February 2017 Outcrop by The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

Volume 66 • No. 2 • February 2017

2017 Summit Sponsors Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

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.

2017 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT

TREASURER

Larry Rasmussen larryr@whiting.com

Karen Dean deankaren@comcast.net

PRESIDENT-ELECT

TREASURER-ELECT

Terri Olson tmolson8550@gmail.com

Robin Swank robin.swank@gmail.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT

SECRETARY

Steve Sturm 303petro.images@gmail.com

Jennifer Jones jaseitzjones@gmail.com

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

1st YEAR COUNSELOR

Cat Campbell CCampbell@bayless-cos.com

Jim Emme jim_emme@yahoo.com 2nd YEAR COUNSELOR

Rob Diedrich rdiedrich@sm-energy.com

RMAG STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Barbara Kuzmic bkuzmic@rmag.org MEMBERSHIP & EVENTS MANAGER

Hannah Rogers hrogers@rmag.org ACCOUNTANT

Carol Dalton cdalton@rmag.org PROJECTS SPECIALIST

Kathy Mitchell-Garton kmitchellgarton@rmag.org MANAGING EDITOR

Will Duggins will.duggins@i-og.net ASSOCIATE EDITORS

ADVERTISING INFORMATION

Rates and sizes can be found on page 23. 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: 303-476-2241 | staff@rmag.org or www.rmag.org

Holly Sell holly.sell@yahoo.com Greg Guyer Greg.Guyer@halliburton.com Cheryl Fountain cwhitney@alumni.nmt.edu Ron Parker ron.parker@taskfronterra.com DESIGN/PRODUCTION

Nate Silva nate@nate-silva.com

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

Vol. 66, No. 2 | |www.rmag.org www.rmag.org

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Outcrop| | February 2017 OUTCROP

Sharpen your skills! Carbonate Diagenesis

Monday-Tuesday, March 27-28, 2017, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm Colorado School of Mines, Berthoud Hall room 403 Fee: $500, includes food at breaks, class notes, and PDH certificate, limit 20 Instructor: Dr. Peter A. Scholle, and Dr. Dana Ulmer-Scholle, New Mexico Tech & Scholle Petrographic Synopsis:

Carbonate diagenesis includes any physical or chemical changes that occur in carbonate rocks after their deposition. It can begin on the sea floor and may include early subaerial exposure (syn/eogenetic) continue through possible burial (mesogenetic) and into possible uplift-related (telogenetic) realms. Since diagenesis has profound effects on the porosity and permeability evolution of the carbonate reservoirs, understanding these changes can provide 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 original or early formed pores, there is a growing understanding that late-stage diagenesis can also form excellent productive porosity. Unlike most courses that consist of only lectures, this course provides participants an opportunity to have hands-on experience using standard petrographic techniques to better understand how diagenesis impacts carbonate reservoirs and how to identify the processes involved and their relative timing. This class is designed for participants who have some fundamental knowledge of geology and some minimal petrographic experience (i.e., can identify common minerals like quartz, calcite, etc. under the microscope).

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 fluid flow through these rocks. This course combines half-day lectures with hands-on petrographic observations of thin sections from a variety of carbonate rocks. Participants are also welcome to bring their own thin section samples to the class.

Course Topics:     

Overview of carbonate rocks and their composition Syndepositional to early burial diagenesis (marine and meteoric processes) Burial diagenesis Uplift-related diagenesis Dolomitization

The Instructors

Dana S. Ulmer-Scholle She received a B.S. degree in 1981 from the University of Cincinnati. Dana completed a M.S. degree (1983) at Southern Methodist University and a Ph.D. (1992). Her dissertation research concentrated on evaporite-related diagenesis in upper Paleozoic carbonate rocks from New Mexico, Wyoming and Greenland. Dana has worked, or consulted, for a number of companies including Amoco Oil and Gas Co., ARCO Exploration, ARCO International, Mobil Research, and Maersk Oil and Gas. Currently, she is the co-owner of Scholle Petrographic, LLC. Dana is also an Associate Research Professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. She teaches carbonate-related courses including petrography and depositional/diagenetic models. While at New Mexico Tech, she has also been involved in environmental investigations that include heavymetals bioremediation and fate-and-transport of heavy minerals in the environment. She is the author, coauthor or editor on numerous papers, reports, books and CD-ROMs with AAPG Memoir 77 receiving the Robert H. Dott, Sr., Memorial Award (2005). Peter A. Scholle Peter received his B.S. in geology from Yale University in 1965. After a year at the University of Munich in Germany, and another year at the University of Texas at Austin, he received a Ph.D. in geology from Princeton University in 1970. His dissertation work, on deep-water carbonate turbidites in the Italian Apennines, was supervised by Al Fischer. Peter’s professional employment included state and federal government, the petroleum industry, and academia. He worked for five years for various oil companies (Cities Service, Gulf and Chevron) and consulted for other oil companies for many years. Nine years were spent with the U. S. Geological Survey in Reston (VA) and Denver (CO), including three years as chief of the Oil and Gas Branch. He taught at the University of Texas at Dallas for three years and was Albritton Professor of Geology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas from 1985 to 1999. From 1999-2011, he was the New Mexico State Geologist and director of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. He is now the co-owner of Scholle Petrographic, LLC. Peter has devoted much of his time to carbonate research and writing. His major interests are in deepwater carbonates (especially chalks) as well as the diagenesis and petroleum potential of Permian rocks in many areas of the world. He has worked in nearly 30 countries and has written, coauthored, or edited nine books, about 200 papers and abstracts, 23 CD-ROMs, and a number of other computer or audio-visual products. Peter has been a member of AAPG and SEPM since 1976-77. He was an AAPG Distinguished Lecturer (1975-76) and received the AAPG President’s award twice, the Sproule Memorial Award, the AAPG Certificate of Merit and the AGI Ian Campbell Medal for Superlative Service to the Geosciences (2013). He served as president and special publications editor of SEPM and is an honorary member of that society. He was also president of AGI and AASG (the Association of American State Geologists).

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

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

CONTENTS FEATURES 24 Lead Story: The Uinta Mountains ASSOCIATION NEWS 2 RMAG 2017 Summit Sponsors 7 Hydrocarbon Source Rocks in Uncoventional Plays, Rocky Mountain Region: Now Available 13 RMS-AAPG Call for Papers 15 3D Seismic Symposium: Recovery On The Horizon 17 RMAG Core Workshop 19 RMAG/DAPL GeoLand Ski Day 21 2017 Award of Excellence for Teaching of Earth Science 32 The Mountain Geologist Best Paper Award for 2016

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

32 RMAG Reviewers name Deborah King Sacrey’s ‘Sweet Spots’ Best Talk of the Year 33 RMAG Foundation Sponsors the 2017 Excellence in Teaching of Earth Science Award 34 Pioneering Women in Petroleum Geology 35 News From The RMAG Foundation DEPARTMENTS

COVER PHOTO

6 RMAG December 2016 Board of Directors Meeting 8 President’s Letter

Ridge top near the Paint mine about 2.5 miles west of Moon Lake, Duchesne County. Mississippian carbonates overlain by Tertiary rocks. Photo by Ken Krahulec.

