January 2019 Outcrop by The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

Volume 68 • No. 1 • January 2019

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

OUTCROP | January 2019

web: www.rmag.org follow: @rmagdenver

Vol. 68, No. 1 | 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.

2019 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT

2st VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT

Tom Sperr tsperr@bayless-cos.com

Dan Bassett dbassett@sm-energy.com

RMAG STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Barbara Kuzmic bkuzmic@rmag.org

PRESIDENT-ELECT

TREASURER

Jane Estes-Jackson Jane.Estes-Jackson@McElvain.com

Eryn Bergin eryn.bergin@aec-denver.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT

TREASURER-ELECT

Heather LaReau heatherthegeologist@gmail.com

Chris Eisinger chris.eisinger@state.co.us

Kira Timm kira.k.timm@gmail.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT

SECRETARY

Ben Burke bburke@hpres.com

Anna Phelps aphelps@sm-energy.com

Courtney Beck Courtney.Beck@halliburton.com

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

COUNSELOR

Sophie Berglund sberglund@raisaenergy.com

Donna Anderson danderso@rmi.net

PROJECTS SPECIALIST

Kathy Mitchell-Garton kmitchellgarton@rmag.org CO-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 40. 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

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

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Outcrop | January 2019 OUTCROP

2018 Summit Sponsors Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

NORTH RANCH RESOURCES

OUTCROP | January 2019

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

CONTENTS FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

18 Lead Story: Catalog of 208 human-caused minerals bolsters argument for ‘Anthropocene Epoch’

12 RMAG December 2018 Board of Directors Meeting

28 Mineral of the Quarter: Cassiterite

36 RMAG Luncheon Programs: Alexei Milkov

14 President’s Letter

40 Outcrop Advertising Rates 41 Advertiser Index ASSOCIATION NEWS

41 Calendar

2 RMAG Permian Basin Symposium & Core Workshop

COVER PHOTO

4 RMAG 2018 Summit Sponsors

Estes Park Credit: Kira Timm

6 2019 RMAG Summit Sponsorship 11 2019 RMAG Mentorship Program

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

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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

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | January 2019

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

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

Company logo looping in PowerPoint presentation

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

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

Opportunity to offer RMAG approved promotional items at luncheons

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 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.

OUTCROP | January 2019

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

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

Company logo placed on 2019 Summit Sponsor signage

üLarge 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

Company logo placed on 2019 Summit Sponsor signage

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

Event tickets

ü 4 Tickets

ü 2 Tickets

Company logo placed on 2019 Summit Sponsor signage

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

Company logo looping in PowerPoint presentation

üLarge Logo

üMedium Logo

Event Tickets

2019

Golf Tournament

Sporting Clay Tournament

Rockbusters Bash

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | January 2019

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

OUTCROP | January 2019 910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202

fax: 888.389.4090 web: www.rmag.org Vol. 68, No. 1 | 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: staďŹ&#x20AC;@rmag.org

February 1, 2019 December 31, 2019

phone: 303.573.8621

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

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

fax: 888.389.4090 11

web: www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | January 2019

follow: @rmagdenver

RMAG DECEMBER 2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING By Anna Phelps, Secretary aphelps@sm-energy.com

McCartney Mountain, outside Dillon, Montana. If you guessed the Dinwoody Formation, you are correct! In honor of the New Year, I am going to change it up and trade my Name the Formation game for something new. This January, my New Year’s challenge to you is to always continue and advance your education: read the Outcrop, attend luncheons, attend at least one Continuing Educational event this year, go on a field trip. In return, my commitment to you is to provide you with a monthly geologic fun fact or fun geology joke to add to your repertoire of dinner party conversation starters and perhaps inspire you to continue to search and learn. So with that, did you know that by measuring the lamiae and cycle thickness of Precambrian tidal bundles in Australia, researchers found that in the late Neoproterozoic, a year had 400 +/- 7 solar days and the length of day was 21.9 +/- 0.4 hours. How cool is that?! Stay curious, stay excited!

OUTCROP | January 2019

reported that the 2019 Mentorship Program will kick off in January with the pairing of mentors and mentees. The On the Rocks Committee is already starting to plan trips for 2019 and is putting together a Best Practices document for trip communication and safety. The Science Education Outreach Committee has held seven events in three separate Colorado school districts and is gearing up for more talks in 2019. As the last Board of Directors meeting of 2018 ended, we said good bye to outgoing board members: President Terri Olson, First President David Katz, Second Vice President Tracy Lombardi, Treasurer Robin Swank, and Counselor Jim Emme. Thank you to Terri, David, Tracy, Robin and Jim for your service and dedication to RMAG! The Board also welcomed incoming board members: President-Elect Jane Estes-Jackson, First Vice President-Elect Ben Burke, Second Vice President-Elect Daniel Bassett, Treasurer-Elect Chris Eisinger, and Counselor Donna Anderson. Welcome to the RMAG Board of Directors, we are looking forward to a great 2019! Last month’s Name the Formation was an outcrop of interbedded limestone, shale and siltstone from near

Happy New Year outcrop lovers! I hope you had a very joyous holiday season! 2018 was a great year for RMAG. We gained new members, including many student members, ran an impressive number of technical short courses, hosted stimulating monthly luncheons, led almost a dozen fieldtrips, and hosted several other social events for our members. The December meeting of the RMAG Board of Directors was a festive luncheon meeting held on December 19, 2018 at 11:00 AM. All board members except Heather LaReau, David Katz, and Sophie Berglund were present. Treasurer Robin Swank reported that RMAG was ahead on revenue and a little high on expenses, but on track to be on budget for 2018. Director Barbara Kuzmic reported that membership has grown to 1,805 members, including 100 students. The Continuing Education Committee is working on a Mudrock Petrography course for February and an Intro Unconventional Play Prospecting and Development course in March. Don’t forget to sign up for the January Permian Basin Symposium, which will have seven cores and many fantastic talks! The Membership Committee

(Source: Williams, G.E., 2000, Geological constraints on the Precambrian istory of Earth’s rotation and the Moon’s orbit. Reviews of Geophysics, 38, 37-59.)

