December 2018 Outcrop

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

Volume 67 • No. 12 • December 2018

JANUARY 30 & 31 2019 REGISTER ONLINE AT www.rmag.org Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists RMAG

Permian Basin Symposium & Core Workshop

General Registration $550 | Student $450 Sheraton Denver West 360 Union Blvd, Lakewood CO email: staff@rmag.org phone: 303.573.8621

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web: www.rmag.org follow: @rmagdenver

Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

910 16th Street • Suite 1214 • Denver, CO 80202 • 303-573-8621 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.

2018 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT

2st VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT

Terri Olson tmolson8550@gmail.com

Sophie Berglund sberglund@raisaenergy.com

RMAG STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Barbara Kuzmic bkuzmic@rmag.org

PRESIDENT-ELECT

TREASURER

Tom Sperr tsperr@bayless-cos.com

Robin Swank robin.swank@gmail.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT

TREASURER-ELECT

David Katz davidkatz76@gmail.com

Eryn Bergin eryn.bergin@aec-denver.com

Kira Timm kira.k.timm@gmail.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT

SECRETARY

Heather LaReau heatherthegeologist@gmail.com

Anna Phelps aphelps@sm-energy.com

Courtney Beck Courtney.Beck@halliburton.com

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

COUNSELOR

Tracy Lombardi tracy.lombardi@inflectionenergy.com

Jim Emme jim_emme@yahoo.com

PROJECTS SPECIALIST

Kathy Mitchell-Garton kmitchellgarton@rmag.org EDITORS

Jesse Melick jesse.melick@bpx.com DESIGN/LAYOUT

Nate Silva nate@nate-silva.com ADVERTISING INFORMATION

Rates and sizes can be found on page 57. 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 303-573-8621.

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: 303-573-8621 | Fax: 808-389-4090 | staff@rmag.org or www.rmag.org The Outcrop is a monthly publication of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

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2018 Summit Sponsors Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

NORTH RANCH RESOURCES

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Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

CONTENTS FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

20 Lead Story: Richard Tripp, Colorado Collector

12 RMAG November 2018 Board of Directors Meeting

38 RMAG Permian Basin Field Trip

16 President’s Letter

42 Very Impressive Dinosaur Trackways At Picket Wire Canyonlands Of Southeastern Colorado

50 RMAG Luncheon programs: William R. Drake

48 Horseshoe Cirque Field Trip: August 25, 2018

ASSOCIATION NEWS 2 RMAG Permian Basin Symposium & Core Workshop 4 RMAG 2018 Summit Sponsors

52 RMAG Luncheon programs: Trisha Curtis 54 Welcome New RMAG Members!

55 In The Pipeline 57 Outcrop Advertising Rates 58 Advertiser Index 58 Calendar

6 2019 RMAG Summit Sponsorship

COVER PHOTO A well-preserved sauropod trackway excavated and cleaned along the banks of the Purgatoire River in southeastern Colorado continues out of sight beneath a pile of soil and debris that once covered it.

Tracks require frequent cleaning as rainwater and sediment collects in the depressions.

By Denise M. Stone

11 2019 RMAG Mentorship Program 53 Congratulations B.O.D. Election Winners

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The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists 910 16th Street, Suite 1214, Denver, CO, 80202 phone: 303.573.8621 | fax: 888.389.4090| email: staff@rmag.org

November 6, 2018 Dear Partners, 2018 was a very successful year at Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists. Our 2018 Summit Sponsors made it possible for us to host 37 separate educational and technical events, and 4 social events, in addition to assisting with overall operations. We simply cannot thank you enough!

All of us here at RMAG are very excited for the 2019 Summit Sponsorship program, and we think you will be too. Program levels, benefits and pricing are remaining the same as 2018, but with one attractive addition, website advertising. RMAG has purchased new association management software (AMS) and a custom designed website. The new website will have a “click to open” advertiser’s page. 2019 Summit Sponsors, at all levels, will have ads placed on the advertiser’s page in addition to their monthly ads in The Outcrop. Platinum and Gold level Summit Sponsors will have the added benefit of publishing articles on the advertiser’s page.

The advertiser’s page was modeled in part by the AAPG Explorer website, where companies can present their work to the public. Another Summit Sponsor website benefit will be company logos continually scrolling on the home page.

Summit Sponsorship also includes no-cost training and social activities. These benefits are to use as you wish, for staff, vendors or guests. RMAG provides some of the highest quality, and industry relevant trainings in the country. We also like to have fun while networking with our annual golf tournament, and various other social activities throughout the year.

If you company hasn’t previously been an RMAG Summit Sponsor, or it has been awhile since you were, please consider becoming a Summit Sponsor! RMAG maintains a membership base of 1800 throughout the year, the largest membership base of any geological-based association in the Rocky Mountain region, assuring your company broad exposure.

Again, a sincere thank you to everyone who has supported RMAG throughout 2018! We are looking forward to our continued partnership and making new partners in 2019. Please contact me directly at bkuzmic@rmag.org , or 303-573-8621 x 2, if your or your company have any questions.

Best Regards,

Barbara Kuzmic Executive Director Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

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2019 RMAG Summit Sponsorship Platinum, Gold, Silver Sponsorship Level Contribution Level

Platinum

Gold

Silver

$10,000

$5,000

$2,500

$9,500 for returning 2018 sponsors

$4,500 for returning 2018 sponsors

RMAG Website Benefits

ü

ü

üMedium Logo

Large Logo & Link 4 Articles & 4 Large Ads

Medium Logo 2 Articles & 2 Medium Ads

The Outcrop (receive benefits for 12 issues, monthly online publication)*

ü Full page ad

ü 2/3 page ad

ü 1/2 page ad

Company logo listed as a 2019 annual sponsor in the Outcrop

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

üMedium Logo

Company logo looping in PowerPoint presentation

ü

ü

ü

Company logo placed on 2019 Summit Sponsor signage at all monthly luncheons

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

üMedium Logo

Opportunity to offer RMAG approved promotional items at luncheons

ü

ü

ü

Company logo on 2019 Summit Sponsorship Website Page Articles & Ads on Special Advertiser's Website Page

4 Small Ads

Publications

Monthly Luncheons

2019 Continuing Education Event Tickets - Choice of 2 Events Platinum

Gold

Silver

Please choose two events and indicate your selections below. Each box counts as one event.

4 Core Workshop Tickets - including Hot Plays Core Workshop without Fall Symposium Tickets

2 Core Workshop Tickets - including Hot Plays Core Workshop without Fall Symposium

2 Core Workshop Tickets - including Hot Plays Core Workshop without Fall Symposium

2 Short Course Tickets

2 Short Course Tickets

1 Short Course Ticket

2 Fall SymposiumTickets

2 Fall Symposium Tickets

1 Fall Symposium Ticket

2 Fall Symposium Tickets - including Hot Plays Core Workshop (counts as two selections)

1 Fall Symposium Ticket - including Hot Plays Core Workshop (counts as two selections)

2 half price Tickets to the Fall Symposium and Hot Plays Core Workshop

* 12 months of Outcrop Advertising: Company logos and advertising information must be received no later than January 31st, 2019 to receive 12 total months. 12 total months includes January 2020. If received between January 31st and February 28th will receive 11 total months. All logos and advertising information must be received no later than January 15, 2019 to be included on Summit Sponsor signage. Previous Summit Sponsors only need to submit advertising information.

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2019 RMAG Summit Sponsorship Platinum, Gold, Silver RMAG 2019 Events

Platinum

Gold

Silver

Additional Tickets

Purchase additional 1/2 Price Continuing Education Event Tickets

ü3 total tickets for any event ü2 total tickets for any

event excludes Fall excludes Fall Symposium and Symposium and Hot Plays Hot Plays Core Workshop Core Workshop

No half price tickets at this level

RMAG Luncheons

ü 4 Total Tickets through

ü 2 Total Tickets through

ü 1 Total Tickets through

Player tickets

ü 2 Teams of Four Players

ü 1 Team of Four Players

ü 2 Individual Players

Company logo placed in Golf Tournament PowerPoint

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

üMedium Logo

Company logo placed on 2019 Summit Sponsor signage

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

üMedium Logo

Player tickets

ü 2 Teams of Five Players

ü 1 Team of 5 Players

ü 2 individual players

Company logo placed in Sporting Clay Tournament PowerPoint

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

üMedium Logo

Company logo placed on 2019 Summit Sponsor signage

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

üMedium Logo

Event tickets

ü 4 Tickets

ü 2 Tickets

ü 2 Tickets

Company logo placed on 2019 Summit Sponsor signage

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

üMedium Logo

Company logo looping in PowerPoint presentation

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

üMedium Logo

Event Tickets

2019

2019

2019

Golf Tournament

Sporting Clay Tournament

Rockbusters Bash

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2019 RMAG Summit Sponsorship All sponsor benefit event tickets must meet RMAG event registration deadlines. All benefits end January 31, 2020 Discount to returning 2018 Summit Sponsors for 2019 Summit Sponsors only.

RMAG 2019 Summit Sponsorship Opportunities Platinum Sponsor Gold Sponsor Silver Sponsor

Deadline for sponsorship: January 31, 2019. Specify type of payment on signed form, and send logo to staff@rmag.org by 1/31/19. No benefits will be provided without payment.

Company: Company Representative: Address: City/State/Zip: Phone:

Email:

Payment by Credit Card Select a card: Amex M/C VISA Discover Name as it appears on Credit Card:____________________________________________________ Credit Card #: Exp. Date: _________________ Security #: Signature: Payment by Check Mail checks payable to RMAG: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) 910 16th Street Mall, Suite 1214 Denver, CO, 80202

RMAG events are subject to change. Cancellation or rescheduling of events does not give sponsor right to refund. Summit Sponsors will receive benefits at any new events added into the RMAG schedule for 2019.

Thank you for your generous support!

email: staff@rmag.org

phone: 303.573.8621

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fax: 888.389.4090 web: www.rmag.org Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org follow: @rmagdenver

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R M A G

Apply Accepting applications through December 21, 2018. Visit www.rmag.org to apply.

About RMAG pairs young professionals with senior professional mentors who can offer career path and technical mentorship. During the 11 month program, RMAG provides participants with multiple opportunities to get together, and encourages mentor/mentee pairs to arrange informal meetings as well.

email: sta@rmag.org

February 1, 2019 December 31, 2019

phone: 303.573.8621

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910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202

fax: 888.389.4090 11

web: www.rmag.org

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follow: @rmagdenver

RMAG NOVEMBER 2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

By Anna Phelps, Secretary aphelps@sm-energy.com

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for their hard work, the excellent trips, and helping us all get out on the outcrop this summer.

