730 17th Street, B1, Denver, CO 80202 • 720-672-9898
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.
PRESIDENT Ben Burke bburke158@gmail.com
PRESIDENT-ELECT Mike Tischer mtischer@gmail.com
1st VICE PRESIDENT Ronald L. Parker parkero@gmail.com
1st VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT Lisa Wolff lwolff@bayless-cos.com
2nd VICE PRESIDENT Matt Bauer matthew.w.bauer.pg@gmail.com
2nd VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT
Jason Eleson jasoneleson3@gmail.com
SECRETARY Sandra Labrum slabrum@slb.com
TREASURER
Anna Phelps aphelps@sm-energy.com
TREASURER ELECT
Holly Lindsey holly@energyfunders.com
COUNSELOR
Steve Crouch scrouch@whiteeagleexploration.com
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The Outcrop is a monthly publication of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists
DESIGN/LAYOUT: Nate Silva | nate@nate-silva.com
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Bridget Crowther bcrowther@rmag.org
OPERATIONS MANAGER Kathy Mitchell-Garton kmitchellgarton@rmag.org
LEAD EDITOR
Nate LaFontaine nlafontaine@sm-energy.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Elijah Adeniyi elijahadeniyi@montana.edu
Marlee Cloos marlee.cloos@bpx.com
Danielle Robinson danielle.robinson@dvn.com
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RMAG Office: 720-672-9898 Fax: 323-352-0046
staff@rmag.org or www.rmag.org
October 20, 2022
Geoscience Community:
We greatly appreciate every Summit Sponsor and Event Sponsor that has contributed to RMAG over the last year. We could not exist without your support.
In RMAG’s 100th year we have emerged from the global pandemic to return to many of RMAG’s beloved programs, and we created new programing to meet the needs of our members and the greater geoscience community. Monthly luncheons returned to in-person, with the addition live streaming. The 2022 Golf Tournament sold out bringing over 100 golfers out for a great afternoon together. The Powder River Basin Symposium offered two days of talks and core viewing to a packed room with attendees from across the country. Members young and old celebrated RMAG’s past and future at the 100th Anniversary Party. But that’s not all, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee in conjunction with Education Outreach attended numerous community outreach events from Girl Scout Days at Dinosaur Ridge to the Juneteenth Festival, sharing our members love of the geosciences with the next generation. Short courses were held both in person and online creating educational opportunities for members in Denver and across the country.
2023 brings new opportunities for RMAG. Your sponsorship dollars will help RMAG bring to fruition the 2023 North American Helium Symposium, an exciting Field Trip season, and a dynamic list of luncheon speakers on topics ranging from the state of the industry to the Williston Basin to geothermal energy storage. These dollars will allow RMAG Members to impact the next generation at outreach events throughout the community and provide opportunities for the geoscience community to connect and build their network. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone on a more regular basis.
Your sponsorship dollars support our excellent publications including the monthly Outcrop newsletter and the quarterly Mountain Geologist journal We recognize your financial commitment with in-person signage, website and publication advertising, as well and social media posts before each online event. With a LinkedIn group of almost 3000 members, we make our sponsors visible to the geoscience community for both virtual and in person events.
Thank you to those who are already a Summit Sponsor, we look forward to your continued support in 2023. If you are not already a sponsor, please look at the many complementary benefits included with the sponsorship levels. If our annual sponsorships don't make sense for your company, or you wish to sponsor something specific, ask about our single event sponsorship opportunities. Please feel free to contact our staff with questions by email: bcrowther@rmag.org or by phone at 720-672-9898 ext. 102.
We and the staff of RMAG thank you all for your continued support and look forward to seeing you in person this year.
Ben Burke
Bridget Crowther 2023 RMAG President RMAG Executive Director
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Hi everyone! We kicked off the year with a great meeting with our fabulous new board members. I think this year is going to be a great one for RMAG!
The January Board of Directors meeting took place January 18th, 2023, at 4pm online. All board members were present. The Finance committee started off the meeting with an overview of the financial standing in December. As most months operate at a deficit, the financial committee is exploring ideas to change the fundraising events to be more profitable.