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

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Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | January 2019

PRESIDENT’S LETTER By Tom Sperr

It’s Every Small-town Boy’s Dream to be President

OUTCROP | January 2019

the University of Wyoming in 1977 studying volcanology, with the intent to continue on to a PhD. That fall was a big recruiting year for geologists by major oil companies and many of my friends were signing up for interviews on campus. I asked my advisor what he thought about a career in the oil business. He asked me what they were paying. I had heard somewhere between $17,000 to $18,000. He said he was making $14,000 as a tenured professor and that I should figure it out myself. With a little luck, I landed a job at Texaco in Denver for what sounded like all the money in the world. I soon found out that $14,000 in Laramie was a lot more money than $18,000 in Denver. But the oil boom was on and I left Texaco after two years for a company car and double my original salary. My boss at Texaco wished me well, but advised me that when times got hard you were safer with one of the majors. Within a year he had left Texaco, and of course, Texaco had its ups and downs until finally merging with Chevron. It’s now just a memory. My new employer, Texas Gas Exploration, was a great place to work with great people. We were bought out twice in the eight years I worked there. I sat at the same desk throughout. We were finally invited to Houston with Total, but decided to stay in Denver. Since then, I have consulted, sold deals and

It’s always been a been a bumpy ride for those of us with careers in the oil business. Our fortunes are linked to a commodity that is priced as much by political decisions as it is by supply and demand. I never set out to be a petroleum geologist, but what a fun career it has been. I grew up in a small town in northeast Ohio, Orrville, the home of Smucker’s jelly. My neighbor was a Smucker, my first grade teacher was a Smucker and her principal was a Smucker. We had a full year of earth science in high school taught by one of our football coaches, who also had a Masters degree in geology. Thanks Bob Schonk; three of us in my graduating class of ninety people became petroleum geologists. Between sophomore and junior year at the University of Akron, I went for a weekend of fossil collecting with the other two geology majors. I was a history major. We had so much fun that I came home and told my mother I was going to study geology. She cried. She knew I would end up in the oil business. My uncle was a landman in Michigan and she always thought the job was a little shady. Since I was to become a geologist, my uncle took me out leasing with him in Michigan. In Traverse City. In January. It was 20 degrees below zero with a howling wind when we visited a Total geophysicist who was processing field data in a house trailer on site. I decided that geophysics would not be my major. I was working towards my Masters degree at

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PRESIDENT’S LETTER

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worked around Denver for several companies. I’ve been laid off twice, bought out twice, but it all seemed to have worked out in the end. I missed a couple of opportunities to make some big money, but I have been amply rewarded financially and personally as a geologist. I can’t imagine a more fun thing to do. What’s my advice to the young professional? Save as much money as you can from your salary. Live below your current means. We are well-paid in this business, in part, because our jobs do tend to ebb and flow with oil price. Be willing to take

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RENEW!

Renew your dues for the 2019 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!

OUTCROP | January 2019

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PRESIDENT’S LETTER

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risks in your career. The job that appears rock solid today can disappear just as quickly as one with a new startup. Invest in yourself. Keep your education up to date. Learn parts of the business you are not necessarily working in. Learn from the engineers, landmen, permitting and environmental folks, and financial professionals around you. Get out in the field. You will be surprised what you can learn on the rig floor from the clever, interesting people who turn our ideas into production. Network and expand your contacts. You may work for the biggest and best company in town, but they will not always be there for you. Being known and having friends in other places is where you most likely will find your next job. And the interchange of ideas and knowledge with other geologists usually benefits everyone involved. Go to schools, conventions, field trips and social events. These are great places, not just to learn, but meet new people. These events can also remind us why we became geologists in the first place, and help rekindle that fire in our bellies that makes the search for oil so fun. Finally, use your dental insurance while you still have it. Welcome to the New Year. I hope it is a happy and prosperous one for you all. OUTCROP | January 2019

LEAD STORY

Catalog of 208 human-caused minerals bolsters argument for ‘Anthropocene Epoch’ Reprinted from Carnegie Science www.carnegiescience.edu

OUTCROP | January 2019

that category were discovered on corroded lead artifacts aboard a Tunisian shipwreck, two on bronze artifacts in Egypt, and two on tin artifacts in Canada. Four were discovered at prehistoric sacrificial burning sites in the Austrian mountains.

Human industry and ingenuity has done more to diversify and distribute minerals on Earth than any development since the rise of oxygen over 2.2 billion years ago, experts say in a paper published today. The work bolsters the scientific argument to officially designate a new geological time interval distinguished by the pervasive impact of human activities: the Anthropocene Epoch. In the paper, published by American Mineralogist, a team led by Carnegie’s Robert Hazen identifies for the first time a group of 208 mineral species that originated either principally or exclusively due to human activities. That’s almost 4% of the roughly 5,200 minerals officially recognized by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA). Most of the recognized minerals attributed to human activities originated through mining — in ore dumps, through the weathering of slag, formed in tunnel walls, mine water or timbers, or through mine fires. Six were found on the walls of smelters; three formed in a geothermal piping system. Some minerals formed due to human actions can also occur naturally. Three in