14 RMAG Luncheon Programs: Christopher D. Laughrey

23 In The Pipeline

18 RMAG Luncheon Programs: Richard Rosen

23 Outcrop Advertising Rates

22 Welcome New RMAG Members!

36 Calendar

36 Advertiser Index

OUTCROP | February 2017

RMAG DECEMBER 2016 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Making Unconventional, Conventional

By Sarah Hawkins, Secretary shawkins@usgs.gov

Finally, as this is my last summary, I’d like to thank RMAG and all of its members for this opportunity to serve as secretary. I have been truly amazed and inspired by the time and expertise that is volunteered by so many members, and it has been an honor to be a part of it. RMAG has some excellent technical and social events coming up in 2017. The 23rd annual 3D Seismic Symposium is jointly hosted by RMAG and the Denver Geophysical Society (DGS), and will be held on February 22. Registration is open and talks at the symposium will focus on five North American basins. The annual RMAG and DAPL GeoLand Ski Day is at Keystone Resort this year on February 24. The first ® be held March 2, RMAG core workshop of 2017 will PetroFecta from at the USGS Core Research Center, and is already sold Inclusion out! If you would Fluid like to go, but are not registered, Technologies email staff@rmag.org to be placed on the waitlist.

The December meeting of the RMAG Board of Directors meeting took place on December 21, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. This was our last board meeting of the year, and it was jointly held; members of both the outgoing board and incoming board were in attendance. Treasurer Tom Sperr reported that RMAG has done well for the year by making financially prudent investments and keeping expenses low. The new Executive Director for RMAG, Barbara Kuzmic, was also introduced at the meeting. Please be sure to welcome her to the organization at the RMAG office or at one of our upcoming luncheons. The 2017 RMAG Board of Directors is now in place, and I’d like to welcome them and thank them for serving. Jennifer Jones was elected as secretary for 2017, so she will be taking over the summaries for the Outcrop in 2017. I also want to thank the outgoing board members for their work in 2016.

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Hydrocarbon Source Rocks in

Unconventional Plays, Rocky Mountain Region Editors: Michael P. Dolan, Debra K. Higley, Paul G. Lillis Introduction - Michael P. Dolan, Debra K. Higley, and Paul G. Lillis Marine mudstone source rocks in epicontinental basins: Development of a conceptual facies model and application to Cenomanian/Turonian mudstones of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway - BRUCE S. HART Overpressure development through time using 4D pressure-volume-temperature modeling in the deep Anadarko Basin, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas DEBRA K. HIGLEY

Stratigraphy and Depositional Origin of Tyler Formation (Pennsylvanian) Source Beds in the Williston Basin, Western North Dakota - TIMOTHY O. NESHEIM and STEPHEN H. NORDENG Vitrinite Reﬂectance of Cretaceous Coaly Material and Thermal Maturity of the Niobrara Formation, Denver Basin, Colorado, USA - DANIEL G. HALLAU, RYAN J. SHARMA, and ROBERT M. CLUFF Evolution of the Lower Tertiary Elko Lake Basin, a Potential Hydrocarbon Source Rock in Northeast Nevada - RONALD C. JOHNSON and JUSTIN E. BIRDWELL

The Chuar Petroleum System, Arizona and Utah - PAUL G. LILLIS

Geochemistry of the Green River Formation, Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado - JEREMY BOAK, SHEVEN POOLE, and JUFANG FENG

Insights into the Evolution of an Intracratonic Foreland Basin: A Regional Assessment of the Duvernay Formation - Matthew Davis, Glenn Karlen, Mark Tobey, and David Tivey

Source Rock Characterization of the Green River Oil Shale, Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado - JUFANG FENG, J. F. SARG, AND K. TÄNAVSUU-MILKEVICIENE

Petroleum system model of the Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian Bakken Formation in the northern Williston Basin, Saskatchewan, southwestern Manitoba, and southeastern Alberta, Canada - DEBRA K. HIGLEY and NICHOLAS J. GIANOUTSOS

Geological, Geochemical, and Reservoir Characterization of the Uteland Butte Member of the Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah - JUSTIN E. BIRDWELL, MICHAEL D. VANDEN BERG, RONALD C. JOHNSON, TRACEY J. MERCIER, ADAM R. BOEHLKE, and MICHAEL E. BROWNFIELD

The Integration of Geochemical, Stratigraphic, and Production Data to Improve Geological Models in the Bakken-Three Forks Petroleum System, Williston Basin, North Dakota - MARK MILLARD and RILEY BRINKERHOFF

Generation and Migration of Bitumen and Oil from the Oil Shale Interval of the Eocene Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah- RONALD C. JOHNSON and JUSTIN E. BIRDWELL Silver Sponsor

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email: staﬀ@rmag.org

phone: 303.573.8621

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

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

fax: 303.476.2241 7

web: www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | February 2017

follow: @rmagdenver

PRESIDENT’S LETTER By Larry Rasmussen

Who am I, and how did I get here?

Don and Larry Rasmussen with sauropod femur in the Kootenai Fm near Harlowton, Montana, summer, 1985. (This photo also appeared in the October, 1986 issue of The Outcrop) Pennsylvanian cyclothems. To someone who was pretty close to the ground, fossils were everywhere I looked. They were on the small chunks of limestone in our driveway where I spent countless hours making collections, and in limestone building blocks found all over town in older buildings including the natural history museum on the KU campus. That museum was endlessly fascinating to me. In the basement, where my dad had his office, fossil collections were housed in ancient wooden cabinets that held everything from 8

dinosaur bones to drawers full of smaller vertebrate and invertebrate fossils. There were rooms with fossils undergoing preparation by a quiet and friendly fellow named Orville Bonner (from the famous Niobrara fossil-collecting Bonner family). There was a bearded hippie named John Chorn who studied Pennsylvanian reptiles whose disarticulated bones had accumulated in between stromatolite heads. Dr. Larry Martin was a family friend and paleontologist who specialized in sabre-tooth cats (among many

OUTCROP | February 2017

I think it’s proper that I introduce myself before going any further. First, I don’t blog and I don’t tweet. I don’t put myself out there all that much on social media, and I have to work really hard socializing with people face-to-face. Because of this, the only hesitation I had when I was asked to run for RMAG president was that I’d be writing a monthly column, and that’s not something I’m all that comfortable with. Writing a column is very different from technical writing. The thought of writing a column that involves personal views makes me squirm. That said, here I am and here I go…. I’m a second-generation geologist and I’ve liked rocks and fossils as far back as I can remember. I was born in New Orleans, and my parents tell me that as soon as I could walk I was making collections of shells on trips to Gulf Coast beaches. Sometime around my second birthday, my dad took a leave of absence from Amoco to work on a PhD in geology and paleontology at KU, and my family moved from New Orleans to Lawrence, Kansas for four years. Kansas has a reputation for being flat, but if you are familiar with the eastern half of the state you know that it has quite a bit of topography and is riddled with fantastic outcrops of

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Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

POSITIONED FOR GROWTH

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

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other things) and eventually became well-known outside the paleo community for his thoughts on bird evolution. When I was five, I was given the task of sorting through screened matrix collected from a Wisconsin Pleistocene fissure deposit for tiny bones and teeth. I remember being paid a dime for each jaw that I found from a venomous shrew that had red-tipped incisors. On some weekends, my dad would take me out to look for fossils along road cuts where we’d collect brachiopods, crinoid stems and bryozoa. The museum, its various characters, and the fossil collecting trips all stoked my interest in rocks and fossils. When I was six, we moved to Colorado where my dad resumed working for Amoco in Denver. Family vacations took us to visit relatives in Montana and Wisconsin, and *every* trip was a road trip. Because we drove everywhere, our vacations ended up being geologic and paleontological field trips. I remember begging my parents to stop at intriguing looking outcrops so we could scout for fossils. My dad would always tell us about the geology or about some oil field we were passing, but unless fossils were involved, my eyes would tend to glaze over. Him: “Look at that channel sandstone!” Me: “Does it contain fossils??” We collected vertebrate fossils from the Fort Union, Wasatch and White River formations in Wyoming at a time when it was still legal to collect on public lands and when it was easier to obtain permission from private land owners.

