 1790,” Wikipedia, “Northwest FIGURE 11: Sun City, AZ (disguising the grid) Territory” page, accessed March 1, 2019. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Northwest_Territory. Joseph Smith Papers, updated September 01, United States Bureau of Land Management, 2018, accessed March 01, 2019. https://www. “Principal Meridians and Base Lines,” US Geojosephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/relogical Survey, updated January 18, 2018, vised-plat-of-the-city-of-zion-circa-early-auaccessed March 01, 2019. https://nationalmap. gust-1833/1. gov/small_scale/a_plss.html. John Bonner, ca. 1643-1726; William Price, fl. “Great Salt Lake Meridian/Base Marker,” How1725-1769; and Francis Dewing, fl. 1716derFamily.com, updated August 13, 2013, 1722, “The town of Boston in New England,” accessed March 01, 2019. https://www.howMap, 1723, Norman B. Leventhal Map & Educaderfamily.com/travel/utah/great-salt-lake-basetion Center, accessed March 01, 2019. https:// and-meridian.html. collections.leventhalmap.org. “US Public Land Survey System,” (image), San Greg Bunce, “Variations on the Western Urban Grid,” Francisco Estuary Institute & The Aquatic SciAutomated Geographic Reference Center, March ence Center, accessed March 01, 2019. https:// 01, 2019. www.sfei.org/it/gis/map-interpretation/proGoogle Maps, “Boise Idaho,” accessed March jections-and-survey-systems#sthash.D2D94lF3. 01, 2019. https://google.com/maps/place/ sWlKZBU3.dpbs. Boise,+ID/. Frederick G. Williams, “Revised Plat of the Google Maps, “Sun Lakes, Arizona,” accessed March City of Zion, Circa Early August 1833,” The 01, 2019. https://google.com/maps/place/ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Sun+Lakes,+AZ. OUTCROP | July 2019
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Mudrock Sedimentology and Sequence Stratigraphy Core Workshop
Dates: Sept 10-11, 2019
Locations: USGS Lakewood and Stratum Reservoir, Golden Instructors: Stratigraphix Prerna Singh, Ph.D., Sven Egenhoff, Ph.D Ali Jaffri, Ph.D Abstract: Many factors affect the volumetric and flow capacity of mudrocks including (i) organic content type, maturity, distribution (ii) mineralogic composition - ductile vs. brittle thus affecting the geomechanical properties and (iii) current day stress fields - imperative for decisions including orientation of horizontal wells and completion design. Sedimentology and Sequence Stratigraphy can provide an understanding and explain the systematic variation of the abovementioned factors. This two-day course will use lectures, core, thin-section and well-log data to highlight critical details impacting understanding resource distribution as well as planning landing zones and completions. We will examine four public and three proprietary cores across seven formations (Wolfcamp, Eagle Ford, Mancos, Mowry, Bakken, Niobrara, and Haynesville). High-quality photographs of key features in proprietary cores will be provided as part of course material (no other photography will be permitted).