UNPARALLELED PACE OF DIVERSIFICATION

According to the paper, the first great ‘punctuation event’ in the history of Earth’s mineral diversity occurred more than 2 billion years ago when the increase of oxygen in the atmosphere — ‘the Great Oxidation’ — gave rise to as many as twothirds of the more than 5,200 mineral species officially recognized today. Says Hazen, who co-wrote the paper with Edward Grew of the University of Maine, and Marcus Origlieri and Robert Downs of the University of Arizona: “It took over 2 billion years for combinations of elements to meet naturally on Earth at a specific location, depth and temperature, and to form into the more than 5,200 minerals officially recognized today.” “Within that collection are 208 produced directly or indirectly by human activities, mostly since the mid-1700s, and

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Anthropogenic mineral Simonkolleite [Zn5(OH)8Cl2ÂˇH2O] found on a copper mining artifact, Rowley mine, Maricopa County, Arizona. Credit: RRUFF

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LEAD STORY

Anthropogenic mineral Fiedlerite [Pb3Cl4F(OH)∙H2O] located in Laurium, Attica, Greece. Credit: RRUFF comprehensive understanding and analysis of the mineralogical nature of the Anthropocene Epoch is warranted.” Humanity has had a major impact on diversity and distribution in the mineral world in three principal ways, according to the paper:

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we believe that others continue to be formed at that same relatively blazing pace. To imagine 250 years relative to 2 billion years, that’s the difference between the blink of an eye (one third of a second) and one month.” “Simply put, we live in an era of unparalleled inorganic compound diversification,” says Hazen. “Indeed, if the Great Oxidation eons ago was a ‘punctuation event’ in Earth’s history, the rapid and extensive geological impact of the Anthropocene is an exclamation mark.”

1) MINERALS FORMED EITHER DELIBERATELY OR AS AN UNINTENTIONAL BYPRODUCT

a) Directly creating synthetic compounds such as YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) crystals used in lasers, silicon “chips” for semi-conductors, carbide grits for abrasives, and various specialty metals and alloys for magnets, machine parts, and tools. Other examples include bricks, earthenware, porcelain, glass and limestone-based Portland cement — the world’s most common form of cement, used in concrete, mortar, stucco and grout — a combination of calcium silicates, calcium sulfates, and other compounds.

ANTHROPOGENIC MINERALS

A mineral species is defined as a naturally occurring crystalline compound that has a unique combination chemical composition and crystal structure. As of February, 2017, the IMA had approved 5,208 species (http://rruff.info/ima). The authors of the recent paper argue that with so many minerals and mineral-like compounds owing their origin to human activities, “a more

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OUTCROP | January 2019

LEAD STORY

Anthropogenic mineral Nealite [Pb4Fe(AsO3)2Cl4∙H2O] in ancient slag with ludlockite, Oxygon, Laurion, Greece. Credit: RRUFF blocks, rocks, sediments, and minerals from their original location to help build roads, bridges, waterways, monuments, kitchen counters, and other human infrastructure, rivals in scale nature’s redistribution such as via glaciers. Mining operations, meanwhile, have stripped the near-surface environment of ores and fossil fuels, leaving large open pits, tunnel complexes, and, in the case of strip mining, sheared off mountaintops. Road cuts, tunnels, and embankments represent further distinctively human planetary modifications.

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b) Indirectly contributing to the formation of new minerals through mining, with new compounds appearing on mine walls, or in mine dumps, and slag, for example. Of special interest are minerals found associated with ancient lead-zinc mine and slag localities, including some possibly dating from the Bronze Age, others from as far back as 300 AD. Hazen, who serves also as Executive Director of the Deep Carbon Observatory (https://deepcarbon. net), notes that of the 208 anthropogenic minerals, at least 29 contain the element carbon. Notable in that group are minerals related to mining—those that form by the alteration of mine timbers or in coal mine fires.

3) GLOBAL REDISTRIBUTION OF HIGHLY VALUED NATURAL MINERALS

Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and a host of semi-precious stones, accompanied by concentrations of gold, silver, and platinum, are found in shops and households in every corner of the globe. Collections of fine mineral specimens juxtapose mineral species that would not occur naturally in

2) LARGE SCALE MOVEMENT OF ROCKS, SEDIMENTS, AND MINERALS

In addition to creating new compounds, human activities such as mining and the transport of stone OUTCROP | January 2019

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OUTCROP | January 2019

LEAD STORY

Anthropogenic mineral Chalconatronite [Na2Cu(CO3)2∙3H2O] found on a metallic copper mining artifact from the Rowley mine, Maricopa County, Arizona. Credit: RRUFF record as a distinctive, globally-distributed horizon of crystalline novelty—a persistent marker that marks our age as different from all that came before.”

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combination. From modest beginner collector sets of more common minerals to the world’s greatest museums, these collections, if buried in the stratigraphic record and subsequently unearthed in the distant future, “would reveal unambiguously the passion of humans for the beauty and wonder of the mineral kingdom,” the paper says.

SOME ANTHROPOGENIC MINERALS WOULDN’T BE RECOGNIZED TODAY

Calclacite, described by a Belgium-based scientist in 1959, and which originated in an old oak storage cabinet for mineral specimens at the Royal Museum of Natural History, Brussels, is an officially recognized mineral that wouldn’t qualify today; in 1998 the IMA decided to disallow any substance “made by Man.” Other recognized anthropogenic minerals in this category include slag-related minerals as well as a pair from Russia, niobocarbide and tantalcarbide, which some experts believe may have been a hoax — “a laboratory product … deliberately passed off as a natural material” in the early 1900s. Though unlikely to pass scrutiny today, says Grew, previously recognized minerals such as these, rather than being invalidated, have been allowed to remain in the IMA catalog. The IMA did agree to recognize a mineral in cases “in which human intervention in the creation of a substance is less direct.”