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Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

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OUTCROP | February 2017

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

A few of the fossils collected this past Thanksgiving from the Virgilian Leavenworth Limestone, Lawrence, Kansas.

Any significant finds were always given to a museum. In Montana we collected ammonites from the Bearpaw Shale, and dinosaur bones from the Hell Creek, Judith River and Kootenai formations. A tiny Chinle roadcut near Ghost Ranch, New Mexico yielded phytosaur teeth and bones (think Triassic gavial). During trips back to Kansas, we made detours south of Quinter to look for molluscs, fish and mosasaur bones in the Niobrara chalk. On a Boy Scout trip to Angostura Reservoir in South Dakota, while all the other kids were out having fun water skiing, I was collecting dozens of exquisitely preserved Scaphites ammonites from a small Carlile outcrop about a

OUTCROP | February 2017

quarter mile from our camp. With each fossil-collecting trip I began to recognize which facies produced fossils and which did not. I learned that fluvial channel lags could be screened for bones and teeth, that the concretions in Cretaceous marine shales sometimes contained clusters of ammonites or other mollusks, and that you never pass up an ant hill on an outcrop without first checking it for fossils. Wherever I went outdoors, my eyes were constantly scanning the ground for fossils. This included unsuccessful deer and elk hunting trips to NW Colorado where I once found a really neat Wasatch channel lag full of crocodile teeth and turtle

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PRESIDENT’S LETTER

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shell (i.e. you don’t see game when your eyes are perpetually looking down). One of the most exciting discoveries was made in Porcupine Cave in South Park, Colorado in 1981 when I was 13. My dad and I were trying to dig our way into a new room, and I noticed teeth and bones coming to the surface as we were digging. It wasn’t until my dad identified an extinct Pleistocene horse tooth that we realized the significance of what we had found. Our discovery led to several years of excavation by crews from the Carnegie and Denver natural history museums. Porcupine Cave contains the most diverse and highest elevation fauna from the middle Pleistocene in North America. By the time I was in my early teens I had begun cataloging my fossils and their localities, and I knew what I wanted to study in college. Aside from high school where I developed a healthy interest in girls and punk rock, geology and paleontology was my focus. (A note of caution to the young, budding geoscientist: a teenage obsession with rocks and fossils will not win you the respect and admiration of your classmates, no matter how cool you think it is.) My undergraduate degree was at CU Boulder, which is perfectly located to study multiple facets of Colorado geology. Having grown up in the West, I wanted to see a different area for my graduate degree and ended up studying at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Aside from the paucity of outcrops compared with Colorado, directly observing the geology from the Appalachians

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OUTCROP | February 2017

PRESIDENT’S LETTER scouring the ground for fossils or looking at rocks. To bring it full circle, I was in Lawrence, Kansas visiting my brother this past Thanksgiving. His house is about a mile away from some roadcut outcrops along I-10 on the southwest side of town. I had some spare time one morning so I went out to look at the rocks and collect some fossils, a ritual I perform every time I visit. It was cold, humid and windy, and on my way over I realized I was woefully under-dressed for the occasion. Rather than head back for warmer clothes, hat and gloves, I spent an hour crawling over the outcrop looking for fossils, and I settled on a marly shale at the base of the Leavenworth Limestone. Delicate brachiopods, thin fenestrate bryozoa, echinoid plates and crinoid plates and columnals were weathering out along the contact. I’d crossed back through the portal to my childhood, and for an hour I was blissfully unaware of the cold or the cars zipping by below.

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to the Coastal Plain and modern sedimentary processes along the Atlantic coastline was an amazing opportunity. My thesis project, a quantitative biostratigraphic analysis of southern Florida’s Pliocene and Pleistocene shell beds, was directly in line with my interests. I spent countless hours collecting, sorting and identifying over 60,000 specimens representing 300+ species of mollusks. My upbringing explains in large part how I developed a passion for geology and paleontology. The fact that my parents fostered my obsession at every opportunity is key to who I am today. Likewise, I’ve been greatly influenced by the excellent geological mentors that I’ve studied under and worked with over the past 25 years. I’m sure every one of us has similar stories of what brought us to geology and keeps us here. There’s something inherently beautiful about this science, and I’ve never lost the sense of child-like wonder that I get when I’m out in the field

OUTCROP | February 2017

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

Rocky Mountain Section Annual Meeting

C A L L F O R PA P E R S

RM S - A APG B I L L I N G S M O N TA N A

NG PL I A EW

2017

JUNE 25-28

G RESOU

SUBMISSION DEADLINE FEBRUARY 28, 2017 http://rmsaapg2017.com/ For more information contact: General Chairman Robert Schalla (406) 294-3525 covecreekresources@msn.com

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

Technical Program Chairs Steve Van Delinder svandelinder@ballardpetroleum.com Mark Millard mmillard@sm-energy.com 13

OUTCROP | February 2017

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Christopher D. Laughrey — February 1 , 2017

The Stable Isotope and Noble Gas Geochemistry of a High-Nitrogen Natural Gas Reservoir, Northwestern Denver-Julesburg Basin Christopher D. Laughrey, Weatherford Laboratories, Geochemical Interpretive Services (OilTracers), Evergreen, CO The N2/Ar ratio is 7,933.3, a value that eliminates air contamination as a possible source of the nitrogen. The δ15N of the produced nitrogen gas is +20.4‰, a value compatible with a crustal or magmatic source. The 3He/4He ratio of the gas is 4.5 x 10-8 (R/Ra = 0.032), a value which eliminates a magmatic source from consideration and indicates a crustal origin for the nitrogen. There are three possible sources for the nitrogen: 1. N2 fixed as NH4+ in potassium-rich sediment, 2. N2 fixed in biotite and K-feldspar in crystalline rocks, and

Natural gas produced from the Permian Hartville sandstone in the Samson Oil and Gas Bluff #111 well in Goshen County, Wyoming is composed of 97.6% nitrogen, 2.05% methane, 0.17% carbon dioxide, and 0.15% helium. Argon and ethane through hexane+ hydrocarbons are present in trace amounts.

MENTOR!

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Congratulations to all mentees and mentors who were accepted into the 2017 RMAG Mentorship Progam!