This is RMAG’s only core workshop this year! Don’t miss it! Price: TBA Registration opens July 3
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About the instructors: Prerna Singh, Ph.D. is a Subject-matter expert in Unconventional Shale and Tight sand plays with deep understanding of key elements including organics, matrix, pore volume, fractures and stress states. She has a doctoral degree in geology focusing on facies and sequence stratigraphic studies of the Barnett Shale. She interconnects geology, rock physics and geophysical data, wherever available, to solve the subsurface puzzle and constructs a coherent picture of the critical components necessary for highest hydrocarbon recovery. Over the years she has worked with majors including Chevron, BP, Schlumberger, in projects involving Business Development, Research, Exploration and Appraisal. She is currently teaching Geology and Geomechanics of Unconventional plays to enable the usage of these subjects as tools for application in well execution decisions including selecting optimal well placement depth, perforation depth and stage spacing. In her course, she emphasizes clarity on fundamentals e.g. organic content, mineralogy and in situ stress state and provides deeper understanding of how these parameters control for example hydraulic fracture geometry and thus well performance. Sven Egenhoff, Ph.D. is a recognized expert in shale sedimentology applied to understanding unconventional reservoir deposition and diagenesis. Sven has nineteen years of experience postdoctorate working worldwide on hydrocarbon-related problems, mostly onshore Sweden, Norway, continental US (Bakken and Woodford), and Bolivia, as well as offshore UK (Kimmeridge Clay) and is a top influencer on industry’s current thinking of shale plays. He is currently a professor at Colorado State University and has trained over 400 undergraduate and graduate students in oilrelated sedimentology and well-logs and has consulted or held research contracts with Hess, Marathon, and Noble Energy, among others. Ali Jaffri, Ph.D. is the founder of Applied Stratigraphix LLC, and has nineteen years of experience in sedimentology and stratigraphy projects. He has worked several onshore US Basins, North Sea, Indus Basins, Barents Sea, Offshore East and West Africa, Taranaki Basin, Offshore Mid-Norway, and Former Soviet Union. He has a doctorate from Colorado State, Masters from Oklahoma State and Bachelors from University of Colorado. Equally proficient in carbonates and clastics, he has trained over 500 oil and gas professionals from thirty-four companies in ten countries.
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RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Ken Kittleson | July 10, 2019
‘The Longmont Detachment Mega-Landslide, Fact or Fiction’ By Ken Kittleson
KEN KITTLESON: I have been a geologist for 47 years, obtaining my B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Iowa. The first 13 years were spent working in the oil and gas business for such companies as Exxon, Placid Oil, American Petrofina and Stauffer Oil and Gas before the OUTCROP | July 2019
downdip up to 1.6 km. (1 mi.) above other well-cemented, unfaulted volcanic ash detachment surfaces. Secondly, a two-stage post-Laramide Longmont Detachment was discovered following the identification of a resistivity geophysical well log on the boundary between a 187 sq. km. (72 sq. mi) eastern area (ELD) and a 345 sq. km. (133 sq. mi.) western area (WLD). This discovery precipitated a post-Laramide Longmont Detachment age with the ELD developing from transverse movement on the updip Longmont Fault, located just south of Longmont, Colorado, followed by a later WLD detachment as a classical landslide. This talk will also explain the development of such well-known geological features southeast of Boulder, Colorado as Marshall Mesa, Davidson Mesa (the overlook onto Boulder from the Boulder Turnpike) and the “White Rocks” outcrop next to Boulder Creek.
Ten years ago, I proposed the discovery of a 531 sq. km. (205 sq. mi.) landslide detachment east of Boulder, Colorado termed the Longmont Detachment. This theory was met with skepticism and difficult to comprehend and ultimately accept within a normal geologist’s perspective, where a superficial landslide of 26 sq. km. (1 sq. mi.) maybe considered incredible. This detachment theory was added to the list of mechanisms, including strike-slip faulting by the USGS to explain the area’s complex faulting. The results of a 5-year geophysical well log investigation detail several significant new discoveries that characterize how the area’s unique stratigraphic and structural geology have allowed such a massive structure to develop. The two major ones include a single-event volcanic origin for the study area’s upper Cretaceous section, explaining how uniform plates up to 160 m. (525 ft.) thick and 12.4 sq. km. (4.8 sq. mi.) could detach and then move
collapse of the business in 1986. Following the acquisition of a M.S. degree from Colorado State, I worked as a geologist in the environmental business for 22 years until my retirement in 2011. Since then, I have devoted my time to geological and structural research as well as 28
volunteering in the Denver Public School’s Balarat Outreach Program where I teach 3rd grade students about nature and geology. I was the recipient of RMAG’s “Distinguished Public Service to Earth Science” 2013 award for this work.