NEW COMPOUNDS FORMING

Says Downs: “Given humanity’s pervasive influences on the environment, there must be hundreds of as yet unrecognized ‘minerals’ in old mines, smelters, abandoned buildings, and other sites. Meanwhile, new suites of compounds may now be forming in, for example, solid waste dumps where old batteries, electronics, appliances, and other high-tech discards are exposed to weathering and alteration.” Adds Origlieri: “In the sediment layers left behind from our age, future mineralogists will find plentiful building materials such as bricks, cinder blocks, and cement, metal alloys such as steel, titanium, and aluminum, along with many lethal radioactive byproducts of the nuclear age. They might also marvel at some beautiful manufactured gemstones, like cubic zirconia, moissanite, synthetic rubies, and many others.” Says Grew: “These minerals and mineral-like compounds will be preserved in the geological

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Anthony Ford Account Executive, LMKR GeoGraphix

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OUTCROP | January 2019

LEAD STORY

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• Associated with mine dump fires, including coal

THE ORIGIN OF UP TO 29 FORMS OF CARBON: HUMANITY

mine dumps: acetamide, hoelite, kladnoite

• Interaction with mine timbers or leaf litter: pa-

Of the 208 human-mediated minerals identified by the Deep Carbon Observatory researchers, 29 contain carbon. Origins and forms, along with movements and quantities, are four themes of the Deep Carbon Observatory. Now we know that as many as 29 carbon minerals originated with human activities, of which 14 have no recorded natural occurrences. It is fair, therefore, to consider the 14 as the youngest carbon mineral species. Among the 14, candidates for the very youngest include a dozen minerals related to uranium mines. The mineral andersonite, for example, is found in the tunnels of certain abandoned uranium mines in the American Southwest. At places along the tunnel walls, sandstone becomes saturated with water that contains elements that form a beautiful crust of yellow, orange and green crystals. Prized for its bright green fluorescent glow under a black light, a good sample of andersonite will fetch up to $500 from a collector. Another notable carbon-bearing mineral is tinnunculite, determined to be a product of hot gases reacting with the excrement of the Eurasian kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) at a burning coal mine in Kopeisk, Chelyabinsk, Russia. It was subsequently discovered also on Russia’s Mt. Rasvumchorr — an entirely natural occurrence. Tinnunculite is one of eight new minerals identified as part of the Deep Carbon Observatory’s Carbon Mineral Challenge (https://mineralchallenge. net), launched in 2015 to track down an estimated 145 carbon-bearing minerals yet to be formally recognized. The IMA recognized tinnunculite as a mineral in 2015.

ceite, hoganite

• Formed in storage cabinets in museums: calclacite • Allegedly from placers, possibly a hoax: niobocarbide, tantalcarbide

INADVERTENTLY PRODUCED OR HUMANMEDIATED MINERALS, OCCURRING OR SUSPECTED TO OCCUR IN NATURE • Recovered from dumps, including ore and

serpentinite: hydromagnesite, lansfordite, nesquehonite

• Alteration of mine tunnel walls: andersonite, bayleyite, swartzite, znucalite

• Associated with mine fires (not coal mines): shannonite

• Associated with coal mine and dump fires; Subli-

mation from gas escape from coal fires: dypingite, ravatite, tinnunculite

• Other “post-mine” minerals or context undefined: rabbittite barstowite, phosgenite

• Alteration of lead artifacts: barstowite, phosgenite • Alteration of bronze artifacts: chalconatronite

Although yet to be confirmed by the International Union of Geological Sciences, there is growing advocacy for formal recognition of the “Anthropocene Epoch,” the successor of the Holocene Epoch, which began some 11,500 years ago when the most recent ice age glaciers began to retreat. Epochs are normally separated by significant changes in the rock layers to which they correspond. A 35-member Working Group on the

HUMAN-MEDIATED PHASES WITH NO CONFIRMED NATURAL OCCURRENCES

Anthropocene (WGA) recommended formal designation of the

• Recovered from ore dumps: wheatleyite, widgiemoolthalite • Associated with mine tunnel walls: OUTCROP | January 2019

albrechtschraufite, canavesite, ježekite, línekite

epoch Anthropocene to the International Geological Congress on 29 August 2016. It may be several years before a final decision is reached. 26

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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER By Ronald L. Parker Senior Geologist, Borehole Image Specialists, 5650 Greenwood Plaza Boulevard, Suite 142, Greenwood Village, CO 80111 | ron@bhigeo.com

CASSITERITE Catalyst of Human Technological Advance

»»CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

Spray of lustrous, brown-black cassiterite crystals scattered across euhedral faces of a large translucent smoky quartz crystal from Tenkerchin Mine, Chukotka, Magadan Oblast, Russia. Some of these cassiterites show tetragonal symmetry which is often obscured by twinning in other crystals. Used with permission from John Betts Fine Minerals. www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com OUTCROP | January 2019

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CASSITERITE

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

(Klein, 2002). Cassiterite has a hardness of 6-7 and a high specific gravity of 6.8 to 7.1 (Johnsen, 2002). The composition of cassiterite is usually close to pure SnO2 (78.6% Sn, 21.4% O by weight) although small concentrations of Fe3+ may appear and even smaller amounts of Nb and Ta can substitute for Sn (Klein, 2002). Cassiterite is colorless when pure, but it occurs mostly as brown to black material from the slight iron impurity (Bonewitz, 2013). Rare red, yellow or white varieties are known, and these are coveted by collectors, commonly for faceting.