W.W. Little Geological Consulting, LLC William W. Little, Ph.D. Senior Consulting Geologist 20 South 5000 West Rexburg, Idaho 83440-3613 Cell: 208/201-6266 wwlittle@gmail.com

Click here for more information. OUTCROP | February 2017

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Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS The δ13C of the carbon dioxide in the gas is -1.6‰. The relative magnitude of isotopic offset between the carbon dioxide and methane is consistent with thermogenic CO2. Thermal degradation of carbonate minerals in the source rocks is the likely source of carbon dioxide in the gas. The 20Ne/22Ne ratio of 9.461 in the Bluff #1-11 gas approximates the air ratio of 9.80. The 38Ar/36Ar and 21Ne/22Ne ratios further constrain an atmospheric source for 20Ne and 36Ar components in the gas. R/Ra and 20Ne/4He suggest mixing of radiogenic crustal-produced He and Ne with groundwater-transported radiogenic He and atmospheric Ne components. Regional groundwater degassing of 20 Ne, 36Ar, and 84Kr is the source of the atmospheric noble gas components in the produced gas. High 20 Ne/36Ar and relatively low 132Xe/36Ar ratios reflect gas-water equilibrium in the Hartville sandstone reservoir. This interpretation has significant implications for seismic interpretation and operational decisions pertaining to field data. The geochemical data also reveal new complexities in our understanding of the tectonic setting and burial history of petroleum source rocks near the northern edge of the D-J basin.

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3. Denitrification of organic matter in hydrocarbon source rocks. The N2 concentration, the δ15N of the gas, and both the 4He/N2 and N2/20Ne ratios support an interpretation that the nitrogen produced from the Bluff #1-11 well was generated by denitrification of post mature organic matter. The methane δ13C of the Bluff #1-11 gas is -32.87‰ and the δ2H of the methane is -173.7‰. These isotopic values, in combination with the chemical composition of the gas, indicate that the methane is thermogenic and post-mature in origin. Ethane and propane δ13C are -27.9 and -32.3‰, respectively. The hydrocarbon gases exhibit a partial isotope reversal with respect to carbon number, i.e., δ13C1 < δ13C2 > δ13C3, which suggests mixing of wet and dry thermogenic gases in the Hartville reservoir, or in its petroleum source rock (Pennsylvanian-age Desmoinesian black shale and marlstone). Methane and ethane in the gas were generated through moderate to extensive cracking of oil. Propane was generated from oil-prone kerogen within the late oil window.

Christopher D. Laughrey studied geology, geochemistry, and planetary science at the University of Pittsburgh. Currently he is a Senior Petroleum Systems Analyst with Weatherford Laboratories’ Geochemical Interpretive Services (OilTracers) Group. He has 39 years of experience as a petroleum geologist and geochemist with specialties in gas isotope geochemistry, production monitoring and allocation, clastic and carbonate petrology, basin analysis, petrophysics, and both conventional and unconventional petroleum reservoir evaluation. Prior to joining Weatherford’s OilTracers group, Mr. Laughrey worked with Weatherford Laboratories in Golden, Colorado, the Dolan Integration Group, Geologic Mapping and Resource Evaluation (GMRE), Inc., the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Western Geophysical Company.

RENEW! OUTCROP | February 2017

Renew your dues for the 2017 year today! RMAG members make up the heart of the organization, and without our loyal membership, the RMAG would be unable to produce relevant publications, host strong technical talks, and provide great networking events. As a member you’ll enjoy discounted rates on events and publications, as well as access to the 6 most recent The Mountain Geologist issues, and much more.

CLICK HERE TO RENEW TODAY!

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

March 2, 2017

| 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

USGS Core Research Center

RMAG Core Workshop Selected Rocky Mountain Tight Oil Sandstone Plays: Symposium and Core Workshop Presenters: Rich Bottjer, Coal Creek Resources; Gus Gustason, Enerplus; Kevin Smith, Garnet Ridge Resources This workshop will discuss current �ght oil sandstone plays in Cretaceous reservoirs in the Powder River and D-J Basins, Wyoming and Colorado, focusing on the Wall Creek-Turner, Codell, Sussex, and Parkman sandstones. Tight oil sandstone plays have developed where uneconomic ver�cal producers were drilled in the past and/or between exis�ng ver�cal oil fields where higher-permeability facies are present. In contrast to “conven�onal” ver�cal produc�on from sandstones in the same interval, these �ght oil reservoirs are areally extensive and generally contain a high percentage of burrowed or bioturbated lithofacies. Petrophysical evalua�ons of these �ght oil sandstone plays are challenging due to rela�vely high clay content, thinly interbedded sandstones and mudstones, and/or complex pore networks. These sandstones are characterized by moderate porosi�es, ranging up to 18%, but low permeabili�es, ranging from .001 to .1 millidarcies. Oil and gas resources are recoverable due to the development of mul�-stage fracture s�mula�ons in horizontally drilled wells. The reservoir characteris�cs of each play will be demonstrated with approximately 2000 feet of core and core analyses from more than 30 wells and par�cipants will have an opportunity to compare and contrast the different plays. This workshop and symposium will essen�ally be a re-presenta�on of a short course offered at the AAPG-ACE conven�on held in Denver in June, 2015. The format will be modified slightly but many of the cores shown will be the same.

SOLD OUT! If you would like to be placed on the wait list, please email staﬀ@rmag.org.

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fax: 303.476.2241

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OUTCROP | February 2017

follow: @rmagdenver

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Richard Rosen — March 1 , 2017

Novel Methods, Concepts and Applications of Geomechanics for Unconventional Exploration and Exploitation By Richard Rosen factor in determining whether a rock exhibits brittle or ductile failure. It has been observed in the lab for some rocks that at low and high confining stress a rock may exhibit ductile failure while at an intermediate stress it can exhibit brittle failure. Confining stress in the subsurface is function of depth and geologic earth forces. It is possible that there is an optimum depth interval where brittle failure will occur and may , therefore, explain (and possibly predict) the occurrence of fractured fairways in monoclonal dip settings. Examples will be shown of how this behavior can be demonstrated in the laboratory and applied to explore for fractured fairways.

Brittleness and low earth confining reservoir stress are two positive reservoir attributes to consider in choosing a landing zone and completion stage intervals for horizontal well design of an unconventional reservoir.