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RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Walter Nelson | August 7, 2019
Sequence Stratigraphy and Geologic Reservoir Characterization of the Niobrara in the Northern San Juan Basin By Walter Nelson
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lithostratigraphic units with significant sequence stratigraphic surfaces interpreted. Numerous extensive outcrop locations (in and around Pagosa Springs, Piedra, and Durango, CO) along with three new cores along the CO-NM border form the foundation for sequence stratigraphic interpretation of the Niobrara marine cycle in this study. Establishing and applying a sequence stratigraphic framework to any section creates consistent reference standards for communication, research, and further correlation. Comparisons of lithologic and geochemical data from equivalent strata between the northern San Juan Basin and DJ Basin reveal significant differences in the timing and style of source-rock deposition (and associated low-oxygen conditions). The sequence stratigraphic framework also emphasizes tremendous lateral facies changes within the basal Niobrara section (i.e. Fort Hays Limestone to Tocito Sandstone). Once refined and applied, this stratigraphic framework can be used for predicting the distribution of reservoir and geomechanical properties in addition to enhancing the current understanding of the Niobrara and the Western Interior Seaway.
In the northern San Juan Basin, the Niobrara Formation is represented by the upper half of the Mancos Shale (the Smoky Hill Member and Cortez Member). This section is generally equivalent to the Niobrara Formation along the Colorado Front Range. Although the Fort Hays Limestone is absent west of Pagosa Springs, the C Chalk and B Chalk are well-expressed as two resistant bench-forming calcareous units in the northern San Juan Basin. These two calcareous units have also been established as prospective hydrocarbon targets by operators in the area. Calcareous facies equivalent to the A Chalk were not deposited in the northern San Juan Basin due to siliciclastic dilution during the regressive latter half of the Niobrara marine cycle. The overall third-order Niobrara marine cycle includes these members of the Mancos Shale: the Juana Lopez, Montezuma Valley, Smoky Hill, and Cortez Members. The Smoky Hill Member sits just above the basal Niobrara unconformity in most of the study area, and the entire section also has greater thickness and siliciclastic content than its equivalent farther east along the Front Range. Despite these differences, the four Niobrara fourth-order cycles (T7a-R7a thru T7d-R7d) have been assigned to distinct
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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER By Ronald L. Parker Senior Geologist, Borehole Image Specialists, 5650 Greenwood Plaza Boulevard, Greenwood Village, CO 80111 | ron@bhigeo.com
CINNABAR Quicksilver Messenger
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Euhedral cinnabar crystal in surrounded by calcite and dolomite in a healed, bitumen-bearing fault breccia. The crystal is 1.5 cm long at its widest. Locality unknown. Photo by Ronald L. Parker. OUTCROP | July 2019
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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CINNABAR
Anhedral cinnabar crystals in a calcitehealed breccia. The black material to the right of the largest breccia clast is a form of pyrobitumen. Locality unknown, possibly California Coast Range. Photo by Ronald L. Parker
I went to the Denver Gem and Mineral Show last September on the very last day. Among the treasures I uncovered, on a bargain table no less, was a fist-sized chunk of fault breccia healed by strained clots of authigenic calcite and dolomite. There, my eye was immediately drawn to a scintillating, ruby-red crystal of cinnabar nestled tightly in a vug. For $10 I added this piece to my collection and I have been perplexed by it ever since. It is a real beauty, but is it poisonous? I’ll try to answer that question here. Cinnabar, mercuric sulfide (HgS), is the only important ore mineral of mercury. The name cinnabar is derived from the Persian zinjirfrah and the Arabic zinjafr, both of which translate to “dragon’s blood” (Bonewitz, 2005). Cinnabar forms in association with near-surface volcanic hydrothermal systems. Cinnabar is a highly visible mineral, occurring as deep blood to ruby-red crystals and aggregates that are so striking, they have attracted human attention for at least 5 millennia. Consequently, humans have mined cinnabar