Cassiterite, tin oxide (SnO2), is a comparatively rare and little appreciated accessory mineral that forms within granites and pegmatites, as well as in hydrothermal veins and skarns in contact with granitic intrusions. Cassiterite is a hard, heavy and durable mineral that is best known from fluvial placer deposits because it is able to survive weathering from granitic sources. Cassiterite is the only significant mineral ore of tin (Sn) and it has provided this element to the human family for eight millennia. Tin, and therefore cassiterite, was a historically critical material that accelerated propulsion of humanity out of the Stone Age and into the modern era. Without cassiterite, and the tin it carries, the technological advance of humanity would doubtless have been slowed. It might be argued that the poorly known tin oxide cassiterite is the most important mineral discovery ever stumbled upon by humankind. Cassiterite derives its name from the Greek word for tin-kassiteros (Bonewitz, 2013), which, was borrowed from the Sanskrit kastira (Farndon and Parker, 2011). During the Roman Empire, the name for the British Isles was the Cassiterides (Jones, 2018). Herodotus, writing about 440 BCE, mentioned the Cassiterides Islands, from which tin was obtained (Meharg, et. al., 2012). It is interesting to note that many people of the Bronze Age world were obsessed by cassiterite, expending

great sums of time and treasure to find it and protecting those discoveries with their lives (Chaline, 2012c). Cassiterite is tetragonal with high symmetry (4/m2/ m2/m - ditetragonal dipyramidal), yet distinctly tetragonal prismatic cassiterites are rare. Much of the absence of clearly tetragonal forms is due to a high degree of, often complex, twinning. A common twin form is elbow-shaped, with a distinctive notch. Cassiterite can also form globular, botryoidal or massive encrustations. Some reniform masses display a layered, radiating, fibrous appearance which has led to the name “wood tin”

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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CASSITERITE

Water-worn nugget of massive cassiterite variety “Stream Tin” from Placers del Arroyo de Velvuerto, Durango, Mexico. Used with permission of John Betts Fine Mineral.

Cassiterite has a high refractive index (approximately 2.0 to 2.2) which lends it a high adamantine to submetallic luster (Nesse, 2004). Crystalline cassiterite is “distinctly dichroic, exhibiting two different colors when viewed from different angles” (Bonewitz, 2013, p. 70). Cassiterite is discriminated from look-alike titanite (sphene) or brown diamond by dichroism, a much higher specific gravity and tetragonal crystals (Bonewitz, 2013). Another notable optical property is a very high dispersion. Dispersion is a measure of the ability of a mineral to break white light into spectral colors – the “fire” of a diamond, for instance. Cassiterite enjoys a dispersion that is markedly higher (0.071) than that of diamond (0.044), although the “fire” of cassiterite is rarely observed because it is not often faceted (Geology. com, 2018). Cassiterite is the only economic tin-bearing mineral phase. Cassiterite forms in high-temperature hydrothermal veins associated with granitic magma crystallization (Bonewitz, 2013). Tin veins in granitic rocks are often associated with minerals that contain fluorine or boron, such as tourmaline, topaz, fluorite and apatite (Klein, 2002). Other minerals

OUTCROP | January 2019

commonly associated with cassiterite include wolframite, quartz, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, scheelite, lepidolite and arsenopyrite (Farndon and Parker, 2011; Mineral Data Publishing, 2005). Although some tin is derived from sulfides (stannite, for example), cassiterite is the king of tin minerals (Farndon and Parker, 2011; Taylor and Wall, 1993). The high hardness and high specific gravity – along with one weakly developed cleavage – render cassiterite highly durable to physical and chemical weathering at the surface. Weathering processes yield concentrations of tough, rounded cassiterite pebbles in river gravels draining granitic intrusions. Like gold, the high specific gravity of cassiterite ensures that it is concentrated in fluvial placers (Jones, 2018). Cassiterite is also similar in abundance to gold (Bonewitz, 2013). Tin chemistry is complex: it can exist in three oxidation states (Sn0, Sn2+ and Sn4+); it has more isotopes (10) than any other element in nature and, it exhibits the largest atomic mass range (112-124 amu) of any element on the periodic table (Yao et. al., 2018). At high temperature, tin redox reactions result in predictable fractionation of Sn isotopes, and these can be used as geochemical tracers. Much

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Translucent, lustrous, dark-red cassiterite crystals from Krupka, Bohemia, Czech Republic. Used with permission of John Betts Fine Minerals.

»»CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CASSITERITE

Cassiterite variety known as “Stream Tin”, Alaska. Used with permission from John Betts Fine Minerals.

work is being done to unravel the complicated isotopic fractionation behavior of tin in a variety of pressure-temperature-compositional scenarios. One area of current research is using the isotopic signatures of placer and vein cassiterite to trace the provenance of tin used in bronze works from antiquity (Brugmann et. al., 2017; Yao et. al., 2018). As the primary source of tin, cassiterite became one of the most important contributing factors propelling the evolution of modern human civilization. Emerging from the Pleistocene, humankind were Stone Age hunter-gatherers living in small nomadic bands. Neolithic era (8000 to 5000 BCE) humans developed agriculture, domesticated animals and adopted a more sedentary lifestyle that allowed for larger populations, more leisure time and a more social structure to their lives. This also permitted a greater amount of time to pursue technological innovation. Smart people invented new ways to address the world, and they passed these ideas forward. Among the most momentous achievements was discovering the ability to extract metal from ore. At some time, lost to the abyss of time, a “chance discovery by some prehistoric genius” (Marshak, 2012, p. 504) led to an understanding that certain rocks, heated in a fire, could be made to liberate liquid