The Continuing Education Committee is continuing to host hybrid lunches with great success. Timothy Nesheim will be presenting in February, Revisiting the Madison (Mississippian) Petroleum System(s) of the Williston Basin, western North Dakota. The Membership committee is continuing to revise the mentorship program to make it a more meaningful experience for the participants. We are also continuing the RMAG Women’s Group into the new year. The
February coffee will be on February 7th at Vibe Coffee sponsored by Oxy. The Publications Committee is still hard at work making sure there is high quality content for both the Outcrop and the Mountain Geologist. They are currently looking for a new editor for the Mountain Geologist. If you are interested, please reach out. The Educational Outreach committee has a full schedule of events for this year. The next big event is Girls in STEM in March. On the Rocks, has started to finalize the trips for this year so keep an eye on your email for the signups. Finally, Diversity and Inclusion committee has been hard at work bringing you member corners in each Outcrop as well as cohosting the women’s group coffee. The committee is going to continue working with Dinosaur Ridge this year as it was so beneficial last year.
I hope you all have a fantastic month and hope to see you at some of the in-person events this month. Until next time!
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This month starts off with a groan for me. As in, the groan induced by a bad joke. On February 9th, I debut my geoscience, and more specifically, geothermal-based stand-up humor as the invited guest at the Science Night Live show at the Pack Theater in Hollywood, California. You can expect a few intentionally corny geology jokes before getting down to the brass tacks of how important energy is to a modern American standard of living. Part stand-up comedy, part TED-style talk, my talk aims to both entertain and inform.
This experience highlights for me personally how important communication is in our
professional lives. RMAG continues to bring geoscience communication to a variety of stakeholders. The long-standing mission of the Association is to provide forums for geoscientists to communicate technical ideas to each other and advance the science. Our signature Spring event coming up next month is the North American Helium symposium on March 15 and 16th in Westminster, Colorado. It promises to be the premier event for all those in the upstream and midstream spaces for helium both here in the Rockies and all over the world.
RMAG is not just about communication
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Spend 5 days on the Lower San Juan River with RMAG, Fort Lewis on the Water (FLOW), and Geology Professor Gary Gianniny. Travel through the Goosenecks (at right) and take in amazing geology!
FLOW takes care of food and guiding, and received rave reviews on this year’s trip. Estimated pricing: $1400/members, $1500/non-members. More details coming and registration will open soon. Save the date! Not to be missed! Rocky
among our membership, it’s also about communicating the value of geoscience to the community— to all community members. Our education committee seeks to speak to K-12 school groups about the geoscience relevant to their curriculums. The Association maintains a group of rock-and-minerals sets for the classic rocks and minerals lecture to the elementary school set. I invite you to give back to your community by volunteering to speak in your local school about geology, minerals, energy, planetary geology, or even other physical sciences. Contact RMAG if you would like help in your volunteerism.
RMAG is also about inspiring all future geoscientists, not just those who look like the majority of our membership. Under the leadership of Cat
Campbell, President of RMAG two year ago, and continuing under the watch of my predecessor, Rob Diedrich, RMAG began a diversity, equity, and inclusion committee to not just talk about the subject, but to generate and hold events to bring the story of what being a geoscientist is to under-represented groups in academia and in the community. In past years, the DEI committee has help events and hosted booths at local schools, Denver’s Pridefest, and Denver’s Juneteenth events. We will be continuing that outreach this year.
I invite you to communicate your geoscience story through RMAG, whether to a technical audience through a monthly lunch, Outcrop article, or peer-reviewed Mountain Geologist article, or to the community through the education committee, DEI committee, or an On The Rocks outing.
Why contribute?
Expanded geologic focus:
Why contribute?
• Reach
• Quarterly
• Permanent
Expanded geologic focus: Entire greater Rocky Mountain West Texas and New Mexico -Continent
Expanded geologic focus:
• Entire greater Rocky Mountain area of North America
• Quick
• Every
• West Texas and New Mexico to northern British Columbia
• Entire greater Rocky Mountain area of North America
• Reach a broad industry and academic audience
• Great Plains and Mid-Continent region
• West Texas and New Mexico to northern British Columbia
• Quarterly peer reviewed journal
• Great Plains and Mid-Continent region Why contribute?