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and its most notorious component, mercury (a.k.a. quicksilver), for a very long time. To the ancient world, mercury represented a magical substance with occult powers. Cinnabar was also used for cosmetic and medicinal purposes. We now know that mercury is one of the most toxic natural substances and this has led to vast reduction in mercury production over the last few decades. Places of historic cinnabar mining, as well as places where mercury was used, remain as sites of environmental contamination. Diagnostic properties for cinnabar include its bright red color (and congruent scarlet streak), low hardness (2-2.5) a high-specific gravity (8.1 g/cc, due to the Hg content), perfect cleavage on {10bar10} and adamantine (brilliant) luster (Johnsen, 2002). Cinnabar is highly birefringent. Also, cinnabar, at 3.08, has the highest refractive index of any mineral – a characteristic that gives it that extra sparkle. Cinnabar is a sulfide that belongs to the higher-symmetry rhombohedral subset
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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CINNABAR
Red mass of compact cinnabar with white calcite from the Terlinqua District, Brewster County, Texas. 7 x 5 x 3 cm. Used with permission by John Betts Fine Minerals. http://www.johnbettsfineminerals.com/
(Hermann-Mauguin symbol 32) of the hexagonal crystal system. Most cinnabar occurs as granular, massive or earthy incrustations and surface coatings. When euhedral crystals occur, they display rhombohedral forms, often as penetration twins (Klein, 2002; Johnsen, 2002). Most cinnabar is pure HgS, although some substitution of Se and Te for S is noted. Metacinnabar, a high-temperature polymorph stable above 344°C, is isometric and it lacks the bright red color of cinnabar, occurring as metallic gray to black in color with a black streak (Klein, 2002). Cinnabar is found at the margins of large, low-temperature, hydrothermal systems and occurs as pore-filling impregnations in sandstones and veins and fracture fills adjacent to volcanics, fumaroles and hot springs. Commonly, cinnabar mineralization is discovered in association with relatively young volcanic systems. Cinnabar is “low-temperature” hydrothermal because it forms at less than 200°C. The host rocks can OUTCROP | July 2019
be sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic. Mercury has relatively high solubility in alkaline hydrothermal fluids. Cinnabar yields liquid mercury – quicksilver – after being heated in a furnace. The mercury escapes from the furnace as a vapor that is then captured and condensed into liquid mercury (Kesler, 1994). The liquid mercury is then funneled into standard storage flasks that hold 76 pounds of the material. Mineral associations of cinnabar include mercury, pyrite, marcasite, realgar, stibnite, antimonite, quartz, chalcedony, barite, dolomite and calcite (Klein, 2002; Johnsen, 2002, Mineral Data Publishing, 2005). Mercury is slightly concentrated in organic matter reservoirs. Hg is released as a vapor phase during combustion of coal and petroleum (Reimann and Caritat, 1998). Cinnabar is well-known to be associated with petroleum hydrocarbons. Small amounts of petroleum have been observed in California Coast Range cinnabar deposits and elevated mercury concentrations occur in
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CINNABAR
»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34 some San Joaquin oilfields nearby. It has been demonstrated that introduction of volcanic hydrothermal fluids created cinnabar deposits with petroleum bitumen (Peabody and Einaudi, 1992). Cinnabar has been exploited by humans many thousands of years. Hundreds of kilograms of pulverized cinnabar were used in a burial tomb for dozens of people discovered in Palencia, Spain. The closest cinnabar mine was 160 kilometers away, indicating a “significant and intentional work process.” The cinnabar, which perfectly preserved the bones, was dated to 5,000 years ago (Martin-Gil et.al., 1995). Employing the bacteriostatic properties of mercury compounds revolutionize the science of embalming. In the 1800s, William Hunter concocted a mixture of vermilion dispersed in turpentine, lavender oil and chamomile oil which was injected into the femoral arteries of corpses (Martin-Gil et.al., 1995). Cinnabar has long been recognized as a coloring agent. Because it has a hardness of 2-2.5 on the Mohs scale, cinnabar is easily ground into a fine powder which makes it easy to mix into formulations. Many of the ancient cultures that coexisted with volcanoes independently discovered, processed and utilized cinnabar for ceremonial and artistic uses (Geology.com, 2019). Ancient Romans used cinnabar in paintings and frescoes. The Mayans used cinnabar to decorate burial chambers and the bodies of