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

metal. Copper was the first metal to be smelted from ore. Copper ore had to be crushed and repeatedly smelted in charcoal furnaces at over 1,000°C (1,832°F) – techniques that required knowledgeable specialists (Charline, 2012a). Smelted copper, a relatively soft material, was then easily worked into small tools and weapons. By about 3,000 BCE, experimenting metalworkers discovered that adding a small amount of tin to molten copper created a new material: bronze. Bronze is not found in nature, but is an alloy, consisting of ~90% copper and 10% tin. Although the place and time of bronze discovery is lost to antiquity (Meharg et. al., 2012), recent excavations in Serbia have yielded evidence that tin bronze artifacts may have been produced as early as 4,500 BCE, about 1,500 years earlier than previously thought (Radivojevic, et. al., 2013). Once bronze production began, it soon replaced copper tools, implements and weapons because it is harder, stronger, more durable and easier to cast than copper (McKay et. al, 2009; Chaline, 2012b). One conundrum regarding the development of ancient bronze metallurgy has been called “The Enigma of the Bronze Age” or “The Problem of Early Tin” (Charles, 1975). While sources of copper

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Three floater specimens of lustrous and complexly twinned black cassiterite crystals with no matrix. Collected in 1887 from a vug at the Bunny Mine, St. Austell, Cornwall, England. Used with permission from John Betts Fine Minerals.

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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CASSITERITE

Slender, transparent brown crystals of the “Needle Tin” variety of cassiterite. Monserrat-Antequera District, Oruro Department, Bolivia. Used with permission from John Betts Fine Mineral.

Highly lustrous black cassiterite crystals with complex forms resulting from repeated twinning. Xuebaoding Mountain near Pingwu, Sichuan Province, China. Used with permission of John Betts Fine Minerals.

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the granites. Hundreds of mine shafts and processing houses were built in Cornwall (Camm, 1999). (Some of this history is hinted at in the PBS Masterpiece series “Poldark”, which takes place in the Cornwall mining district in the late 1700s). Cornish miners developed many of the innovative techniques and machinery that have been utilized by hard rock miners ever since (Camm, 1999). Bronze Age societies developed traits that were not present before smelting of bronze became widespread, including writing, metalworking for art, domestication of the horse, class stratification and development of culture and religious centers (McKay et. al., 2009). Today, 80% of tin is mined from cassiterite fluvial placers. It has been recognized that Holocene sea-level rise flooded Pleistocene fluvial landscapes that included stanniferous channel gravels. Off the southern coast of Cornwall, for instance, seismic and drilling has demonstrated rich deposits of cassiterite stream gravels in submerged paleovalleys miles from shore (Camm, 1999). Strangely, the majority of modern cassiterite placer mining targets submerged river channels. These unique sources of tin are dredged from offshore Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand (Farndon and Parker, 2011). In addition to placers,

ore in the ancient world were widespread, cassiterite enrichments were scarce and far from the predominant centers of bronze production in the eastern Mediterranean (Meharg et. al., 2012). Early tin bronzes from the late 4th and early 3rd millennium BCE are known from a NW to SE swath from the Aegean Sea across Turkey and Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf. That this is a region devoid of cassiterite mineralization has been the puzzlement of generations of Bronze Age scholars (Brugmann et. al., 2017). As the importance of bronze escalated in the 3rd millennium BCE, demand for this vital commodity, tin, soared. Discovery and acquisition of tin became a major occupation of ancient cultures. Much of the tin utilized in Mediterranean bronze manufacture is thought to be sourced from Western Europe (Brugmann et. al., 2017). The largest deposits of cassiterite in Western Europe are in northwestern Spain, northwestern France and, most abundantly, in the Cornish Peninsula of southwestern England. The Phoenicians first discovered the rich cassiterite ores in the far and distant lands of the Cassiterides (Cornwall, England) and established long-distance trade with Cornish miners in the firstt millennium BCE (Chaline, 2012c). Initial mining was for placer deposits, and when these played out, the Cornish miners established hard rock mines to chase the enriched veins surrounding

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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CASSITERITE

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cassiterite is sometimes concentrated as heavy mineral lags in finer-grained materials including sands, silts and clays and some ancient beach terraces are mined for cassiterite (Camm and Croot, 1994). Tin is well known to the modern world as the non-toxic, rust-proof coating on steel “tin” cans. The tin coating both prevents corrosion and protects the food within (Jones, 2018). As Chaline (2012c) observes, the invention of the tin can in the early 19th century revolutionized both long-distance maritime travel and prolonged military campaigns. As he states, an “Army marches on its tin cans.” (p. 190). Tin coating is used as an anti-corrosive in many modHemispherical water-worn nodule of brown cassiterite with concentric growth patterns ern applications, though a “tin (wood tin). From the Pedro Guerra Prospect, Sapioris, Coneto de Comonfort, Durango, roof” (steel) or “tin foil” (alumiMexico. Used with permission from John Betts Fine Minerals. num) are not actually made of tin. Tin is also omnipresent in dental hygiene products as stanWEBLINKS nous fluoride (or tin difluoride, SnF2). • www.minerals.net/mineral/cassiterite.aspx Important sources of gem variety cassiterite in• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiterite clude Italy, Portugal, France, the Czech Republic, Bo• www.mindat.org/min-917.html livia, Namibia, Brazil, China and Myanmar (Bonewitz, • www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/ 2013). Economically significant placer deposits are cassiterite.pdf found in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. • www.webmineral.com/data/ The ability to find and wrest tin from cassiterite Cassiterite.shtml#.XAYPR2hKiHs fueled the technological advances that led humani• geology.com/minerals/cassiterite.shtml ty out of the Stone and Copper Ages and into the fu• www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com ture. The emergence of bronze metallurgy catalyzed REFERENCES the progression of human societal development by establishing complex commercial, technological, Bonewitz, Ronald Louis, 2005, Gem and Mincultural, intellectual and artistic advances (Chaline, eral: The Definitive Guide to Rocks, Minerals, Gems and Fossils, New York, New York: Dor2012c). It is speculative that our modern world ling-Kindersley Limited, 360 pp. would look quite different today had not some anBonewitz, Ronald Louis, 2013, Smithsonian cestor genius discovered how to extract tin from casNature Guide: Gems, New York, New York: siterite. Cassiterite: not well known, but it was an important agent that helped to forge the modern world. CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CASSITERITE

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Highly lustrous, dark twinned cassiterite crystals. Linopolis, Divino das Laranjeiras, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Used with permission from John Betts Fine Minerals.