TOPIC 1. SUPER BRITTLENESS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE WORK OF BORIS TARASOV TO THE OCCURRENCE OF FRACTURED FAIRWAYS IN MONOCLINAL DIP SETTINGS

Fracture failure behavior at the end of a standard triaxial test for Young’s Modulus and Poisson’s ratio can be characterized as either brittle or ductile. Ductile behavior can be thought about to be similar to tearing a rubber sheet where once a break is initiated additional work is required to continue to propagate the tear. Conversely, for brittle breakage of a hammer hitting glass plate, there is enough energy stored at the moment of impact that failure propagates as if spontaneous. As it turns out, the amount of confining stress applied in the experiment is an important

TOPIC 2. THE IMPORTANCE AND USES OF ANISOTROPIC STRESS PROFILES

The way the earth responds to both geologic and induced fracture energy is dominated by geomechanical rock properties. Identification of intervals of relatively low earth stress frack easily, and, if additionally brittle, may provide the largest possible connectivity

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Richard Rosen has 35 years’ experience in the petroleum industry working, primarily, in the petrophysics discipline in both research and operations positions supporting conventional and unconventional plays for sandstones (consolidated and unconsolidated), carbonates and shales. He was leader of Shell Oil’s Petrophysical Sciences Laboratory and Global Principal Technical Expert for core analysis. He now lives and consults in Denver. OUTCROP | February 2017

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

RMAG ♦♦ DAPL

GeoLand Ski Day 2017 Friday, February 24, 2017

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DAPL Chairs ♦♦ Meg Gibson ♦ meg@majorsgibson.com ♦♦ Patsy Botts ♦ 303-925-0696 RMAG Chairs ♦♦ Tom Sperr ♦ tsperr@bayless-cos.com ♦♦ Matt Silverman ♦ 303-382-0910 Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | February 2017

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS vertical direction. Stress profile models based upon isotropic physics and math, while easy to compute, may fail to identify intervals of low stress and high stress barriers and encumber efforts to define landing zones and stage intervals. Engineering frack models which also utilize isotropic physics may also fail to adequately predict hydraulic fracture results such as break down pressure and propagation length. Anisotropic parameters are difficult to determine in the laboratory because measurements are required on very hard to acquire 45 degree oblique core plug samples. Instead of using such samples, a novel acoustic transducer has been developed to measure velocity at 45 degrees thus eliminating the 45 degree plug sample. The resulting anisotropic stress profile model is robust and appears to fit a wide range of well data from different formations, fields and basins. Examples of how to apply such concepts to landing zone choice and of stage completion interval definition will be discussed.

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to the reservoir. Areas of high stress may be barriers (especially if ductile, say due to clay rich sediment) which may limit induced frack growth. Unconventional shales are typically laminated at various scales and will have different physical properties in the horizontal and vertical orientations and are, therefore, anisotropic. Properties such as Young’s modulus and velocity are larger in the horizontal then Marty Hall

Program Development Manager Multi-Client Services

7765 Windwood Way P.O. Box 549 Parker, CO 80134 USA P: 720.851.6152 C: 303.885.8860

geokinetics.com marty.hall@geokinetics.com

VOLUNTER! geokinetics.com

As a diverse community of individuals working towards a worthy cause, we believe that your unique talents can bring us all forward. Volunteers are always needed and welcome! If you would like to volunteer for any of our committees or events, please contact the RMAG office at (303) 573-8621 or staff@rmag.org OUTCROP | February 2017

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

2017 Award of Excellence for

Teaching of Earth Science Sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

THE WINNER RECEIVES A Plaque and a $1,000 Cash Award If you teach earth science in K-12 and think you qualify, contact the RMAG Foundation at the RMAG office (303) 573-8621 or visit the RMAG Foundation website: www.rmagfoundation.org/awards/ for an application. Deadline for the application is May 12th. Previous winners were also selected to receive the Teacher of the Year Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists at the regional and national level.

The RMAG is a professional organization representing over 2000 earth scientists working in the Denver and Rocky Mountain area. In its capacity as the leading geologic organization in the Rocky Mountain area, each year the RMAG Foundation provides funding for an annual award presented to a teacher in recognition of his or her commendable efforts in introducing young minds to the earth sciences.

Check out the RMAG Foundation website at www.rmagfoundation.org.

WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!

Nathan Brown

Ethan Parrish

is a Geologist at Earth Science Agency in Colorado.

is a Geological Technician at Whiting Petroleum Corporation in Colorado.

is a Director at DSP Geosciences and Associates, LLC in Florida.

works at APC in Colorado.

John Dolson

Patrick Patton

Romina Portas

Kevin Doyle

is a Senior Geoscientist at Aspect Energy in Texas.

Lucas Haas

is a Program Coordinator, National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program at the USGS in Colorado.

is a student at Wichita State University in Florida.

Lindsay Powers

lives in Colorado.

Charles Harman

Samuel Scott

works at Whiting Petroleum in Colorado.

is a Geologist at Whiting Petroleum Company in Colorado.

James Honert

works at Epoch Energy in Utah.

Don Smith

is the President at Don Smith PE in Colorado.

Nicholas Loundagin lives in Colorado.

David Smith

is a Petrophysicist at Intl Reservoirs Tech. in Colorado.

Mark Millard

is a Geologist at SM Energy in Colorado.

Renee Wild

Russell Nielson

is a Geologist at WPX Energy in Oklahoma.

is a Professor at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas.

Brian Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shea

is a GIS Architect at Bonanza Creek Energy in Colorado.

OUTCROP | February 2017

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

IN THE PIPELINE FEBRUARY 22, 2017

FEBRUARY 1, 2017 RMAG Luncheon. Speaker: Christopher D. Laughrey. “The Stable Isotope and Noble Gas Geochemistry of a HighNitrogen Natural Gas Reservoir, Northwestern Denver-Julesburg Basin.” Maggiano’s Little Italy, Downtown Denver.

RMAG-DGS 3D Seismic Symposium. FEBRUARY 24, 2017 RMAG DAPL GeoLand Ski Day. FEBRUARY 28, 2017

FEBRUARY 21, 2017

RMS-SEPM Luncheon. Speaker: Alena Grechishnikova from CSM. “Discrete Fracture Networks in the Niobrara and Codell: from Outcrop Surveys to Subsurface Reservoir Models.” RSVP to Luncheons@ rmssepm.org or call 720-272-6697.

DWLS Luncheon. Speaker Serge Galley from Shell. “Petrophysical Cut-Off Definition based on Dynamic Reservoir Parameters.” Call 303-770-4235. FEBRUARY 22, 2017

MARCH 2, 2017

OCF Denver Chapter Luncheon. RVSP to 303-258-6401.

RMAG Core Workshop. Leaders: Rich Bottjer, Gus Gustason, Kevin Smith. USGS Core Research Center.

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LEAD STORY

The Uinta Mountains A Tale Of Two Geographies & More

By Douglas A. Sprinkel Originally published: http://geology.utah.gov/ map-pub/survey-notes/ uinta-mountains-two-geographies/ The Uinta Mountains are one of Utah’s premier mountain ranges. Rising above the Uinta Basin in Utah on the south and the Green River Basin in Wyoming on the north, they stretch from near Kamas eastward into northwestern Colorado. They form the roof of Utah, having more peaks greater than 11,000 feet than any other mountain range in Utah, and our only peaks over 13,000 feet, including Kings Peak, our highest at 13,528 feet. However, the Uintas are a tale of two geographies, so much so that many people refer to the “western (or high) Uintas” and the “eastern Uintas.” I have often wondered why the high peaks—and glaciation—are concentrated in the western part of the range and why the Uinta Mountains consist of two anticlines. I was also curious why the eastern part of the range is seemingly bent. Why the difference? The answer may lie in part in the long geologic history of this part of Utah, and in a newly recognized fault zone that seems to cut across OUTCROP | February 2017

the range (Figure 1). Most scholars of the Uinta Mountains know that the story began more than 1.7 billion years ago, and most know that the mountains we see today formed during the Laramide mountain-building event between about 70 and 34 million years ago (mya). But, many Utah geologists may think that since 34 mya the range has just sat there, passively being carved away by streams and glaciers, not fully realizing it has been structurally modified by Tertiary extension during the past 23 million years (Figure 2). Recently, through new research and mapping, we have learned that there is much more to the story—we now recognize that structural changes began at the end of the Precambrian (Neoproterozoic), that the Uintas have large active faults that may present an earthquake hazard today (Figure 3), and that at times these faults localized mineralization. These answers are arising from 15 years of detailed geologic mapping in the Uinta Mountains and Uinta Basin by the Utah Geological Survey, with additional supportive mapping and stratigraphic studies by other researchers and their students, including Carol Dehler (Utah State University), Bart Kowallis (Brigham