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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CINNABAR
Well-developed, large red transparent cinnabar crystals on a matrix of yellow dolomite rhombohedra from Tongren, Guizhou, China. Used with permission from John Betts Fine Minerals, http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/
revered dead. Indigenous Americans used cinnabar as a pigment for ritual use. Cinnabar was used in Greece, Spain and Turkey. For all these cultures, cinnabar was exploited for its rich, red color. Cinnabar was identified as the coloring agent in red inks and pigments in pre-tenth century Chinese manuscripts using Raman Spectroscopy (Clark et. al., 1998). Cinnabar is the major component in the red artists pigment known as vermilion, and “cinnabar” and “vermilion” have been used interchangeably for centuries (Gettens et. al., 1972). Cinnabar continues to be used as vermilion in artist’s paint, although less toxic substitutes (like cadmium red) are now favored. Cinnabar has been used in Chinese traditional medicines for thousands of years. Cinnabar is still an ingredient in 40 traditional medicines still in use (Liu et. al., 2008). Medicinal use of cinnabar has a long history in India and Europe as well. The Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus recommended mercury-based antiseptics to treat new diseases like syphilis OUTCROP | July 2019
and typhus (Martin-Gil et.al., 1995). Ironically, cinnabar was taken orally or rubbed on the skin to promote health and immortality (Bonewitz, 2005). We now know that these practices were likely to create the opposite of their intended effects. The economies of gold and silver production were tightly linked to mercury, hence cinnabar, availability. This is because of the ability of mercury to dissolve silver and gold, particularly important for removing finely divided flakes and dust. Adding liquid mercury formed an alloy by dissolving the silver and gold. Afterward, the mercury is removed by boiling (Jones, 2011). This important use of mercury expanded greatly in the 1500s and 1600 by spread of the patio process for recovering gold from ore. In this process, gold ore is spread onto a flat patio, covered with mercury and then crushed Kesler,1994). The ore crushing process was initially conducted by having people walk over the mix, but it didn’t take long for this effort to disable or kill the workers due to Hg toxicity (Jones, 2011). Mules
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Lustrous, elongate prisms of translucent red cinnabar on dolomite from the Fenghuang, Xiangxi, Hunan, China. The longest crystal is 12 cm long. Used with permission by John Betts Fine Minerals. http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/
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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CINNABAR
Lustrous translucent blood-red cinnabar penetration twin. Twins display rhombohedral form. From the Red Bird Mine, Antelope Springs District, Pershing County, Nevada. Used with permission by John Betts Fine Minerals. http://www. johnbetts-fineminerals.com/
then replaced people. The mercury, laden with dissolved gold, was then recovered and boiled off leaving a gold residue. The patio process became the method of choice for extracting gold in the New World. Because the only source of cinnabar at the time was Almaden, Spain, the Spanish Crown exacted great wealth from the trade in cinnabar. The cost of quicksilver for gold production was 1/5th of the gold proceeds to the Crown (Kesler, 1994). The California gold rush would not have been as prosperous if not for the development of cinnabar mines south of San Jose, California. These mines, which started producing mercury ore in 1845, became more valuable than any of the gold mines discovered later. Because mercury was readily available from these mines, and at low cost compared to sources in Mexico and Spain, California gold mining became a much more productive enterprise (Jones, 2011). In more modern times, mercury has found widespread use in batteries, fluorescent lamps, mercury