Dorling-Kindersley Limited, 224 pp. Brugmann, Gerhard, Daniel Berger, Carolin Frank, Janeta Marahrens, Bianka Nessel and Ernst Pernicka, 2017, Tin Isotope Fingerprints of Ore Deposits and Ancient Bronze, Chapter 7 in The Tinworking Landscape of Dartmoor in a European Context – Prehistory to 20th Century, Dartmoor Tinworking Research Group Conference, Tavistock, Devon, May, 2016. Pp. 103-114. Camm, Godfrey Simon, 1999, Review of Cornish Stanniferous Placers – with Special Reference to Offshore Placers of Quaternary Age on the South Coast, Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, Vol 22, Part 2, pp. 57-88. Camm, Godfrey Simon and D. G. Croot, 1994, Quaternary Placer Cassiterite Deposits in Cornwall: The Role of Periglacial Processes in Their Development, Proceedings of the Ussher Society, 8:328-330. http://www.ussher.org.uk/journal/90s/1994/documents/Camm_Groot_1994. pdf Chaline, Eric, 2012a, Copper, in Fifty Minerals that Changed the Course of History, Buffalo, New York, Firefly Books, Inc., pp. 12-15. Chaline, Eric, 2012b, Bronze, in Fifty Minerals that Changed the Course of History, Buffalo, New York, Firefly Books, Inc., pp. 16-21. Chaline, Eric, 2012c, Tin, in Fifty Minerals that Changed the Course of History, Buffalo, New York, Firefly Books, Inc., pp. 188-191. Charles,J. A., 1975, Where is the Tin? Antiquity, 49:19-24.

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MINERAL OF THE QUARTER: CASSITERITE cassiterite.pdf, accessed 10/2/2018. Nesse, William D., 2004, Introduction to Optical Mineralogy, 3rd Edition: New York: Oxford University Press, 348 pp. Radivojević, Miljana, Thilo Rehren, Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković and Marija Jovanović, 2013, Tainted Ores and the Rise of Tin Bronzes in Eurasia, c. 6500 Years Ago, Antiquity, 87:1030-1045. Taylor, Jeff R. and Victor J. Wall, 1993, Cassiterite Solubility, Tin Speciation and Transport in a Magmatic Aqueous Phase, Economic Geology, 88:437-460. Yao, Junming, Ryan Mathur, Wayne Powell, Bernd Lehmann, Fernando Tornos, Marc Wilson and Joaquin Ruiz, 2018, Sn-Isotope Fractionation as a Record of Hydrothermal Redox Reactions, American Mineralogist, 103:15911598.

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Farndon, John and Steve Parker, 2011, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Minerals, Rocks & Fossils of the World, Leicestershire, U.K.: Anness Publishing, Ltd, 512 pp. Johnsen, Ole, 2002, Minerals of the World: Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 439 pp. Jones, Bob, 2018, Cassiterite: Tin Oxide with a History – An Early Influence of Innovation, Rock & Gem, October, 2018, 48(10): 36-42. Klein, Cornelis, 2002, The 22nd Edition of the Manual of Mineral Science: New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 641 pp. Klein, Cornelis, and Anthony Philpotts, 2013, Earth Materials: Introduction to Mineralogy and Petrology, Cambridge University Press, 536 pp. McKay, John P., Bennett D. Hill, John Buckler, Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Roger B. Beck, Clare Haru Crowston and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, 2009, A History of World Societies, Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1089 pp. Marshak, Stephen, 2012, Earth: Portrait of a Planet, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 819 pp. Meharg, Andrew A., Kevin J. Edwards, J. Edward Schofield, Andrea Raab, Joerg Feldmann, Annette Moran, Charlotte L. Bryant, Barry Thornton and Julian J. C. Dawson, 2012, First Comprehensive Peat Depositional Records for Tin, Lead and Copper Associated with the Antiquity of Europe’s Largest Cassiterite Deposits, Journal of Archaeological Science, 39:717-727. Mineral Data Publishing, Cassiterite, 2005, http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/

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RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Alexei Milkov | February 6, 2018

The Role of Serendipity, Randomness and Luck in Petroleum Exploration Alexei V. Milkov1 and William C. Navidi2 1: Colorado School of Mines, Department of Geology and Geological Engineering 2: Colorado School of Mines, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics

serendipitously discovered plays and pools. We studied luck as a factor in the variation of exploration success of different companies. Looking at the performance of companies exploring on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 1966-2005, we concluded that the difference in success rate of a particular company from the overall industry success rate over time is consistent with what would be expected from luck alone. The variation in success rates for all companies within a

Petroleum explorers often acknowledge the contribution of luck in exploration outcomes. Our survey of 237 industry practitioners revealed that 90% of them believe that luck plays some role in the outcomes of exploration projects. However, the luck factor has never been quantified before, and therefore it remains an esoteric concept of little use to geoscientist and exploration managers. Luck clearly exists in petroleum exploration, as it contributed to many