The Science Education Outreach Committee has already presented at five schools and is organizing more presentations. They

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mentee. The On the Rocks Committee reported that the sold out Picketwire Fieldtrip was a blast! The On the Rocks Committee ran 10 trips this year, which is more trips than the previous two years combined! A huge thank you to the Committee

Happy holidays friends!

Where has the year gone? It’s hard to believe it is already holiday time. Bring on the baked birds, decorated cookies, cheery spirits, and if you’re lucky, a good geology book wrapped in paper and ribbon.

The November meeting of the RMAG Board of Directors was held on November 15, 2018 at 4:00 PM. All board members except Eryn Bergin were present. Treasurer Robin Swank reported that RMAG was ahead on revenue in October and has had consistent expenses, and generally had a strong budget year.

Director Barbara Kuzmic reported that membership is up to 1,798 members and that Rockbuster’s Bash was a great success and that the new venue was well received.

The Continuing Education Committee continues to work on planning the Permian Basin Symposium for the end of January. The Committee has had a record number of abstract submissions and has several great Permian cores lined up. Don’t forget to register for the Symposium if you work the Permian, have interest in the Permian, or simply love strong technical talks and tantalizing core! The Membership Committee is gearing up for 2019, including getting the 2019 Mentorship Program kicked off. Keep an eye for applications to be a mentor or

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Come out of the Cold for PTTC Workshops Spotfire Workshop

Friday December 7, 2018, Location: Colorado School of Mines, Fee: $250, includes snacks, class notes, and PDH cert.

Instructor: Bryan McDowell, Colorado School of Mines

Carbonates of the Permian Basin: from Shelf to Basin

Thursday, December 13, 2018, Location: Colorado School of Mines, Berthoud Hall rm. 403 Fee: $250, includes snacks, class notes, and PDH certificate Instructors: Dr. Peter A. Scholle, and Dr. Dana Ulmer-Scholle, New Mexico Tech & Scholle Petrographic

The Permian Basin, one of the largest petroleum provinces in North America, is still a very active site for petroleum exploration. This class is designed to look petrographically at the various facies, including (in various times and places) open shelf, sabkha, lagoon, backreef, reef, forereef and basinal environments. It also involves identifying organisms, lithologies, porosity types, and diagenetic fabrics.

Since diagenesis has profound effects on the porosity and permeability of carbonate reservoirs, we need to understand how diagenetic changes affect these deposits through time (syndepositional to burial, as well as late-stage upliftrelated alteration). Such analysis provides valuable information on both the history of reservoir potential through time as well as the history of fluid flow through the units. Although many reservoirs produce mainly from primary or early-formed pores, there is a growing understanding that late-stage diagenesis can also form excellent productive reservoirs — thus we will look at examples of both.

Unlike most courses that consist of only lectures, this course provides participants with an opportunity to have hands-on experience using standard petrographic microscopes to better understand how diagenesis impacts carbonate reservoirs.

This class is for participants who have some fundamental knowledge of reservoir geology; in addition, some minimal petrographic experience would be useful but is not absolutely essential.

The course:

Integrating petrography into petrophysical or core studies of carbonate rocks provides unique and important information about their diagenetic history. The information garnered from petrographic analyses can be utilized to better understand reservoir trends, diagenetic effects that impact reservoir quality, and model fluid flow through these rocks. It is also essential in properly identifying and selecting material to be used for geochemical analysis. This course combines an overview lecture with hands-on petrographic observations of thin sections from a variety of cores and outcrop samples from the Permian Basin. Participants are also encouraged to bring their own thin section samples from that region to the class and play “stump-the-chump and chumpette” with the instructors. The morning will be lecture based and the afternoon will be spent doing hands-on petrography.

Geology of Hydrothermal Ore Deposits: 5 days, 5 courses.

Friday, January 3-7, 2019, Location: Colorado School of Mines, Berthoud Hall rm. 243

Thursday January 3: VMS Deposits - Dr. Thomas Monecke Friday January 4: Orogenic Gold Deposits – Dr. Richard Goldfarb Saturday January 5: Sediment-Hosted Pb-Zn Deposits – Dr. David Leach Sunday January 6: Porphyry & Skarn Deposits – Dr. Zhaochan Chang Monday January 7: Epithermal Deposits – Jeffrey W. Hedenquist

Class Descriptions and Register Online: www.pttcrockies.org For more information, contact Mary Carr, 303.273.3107, mcarr@mines.edu

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RMAG NOVEMBER 2018 BOD MEETING

POSITIONED FOR GROWTH With a proud legacy and an exciting future, QEP Resources is an industry leader in crude oil and natural gas exploration and production.

We’re focused on some of the most prolific natural resource plays in the continental United States. These include two world-class crude oil provinces — the Permian and Williston Basins and two premier natural gas assets — the Haynesville Shale and the Uinta Basin.

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, QEP is an S&P MidCap 400 Index member company (NYSE: QEP).

Learn more at www.qepres.com.

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continue to collect digital data for references and future presentations. The Board of Directors voted on and approved the 2019 budget.

Last month’s Name the Formation was from the Franklin Mountains in West Texas, where a thick Ordovician section is capped by a 30-million-year unconformity surface. If you guessed the El Paso Group (AKA Arbuckle Group, AKA Ellenburger Group), you are correct!

This month’s Name the Formation is from an outcrop back in the Rockies. The outcrop is one of a handful of Triassic exposures in Montana. This picture of the formation is near McCartney Mountain, outside Dillon, Montana, where it consists of interbedded limestone, shale, and siltstone and is exposed near the leading edge of the Sevier Thrust Belt. Name the formation!

(Photo courtesy of Montana geology aficionado Clayton Schultz.)

Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

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PRESIDENT’S LETTER

By Terri Olson

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There is supposedly an old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” This year has given me a better appreciation of that sentiment. Our commodity prices have continued to be volatile: oil is under $60/bbl as I write this, the lowest since April but still higher than most of the first quarter. Natural gas is at $3.72/mcf, the highest of the year. Our political landscape has seen dramatic shifts, and increased polarization. Colorado has a new, more left-leaning Democratic governor, who opposed Proposition 112 (to increase setbacks) but has aggressive renewal energy goals (100% by 2040). Seven scientists were newly elected to Congress in the midterm elections, in apparent response to the lack of science-based policy proposals coming from the Executive Branch.

The public increasingly recognizes the threats posed by climate change in the not-too-distant future. The Me Too Movement has changed the discussion and ground rules related to sexual harassment.

How do such times impact your regional professional society, The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists? Uncertainty in profitability of the oil industry affects RMAG in numerous ways. Most of our members are employed in or consulting for companies whose fortunes fluctuate with commodity prices. In lean times, fewer folks attend symposia and workshops and buy publications. They are more price-sensitive to events such as field trips. Less sponsorship money is available. The RMAG Board of Directors approves an annual budget and tries to be conservative in the face of this uncertainty. For the past four years, balancing the budget has required pulling money out of our investment account. That’s acceptable because that account serves as a “rainy day” fund. The Board will soon be approving a budget for 2019 that does not tap into that fund, in the expectation that the current downturn is largely behind us. But the money is there if we need it to continue to serve our members.

Uncertainty in political climate has less direct impact on your professional society. We provide support and avenues for networking to educate

members and the public about issues that impact our lives and our livelihoods. We have an educational outreach committee that is active in schools and we are trying to rejuvenate a public outreach effort. Contact Tom Sperr, RMAG President Elect and soon to be President, if you want to help.

One new initiative is the development and adoption of a non-discrimination and harassment policy.

Robbie Gries, past member of the RMAG Board, past president of AAPG, and current president of GSA, has recently provided some suggestions about the role of professional societies in this area. This topic is currently under discussion by the Board and Executive Director. Contact me or Barbara Kuzmic if you have input or would like to review the policy to

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PRESIDENT’S LETTER Mountain basins, ably edited by Larry Rasmussen, Steve Cumella, and Jon Payne.

You are RMAG, and volunteers are the backbone of the organization. There are many areas that need additional volunteer help, so please consider stepping up if you haven’t already—for public outreach, ideas to increase membership, or whatever inspires you.

In closing, I would like to thank all who have contributed time and/or money to our active society.

With too many to list, I will focus on those who have cheerfully contributed significant effort: the 2018 Board of Directors, all the committee chairs, and past and incoming publications editors. I also greatly appreciate those who have given me direct support this year, notably President-Elect Tom Sperr, past presidents Donna Anderson and Matt Silverman, and sounding board Katie Joe McDonough. My hat is off to you all: thank you for your service!

It’s been a privilege to serve as your president this year.

—Terri Olson, 2018 RMAG President

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be proposed.

RMAG has experienced significant changes in the last year. We did not participate in the 3D Seismic Symposium with the Denver Geophysical Society for the first time (though that was several years in the making). We put on more numerous but smaller Continuing Education events including workshops and short courses as well as monthly luncheons. We have a more robust field trip program thanks to the strong On the Rocks Committee. We are in the planning phases of a new offering for early next year, which could be the biggest RMAG event of 2019: a 2-day Permian Basin Symposium. Interest in that is high, with many abstracts submitted and cores already contributed. Our publications are in good shape, with three new co-editors of The Outcrop (Kira Timm, Courtney Beck, and Jesse Melick) and two new lead editors of The Mountain Geologist (William Drake and David Malone). We have a special publication due out by the end of the year, comprised of geologic cross sections across southern Rocky

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• • • • •

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Geological Wellsite Supervision Supervised Remote Geosteering Integrated Petrophysical Analysis Oil and Gas Geological Studies Conventional and Unconventional Expertise

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LEAD STORY

Richard Tripp COLORADO COLLECTOR

By James W. Hagadorn1 and William M. Benzel2 1) Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, CO 80205 2) U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225

At the USGS office in Denver, where he spent most of his career, Dick was something of a legend. If you had a mineral you couldn’t identify, you took it to Dick to identify. He saw these requests as a teaching opportunity and considered making identifications to be a personal challenge.

Dick would often drop whatever he was doing to help someone identify a specimen or sort out a problematic association of minerals. Together with his colleagues in the Branch of Exploration Geochemistry, Dick created many of the mineral standards that became commonly used throughout the Survey’s exploration of western mineral provinces. During his 55year career, he authored over 100 publications, from peer-reviewed journal articles to maps (see Bibliography).