• Reach a broad industry and academic audience
• Permanent archiving includes AAPG Datapages
• Quarterly peer-reviewed journal
• Quick turn around time
https://www.rmag.org/publications/the
• Permanent archiving includes AAPG Datapages
• Every subdiscipline in the geosciences
• Quick turn-around time
https://www.rmag.org/publications/the
• Every subdiscipline in the geosciences
Expanded geologic focus:
area of North America
• Entire greater Rocky Mountain area of North America
northern British Columbia region
• West Texas and New Mexico to northern British Columbia
• Great Plains and Mid Continent region
Email: mgeditor@rmag.org
https://www.rmag.org/publications/the -mountain-geologist/
NENT TO LIFE. About 1.2 billion people worldwide rely on melting snow for their primary source of water (Mankin, et al, 2015). In the western United States, as much as 75% of water supplies are derived from snow melt. Snow acts as a natural reservoir by keeping precipitation in the mountains frozen for the entire winter season. If all of our precipitation fell as rain, it would quickly flow down to a base level far from the mountains we call home.
The amount of water in the snowpack is called the Snow Water Equivalent or SWE. If you take a bucket of snow and melt it down, that would be the SWE. Currently, we measure SWE in the western US with a system called SNOTEL, run by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. SNOTEL utilizes a scattering of sites with sensors that measure SWE via calibrated pressure transducers mounted to a snow pillow. The snow pillow is a 6-foot diameter, flexible membrane filled with antifreeze that measures the weight of the snow above
it and translates the pressure into SWE. Although there are numerous SNOTEL sites in the mountains of the western US from New Mexico to Alaska, they only give point location data and do not cover the high alpine environment very thoroughly. The NASA SnowEx project is designed to put satellite based sensors to measure SWE from space on a global scale. The main goal of the SnowEx field campaign is to determine the viability of various remote sensing instruments to measure SWE remotely from a satellite.
In 2016, I was approached by Dr. HP Marshall of Boise State University, one of the lead scientists on the project, to help with the NASA SnowEx field campaign. We had previously worked together using a lightweight radar system designed by Dr. Marshall to measure snow depth and snow stratigraphy on Red Mountain Pass in the San Juan Mountains of SW Colorado.
SnowEx includes research teams studying varying aspects of the winter snowpack. Research teams are currently investigating new technologies for snowpack SWE monitoring (Boise State Univ., Army CRREL), improving snowmelt models (NCAR, » CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
Boise State, USFS Reynolds Creek), developing remote sensing algorithms for snowmelt forcing by dust (JPL/UCLA, Western Water Assessment), and exploring long-wave radiation effects on mountain system warming (Columbia, Rutgers, U. of Utah).
The first season of measurements, in 2017, concentrated on data from Grand Mesa, Colorado, a relatively flat area at 10,000 feet near Grand Junction, CO. Grand Mesa includes both forested and open areas and it receives abundant winter
snowfall. With a group of up to 120 snow researchers from around the world, we tested numerous ways to measure snow water, snow microstructure (snow grain size and shape) and precipitating snow. We utilized radar, lidar, hyper-spectral imaging and an instrument nicknamed the Ice Cube that uses lasers to measure microstructure in hockey puck sized cylinders of snow (Figures 1 & 2). He first season was an international effort with
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from Europe, and even Iran, working together. We had rented all available rooms on Grand Mesa for a month that winter and every snowmobile as well. Dr. Marshall made large concentric circles with a snowmobile, in what is called a Heimstra spiral, to avoid directional bias while using radar to peer into the snowpack. Because it was a NASA project and he left large “crop circles” of snow, the locals had a rumor going that there were aliens up on the mesa. At one point we constructed the world’s largest snowpit that had a width of 75 meters, with
snow researchers profiling the snowpack all the way across the trench.