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Hayden Peak in the Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA. Photo by Johnny Adolphson, shutterstock.com

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

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LEAD STORY

FIGURE 1: (A) The Uinta Mountains have more peaks greater than 11,000 feet than any other mountain range in Utah, including

Utahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest, Kings Peak at 13,528 feet. Peaks greater than 10,500 feet are concentrated in the western part of the range, whereas the few demure peaks in the eastern Uintas barely exceed 10,000 feet, and most are well under 10,000 feet. An inferred northwest-trending fault zone cuts the formations of the late Neoproterozoic Uinta Mountain Group but does not significantly cut the overlying Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks, suggesting movement along the fault zone was late Neoproterozoic. (B) Wallace Hansen, in his 1986 report on the Neogene tectonics of the Uinta Mountains, showed the broad Uinta arch is actually two misaligned anticlines separated by a structural saddle. The anticlines may have formed in late Neoproterozoic time and been significantly enhanced during the Laramide orogeny.

FIGURE 2: Timeline showing the main geologic events that contributed to the formation and modification of the Uinta Mountains.

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LEAD STORY

FIGURE 3: The inferred northwest-trending fault seemingly truncates several structural features like the north flank and south flank

faults, and separates the Uinta arch into two anticlinal culminations first described by Wallace Hansen. The southeast extent of the inferred fault zone is traced to a normal fault and associated fault scarps of possible Pleistocene age on the Diamond Mountain Plateau. A cluster of widely spaced earthquake epicenters is generally aligned along the inferred fault zone and fault scarp, suggesting the fault is active. Most of the mineral occurrences and mines in the Uintas are closely associated with faults, including the inferred fault zone. Note that the Dyer mine and nearby minerals occurrences are aligned along the zone in the eastern Uintas.

Young University), Paul Link (Idaho State University), Charles “Jack” Oviatt (Kansas State University), and Joel Pederson (Utah State University). Below, I outline a case for a previously unrecognized fault zone that bisects the Uinta Mountains and remains active today. But first we need to briefly review the older history of the range. Regional tectonic events drive the uplifts that form most major mountain ranges, and the Uinta Mountains are no different. Their existence is largely due to the compressional forces of the Laramide orogeny (orogeny means a mountain-building event). The Laramide uplift folded Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

rocks in the Uintas into a broad arch or anticline, which is actually formed of two separate anticlinal culminations. The Uintas rose along a set of faults—the north flank, Henrys Fork, and Uinta- Sparks faults on the north flank, and a smaller complimentary fault system on the south flank called the basin boundary fault. The north flank system generally parallels the Cheyenne belt, a weak zone in the earth’s crust that marks the “suture” where the ancient (2.6 billionyear- old) Wyoming province was “stitched” to a younger plate called the Yavapai-Mazatzal province about 1.7 billion years

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LEAD STORY

Cutthroat Lake is a tarn, a lake filling a natural basin formed in a glacial cirque, in the Uinta Mountains. The enclosing mountains are composed of Neoproterozoic Uinta Mountain Group quartz sandstone and micaceous shale. This view is toward the northwest, Summit County. Photo by Ken Krahulec.

ago. This weak zone has influenced structures in the Uintas ever since. During part of the late Neoproterozoic (about 770 to 740 mya) it formed the northern boundary of a faulted basin in which a huge amount of sand, gravel, and mud accumulated that today are rocks of the Uinta Mountain Group and form the core of the Uinta Mountains. The Uintas owe their eastwest trend to this ancient boundary. We also know that other tectonic events OUTCROP | February 2017

modified the Uinta Mountains structure. The Sevier orogeny was a thrust-type compressional mountain- building event from about 130 to 40 mya that in part overlapped the Laramide orogeny in time and space. The westernmost parts of the Uinta Mountains and Uinta Basin preserve the different structural geometries of the two orogenies. More recently, Tertiary extension modified the Uinta Mountains by lowering the eastern Uintas as early as about 23 mya, but most actively from

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LEAD STORY and undivided interval, and capped by the Red Pine Shale. Since release of that map, Carol Dehler and her students divided the unnamed interval into three new informal formations (Diamond Breaks, Outlaw Trail, and Crouse Canyon) and we extended the overlying Hades Pass formation, an informal unit in the western Uintas, into the eastern Uintas. This new stratigraphy, combined with detailed new mapping shows that, interestingly, this inferred northwest-trending fault zone actually placed the older Crouse Canyon formation near the capping Red Pine Shale, making the intervening Hades Pass formation anomalously thin near Leidy Peak. Additionally, thickness variations of the Hades Pass formation are common all along the inferred fault zone. Timing of movement on the inferred northwest-trending fault zone must be near the end of Precambrian (late Neoproterozoic) time because the UMG formations are offset and tilted westward but the overlying Paleozoic rocks have little to no offset or pre-Laramide deformation. In addition, the Paleozoic formations overlie progressively older parts of the UMG in a generally eastward direction making a regional angular unconformity. So, the evidence is strong that this fault was active in the late Precambrian—what about my claim that it has also been active since the late Tertiary? Lines of evidence include earthquake data, mineral occurrences, and offset Tertiary and

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about 15 mya to present day. Our new mapping has helped clarify the older and younger parts of the story—I propose that a northwest-trending fault zone bisects the Uinta Mountains and is largely responsible for the westeast division of the range. This inferred fault zone is not obvious because it does not regionally offset Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks, but the alignment of a series of oblique subsidiary folds and short northwest-trending fault segments help constrain its position. I first suspected that a range bisecting fault zone may be present after examining digital elevation data looking for fault scarps in the Diamond Mountain Plateau area. I noticed a linear trend extending from known fault scarps on the plateau, northwest through a broad structural saddle in the center of the range, to the apparent termination of the north flank fault zone. Other structural features also seem to terminate along this lineation, including the south flank fault zone and a fault zone on the north side of the Uintas near Utah State Road 44. The inferred fault zone may also help explain the two anticlines and their different orientations and misalignment. Although the fault zone does not significantly cut Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks, Uinta Mountain Group (UMG) rocks are cut. In a 2007 geologic map of the Dutch John 30′ x 60′ quadrangle, the UMG in the eastern Uinta Mountains consisted of the basal Jesse Ewing Canyon overlain by acthick unnamed RMAG Formation publication Ad-‐-‐-‐prof ard size 2 5/8 X 1/1/2; 12 issues @ $144

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Advanced mass spec mud gases while drilling and data analysis for reservoir evaluation and intelligent completion design. Tracy Wicker-‐geologist, account manager tracy@crowngeochemistry.com 580-‐214-‐1271

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

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LEAD STORY

FIGURE 4: A topographic profile from east of Sheep Creek eastward to Bare Top Mountain (topographic maps show Bare Top

Mountain as Bear Mountain) shows the offset of the 34- to 30-million-year-old Gilbert Peak erosion surface in two locations that coincide with the projected trace of the inferred fault zone. Although the Tertiary movement is down to the east, movement on the fault zone in the late Neoproterozoic was up on the east, an example of fault reactivation with a reverse sense of motion.