Dick’s prowess as a world-class mineralogist is even more remarkable when you realize that he made his identifications

Growing up in Ames, Iowa, Dick Tripp was first exposed to rocks and minerals by an uncle who collected. Given the absence of mineral-studded mountains nearby, his uncle took him to nearby Indiana to explore, where they discovered geodes and crystals in quarries and road cuts. Dick’s first paper, published in 1959 when he was 24 years old, focused on the mineralogy of Iowa geodes from Keokuk exposures of the Warsaw Formation, right in his backyard.

After a stint at the University of Iowa, Dick transferred to the University of New Mexico, where he was immediately struck by the incredible rock exposures of the surrounding desert. One of his UNM and mineral-collecting friends, Sherman Marsh, helped him land a position at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), where they worked together for nearly 40 years—mapping, conducting mineral surveys, and even running a part-time mineral business (the Mineral Mart) on the side (Fig. 1).

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Richard B. “Dick” Tripp was among the most remarkable yet unsung Colorado geologists. With an uncanny ability to sight-identify minerals, he helped find elusive Alaskan ore deposits and amassed an eclectic collection of rocks, minerals and fossils that prompted visitors to ask “How did that form?” Ever an inspiration to the next generation, his legacy is a continuum of specimen awards, geological art, and unusual minerals on display at museums throughout the west.

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FIGURE 1: Richard Tripp,

collecting beryls on Squaw Mountain, near Evergreen, Colorado, in July 1968. Photo

by Sherman Marsh.

FIGURE 2: Dick Tripp in his lab

in 2013, in front of one of his panoramic photos of western Colorado (left) and his collection of concretions and geodes. Photo by Bill Benzel.

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LEAD STORY

with no more to work with than stream sediments and concentrates of stream sediments composed of rounded crystals less than 2 mm in diameter. Identifying nice euhedral crystals, bigger specimens, or thin sections seemed easy in comparison. Moreover, Dick conducted many of his identifications in the field, following up preliminary assessments with microscopy and X-ray diffraction in the lab (Fig. 2).

In the 1970s and 1980s, Dick and his colleagues assessed the nonmagnetic fraction of heavy-mineral concentrates of many Alaskan watersheds (e.g., Tripp et al., 1976, 1978; Tripp and Crim, 1978; Tripp and Detra, 1980). The idea was that the streams would yield clues to the vast mineral deposits that were otherwise covered in the difficult-to-map terrain of Alaskan forests and tundra. By identifying the type and character of these sand-sized minerals, geologists could work upstream to figure out the location and richness of the deposits and make targeted investigations with a higher probability of success.

Like old-time forty-niners, Dick and his colleagues often panned for minerals. He possessed an uncanny ability to know where to look for heavy minerals in a stream, including which plants would act as filters and capture the gold and monazite grains (Fig. 3).

In order to improve separation of magnetic minerals from pan concentrates, Dick modified the Frantz magnetic separator by building his own attachments, which allowed for more efficient separation. Dick did some of the same work in New Mexico and Nevada. Collectively, he and his colleagues helped identify the origin of significant American reserves of tungsten, tin, nickel, chromium, and beryllium, not to mention the source of a gold placer deposit or two. This was a significant accomplishment, especially when one considers the Cold War context of these discoveries. For example, after the turn of the century, many thought that Alaska was all “mined out” of valuable metals and fur-bearing wildlife. Yet government and industry teams such as Dick’s identified resources with the potential to rekindle a second Klondike-scale rush for gold and other minerals.

In retirement, Dick invested in several known gold deposits that were deemed to be uneconomic by the previous lease holders, due to gold separation

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issues. In his apartment’s back room, he designed and tested several gold processing units and then later scaled them up for field use. His initial field tests demonstrated that his enhanced concentration processes showed significant gains in recoveries.

One of his processing units is in use today on a play in Utah.

Although Dick’s favorite mineral was gold, what he really cherished sharing were the minerals and fossils that told a story (Fig. 4) or that appeared to break crystallographic rules. We fondly recall one of his displays at the Denver Gem and Mineral Show, where he showed a garden-variety septarian nodule from western Colorado. It had been fashioned into bookends, and at first glance, seemed unremarkable (Fig. 5). Dick picked it up for a few bucks at a show, knowing that it held a deeper secret. It wasn’t just any septarian nodule but one that nucleated in, and then grew around, the chambers of a disintegrating ammonite. Dick was the first to notice that the fracture patterns of the nodule followed the sequentially larger growth patterns of the ammonite chambers and that the cracks seemed to nucleate in a somewhat fractal pattern, flaring off the sutured walls of the now disintegrated shell.

Later in his collecting career, Dick became fascinated by monazite (Tripp et al., 2009), epitaxial pyrite on calcite, and with unusual pyrites from Spain (Fig. 6). He was well known at the Jeffco and Denver mineral shows for displaying specimens that simply said “Can you identify this mineral?”, including specimens whose shapes seemed aberrant given their apparent identity. An example of such a rule-bender is a pair of spheroidal pyrites. They are apparently unique in the mineral realm, because they’re not pyritohedrons or pyrite encrustations on spherical cores, nor are they globular forms like those found in black shales of Western Australia and the North American midcontinent. Instead they are acicular, polygonally faceted dimpled spheres of solid pyrite.

These specimens were acquired indirectly from a fire-sale of pyrites that were originally (and somewhat shortsightedly) cast off from the Academy of Natural Sciences (Fig. 7). Unfortunately, all provenance information concerning the samples was lost, including location. If you have any information

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FIGURE 3: Dick Tripp (right), Rick Carten (left) and an unidentified USGS colleague in the 1980s, collecting stream sediments near

Chandalar, Alaska. Photo by Sherman Marsh.

FIGURE 4: Two geode halves that contain four different generations of calcite crystallization. Organic carbon thinly coats the lining

of the geode causing the brown color in the first-generation calcite. The second- and third-generation calcite are delineated by pink hemispherical masses to “pagoda� shaped crystals. The large single white calcite crystals mark the final stage of calcite growth. The geode came from a limy shale of the Mississippian Lower Warsaw Formation, from near St. Francisville, Clark Co., Missouri. Specimens are 17 cm wide. DMNH EGM.19547. Photo by Rick Wicker.

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LEAD STORY

concerning these minerals or have seen similar specimens, please contact us.

Although a private person, Dick was a lynchpin of the USGS community, often acting as a “get ‘er done” colleague who contributed to the social fabric of the institution. For example, Dick regularly hand-illustrated the posters and flyers for the annual holiday party, even helping produce the annual “spoof” scientific journal of the survey, called Pick and Hammer (Fig. 8). Like an editorial cartoonist, in the Pick and Hammer, he skewered and poked good-natured fun at colleagues, while simultaneously cheering their accomplishments and lightening the mood at the end of tough years (Fig. 9). His Midwestern dry humor was expressed in puns. Oh, the puns!!! If you spent any time with Dick, you listened to puns, especially ones that included mineral names. For example, maybe we “autonite.”

Dick was a longstanding member of the Colorado Mineral Society, and his annual displays at western mineral shows helped inspire fellow collectors and the next generation. Many of them won awards, whether for serious specimens such as the one that he presented in 1960 with a foot-long blade of wulfenite from Arizona’s Glove Mine or the more tongue-in-cheek ones such as his “Moo” agate that wowed many a kid at the 2010 show (Fig. 10). In addition to entries into mineral competitions, he always entered in the educational category. His last educational display showed the difference between the formation of concretions and geodes.

Even when living on a pensioner’s salary, Dick regularly donated specimens to the silent auctions at the Colorado Mineral Society (CMS) throughout the later parts of his career. When he was no longer able to field-collect, he would draw on his extensive mineral collection in order to “trade up” by swapping several of his specimens for one museum-quality specimen (Fig. 11). His collection focused on rare and unique minerals. Many of them were not showy minerals and fossils, but rather educational specimens that deserved to be part of research study collection. He also bought flats of inexpensive minerals to give away to kids whom he thought might catch the mineral bug. He ran the amateur mineral quiz at the annual CMS holiday party.

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Like many scientists, Dick had to make a choice early in his career whether to pursue music or geology. Dick loved music and aspired to be a conductor or a pianist. And, his artistic talents were not limited to music; he studied photography and specialized in true-color images of rocks and minerals as well as combined panoramic photos of field sites, all done at a time when digital photography was still in the future. There were other hobbies too. Like many Denverites, he passionately followed the Broncos.

Another favorite hobby was bowling. He frequented Holiday Lanes in Lakewood, where he was a ProAm bowler well into his 70s. Instead of a three-finger grip, Dick used a two-finger grip—sans thumb hole! Unlike the rest of us mortals, Dick bowled many tournament 300 games in his career and even had several 800 series. A 300 game is pretty rare in a tournament, but an 800 series is like pitching consecutive no-hitters or golfing two holes-in-one in a row—it is rarer than hen’s teeth.

Dick was an uncommon man with a big heart.

His interest in gold mining was motivated by the hope of funding and opening a mineral museum. His final wish was for his collections to be distributed to as many museums as possible, where they could inspire the next generation of mineral lovers. Dick passed away after a long battle with cancer in 2014, but his legacy lives on—the minerals he found in the streambeds of Alaska are now being mined at their source, his specimens are on display at several local museums (e.g., the Dinosaur Ridge Discovery Center, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and Leadville National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum), and some of the more perplexing minerals in his collection are still being studied by colleagues to determine how they formed.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to the colleagues who contributed original materials, oral histories, and information about Dick, including David and Pam Detra, David Fey, Larry Havens, Jim Hurlbut, Dan Kile, Sherman Marsh, Jay Reitman, and Jack Thompson.

Thanks to R. Wicker and R. Payne for scanning and restoring images and materials and to Alan Koenig

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FIGURE 5: (above) Part-counterpart bookends of a septarian nodule, hypothesized to pseudomorph a coiled

ammonite. Wyoming. Specimens are 18 cm wide. DMNH EGM.19669. Photo by Rick Wicker.

FIGURE 6: (below) Bar and cube pyrites from Navarun, Spain, that appear to have cryptic twinning.

Specimens are 10 cm and 12 cm wide, respectively. DMNH EGM.19538 and EGM.19545. Photo by Rick Wicker.

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LEAD STORY Tanacross quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report.

Day, G.W., Tripp, R.B., Curtin, G.C., Marsh, S.P., and O’Leary, R.M., 1976, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of zinc in the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report.

Marsh, S.P., Day, G.W., Curtin, G.C., and Tripp, R. B., 1976, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of beryllium in the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey, Miscellaneous Field Studies Map 767-L. Marsh, S.P., O’Leary, R.M., Day, G.W., Curtin, G.C, and Tripp, R.B., 1976, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of tin in the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report.