During the 1st season of SnowEx in 2017 we conducted a field campaign at the Senator Beck Basin on west side of Red Mt Pass in the San Juan Mountains of SW Colorado. The 720-acre, alpine Senator Beck Basin Study Area was established by the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies (CSAS) in 2003 to monitor and to detect climate-driven changes in regional mountain snow systems. For this field campaign there were fewer researchers, as all had to have avalanche training due to the
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rugged and steep terrain. One of the objectives of SnowEx was to ascertain SWE in alpine and forested environments. We established a grid of point locations to dig snowpits as well as transects to measure snow depth at elevations of ~11, 000 feet to 13,500 feet in the basin. While the group of about 15 researchers were in the snowpits, a plane flew overhead at about 40,000 feet with experimental instrumentation to measure SWE and snowpack depth remotely. (Figure 3). We also tasked a European Space Agency satellite (Sentinel-1) to orbit over the study area in order to correlate remotely sensed radar data with our ground measurements. The project has had a few iterations since it started in 2017. After two years of field campaigns, there was a year of assessment to determine the next steps of the project. For the following years, the field studies included a time series with snowpits and snow depth transects recorded in the same locations every week throughout the winter season. The locations of the time series project included 5 states with 13 field sites, including
Red Mountain Pass in SW Colorado where I was fortunate to be the lead researcher. I was able to hire 3 interns, each winter, from Fort Lewis College, where I teach in the Geosciences Department. With the help of students, we measured snow depth, SWE, snow stratigraphy, snow density and liquid water content each week through the winter season (Figure 4). During our field work, a NASA plane with instruments including radar, lidar and multispectral imaging flew overhead at 45,000 feet so that we could compare the remotely sensed data with our measurements in the field. The plane would take off from Houston, TX each Wednesday and fly to all 13 field sites in Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho and California. The data from the flight were then compared to the measurements recorded from the ground stations to determine the accuracy and precision of the remote instruments.
SnowEx is in its final year in 2023 with the field campaign shifting to the tundra of Alaska. This spring a group of about 20 snow researchers will repeat the same field and remote measurements
» CONTINUED ON PAGE 21
near the north slope of Alaska to calibrate the instruments for shallower snow depths in tundra and taiga terrains. While there are no definitive results from the SnowEX project yet, we are seeing promising results for change in depth/SWE from the Lband InSAR (radar) time series. In January 2024, NISAR launches. This satellite will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequencies, and is designed for studying cm-level surface displacements from earthquakes and volcanoes. There isn’t a plan for a snow product yet, but this is what we were testing during the SnowEx time series. SnowEx ends next year, and the focus is switching over to satellite proposals. If funded, a satellite launch with instruments based on SnowEx research to measure SWE, would be in the 2027-2030 timeframe. With a satellite that measures how much water is in the snowpack, we will be better able to forecast spring snowmelt for agriculture, municipal water systems and reservoirs to better manage our
most precious resource, water, for drinking, agriculture and hydro-power resources.
Justin S Mankin et al., 2015, The potential for snow to supply human water demand in the present and future, Environ. Res. Lett. 10 114016 DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/10/11/114016
J. Andrew Gleason is a senior lecturer in the Geosciences Department at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. He specializes in geologic hazard evaluation and has worked as an avalanche forecaster with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), as a geologist with the Colorado Geologic Survey (CGS) and as a snow researcher for INSTAAR at CU, Boulder. He has a B.A. in Geology with a minor in Environmental Science and Forestry from the University of Vermont, an M.S. in Earth Science from Montana State University and he conducted Doctoral Studies at the University of Wyoming.
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This isn’t.Speaker: Timothy O. Neshiem
Date: February 1, 2023 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Madison Group reservoirs have combined to be the most productive conventional oil and gas interval of the Williston Basin. More than 32,000 vertical and horizontal Madison wells
have produced a combined 4.1 billion barrels of oil and 2.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (~4.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent, BOE) across both the US and Canadian portions of the Williston Basin. Early geochemical studies proposed that Madison reservoirs were sourced by the underlying Bakken Formation while numerous later studies concluded that Madison reservoirs are largely self-sourced by petroleum source beds positioned somewhere within the Madison section. However, until the past several years, minimal published information existed regarding the hypothetical Madison source beds.
Examining several dozen cores and wireline logs across
western North Dakota, two prevalent and prospective Madison source rock intervals have been identified. 1) An upper Lodgepole source rock interval that reaches up to 45 feet thick in core, TOC values of 2.7% to 5.5% (4.0% average), and Tmax values ranging from 436° to 442°C (440° average). 2) A lower Bluell source rock interval that reaches up to 14 feet thick in core, TOC values up to 5.2% (~2% average), and Tmax values of 447° to 454° (~451° average). The standard programmed pyrolysis (RockEval) data indicates both source rock interval contain primarily Type I/II oil-prone kerogen and have reached the peak to late mature stages of oil generation
» CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
TIMOTHY (TIM) NESHEIM initially earned a B.S. degree in geosciences from the Minnesota State University of Moorhead (2007), and an M.S. in geosciences from the University of Iowa (2009). Tim started working for the NDGS in 2010 as a subsurface geologist and was promoted to Head of the Subsurface Section in 2017. Most recently (2022), he began serving as Acting Core Library Manager of the Wilson M. Laird Core and Sample Library located in Grand Forks, North Dakota. His early work at the NDGS focused on the preliminary identification and evaluation of petroleum source beds within the North Dakota portion of the Williston Basin. More recently, his research focuses have shifted to core-based sedimentology and stratigraphy investigations of various formations within the Williston Basin.