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switches, thermometers and barometers, detonators, chlor-alkali (caustic soda and chlorine) production plants, gold ore processing and dental amalgams (Reimann and Caritat, 1998). Mercury use has been phased out in many applications because of the adverse effects of mercury pollution on the environment. For instance, Hg use in batteries has been severely reduced (Gray, 2009). Dental fillings used to be made of an amalgam comprised of 50% mercury, 35% silver and 12% tin with the remainder being copper or zinc (Kesler, 1994). In the modern world, mercury-based dental amalgams have been superseded by polymer resins and other nontoxic substitutes (Geology.com, 2019). We now know that mercury is among the most toxic of natural substances to be encountered by humans. Mercury is a central nervous system poison. Depending on exposure variables, mercury poisoning can lead to permanent damage to the brain, kidneys and developing fetus. Brain function effects may include irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or hearing and
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Lustrous, blood-red twinned cinnabar on dolomite from the Chatian Mine, Fenghuang, Hunan, China. The specimen is 3 x 2 x 1.5 cm. Used with permission by John Betts Fine Minerals. http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/
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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CINNABAR
Dark red cinnabar ore coated by droplets of liquid mercury from the oldest cinnabar mine, Almaden District, Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. Field of view ~2 cm wide. Used with permission by John Betts Fine Minerals. http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/
memory problems (ATSDR, 1999). Mercury toxicity depends on the form of mercury (pure liquid, inorganic Hg or organic Hg), the route of exposure (ingestion, inhalation or absorption) and the dose, the duration and the frequency of exposure. Inorganic mercury in cinnabar has been used in Chinese traditional medicines for 2000 years. Liu et. al. (2008) studied the toxicology of cinnabar through different organ systems and concluded that cinnabar is insoluble and poorly absorbed by the gastrointestinal system but that it accumulates in the kidneys where renal dysfunction may follow long-term use. Inorganic mercury is simply less toxic (but not non-toxic) than liquid or organic forms. A particularly sinister manifestation of mercury toxicity occurs when Hg is methylated by bacteria and this organic mercury bioaccumulates in the food chain, particularly in shellfish and fish (Chaline, 2012). Methylmercury becomes increasingly concentrated in higher trophic levels of the food chain. That is why the fatty tissues of long-lived fish such as shark and swordfish OUTCROP | July 2019
are enriched in mercury and there are health advisories regarding exposure to meals from these fish (ATSDR, 1999). Although cinnabar is widely distributed on Earth, only a handful of localities have it in economic abundance or yield exceptional specimens (Gettens et. al., 1972). The Almaden district in Spain has been the site of cinnabar extraction for more than 2000 years – it was a place that liquid mercury dripped from the walls. This locality still yields valuable specimens and ore which makes it – possibly – the oldest continuously working mine on Earth (Bonewitz, 2008). Other important localities for cinnabar include Peru, Italy, Idria in Slovenia, Uzbekistan and the Hunan Province in China (Johnsen, 2002; Bonewitz, 2005). In the United States, important localities include New Almaden and New Idria in California; Humboldt and Pershing Counties, Nevada; Terlingua, Brewster County, Texas; and Kirby, Pike county, Arkansas (Mineral.net, 2019). So, after all that, back to the opening question “Is
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my cinnabar sample toxic?” The answer is ‘Yes, it is’. As with other minerals that may be poisonous, the trick to collecting and curating them is limiting potential exposures. As for my cinnabar sample, I have it stored in a box where it cannot collect, or generate, dust. Whenever I handle it, which is rarely, I wear nitrile gloves. I don’t sniff it. And, I never, never, never eat it. Tips for handling any potentially toxic substance, mineral or otherwise, include: Avoid inhaling dust, especially when breaking. Do not heat the material. Wear chemically-resistant (nitrile) gloves when handling. Do not get the material on your skin. Do not ingest. Always wash your hands. Have fun with your cinnabar, just don’t treat it like Cinnabon.