Marsh, S.P., Tripp, R.B., O’Leary, R.M., Day, G.W., and Curtin, G.C., 1976, Composite geochemical map of anomalous copper and molybdenum distribution in the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report.

Tripp, R.B., Curtin, G.C., Day, G.W., Carlson, R.C., and Marsh, S.M., 1976, Maps showing mineralogical and geochemical data for heavy-mineral concentrates in the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-767-O, 2 sheets.

Tripp, R.B., Day, G.W., Curtin, G.C., Marsh, S.P., and O’Leary, R.M., 1976, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of lead in the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report.

Curtin, G.C., Hessin, T.D., O’Leary, R.M., Day, G.W., Cooley, E.F., and Tripp, R.B., 1978, Geochemical exploration studies in Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0772-B, p. B5–B6.

Curtin, G.C., Carlson, R.C., Day, G.W., O’Leary, R.M., and Tripp, R.B., 1978, Geochemical maps showing distribution and abundance of selected elements in the Talkeetna Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-301, 15 sheets.

Curtin, G.C., Karlson, R.C., and Tripp, R. B., 1978, Geochemical and generalized geologic maps showing distribution and abundance of chromium and nickel in the Talkeetna Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S.

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and two anonymous reviewers for helping improve the manuscript.

CHRONOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY: RICHARD B. TRIPP

Tripp, Richard B., 1959, The mineralogy of Warsaw Formation geodes: In The Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science (December 1959), v. 66, p.

350–356.

Tripp, Richard B., 1961, The mineralogy of Warsaw Formation geodes; further study: Earth Science, v.

14, no. 1, p. 28–29.

Larson, Arden L., and Tripp, Richard B., 1972, New X-ray data on natural atacamite: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper B119–B120.

Cox, Dennis P., Larson, Richard R., and Tripp, Richard B., 1973, Hydrothermal alteration in Puerto Rican porphyry copper deposits: Economic Geology, v. 68, no. 8, p. 1329–1334.

Curtin, G.C., Marsh, S.M., Tripp, R.B., O’Leary, R.M., Day, G.W., and Foster, H.L., 1975, Geochemical survey of the Tanacross Quadrangle, in Yount, M.E., ed., U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Program, 1975: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0722, p. 50–53.

Curtin, G.C., Day, G.W., Forn, C.L., Hessin, T.D, Hoffman, J.D., Marsh, S.M., O’Leary, R.M., and Tripp, R.B., 1976, Exploration geochemistry in Alaska, in Cobb, E.H., ed., United States Geological Survey in Alaska, Accomplishments during 1975: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0733. p. 5–7.

Curtin, G.C., Day, G.W., O’Leary, R.M., Marsh, S.M., and Tripp, R.B., 1976, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of copper in the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-0767-F, 1 sheet.

Curtin, G.C., Day, G.W., O’Leary, R.M., Tripp, R.B., and Carten, R.B., 1976, Composite geochemical map of anomalous lead and zinc distribution in the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-0767-N, 1 sheet.

Day, G.W., Carten, R.B., Marsh, S.P., Tripp, R.B., and Curtin, G.C., 1976, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of molybdenum in the OUTCROP | December 2018

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FIGURE 7:

(top) Pyrite sphere, formerly from the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences.

Specimen is 9 cm wide. Collection of Sherm Marsh. Photo by Rick Wicker.

FIGURE 8:

(bottom) Front and rear covers of the annual Pick and Hammer Society’s annual program, illustrated by Dick Tripp as a parody of the field’s leading journal, GSA Bulletin. DMNH 2016-34-11.

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LEAD STORY Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-880-F, 2 sheets.

Tripp, R.B., Karlson, R.C., and Curtin, Gary C., 1978, Map showing mineralogical data for nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrates in the Talkeetna Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Tripp, R.B., and Crim, W.D., 1978, Mineralogical map showing the distribution and abundance of gold, scheelite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, minium and sapphire corundum in heavy-mineral concentrates in the Seward and Blying Sound quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey.

Tripp, R.B., 1978, Geochemical map showing the distribution and abundance of copper in stream sediments in the Seward and Blying Sound quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey.

Tripp, R.B., Crim, W.D., O’Leary, and Richard M., 1978, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of gold in stream sediments and of gold and silver in heavy-mineral concentrates in the Seward and Blying Sound quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey.

Curtin, G.C., Crim, W.D., King, H.D., Cooley, E.F., Forn, C.L., Hoffman, J.D., O’Leary, R.M., and Tripp, R.B., 1979, Reconnaissance Geochemical Studies in Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0804-B, p. B4–B5.

Curtin, G.C., O’Leary, R.M., Tripp, R.B., and Cooley, E.F., 1979, Geochemical and generalized geologic maps showing the distribution and abundance of thorium and distribution of uranium in selected samples in the central Alaska Range, Talkeetna Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey OpenFile Report 79-430, 1 plate.

Day, Gordon W., Curtin, Gary C., and Tripp, Richard B., 1979, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of lead, zinc, and cadmium in the ash of black spruce needles and ground birch leaves from the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1319.

Day, Gordon W., Curtin, Gary C., and Tripp, Richard B., 1979, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of copper and molybdenum in the ash of black spruce needles and ground birch leaves from the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1320.

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Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF- 870.

Curtin, G.C., McDougal, C.M., Karlson, R.C., Day, G.W., Tripp, R.B., and Cooley, E.F., 1978, Maps showing mineralogical data for nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrates in the Talkeetna quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey.

Domenico, J. A., Overstreet, W.C., Hubert, A.E., and Tripp, R.B., 1978, Tin and related elements in sediments and beach sands from Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79-1188.

Karlson, R.C., Tripp, R.B., Day, G.W., and Curtin, G.C., 1978, Geochemical and generalized geologic maps showing distribution and abundance of tin, tungsten and beryllium in the Talkeetna Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey.

O’Leary, R.M., Cooley, E.F., Day, G.W., McDougal, C.M., Tripp, R.B., and Crim, W.D., 1978, Spectrographic and atomic-absorption analyses of geochemical samples from the Seward and Blying Sound Quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 78-1102, 59 p.

Tripp, R.B., and Crim, W.D., 1978, Mineralogical map showing the distribution and abundance of gold, scheelite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, and sapphire Corundum in heavy-mineral concentrates in the Seward and Blying Sound Quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-880-G, 2 sheets.

Tripp, R.B., Carlson, R.C., and Curtin, G.C., 1978, Maps showing mineralogical data for nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrates in the Talkeetna Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF- 870-I, 1 sheet.

Tripp, R.B., Crim, W.D., Cooley, E.F., Day, G.W., 1978, Geochemical map showing the distribution and abundance of copper in stream sediments in the Seward and Blying Sound Quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-880-E, 1 sheet.

Tripp, R.B., Crim, W.D., and O’Leary, R.M., 1978, Geochemical maps showing the distribution and abundance of gold in stream sediments and of gold and silver in heavy-mineral concentrates in the Seward and Blying Sound Quadrangles, Alaska: U.S.

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FIGURE 9: (above) Alaskan moose antler inscribed and illustrated in the field by Dick Tripp, as a parody

geochemistry award to fellow U.S. Geological Survey geologist, Helen Foster. Photo by Dick Tripp.

FIGURE 10: (below) “Moo” agate, or “moogate.” Specimen may be from Brazil.

Specimen is 17 cm wide. DMNH EGM.19536. Photo by Rick Wicker.

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LEAD STORY Evenson, E.B., Stephens, G.C., Curtin, G.C., and Tripp, R.B., 1982, Geochemical exploration using englacial debris, in Coonrad, W., ed., United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1980: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0844, p. 108–110.

O’Leary, R.M., Risoli, D.A., Curtin, G.C., Tripp, R.B., McDougal, C.M., and Huston, D.L., 1982, Final analytical results of stream-sediments, glacial debris and nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrate samples from the Mt. Hayes Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 82-0325, 130 p.

Tripp, R.B., Curtin, G.C., Huston, D.L., Detra, D.E., Nishi, J.M., Detterman, R.L., King, H.D., Duttweiler, K.D., and Johnson, W.D., 1982, Regional geochemical exploration in Alaska: Geological Survey Research 1982: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1375, p. 2–3.

Tripp, R.B., Detra, D.E., and Nishi, J.M., 1982, Mineralized zones in bedrock near Miller Creek, Circle Quadrangle, in Coonrad, W.L., ed., U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1980: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0844, p. 62.

Goldfarb, R.J. and Tripp, R.B., 1983, New areas of geochemical favorability for lode gold and Fe-CuZn massive sulfide deposits, Prince William Sound, South-Central Alaska: Salt Lake City, Utah, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program, Rocky Mountain Section, 36th Annual Meeting; Cordilleran Section, 79th Annual Meeting, p. 400.

King, H.D., and Tripp, R.B., 1983, Multi-element maps showing the distribution and relative amounts of selected elements in four geochemical sampling media, Medfra Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report OF 80-0811-M, 4 sheets.

King, H.D., Risoli, D.A., and Tripp, R.B., 1983, Distribution and abundance of molybdenum, tin, and tungsten in nonmagnetic and moderately magnetic heavy-mineral-concentrate samples and tin in minus-80-mesh stream-sediment and ash of aquatic-bryophyte samples, Medfra Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-0811-J, 4 sheets.

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King, H.D., Tripp, R.B., O’Leary, R.M., Cooley, E.F., McDanal, S.K., and Speisman, D.L., 1979, Spectrographic and atomic-absorption analyses of geochemical samples from the Medfra Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 79959, 44 p.

Marsh, S.P., Karlson, R.C., Tripp, R.B., Day, G.W., and Curtin, G.C., 1979, Maps showing mineralogical and geochemical data for heavy-mineral concentrates in the Tanacross Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey.

Barton, Harlan N., Tripp, Richard B., and Theobald, Paul K., 1980, Geochemical maps showing the distribution of elements in the heavy-mineral concentrate of stream sediments in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness and Salome Study Area, Gila County, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 1162-D. Curtin, Gary C., Day, G.W., and Tripp, R.B., 1980, Histograms and correlation table for selected elements in samples of the ash of ground birch leaves from the Tanacross quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey.

Evenson, E.B., Stephens, G.C., Curtin, G.C., and Tripp, R.B., 1980, Geochemical exploration using englacial debris: The United States Geological Survey in Alaska-Accomplishments during (1980), p.

108-109.