Quaternary deposits and surfaces. Let’s look at a few of these briefly. The southeast extent of the inferred fault zone is along a fault scarp on the Diamond Mountain Plateau. The fault scarp is likely in middle Pleistocene gravel that covers the Oligocene Bishop Conglomerate, which suggests the fault could be considered potentially active. A widely spaced cluster of small earthquake epicenters that plot along the fault scarp and in the inferred fault zone supports this hypothesis. If true, the inferred northwest-trending fault seems to be a reactivated major Precambrian fault and is one more example of a pattern found so often in the Uinta Mountains, old structures being reborn as new structures in different tectonic settings. The Uinta Mountains are a remarkably unmineralized mountain range; however, a plot of OUTCROP | February 2017

mines and mineral occurrences shows that much of the mineralization that does exist is closely associated with faults including the proposed northwest-trending fault zone. The copper producing Dyer mine and associated mineral occurrences seem to lie along the inferred fault zone. A remarkable feature of the Uinta Mountains, the Gilbert Peak erosion surface, provides another line of evidence. The surface formed about 34 to 30 million years ago after the Laramide orogeny and prior to Tertiary extension. The Bishop Conglomerate blankets the Gilbert Peak erosion surface along the south flank of the Uintas, but the surface is mostly bare, with the exception of thin unconsolidated Quaternary deposits, on the north flank. Faults cut the Gilbert Peak erosion surface at many places, including across the projection of the inferred northwest-trending fault on the north

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LEAD STORY unusual bend. At the end of the Precambrian, the UMG was also eroded into an undulating paleotopography prior to the deposition of the Paleozoic formations. Much later, during the Laramide orogeny and uplift of the Uinta Mountains, the inferred fault zone may have had some movement, but most of this deformation was accommodated by enhancing the amplitude of the two anticlines and forming smaller folds oblique to the trend of the zone. The fault zone moved again during late Tertiary extension, but this time the eastern part of the range moved down relative to the western part. Lowering the eastern Uintas along the reactivated inferred fault zone and other faults offset the Gilbert Peak erosion surface, caused a reorganization of the drainage system, and terminated the string of high peaks of the Uintas. Timing of mineralization associated with the inferred fault zone and others faults in the Uinta Mountains is unclear but is likely Tertiary in age. Proximity of earthquake activity in the eastern Uinta Mountains with the inferred fault zone is intriguing. Much more work is needed to define clearly the position and extent of the inferred northwest-trending fault zone and constrain its deformational history. It is an interesting structural feature of the Uinta Mountains, and if proven, can explain many of the topographic, geomorphic, and geologic oddities of the range.

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flank, indicating that movement must have happened in the middle Tertiary or later. Displacement data indicate that many faults first moved as compressional Laramide-age faults, and were later reactivated as extensional Tertiary faults (Figure 4). The inferred northwest-trending fault zone can explain many of the intriguing features we observe in the Uintas, including the abrupt eastward termination of the high Uinta peaks, the various structural features on the north and south flanks of the range, and the two distinct anticlinal culminations. It helps clarify the long history of the Uintas, including an early period of compressional deformation in the late Neoproterozoic (between about 642 and 541 mya) in which the UMG basin was inverted, folded into a subtle low-amplitude anticline, and faulted. Like the later Laramide orogeny, the late Neoproterozoic uplift occurred along faults that paralleled the Cheyenne suture. This event produced a subtle, generally east-west-trending fold that extended from Colorado to western Utah and eastern Nevada to form the Uinta-Cortez arch. This deformation also faulted the UMG along the inferred northwest-trending fault zone, creating the initial bisection and possibly the two anticlinal culminations. Precambrian west-southwest movement on the inferred fault zone placed older formations of the UMG on the east up against the younger formations of the UMG on the west, and may have set the stage to give the later eastern mountains their

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OUTCROP | February 2017

The Mountain Geologist Best Paper Award for 2016 suggest that dolomite did not precipitate directly from seawater, but are consistent with formation from evaporative fluids, supporting a sabkha dolomitization model. This study provides a better understanding of processes controlling the timing and extent of dolomitization of these strata during the Pennsylvanian as well as its effect on the evolution of carbonate textures during the early stages of diageneJanuary 2015 Volume 52 Number 1 sis. Furthermore, the reader is treated to a well- organized paper with stunning photomicrographs and beautifully clear illustrations and figures. Late Paleozoic Yuma Arch, All of the papers published this year in The MounColorado and Nebraska: Implications for Oil tain Geologist are outstanding, which made the seExploration in Pennsylvanian lection process difficult. We would like to thank all of Carbonate Reservoirs the authors forMark their James P. Rogers, W. contributions to the journal. Longman, William C. Pearson, Congratulations Gregory P. Wahlman, Richard M. to Sébastien, Tracy and Chris. Kettler, Joseph Walseth, Jeanette —The Best Paper Selection Committee

The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists is pleased to announce the winner of The Mountain Geologist Best Paper Award for 2016. The winning paper is “Dolomitization of supratidal to shallow-marine carbonates in the Pennsylvanian successions of the Wyoming Shelf” by Sébastien Blanchard, Tracy D. Frank, and Christopher R. Fielding. This extremely well written study reappraises various dolomitization models of the Pennsylvanian Amsdem and Tensleep formations of Wyoming by integrating the use of petrography, isotope geochemistry, and sedimentology. The authors focused on the three dominant dolomitized facies (pedogenic, supratidal, shallow marine) and their petrographic characteristics: shale-hosted, nodular dolomites, chert-bearing dolomicrite, and fossiliferous dolowackestone. Stable isotopic compositions

Dixon, M. Ray Thomasson

RMAG Reviewers name Deborah King Sacrey’s ‘Sweet Spots’ Best Talk of the Year Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, Denver, Colorado

OUTCROP | February 2017

generation of numerous seismic data types and attributes. Deborah is a geologist/geophysicist with over 40 years of oil and gas exploration experience and kindly flew up from Houston to speak to our members. RMAG reviewers judged her highly technical talk to be the best of the year. Congratulations to Deb for a great talk!

On August 3, 2016, Deborah King Sacrey gave a talk to an RMAG Luncheon audient titled “Unsupervised Neural Analysis of Seismic Attributes to find the “Sweet Spots” in your data – with Conventional and Unconventional Case Histories.” Her talk focused on interpretation of seismic reflection data involved in powerful multiple-CPU computers, advanced visualization techniques, and

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

RMAG Foundation Sponsors the 2017 Excellence in Teaching of Earth Science Award

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

teacher who could be a candidate, please contact the K-12 Public Outreach Committee through the RMAG Foundation office at: RMAG Foundation, No. 165, Attention: Trustee Secretary, 1001 16th Street, B180, Denver, Colorado 80265, or by telephone at the RMAG office at 303-5738621. Please visit the Foundation’s website at: www.rmagfoundation.org/awards/ for additional information and to receive an application form. For information about the Foundation visit the RMAG Foundation website at: http://www.rmagfoundation.org/. The application deadline this year is Friday May 12th, with the winner to be announced on or before May 19th.