WEBLINKS:
Massive dark red cinnabar from the Sacramento Mine, Mercur district, Tooele County, Utah. • https://www.minerals.net/ 3 x 3 x 2.5 cm. Used with permission by John Betts Fine Minerals. http://www.johnbettsmineral/cinnabar.aspx fineminerals.com/ • https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Cinnabar • https://www.mindat.org/min-1052.html • Handbook of Mineralogy http://rruff.info/doclib/ REFERENCES: hom/cinnabar.pdf Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry • Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Regis(ATSDR), 1999, Toxicological Profile for Mercutry ATSDR) ry, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, • Mercury ToxFAQs https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxhttps://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp46.pdf faqs/tfacts46.pdf Bonewitz, Ronald Louis, 2005, Gem and Mineral: • Public Health Statement https://www.atsdr.cdc. The Definitive Guide to Rocks, Minerals, Gems and gov/ToxProfiles/tp46-c1-b.pdf Fossils, New York, New York: Dorling-Kindersley • http://webmineral.com/data/Cinnabar.shtml#. Limited, 360 pp. XQhc9ohKiHs Chaline, Eric, 2012, Mercury, in Fifty Minerals that • https://geology.com/minerals/cinnabar.shtml CONTINUED ON PAGE 42
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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CINNABAR Johnsen, Ole, 2002, Minerals of the World: Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 439 pp. Jones, Bob, 2011, Gold and Silver (Chapter 11) from The Frugal Collector: Volume I, JMiller Media: Ventura, California, pp. 162-175. Kesler, Stephen A., 1994, Mineral Resources, Economics and the Environment, New York: MacMillan College Publishing Company, Inc., 391 pp. Klein, Cornelis, 2002, The 22nd Edition of the Manual of Mineral Science: New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 641 pp. Liu Jie, jing-Zheng Shi, Li-Mei Yu, Robert A. Goyer and Michael P. Waalkes, 2008, Mercury in Traditional Medicines: Is Cinnabar Toxicologically Similar to Common Mercurials?, Experimental Biology and Medicine, 233(7):810-817. Martin-Gil, J., F. J. Martin-Gil, G. Delibes-de-Castro, P. Zapatero-Magdaleno and F. J. Sarabia-Herrero, 1995, The First Known Use of Vermilion, Experientia, 51(8):759-761. Mineral Data Publishing, 2005, Cinnabar http:// rruff.info/doclib/hom/cinnabar.pdf accessed May 28th, 2019. Peabody, Carey E. and Marco T. Einaudi, 1992, Origin of Petroleum and Mercury in the Culver-Baer Cinnabar Deposit, Mayacmas District, California, Economic Geology 87:1078-1103. Reimann, Clemens and Patrice de Caritat, 1998, Chemical Elements in the Environment: Factsheets for the Geochemist and Environmental Scientist, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 398 pp.
»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 40
Changed the Course of History, Buffalo, New York, Firefly Books, Inc., pp. 100-103. Clark, Robin J. H., Peter J. Gibbs, Kenneth R. Seddon, Nadezhda M. Brovenko and Yuri A. Petrosyan, 1998, Non-Destructive In-Situ Identification of Cinnabar on Ancient Chinese Manuscripts, Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 28(2-3):91-94. Ewing, Thomas E., 2016, Texas Through Time: Lone Star Geology, Landscapes and Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Udden Series No. 6, 431 pp. Geology,com, 2019, website, accessed 6/7/2019 https://geology.com/minerals/cinnabar.shtml Gettens, Rutherford T., Robert L. Feller and W. T. Chase, 1972, Identification of the Materials in Paintings: Vermilion and Cinnabar, in Studies in Conservation 17: 45-69. Gray, Theodore, 2009, The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe, New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., 240 pp.
Formation Evaluation • Petra® Projects Reserve Reports • Drilling Engineering • Well Plans
Bill Donovan
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(720) 351-7470 donovan@petroleum-eng.com www.petroleum-eng.com
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Vol. 68, No. 7 | www.rmag.org
WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!
Joshua Bedell
is a Geophysicist at Devon Energy in Yukon, Oklahoma.
Duane Brackman is a Geologist and lives in Arvada, Colorado.
Gary Curtiss
is a geologist and lives in Lakewood, Colorado.