Negri, J.C., Tripp, R.B., and McHugh, J.B., 1980, Maps showing the distribution of radon and uranium in water samples and thorium and uranium in dry-stream sediment samples in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness and Salome Study Area, Gila County, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1162-C. Tripp, R.B., and Detra, D.E., 1980, Maps showing mineralogic data for selected minerals in nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrates of stream sediments in the Chignik and Sutwik Island Quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1053-I, 2 sheets.

Barton, H.N., Theobald, P.K., and Tripp, R.B., 1982, Geochemical data for the Sierra Ancha Wilderness and Salome and Cherry Creek RARE II areas, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey.

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LEAD STORY FIGURE 11:

Vanadinite with Mn-oxides on brecciated felsic volcanic rock, from Mibladen, Morocco.

This vanadinite specimen was collected about 20 years ago from a near-surface breccia zone in volcanic rock. The crystals show physical variations indicating several episodes of mineralizing fluids had migrated through the fractured rocks. Localized Mnoxides in the fault zone probably facilitated precipitation of the vanadinite. Specimen is 10 cm wide. DMNH EGM.19539.

Photo by Rick Wicker Conference on Alaskan Placer Mining, March 28-29, 1984, MIRL Report 69, p. 69–72.

Curtin, G.C., Tripp, R.B., O’Leary, R.M., and Huston, D.L., 1984, Geochemically anomalous areas north of the Denali Fault in the Mount Hayes Quadrangle, Southern Alaska: United States Geological Survey in Alaska, in Coonrad, W.L., and Elliott, R.L., eds., Accomplishments during 1981: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0868, p. 92–93.

Goldfarb, R.J., Folger, P.F., Smaglik, S.M., and Tripp, R.B., 1984, A statistical interpretation of geochemical data from Chugach National Forest, in Reed, K.M., and Bartsch-Winkler, S., eds., The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1982: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0939, p. 44–50.

Goldfarb, Richard J., Nelson, Steven W., Dumoulin, Julie A., and Miller, Martha L., 1984, Data report and statistical summary for samples of moraine and stream sediment, nonmagnetic heavy-mineral concentrate and rocks from the Chugach National Forest, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey OpenFile Report.

Antweiler, J.C., Tripp, R.B., Cathrall, J.B., and Mosier, E.L., 1985, Studies of gold in the Chandalar and Koyukuk Districts, Wiseman and Bettles Quadrangles, a progress report, in Bartsch-Winkler, S., and

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King, H.D., Tripp, R.B., O’Leary, R.M., and Cooley, E.F., 1983, Distribution and abundance of copper, lead, and zinc in nonmagnetic and moderately magnetic heavy-mineral-concentrate, minus-80-mesh stream-sediment, and ash of aquatic-bryophyte samples, Medfra Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 80-0811-I, 6 sheets.

Menzie, W.D., Foster, H.L., Tripp, R.B., and Yeend, W.E., 1983, Mineral resource assessment of the Circle Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 83-0170-B, 61 p.

Stephens, G.C., Evenson, E.B., Tripp, R.B., and Detra, D.E., 1983, Active alpine glaciers as a tool for bedrock mapping and mineral explorations: A case study from Trident Glacier, Alaska: INQUA Symposia on the Genesis and Lithology of Quaternary Deposits, USA, 1981, p. 195–204.

Tripp, R.B. and Cathrall, J.B., 1983, Mineralogical map showing the distribution of selected minerals in nonmagnetic fraction of heavy-mineral concentrates from Stream Sediments, Petersburg Area, Southeast Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report OF 83-0420-X, 1 sheet.

Antweiler, J.C., Cathrall, J., and Tripp, R.B., 1984, U.S. Geological Survey Alaskan gold project: Fairbanks, Alaska, Proceedings of the Sixth Annual

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LEAD STORY MF-1114-B, 1 sheet.

Tripp, R.B., Goldfarb, R.J., and Pickthorn, W.J., 1985, geochemical map showing distribution of gold within the Chugach National Forest, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1645-D, 1 sheet.

Light, T.D., Tripp, R.B., and King, H.D., 1986, Stream-sediment geochemistry of two mineral provinces in the Healy Quadrangle, Alaska: Vancouver, B.C., Canada, GEOEXPO/86 Exploration in the North American Cordillera, May 12-14, 1986, p.

126–131.

O’Leary, R.M., Hoffman, J.D., Risoli, D.A., and Tripp, R.B., 1986, Analytical results and sample locality map of stream-sediment and heavy-mineral-concentrate samples from the Circle Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report OF 860204, 124 p.

Tripp, R.B., Crim, W.D., Hoffman, J.D., O’Leary, R.M., and Risoli, D.A., 1986, Mineralogical and geochemical maps showing the distribution of selected minerals and elements found in the minus-80mesh stream-sediment and related minus-30-mesh heavy-mineral-concentrate samples from the Circle Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey OpenFile Report 83-0170F–H. 7 p., 6 sheets.

Foster, H.L., Menzie, W.D., Cady, J.W., Simpson, S.L., Aleinikoff, J.N., Wilson, F.H., and Tripp, R.B., 1987, The Alaska mineral resource assessment program; Background information to accompany folio of geologic and mineral resource maps of the Circle Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0986, 22 p.

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Reed, K.M., eds., United States Geological Survey in Alaska, Accomplishments during 1983: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0945, p. 28–29.

Cathrall, J.B., Antweiler, J.C., Mosier, E.L., Tripp, R.B., and Lueck, L., 1985, Progress report on U.S. Geological Survey Alaskan gold project: Fairbanks, Alaska, Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Conference on Alaskan Placer Mining, 1985 Alaskan Placer Mining Conference, March 28, 1985, p. 42–47.

Cooley, E.F., Tripp, R.B., and King, H.D., 1985, Maps showing the distribution and abundance of selected elements in two geochemical sampling media, Lake Clark Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey.

Goldfarb, R.J., and Tripp, R.B., 1985, geochemical map showing distribution of chalcopyrite within the Chugach National Forest, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF1645-E, 1 sheet.

Goldfarb, R.J., Tripp, R.B., and Smaglik, S.M., 1985, geochemical map showing distribution of barite, galena, and sphalerite within the Chugach National Forest, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1645-C, 1 sheet.

King, H.D., Tripp, R.B., Cooley, E.F., and Crim, W.D., 1985, Maps showing the distribution and abundance of selected elements in two geochemical sampling media, Lake Clark Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1114-C, 4 sheets.

Nelson, W.H., King, H.D., Case, J.E., Tripp, R.B., Crim, W.D., and Cooley, E.F., 1985, Mineral resource map of the Lake Clark Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map

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LEAD STORY Cathrall, John B., Tripp, R.B., McDanal. S.K., Mosier, E.L., and VanTrump, G., 1988, Analytical results, geochemical signatures, mineralogical data, and sample locality map of placer gold, and heavy-mineral concentrates from the Circle Mining District, Circle Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 88-0676, 48 p., 1 plate.

Goldfarb, R.J., Gray, J.E., and Tripp, R.B., 1988, Geochemical anomalies in the Eastern Katmai region of the Alaska Peninsula, in Galloway, J.P., and Hamilton, T.D., eds., Geologic Studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey during 1987: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-1016, p. 132–135.

Light, T.D., Lee, G.K., and Tripp, R.B., 1988, Geochemistry, geology and mineral resources of the White Mountains National Recreation Area, East-Central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey OpenFile Report 88-0284.

Light, T.D., Lee, G.K., Tripp, R.B., and Bailey, E.A., 1988, Reconnaissance geochemical investigations of the White Mountains National Recreation Area, East-Central Alaska, in Galloway, J.P., and Hamilton, T.D., eds., Geologic Studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey during 1987: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-1016.

McDanal, S.K., and Tripp, R.B., 1988, Analytical Results, geochemical signatures, mineralogical data, and sample locality map of placer gold and heavy-mineral concentrates from the Manley Hot Springs, Tofty, Eureka, and Rampart Mining Districts, Tanana and Livengood Quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 88-0443, 54 p., 1 plate.

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Madden, D.J. and Tripp, R.B., 1987, Geochemical signatures of mineral deposits and rock types as shown in stream sediments from the Peninsular Terrane, Anchorage Quadrangle, Southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 87-0129.

Madden, D.J., and Tripp, R.B., 1987, Geochemical signatures of mineral deposits and rock types as shown in stream sediments from the Chugach and Prince William Terranes, Anchorage Quadrangle, Southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 87-0131, 8 p.

Mosier, E.L., Cathrall, J.B., Antweiler, J.C., and Tripp, R.B., 1987, Some features on the composition and distribution of geochemical types of placer gold in the Koyukuk-Chandalar Mining District, Alaska, in Sachs, J.S., ed., Third Annual V.E. McKelvey Forum on Mineral and Energy Resources, Program and Abstracts: U.S. Geological Survey Circular C-0995, p. 50–51.

Mosier, E.L., Cathrall, J.B., Antweiler, J.C., Tripp, R.B., Lueck, L. and Eakins, G.R., 1987, Gold occurrences and characteristics in the Chandalar-Koyukuk Area: Fairbanks, Alaska, Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Alaska Conference on Placer Mining, March 18–25, 1987, p. 45–53.

Cathrall, John B., McDanal, S.K., Van Trump, G., Mosier, E.L., and Tripp, R.B., 1988, Analytical results, geochemical signatures, mineralogical data, and sample locality map of lode gold, placer gold, and heavy-mineral concentrates from the Tolovana Mining District, Livengood Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 88-0578, 32 p., 1 plate

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LEAD STORY in the nonmagnetic, heavy-mineral-concentrate fraction of stream sediment from the Anchorage 1 x 3 Quadrangle, Southern Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Map I-1975, 2 plates.

Erdman, J.A., Tidball, R.R., and Tripp, R.B., 1992, Uranium in groundwater and geochemistry of sediments, in Bartsch-Winkler, Susan, ed., Mineral and energy resources of the BLM Roswell Resource Area, east-central New Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 92-0261, p. 43–58.

Nelson, S. L., Sutley, S. J., Tripp, R. B., 1992, Chemical and mineralogical analyses and geological characteristics of heavy minerals from glaciofluvial sediments in Minnesota test and pilot study data: U.S. Geological Survey, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Minerals.

Stricker, G.D., Tripp, R.B., 1992, Gold in the Usibelli Group Coals, Nenana Coal Field, Alaska, in Bradley, D.C., and Dusel-Bacon, C., eds., Geologic Studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin B-2041.

Madden-McGuire, D.J., and Tripp, R.B., 1993, Geochemical map showing the distribution of gold in the Anchorage 1 × 3 Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF2227, 1 plate.