In 2000, the RMAG Foundation instituted an award to honor an elementary or secondary school teacher who has promoted teaching of earth science to K-12 students. The winner receives a commemorative plaque and a $1000 cash award provided by the RMAG Foundation, and is recommended as the RMAG’s candidate to compete for the AAPG Rocky Mountain Section, Teacher of the Year award. This award honors the best earth science teacher in the Front Range area from either an elementary or secondary school. The teacher must submit the application, which includes two letters of recommendation and descriptions of their teaching philosophy and course curriculum. If you are a teacher or know of a

OUTCROP | February 2017

Pioneering Women in Petroleum Geology: 1917 to 2017 Robbie Gries, with the help of the AAPG PROWESS Committee and many other volunteers, has been writing a history of Pioneering Women in Petroleum Geology. This includes stories and photographs dating back to the first decade of the 20th century. Grandchildren, children, nieces, nephews, and friends have shared their memories of these pioneering women. The book is a treasure of heroic careers and gender-bias breaking accomplishments. Stories of and from these women (150) bring the readers surprises, hilarity, tragedy, and enlightenment. The stories begin with WW I, covering the Micropaleo era, the introduction of geophysics, continuing through WW II, the Post War years, and concluding with the hiring after Affirmative Action in the 1970s. Financing the publication: The book will be released along with the debut of the Documentary on Pioneering Women at the 100th Anniversary AAPG meeting in Houston—at a special all day Forum, Saturday, April 1st. However, there is no current funding available for publication of this book—a culmination of four years of research and writing. AAPG is funding the Pioneering Women Documentary and will help market the book but cannot help with the pre-publication funds. This letter is a request for your help with funding the publication (costs estimated at over $40,000). First, if you pre-order you book now for $50 per book, we can use the money toward the printing process! And, second,, donations toward the printing costs are essential and greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, the donations will not be tax-deductible, since we do not have tax-exempt status. However, donations of $500 and above, will receive acknowledgement in the book, a signed copy of the book, and the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped preserve the history of these Pioneering Women in Petroleum Geology. If you are willing to assist in this publication by pre-ordering, please choose one of the following payment options: •

Mail a check, payable to: Robbie Gries P.O. Box 27798, Denver, CO 80227 ** Please make sure to include the shipping address for the delivery of your book. Your Name: _____________________________________ Shipping Address: _______________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________

•

Online via PayPal at https://www.PayPal.Me/PioneerWomen **There will be an option to leave a note. Please use this to include your shipping address.

•

Credit/Debit by calling Melissa Gray at 303-296-3435.

OUTCROP | February 2017

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

News From The RMAG Foundation The RMAG Foundation is pleased to welcome Tanya Inks as a new Trustee. Tanya, an AAPG Certified Petroleum Geophysicist who is the President and Geophysical Consultant of IS Interpretation Services, Inc. joins Donna Anderson (Secretary), Kurt Reisser, • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Allan Hallock Anson Mark Arthur Butler Bill Donovan Bruce Wiley Carlos Garcia Carol Hembre Charles Spencer Clifford Clark Clyde Moore Craig Cormany David Bardin David Lindsey David Nelson David Newell Deborah Sycamore Debra and Ernest Gomez Debra Higley-Feldman Diamond Operating Dolores and Albert Erlebacher Carol Hembre Donald J. McKenna Donna Anderson Dudley Bolyard Edward Heath

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Eileen Griffith Elizabeth McKenna Elizabeth Roberts Elmo Brown Ennis Geraghty Eugene Shearer Forrest Poole Fullerton Exploration, LLC Gavlin Family Foundation Gibbet Hill Foundation G.Richards Ira Pasternack J. Todd Stephenson J.C. Thompson James Brotes James Cole James Lowell Jane Crouch Jason Burris Jeanne Harris Jerry Cuzella John Chatfield John Gillespie John Robinson John Shallow

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

John Stowell John Warme Joseph Kulik Joyce Babcock Kane Weiner Kathleen and Elmo Brown Kevin Corbett Kurt Reisser Laura Wray Leon Gerlich Lisa Corbin Louis Bortz Louis Conti Lyle Gallivan Mark Longman Marlis Smith Marshall Crouch Matthew and DeborahSilverman Michael Bradley Michael Walen Mitchell Reynolds Patricia Irwin Patricia Tully Paul Hess

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Paul Hovler R.H. Groshong Jr Rich Frommer Rick Obernolte Robbie Gries Robert Groth Robert Coskey Robert Weimer Roger Charbonneau Ronald Pritchett Scott Olson Seneca Caverns Stephen Sonnenberg Stephen Strachan Susan Landon Suzanne Cluff Ted Enterline Terry Ganey Terry Mather Thomas Grealy Tim Smith Tom Fullerton Tracy Lombardi Wexford Resources William Berry

Fund online, but plans are in place to allow online contributions to the scholarship funds as well. The website designer was Sublime Creations. • We are pleased to welcome new Foundation Trustees: John Robinson and David Taylor (Treasurer). They join Donna Anderson, Kurt Reisser, Mitchell Reynolds (Secretary), and Laura Wray (Chair). • The Foundation hosted a reception for major donors in late September at the Molly Brown Summer House. Tours of the newly-opened house were given throughout the evening.

• Contributions are being accepted for the newly-formed Robert M. Cluff Scholarship for Petrophysics and Reservoir Characterization. Please mail checks to the RMAG Foundation, Independence Plaza B-180, Box #165, 1001 16th Street, Denver, CO 80265. • The Foundation has a new website: rmagfoundation.org. Information containing scholarship winners, applications, and requirements, as well as organizations that have received funding from the Foundation is included. Please note that contributions can only be given to the Foundation General

Mitchell Reynolds, John Robinson, David Taylor (Treasurer), and Laura Wray (Chair). Please check the Foundation’s new website (rmagfoundation.org). Finally, the RMAG community was extremely generous this past year in contributing to the Foundation. We thank the following donors:

By Laura Wray, Chair

OUTCROP | February 2017

ADVERTISER INDEX

• Crown Geochemistry �� 29

• Neil H. Whitehead, III �� 6

• Donovan Brothers Inc. �� 29

• PTTC �� 4

• DSP Geosciences & Associates �� 11

• QEP Resources �� 9

• Geokinetics �� 20

• Sinclair Petroleum Engineering, Inc. �� 31

• Geomark �� 9

• Spancers & Associates �� 6

• GeoSteering �� 12

• Stoner Engineering (SES) �� 33

• Kestrel Geoscience, LLC �� 6

• Tracker Resources �� 11

• Louis J. Mazzullo, LLC �� 6

• W.W. Little Geological Consulting, LLC �� 14, 31

CALENDAR | FEBRUARY 2017 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

RMAG Luncheon.

DWLS Luncheon.

OCF Denver Chapter Luncheon. RMAG-DGS 3D Seismic Symposium.

RMAG DAPL GeoLand Ski Day.

28 RMS-SEPM Luncheon.

OUTCROP | February 2017

Vol. 66, No. 2 | www.rmag.org