Matthew Fox
is a Geologist at Ossidiana Energy in Denver, Colorado.
Brian Hamilton
is a Deputy Project Director at Denver Transit Partners in Broomfield, Colorado.
David Huffington
is a Geophysical Service Engineer at Mount Sopris Instruments in Cañon City, Colorado.
Nicholas Kernan
Melissa Northcott
is a Geologist and lives Golden, Colorado.
is self-employed in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
is a Senior Research Scientist at Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas in Austin, Texas.
is a Geophysicist at BPX Energy in Denver, Colorado.
Stephen Laubach Geoff MacDonald
Daniel Pearce
Bruce Peterman
is a Chief Geoscientist at Vermilion Energy in Calgary, Alberta.
is a Senior Geological Engineer at Pacific Western Technologies in Broomfield, Colorado.
is a General Manager, Surface Data Logging at Excellence Logging in Westminster, Colorado.
is an Exploration Geologist at Luff Exploration Company in Denver, Colorado.
is a President / Managing Partner at Xtreme Drilling, LLC in Fort Lupton, Colorado.
is a student in Bozeman, MT.
Raechel Michaelis Michael Murray
Anthony Sarnoski
Christopher Steuer
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OUTCROP | July 2019
IN THE PIPELINE JULY 10, 2019
JULY 12-13, 2019
JULY 22-24, 2019
RMAG Luncheon. Speaker Ken Kittleson. “The Longmont Detachment MegaLandslide, Fact or Fiction.” Maggiano’s Downtown Denver.
Colorado Oil and Gas Association. Western Conservative Summit. Colorado Convention Center. Info.: KeithVenable@ yahoo.com
Unconventional Resources Technology Conference. Denver, CO. Register at www. urtec.org.
JULY 13, 2019
RMAG Short Course. Presenter: Bryce Kalynchuk. “Unconventional Resource Assessment and Valuation (URAV).”
JULY 11, 2019 DPC Speaker Series. Email: info@ denverpetroleumclub.com JULY 12, 2019 DIPS Luncheon. Members $20 and Nonmembers $25. For more information or to RSVP via email to kurt.reisser@ gmail.com.
On the Rocks Field Trip. Rocky Mountain National Park Glacial Geology Hike. Estes Park, CO. JULY 19, 2019 Energy Industry Volunteer Day. info@denverpetroleumclub. com.
JULY 25, 2019
Oilfield Helping Hands Q3 Event. rockies@oilfieldhelping hands.org JULY 31, 2019 Western Energy Alliance Annual Meeting. Devil’s Thumb Ranch Resort & Spa, Tabernash, CO. Contact: bfakharzadeh@ westernenergyalliance.org
RMAGA ELECTED OFFICERS | 2019 The RMAGA (Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists Auxiliary) elected officers for the 2019-2020 year: Co-Presidents: Merrily Tohill and Dale Blaha Vice President: Jean Manion Treasurer: Marion Bolyard Secretary: Kay Waller An informal no-host luncheon meeting for RMAGA was held at The Bistro Retaurant in Aspen Grove Shopping Center on May 23, 2019 for the present and future Board Members and Committee Members. Lunch was enjoyed by all.
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Vol. 68, No. 7 | www.rmag.org
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OUTCROP | July 2019
ADVERTISER INDEX
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CALENDAR – JULY SUNDAY
MONDAY
7
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
1
2
3
4
8
9
10
11
RMAG Luncheon. Speaker Ken Kittleson.
14
THURSDAY
15
16
17
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
5 12 DIPS Luncheon.
DPC Speaker Series.
6 13 On the Rocks Field Trip. Estes Park, CO.
COGA: Western Conservative Summit.
18
19
20
Energy Industry Volunteer Day.
21
22
23
24
25 RMAG Short Course.
Unconventional Resources Technology Conference.
28
29
30
Oilfield Helping Hands Q3 Event.
31 Western Energy Alliance Annual Meeting.
26
27