Tripp, R.B. and Cathrall, J.B., 1993, Hidden gems in the NURE data: Placer exploration potential for Au, PGM, REE, and other metals in the Arctic Coastal Plain and Foothills Provinces, Alaska: Explore, v. 79, p. 11–12.

Tripp, R.B., and King, H.D., 1993, Maps showing

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Curtin, G.C., Tripp, R.B., and Nokleberg, W.J., 1989, Summary and interpretation of geochemical maps for stream sediment and heavy mineral concentrate samples, Mount Hayes Quadrangle, Eastern Alaska Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1996-B, 3 plates.

Goldfarb, R.J., O’Leary, R.M., Sutley, S.J., and Tripp, R.B., 1989, Geochemical survey of the Cordova and Middleton Island 1 × 3 Quadrangles, South-Central Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin B-1865, 32 p.

Mosier, E.L., Tripp, R.B., 1989, Geochemistry of placer gold, Koyukuk-Chandalar Mining District, Alaska: Journal of Geochemical Exploration, v.31, no.2, p. 97–115.

Light, T.D., Tripp, R.B., and King, H.D., 1990, Interpretation of reconnaissance geochemical data from the Healy Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin B-1894, 41 p., 3 plates.

Nokleberg, W.J., Lange, I.M., Singer, D.A., Curtin, G.C., Tripp, R.B., Campbell, D., and Yeend, W., 1990, Metalliferous mineral resource assessment maps of the Mount Hayes Quadrangle, Eastern Alaska Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1996-A, 4 plates.

Sutley, S.J., Tripp, R.B., 1990, A Comparison of geochemical exploration techniques and sample media within accretionary continental margins; an example from the Pacific Border Ranges, Southern Alaska, USA: Journal of Geochemical Exploration, v. 37, no.2, p. 255–275.

Tripp, R.B., and Madden, D.J., 1991, Mineralogical maps showing distribution of ore-related minerals

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LEAD STORY minerals in the nonmagnetic, heavy-mineral-concentrate fraction of stream sediment from the Mount Hayes 1 × 3 Quadrangle, Eastern Alaska Range, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1996-E, 3 plates.

Silberman, M.L., Hassemer, J.R., Force, J., and Tripp, R.B., 1994, Assessment of mineral resource potential of the western half of the Redding 1:250,000 quadrangle, northwestern California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report.

Bartsch-Winkler, S., Donatich, Alessandro J., Armbrustmacher, Theodore J., Ball, M.M., Breit, George N., Butler, William C., Charpentier, Ronald R., Crovelli, Robert A., Dolton, G.L., Duval, Joseph S., Erdman, James A., Finch, Warren Irvin, Henry, Mitchell E., Kulik, D.M., Mast, Richard F., Otton, James K., Pierson, Charles Thomas, Robinson, Keith, Spencer, Charles Winthrop, Sutphin, David M., Tidball, Ronald R., Tripp, R. B., and Wandrey, Craig J., 1995, Mineral and energy

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distribution of selected minerals in the nonmagnetic heavy-mineral fraction of stream-sediment samples, Medfra Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2207, 2 plates.

Tripp, R.B., Curtin, G.C., Nokleberg, W.J., Huston, D.L., and Hampton, J.R., 1993, Mineralogical maps showing distribution of selected ore-related

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Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

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LEAD STORY heavy-mineral fraction of ftream fediment, Healy Quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2058-D, 2 plates.

Tripp, R.B., Benzel, W.M., Adams, D.T., Lowers, H.A., Lee, G.K. and Bailey, E.A., 2009, Europium-rich dark monazite: A potential new ore mineral for Alaska, USA?: Explore Newsletter for the Association of Applied Geochemists, no. 145, p. 1–10.

Graham, G., Taylor, R.D., Lee, G., and Tripp, R.B., 2014, Multi-media exploration geochemistry study targeting Cu-Au and Mo resources in the Tyonek Quadrangle, Alaska Range, Alaska: Geological Society of America, 2014 Annual Meeting and Exposition, Abstracts with Programs, v. 46, no. 6, p. 250.

Graham, G.E., Taylor, R.D., Lee, G.K., and Tripp, R.B., 2015, Targeting Cu-Au and Mo resources using multi-media exploration geochemistry: An example from Tyonek Quadrangle, Alaska Range, Alaska: Journal of Geochemical Exploration 157, p.

52–65.

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resources of the Roswell resource area, east-central New Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey.

Erdman, J.A., Tidball, R.R., and Tripp, R.B., 1995, Geochemistry of sediments, and uranium in groundwater, in Bartsch-Winkler, S. B., and Donatich, A. J., eds.: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, p. 35–44.

Stricker, G.D., and Tripp, R.B., 1995, Gold-content variability and origin in coal beds no. 3 and 4, Suntrana Formation, at Healy, Alaska: Geological Society of America, Cordilleran Section, 91st Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, p. 80.

Tidball, R.R., Stewart, K.C., Tripp, R.B., and Mosier, E.L., 1995, Geochemical mapping of surficial materials in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, in Posey, H.H., Pendleton, J.A., and Van Zyl, D.J.A., eds., Proceedings: Colorado Geological Survey, Summitville Forum ‘95, Special Publication, p. 244–262.

Tripp, R.B., King, H.D., and Light, T.D., 1995, Mineralogical maps showing the distribution of ore-related minerals in the minus-30-mesh, nonmagnetic

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Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

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Photo 2: Mid-Wolfcamp angular unconformity (white dashed line) along Hwy 62/180 in the Hueco Mts. Black dashed line shows dipping strata below unconformity.

Photo 1: Below, Rick Sarg pointing the way to the Western Escarpment.

RMAG Permian Basin Field Trip September 2018 Story & Photos By Donna Anderson

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schools for Exxon, Mobil and ExxonMobil. It was a pleasure to be in the field with someone who had mapped much of the area for research and had tied outcrop to subsurface with welllogs and seismic data! In addition, two of us added some local color: myself, having worked on the Brushy and Cutoff formations, and Doug Neese, having worked on Wolfcamp maturation modeling in the Delaware basin. The trip highlighted the multiple scales of thin-bedded carbonate turbidites to mass-transport complexes, slope channels, and seismic-scale shelfslope progradation geometries.

The first afternoon consisted of a (hot!) foray into the Wolfcamp shelf carbonates and seismic-scale unconformities of the Diablo Platform in the Hueco Mountains west of the Delaware Basin. The mid-Wolfcamp unconformity is beautifully exposed along Highway 62-180 as a seismic-scale angular discordance (Photo 2) containing a succession of paleosols

Most would say that the Permian Basin is one of those basins that keeps on giving in terms of petroleum resources. As the current premier play for unconventional shale resources in the U.S, it contains multiple zones of mature organic-rich carbonate and silty mudrocks. But why is that? That question and others were front-and-center during the RMAG Permian Basin field trip in late September.

Nine participants, adeptly led by Dr. Rick Sarg of the Colorado School of Mines (photo 1) and assisted by the author, spent 3.5 days traversing the basinal to slope to upper slope environments of the many Permian formations in the northern Delaware Basin of West Texas and New Mexico. Those attending represented a wide range of ages and companies and most worked the Permian Basin. Rick began his career in Midland, Texas, working the Permian Basin for Exxon, then progressed to studying the strata there for research and in-house

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Photo 3: Scoured bed bases in carbonate turbidites, Patterson Hills. Inset shows debrite bed.

overlain by cobble conglomerates between underlying Pennsylvanian strata dominated by phylloid algal mounds and associated carbonate rocks and overlying upper Wolfcamp platform-interior dolomites.

Day Two entailed a transect along Hwy 62-180 from the Salt Flat Graben in Texas to Carlsbad, New Mexico. A morning overview of the Western Escarpment and its seismic scale stratal relationships and associated stratigraphic nomenclature focused discussion on the evolution of the Delaware Basin margin, slope, and basinal phases during major transgressions and regressions in which the slope readjusted by mass-wasting. The remainder of the day we focused on outcrops illustrating the basinal phases of sedimentation. The first stops examined the basinal organic-rich carbonate turbidites of the Cherry Canyon Formation where we discussed the fundamental dysoxia of the Delaware Basin along with the source of the carbonate turbidites (Photo 3). Subsequent stops in the underlying sandstone turbidites of the Brushy Canyon Formation exposed in spectacular channels and canyons around Guadalupe Pass led to discussion of the source and timing of sandstone and siltstone into the basin versus the efficacy of the updip carbonate factory. An obligatory stop on all West Texas field trips, we stopped at the Radar Slide mass-transport complex to examine the ≤ 3 m-diameter debris blocks containing most of the facies of the carbonate slope and shelf margin. The day ended with the mm-thick alternating carbonate+organic matter and gypsum laminae of the Castile evaporites in the Yeso Hills. When we got to Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

Carlsbad, the Stevens Hotel gave us a shout-out on the marquee (Photo 4)!

Days Three and Four entailed day-long five and three mile hikes, respectively. The morning of Day Three started out with lightning, thunder and heavy downpours in Carlsbad. As we drove westward, though, the weather improved, and we had gorgeous scenery and a welcome cooling of air temperature. After an overview stop along the bumpy road into the Williams Ranch on the Western Escarpment, we hiked through Bone Spring and Shumard canyons in Guadalupe National Park. The outcrops at the Williams Ranch hike included basin margin carbonate turbidites and organic-rich mudstones in the Bone Spring Formation (Photo 5) and carbonate mass-wasting erosion surfaces within the Bone Spring (Photo 6). In the overlying Cutoff Formation, carbonate debrites filled channels in the Cutoff Formation (aka “Upper Bone Spring Limestone�) that unconformably overlies the Bone Spring Formation. Above the Cutoff Formation, we observed impressive gullies/submarine canyons filled with Brushy Canyon sandstone turbidites and mass-transport complexes (Photo 7). On Day Four we visited Last Chance Canyon near Sitting Bull Falls to examine the spectacular stratal geometries of the San Andres/Grayburg shelf-margin sequence (Photo 8), including classic onlap onto a sponge-rich biohermal succession near the base of the sequence (Photo 9).

The geometries and associated facies changes in the upper slope to shelf strata were stunning. We could have spent far more than a day in this canyon.

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Photo 4: Above, marquee at Stevens Hotel, Carlsbad, NM.

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RMAG PERMIAN BASIN FIELD TRIP

Photo 5: Right, scrambling up through Bone Springs carbonate turbidite and laminated lime mudstone beds.

Photo 6: Below, one of many slope erosion surfaces in the Bone Spring Formation, thought to represent a slump scar.

Photo 7: Brushy Canyon Formation turbidites and debrites above the Cutoff Formation.