DR. ALEXEI V. MILKOV is Full Professor and Director of Potential Gas Agency at Colorado School of Mines and a consultant to oil and gas industry. After receiving PhD from Texas A&M University, Dr. Milkov worked for BP, Sasol and Murphy Oil as geoscientist and senior manager. He explored for conventional and unconventional oil and gas in >30 basins on six continents and participated in the discovery of >4 Billion BOE of petroleum resources. He also worked on several appraisal and production projects. Dr. Milkov has deep expertise in oil and gas geochemistry, petroleum systems modeling, exploration risk analysis, resource assessments and portfolio management. He published 50 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Milkov received several industry awards including J.C. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Camâ&#x20AC;? Sproule Memorial Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) for the best contribution to petroleum geology and Pieter Schenck Award from the European Association of Organic Geochemists (EAOG) for a major contribution to organic geochemistry. OUTCROP | January 2019

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RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS explorers is to reduce the dependence of exploration results on luck by improving exploration processes. Managers should increase the exposure of their companies to opportunities, enable geoscientists with data, technology and knowledge, champion a consistent and unbiased process of opportunity evaluation, have (and communicate to investors) realistic (probabilistic) expectations of outcomes, keep track of forecasts versus results, and incorporate learnings into new evaluations. Individual explorers should focus on honing and demonstrating their prediction skills. Companies should recognize and reward those who correctly and consistently predict various outcomes of exploration wells rather than those who associate themselves with discoveries.

ÂťÂťCONTINUED FROM PAGE 36

given 5-year period is also not distinguishable from randomness. Using a global dataset of 8,906 conventional exploration wells in which 733 companies participated (had equity position) from 2008-2017, we calculated that the proportion of variance in geological success among the companies is 39% due to luck (25% for commercial success), the rest being related to skill. In frontier plays, luck contribution to the variation in geological and commercial success rates between different companies is 100%. However, the role of luck is relatively less in emerging plays (67% for geological success, 49% for commercial success), maturing plays (38% and 28%), and mature plays (29% and 28%, respectively). The role of

WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!

Thomas Hearon

is a Senior Structural Geologist at EOG Resources in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Rachel Bierma

is a Geotech at Tap Rock Resources in Golden, Colorado.

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Costin McQueen

lives in Greeley, Colorado.

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IN THE PIPELINE JANUARY 10, 2019

JANUARY 30-31, 2019

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

DPC Speaker Series. RSVP to: http://bit.ly/ DenverPetro

RMAG Permian Basin Symposium and Core Workshop. Sheraton Denver West, 360 Union Blvd, Lakewood, CO.

DWLS Luncheon. Speaker Jesus Salazar. “A Practical Petrophysical Model for a Source Rock Play: The Mancos Shale.” Wynkoop Brewing Company. Denver, CO.

JANUARY 11, 2019 DIPS Luncheon. Members $20 and Nonmembers $25. For more information or to RSVP via email to kurt.reisser@ gmail.com. JANUARY 15, 2019 DWLS Luncheon. Speaker Aiden Blount. “Maintaining and Reconstructing In-Situ Saturations: A Comparison Between Whole Core, Sidewall Core, and Pressurized Sidewall Core in the Permian Basin.” Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver, CO. JANUARY 17, 2019 GPA Midstream Rocky Mountain Chapter Membership Drive. Hors d’ouevres and raffle drawings. Denver Athletic Club-Billiards Room.

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FEBRUARY 6, 2019 RMAG Luncheon. Speaker Alexei Milkov. “The Role of Serendipity, Randomness and Luck in Petroleum Exploration.” Maggiano’s Downtown Denver.

FEBRUARY 20, 2019 Energy Industry Happy Hour. Denver Athletic Club. February 21, 2019 DPC Lunch and Learn. RSVP to: http://bit.ly/DenverPetro

FEBRUARY 7, 2019 DPC Speaker Series. RSVP to: http://bit.ly/DenverPetro FEBRUARY 8, 2019 DIPS Luncheon. Members $20 and Nonmembers $25. For more information or to RSVP via email to kurt.reisser@ gmail.com.

FEBRUARY 26, 2019 RMS-SEPM Luncheon. Speaker Marshall Deacon. “New insights and discoveries of the Lyons sandstone, DJ Basin, Colorado.” Wynkoop Brewing Company. Denver, CO.

FEBRUARY 11-15, 2019 NAPE. http://napeexpo.com/.

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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

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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

OUTCROP | January 2019

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

ADVERTISER INDEX

• Confluence Resources ��15

• Geomark ��21

• Crestone Peak Resources ��23

• Geostar Solutions ��34

• Sinclair Petroleum Engineering, Inc. ��34

• FieldGeo Services ��17

• AvoAvaz.com ��39

• SM Energy ��37 • Spancers & Associates ��35

• Goolsby Brothers ��25

• Daub & Associates, Inc. ��39

• Sunburst Consulting ��27

• Leeds Group (The) ��21

• Denver Earth Resources Library ��37

• Thomas L. Davis Geologist ��35

• LMKR ��25 • QEP Resources ��16

• Discovery Group Inc. (The) ��27

• Tracerco ��13

• Raisa Energy ��15

• Donovan Brothers Inc. ��35

• Tracker Resource Development ��29

• Schlumberger ��23

CALENDAR | JANUARY 2019 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY NEW YEAR’S DAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

SATURDAY

DPC Speaker Series.

FRIDAY

DIPS Luncheon.

GPA Midstream Rocky Mountain Chapter Membership Drive.

DWLS Luncheon.

RMAG Permian Basin Symposium and Core Workshop.

Vol. 68, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | January 2019