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RMAG PERMIAN BASIN FIELD TRIP

Photo 8: Above, panorama of San Andres/Grayburg sequence in Last Chance Canyon.

Photo 9: Left, onlap (arrow) onto bioherm in Waterhole Canyon.

Photo 10: Bottom, happy group!

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Thursday evening, RMAG Director Barbara Kuzmic hosted the group for a greatly appreciated home-made enchilada dinner at her Airbnb house in Carlsbad. On Friday, the group toured Carlsbad Caverns, becoming at-one with the El Capitan reef complex in the cool underground temperature of 56°F with a relative humidity of nearly 100%.

Participants (Photo 10) unanimously gave the trip positive reviews. Not only was the geology spectacular, but Rick did a superb job in keeping the rocks in context relative to where we were in the many depositional profiles. And, reading this in December almost makes one yearn for the nearly 100°F temperatures that we had on a couple of days. Well, almost yearning!

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FIGURE 1: Purgatoire River Landscape - Landscape of the Purgatoire River in Picket Wire Canyonlands of southeastern Colorado.

The river is only inches deep in places which enabled easy crossing for the group to observe the abundance of Jurassic dinosaur tracks on both banks. However, it is subject to seasonal flash flooding which can both expose new tracks and cover others with sediment and debris.

Very Impressive Dinosaur Trackways At Picket Wire Canyonlands Of Southeastern Colorado On-The-Rocks Field Trip Report

By Denise M. Stone

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of 30 of us set out to observe the largest documented site of sauropod and theropod trackways in North America. Research shows that in this location over 1500 prints in 100 separate trackways extend across a quarter mile expanse of bedrock within the Morrison Formation. The tracks in the limestone beds are shown pressed into nearly horizontal bedding planes seasonally exposed along the shallow banks of the Purgatoire River (Figure 1). In

Back in the Jurassic, a dinosaur nicknamed “Stucky” walked with a bunch of his friends across a landscape of wet carbonate mud. It happened on the shores of an ancient lakebed in what is now Picket Wire Canyonlands in southeast Colorado. Stucky’s preserved trackway was the topic of the day, nearly 150 million years later, among a group of very amazed RMAG geologists and guests.

On the weekend of October 27-28, a group

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FIGURE 2: Bruce Schumacher points - On the bank of the Purgatoire River in Picket Wire Canyonlands of southeast Colorado,

Bruce Schumacher of the USDA Forest Service points out features of sauropod tracks. Weeds mark a distinct set of orthogonal natural fractures through the area.

addition to dinosaur tracks, clams, snails, fish, and plant fossils are found there.

The trip kicked off Saturday night at the Student Center of Otero Junior College in La Junta where an introductory lecture by Lockley and Schumacher followed an ice breaker and Mexican buffet dinner. Thanks to the forward planning of the RMAG On-The-Rocks Committee, knowledgeable experts guided the way to the tracks, a two-hour drive south from La Junta, CO. They included Dr. Martin G. Lockley, from University of Colorado (CU) Denver, and Bruce Schumacher and Lyn Neve, both with the USDA Forest Service. They all took turns telling us about the paleontology, geological history, archeology and ongoing research in what has come to be called the ancient Dinosaur Lake area.

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First discovered in 1939 by John MacClary, these big tracks were thought to be from elephants (Figure 2). MacClary was a local writer and submitted the story of his discovery to LIFE magazine, which “put this place on the map.” It wasn’t until 1982 that a research team from CU started serious scientific investigation to document the find. Identifying the species of dinosaurs that made the tracks has proved uncertain. Lockley says, “Names are given based on tracks studied in other places, not because we know details about the feet of the animal that made them”.

Also, Lockley happily admitted that unlike the study of dinosaur bones, which deals with death and putrefaction, the study of trackways deals with how they lived and the understanding of the animal’s social behavior (Figure 3).

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FIGURE 3: Intersecting trackways - Multiple

intersecting sauropod trackways excavated and cleaned along the banks of the Purgatoire River in Picket Wire Canyonlands in southeastern Colorado suggest that 150 million years ago multiple animals, possibly a herd, was traveling along the shores of ancient Dinosaur Lake.

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ON-THE-ROCKS FIELD TRIP REPORT “If you want to become a fossil and you are a bone, tooth or dinosaur track, get buried quickly!”

That is the advice of Lockley, world famous dinosaur trackway expert. The tracks are believed to be made by these large animals walking through wet carbonate mud. The track is baked in the Jurassic sun driving off the water, it hardens and then is buried by overlying sediment. The large tracks, some of which include dinosaur skin impressions, may then be preserved. Following that, at some point they are uplifted, exposed by erosion and ultimately discovered.

Technology has enabled improved data gathering, documentation, and detailed study of the tracks (though tracing paper is still a useful tool in the field, Figure 4). Today, drones provide an aerial perspective of the site not readily available in the past. Research has focused on quantifying depth, dimension, size and spacing of the tracks themselves. These data are used to create digital elevation models of the many trackways which in turn prompt interpretation of dinosaur social behavior and life style. The abundance and direction of tracks at Dinosaur Lake in Picket Wire Canyonlands indicate the dinosaurs were traveling east to west as a herd when the tracks were made.

An unlikely analog and inspirational guide to study of dinosaur trackways is, believe it or not, the surface of the moon! Lunar craters are akin to sauropod steps in that both are impact features in an otherwise undisturbed landscape. Following Steno’s Law of Cross Cutting Relationships, the shape and style of the impacts and how they relate to each other enable a reconstruction of history: in one case lunar history and in the other, animal movement history.

The dinosaurs responsible for the trackways we observed have, yes, nicknames; Tony, Stucky, Junior, Limpy, Moe, Larry, Curley and Baby Cakes. There’s a story behind each name; Stucky was the dinosaur that had the deepest track impressions (Figure 5). The mud was very wet when he walked across it and he sunk down many inches. Like lunar craters, tracks can be independent and or overprint each other. Moe’s trackway for example has 20 successive steps in a straight line.

The exposed trackways are ephemeral. Like any landscape they are susceptible to weathering, erosion and burial (Figure 6 and 7). Their visibility to Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

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FIGURE 4: Martin Lockley and Matthew Kelley tracing track - Matthew Kelley (right) holds a roll of clear film over a Jurassic therapod track while Dr. Martin Lockley, Paleontologist at the University of Colorado in Denver traces its outline with a marker. The location is along the Purgatoire River at Picket Wire Canyonlands in southeastern Colorado.

visitors is at the whim of the water volume and bed load of the Purgatoire River which experiences flash floods raising the water level and depositing sediment and organic debris over the tracks. This makes it necessary to periodically re-excavate the tracks to expose them for study. It also provides a different perspective with each research visit and increases the value of the data gathered. Seasonal appearance and disappearance of the tracks is common and caused by Purgatoire River dynamics.

To enable preservation, research, and funding, it is important today to have a national ranking of dinosaur track sites. For designations of national monuments, state parks or other protected lands, the area size, number of trackways, species and visitors, etc. are recorded and sites are ranked. Picket Wire Canyonlands site, remote as it is, is ranked #5 in the

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ON-THE-ROCKS FIELD TRIP REPORT

FIGURE 5: Footprints of Stucky - This Jurassic trackway in the Morrison Formation, made by a sauropod nicknamed “Stucky” shows deep footprint impressions several inches each, likely caused by steps taken into extremely wet carbonate mud along the shores of ancient Dinosaur Lake.

FIGURE 6: Trackway continues beneath excavated debris - A well-preserved sauropod trackway excavated and cleaned along the banks of the Purgatoire River in southeastern Colorado continues out of sight beneath a pile of soil and debris that once covered it. Tracks require frequent cleaning as rainwater and sediment collects in the depressions.

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Thanks to the On-The-Rocks Committee for organizing such a fascinating trip. If you haven’t seen these tracks in person, you need to put this amazing place on your bucket list.

nation and gets only 10,000 visitors per year.

And one more thing, you are probably wondering what the story is behind the name “Picket Wire”. Well, the settlers in southeastern Colorado had a hard time with the French word “Purgatoire” and “Picket Wire” became the easier-to-pronounce local name.

Fortunately, neither the fall migration of tarantulas nor inclement weather was able to foil this great field trip. After two prior failed attempts due to weather, it finally happened and was well worth the wait (Figure 8). As you can see in the photos, the weather was superb, with clear blue skies and not a single cloud in sight. I might also add that two days after our trip southeastern Colorado got 6 inches of snow!

FOR FURTHER READING:

Dinosaur Lake: The Story of the Purgatoire Valley Dinosaur Tracksite Area by Martin G. Lockley, Barbara J. Fillmore and Lori Marquardt.

Denise M. Stone is a geological consultant in Centennial, CO, a new member of the RMAG On-The-Rocks Committee and a field trip enthusiast.

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FIGURE 7:

Two intersecting sauropod trackways excavated and cleaned along the banks of the Purgatoire River in southeast Colorado continue out of sight beneath a pile of soil and debris that once covered them. Tracks require frequent cleaning as rainwater and sediment collects in the depressions.

FIGURE 8:

The whole group - This is the group of enthusiastic geologists and guests that attended the Picket Wire Canyonlands On-TheRocks Field Trip October 27-28, 2018. The weather in southeast Colorado was perfect for the trip, but two days later six inches of snow fell.

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Horseshoe Cirque Field Trip Photo 1: Above, geological formations at Horseshoe Cirque

August 25, 2018

By Bob Raynolds | Photos by Jeff Damp

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Paul Myrow, professor at Colorado College and his student Hannah Marshall, welcomed us to a spirited drive up to timber line in the Mosquito Range to see the Paleozoic epicratonic succession that is very well-exposed along the entire crest of this range. At Horseshoe Cirque, the basal Cambrian near-shore marine Sawatch Formation lies on crystalline rocks, overlain by the Dotsero/Peerless, Manitou, Harding, Parting/Dyer, and Leadville formations (Photo 1). Â A scramble up the scree slope in the cirque (Photo 2) was rewarded with hands-on views of the top of the Sawatch (Photo 3) and an overview of a set of rock glaciers (Photo 4), still actively flowing into the cirque. The exposures of the lower Paleozoic strata are wonderful and Paul uses this locality as an outdoor laboratory for his Colorado College stratigraphy class. A silicic dike with well-developed horizontal cooling joints intrudes along a minor fault (Photo 5) and was

Photo 2: Above, Scree slope at Horseshoe Cirque

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admired at the base of the cirque. Waning wildflowers were enjoyed before we bounced back down to Fairplay.

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Photo 4: Above, rock glaciers Photo 5: Below, minor fault with silicic dike

Photo 3: Above, hands-on views of the top of the Sawatch

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RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: William R. Drake | December 5, 2018

Regional Mapping of Organic Matter-Hosted Porosity An Exploration Tool Applied to the Woodford Shale, Permian Basin

By William R. Drake, QEP Resources, Denver CO tool to estimate and delineate OM porosity where well control is lacking. We introduce a methodology to calculate all mass-balance elements in map form rather than at well points in order to incorporate known geologic complexities and effectively highlight a source-rock reservoir fairway in map view.

In our example from the Woodford Shale of the Permian Basin, we provide first-order quantification of OM porosity and reveal its geographic extent within a regional petroleum system. Our results suggest that mass-balance calculation of OM porosity in map form can be used as a regional exploration tool for assessing resource potential of source rocks in frontier areas.

Organic matter (OM)-hosted porosity can be the dominant contributor to total hydrocarbon storage in unconventional source-rock reservoirs. These secondary organic pores form as a function of thermal maturation, and accurate characterization of their spatial variability is critical to petroleum exploration and play assessment. However, measuring OM porosity and mapping its areal distribution remain a challenge.

For example, using direct visual evidence to measure OM porosity has been contentious, and source rock data needed for mapping are commonly sparse in frontier areas of basins. One approach to overcoming these issues is to resourcefully apply organic carbon mass-balance analysis as a

WILLIAM R. DRAKE holds a B.S. in Geological Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his M.S graduate research at Northern Arizona University focused on extensional tectonics, structural analysis, stratigraphy, and isotope geochronology in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Following stints in environmental consulting in California and Arizona, and as a geologist with the Arizona Geologic Survey, he spent seven years with Pioneer Natural Resources in Denver involved with exploration of Cretaceous and Paleozoic systems in the Rockies and western Midcontinent. Bill is currently a geologist with QEP Resources in Denver working on a variety of petroleum systems in the Permian Basin.

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Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

A RESPONSE TO YOUR MARKETING NEEDS

NETWORKING

SOCIAL AND TECHNICAL EVENTS IN THE UPSTREAM OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

Let us help build your brand info@leeds.group 303.916.3668

www.leeds.group We provide products and services perfectly suited to your needs to promote your company: Website creation, promotional and technical videos...

Corporate events and more...

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OUTCROP | December 2018

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Trisha Curtis | January 9, 2019

New Year.

New Outlooks. trends in each US shale oil basin? This market presentation has the answers and the insights. Trisha will take a dive into each individual basin and discuss production, productivity, and operator behavior. She will discuss big themes in the industry and talk about bottlenecks and opportunities.

Trisha Curtis, President and Co-Founder of Denver based PetroNerds, will take us on a tour of the oil markets. She will bring us up to date on production trends and happenings within the industry, from around the world to the basin level. What are the latest production figures, issues, and productivity TRISHA CURTIS is a Co-founder of PetroNerds, LLC. She was formerly the Director of Research, Upstream and Midstream, at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc. (EPRINC). Since 2010, she has led extensive research efforts and authored several reports on the North American upstream and midstream markets. In November 2015, Ms. Curtis published a study on the state of U.S. shale oil in a low oil price environment with the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES) and EPRINC. She spearheaded EPRINC’s projects with Department of Energy for the Quadrennial Energy Review, evaluating future North American crude oil production volumes and midstream transportation options through 2030.

producing nations. Ms. Curtis’ work for Department of Defense has focused extensively on China and international economics.

Ms. Curtis is a research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES) and a non-resident fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc. Ms. Curtis completed her undergraduate work at Regis University in Denver, Colorado where she double majored in Economics and Politics, minored in Criminology, and graduated Summa Cum Laude. She has a Master of Science (MSc) degree from the London School of Economics in International Political Economy and wrote her MSc Dissertation on Chinese National Oil Companies. As an undergraduate, she also worked as a staff assistant in UK Parliament for John Grogan, Selby Constituency. Raised in northwest Colorado and southwest Wyoming, she grew up around pump jacks and has worked on oil and gas sites in Colorado and Wyoming.

At PetroNerds, Ms. Curtis is currently evaluating U.S. upstream assets on a wells-up basis, assessing the viability of midstream and downstream projects, and studying global markets in order to assess the impact of lower oil prices on the U.S and other major oil

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Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

CONGRATULATIONS

B.O.D. Election Winners

President-Elect: Jane Estes-Jackson

1st VP-Elect: Ben Burke

Counselor: Donna Anderson

2nd VP-Elect: Dan Bassett

Treasurer-Elect: Chris Eisinger

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OUTCROP | December 2018

WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!

Matthew Alleman

is a Sales Representative at DATALOG Geological Services in Denver, Colorado.

Moath Al-Qaod

is a student in Golden, Colorado.

Jordan App

is a student in Georgetown, Colorado.

Jenny Blake

is a student at Colorado School of Mines and lives in Littleton, Colorado.

Ernest Fuhrmann

is a President / Vice President at DATALOG Geological Services / GeoVision in Houston, Texas.

Kathryn Garrett

is a student at University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Brian Hankins

is a Geologist at Colorado School of Mines and lives in Erie, Colorado.

Mark Hansford

is a student at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

Breck Johnson

is a Geologist at Anadarko in Littleton, Colorado.

Kaci Kus

is a student at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

David Malone

is a Distinguished Professor and lives in Normal, Illinois.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 56

Courtney Bone

is a student at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

Jacqueline Colborne

is a student at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

Leigh Cunningham

works at Sandia National Laboratories in Denver, Colorado.

Joe Dellenbach

is a student at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

Seth Evenson

works at Darrah Oil in Wichita, Kansas.

Scott Friedman

lives in Golden, Colorado.

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Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

IN THE PIPELINE

sm-energy.com

DECEMBER 3, 2018 COGA Quiz Night.

DECEMBER 4, 2018 DWLS Winter Holiday Social.

Cost: $25 per person, payable only via PayPal. DECEMBER 5, 2018 RMAG Luncheon.

Maggiano’s Little Italy in Denver.

Contact: staff@rmag.org COGA Member Spotlight Luncheon.

Speaker: Dr. Chris Hansen.

“Global Energy Markets.”

SM ENERGY IS A PROUD SUPPORTER OF THE

Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

DECEMBER 6, 2018 DPC Members’ Holiday Party.

RSVP to: denverpetroleumclub.com DECEMBER 11, 2018 DALTA DADOA DAPL Joint Holiday Luncheon.

DECEMBER 12, 2018 SPE Monthly Happy Hour.

Email: mark.hinaman@gmail.com.

DECEMBER 13, 2018 Women in Oil & Gas Association Holiday Party.

PTTC Rockies Short Course.

“Carbonates of the Permian Basin: from Shelf to Basin.” CSM, Golden, CO. DECEMBER 14, 2018 DIPS Luncheon.

Members $20 and Non-members $25. For more information or to RSVP via email to kurt.reisser @gmail.com.

Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

Look beyond the obvious to see how our products make up your world

LookBeyond.org 55

OUTCROP | December 2018

WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!

»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 54

Bryana McKay

is a student in Ovando, Montana.

Bradley Patton

is a E & P Consultant and lives in Castle Rock, Colorado.

Kenneth Rukavina lives in Hayden, Idaho.

Kathryn Schuller

is a Geoscientist II at MI3 Petroleum Engineering in Denver, Colorado.

Megan Smith

is a Geologist at Liberty Resources LLC in Denver, Colorado.

Wylie Walker

is a student at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

OUTCROP | December 2018

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Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

Are You a Photographer?

Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists would like to invite you to submit your digital images that capture the geology of the Rocky Mountain region.

Pore Throat to Outcrop, Modern Analogs, Oilfield Activity (Rigs), Dinosaur Trackways.

These images will be used on the cover of the Outcrop and a select number will be used in a forthcoming RMAG Calendar.

• All images will be accredited to the photographer • A brief description of the image (location, formation, significance) • The file size must be 300dpi or greater and be in TIFF or JPEG format.

• Limit 10 images/person

Submit images to: Kira Timm at kira.k.timm@gmail.com, or Courtney Beck at Courtney.Beck@halliburton.com

OUTCROP ADVERTISING RATES 1 Time

2 Times

6 Times

12 Times

Full page (7-1/2” x 9-1/4”)

$330

$620

$1,710

$3,240

2/3 page (4-7/8” x 9-1/4”)

$220

$400

$1,110

$2,100

1/2 page (7-1/2” x 4-5/8”)

$175

$330

$930

$1,740

1/3 page horizontal (4-7/8” x 4-7/8”)

$165

$250

$690

$1,200

1/3 page vertical (2-3/8” x 9-1/4”)

$165

$250

$690

$1,200

1/6 page (2-3/8” x 4-7/8”)

$75

$120

$330

$600

Professional Card (2-5/8” x 1-1/2”)

$20

$34

$84

$144

Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org

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OUTCROP | December 2018

ADVERTISER INDEX

• AvoAvaz.com �������������������34

• FieldGeo Services ������������56

• Crestone Peak Resources ������������������������17

• Geostar Solutions ������������33

• SM Energy �����������������������55

• Goolsby Brothers �������������19

• Spancers & Associates ���32

• Daub & Associates, Inc. ��34

• Leeds Group (The) �����������51

• Sunburst Consulting ��������37

• Denver Earth Resources Library ������������35

• LMKR �������������������������������37 • PTTC ��������������������������������13

• Thomas L. Davis Geologist �������������������������33

• Discovery Group Inc. (The) ���������������18

• QEP Resources ����������������14

• Tracerco ���������������������������15

• Raisa Energy ��������������������51

• Donovan Brothers Inc. �����35

• Schlumberger ������������������17

• Tracker Resource Development �������������������35

• Geomark ��������������������������19

• Confluence Resources �����36

• Sinclair Petroleum Engineering, Inc. ��������������32

CALENDAR | DECEMBER 2018 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

1 2

3

4

9

10

11

COGA Quiz Night.

16

17

DWLS Winter Holiday Social.

23

24

6

7

8

12

13

14

15

21

22

RMAG Luncheon.

COGA Member Spotlight Luncheon.

18 DALTA DADOA DAPL Joint Holiday Luncheon.

5

19 SPE Monthly Happy Hour.

25

26

DPC Members’ Holiday Party.

20 WOGA Holiday Party.

DIPS Luncheon.

PTTC Rockies Short Course.

27

28

29

CHRISTMAS DAY

30

31 NEW YEAR’S EVE

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Vol. 67, No. 12 | www.rmag.org