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Speaker: Elizabeth Horne
Date: March 1, 2023 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Interpretation, Characterization, and Rupture Hazard Assessment of Faults in the Permian Basin
Presenter: Elizabeth Horne
Co-Authors: Peter Hennings, Katie Smye, Amanda Calle, and Alan Morris Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, the University of Texas at Austin.
The Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico is the most productive petroleum province in the world, with over 35,000 horizontal wells drilled in recent years. The region is experiencing elevated levels of seismicity alongside petroleum development, with over 680 earthquakes of ML≥3.0 since 2017 and 11 earthquakes of ML≥4.5 since 2021. Many of these events have been linked to oilfield operations, including wastewater disposal at multiple subsurface levels and, to a lesser degree, hydraulic fracturing. However, linking earthquakes
to hazardous faults has been challenging due to limitations of existing fault maps.
Here we present a regional interpretation, characterization, and kinematic synthesis for basement-rooted faults mapped across the Permian Basin to understand the causal factors of earthquakes in the region and assess the evolving hazard. Our fault map includes over 11,000 km (~8,000 mi) of basement-rooted fault length mapped across the Permian Basin. Faults are characterized according to morphology (length, orientation, structural
ELIZABETH HORNE is a Research Scientist Associate III at The University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology where she is the structural interpretation specialist for the TexNet Seismic Monitoring and Center for Integrated Seismicity Research (CISR) consortium. She is also the lead Principal Investigator for the Regional Induced Seismicity Collaborative (RISC). Elizabeth received a B.S. in Geology at Utah State University in 2013 and a M.S. in Geology at Colorado School of Mines in 2016. Her research interests include integrating field and subsurface datasets to generate threedimensional models that are used to better understand the kinematic evolution of various structural systems, as well as assess seismic hazards, both naturally occurring and induced. Elizabeth is a member of several professional societies, including: AAPG, AGU, GSA, and RMAG.
Craig Adams is a Managing Partner at PURO Energy Partners and lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
Janel Andersen is a Senior Geophysicist at PDC Energy and lives in Arvada, Colorado.
Matthew Billingsley is Vice President at Windridge Oil and Gas LP and lives in Loveland, Colorado.
Jack Borski
is a Geologist at Occidental and lives in Denver, Colorado.
Jacinda Nettik Brown is a Subsurface Manager at NTEC / Roxy Energy and lives in Denver, Colorado.
John Drake is VP Geology at Martineau Petroleum, Inc. and lives in Dallas, Texas.
Matthew Fox is an Exploration Geologist at Fox Bros Energy LLC and lives in Denver, Colorado.
Tom Loomis is President of Dakota Matrix Minerals, Inc. and lives in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Blake Mock is a US Sales Manager and lives in Conroe, Texas.
Christina Tiggemann lives in Broomfield, Colorado.
Berkley Tracy is Principal Consultant, Resource Geology at SRK Consulting (U.S.), Inc. and lives in Denver, Colorado.
FEBRUARY 1, 2023
RMAG Luncheon.
Speaker: Timothy Nesheim. “Revisiting the Madison (Mississippian) Petroleum System(s) of the Williston Basin, western North Dakota.” Online or Inperson at Maggiano’s, Denver. 12:00 PM-1:00 PM.
FEBRUARY 7, 2023
RMAG Women’s Group Coffee.
Vibe Coffee - 1490 Curtis Street, Denver, CO 80202. 10 AM-11 AM.
FEBRUARY 8, 2023
WOGA Pistol Shooting Clinic.
Centennial Gun Club. 5:308:00 PM. Email at info@ wogacolorado.org
FEBRUARY 9, 2023
DPC Speaker Series: PetroNerds. Contact: Gabby Richmond (gabby@ denverpetroleumclub.com).
FEBRUARY 17, 2023
COGA Mardi Gras Ball. 6:30-11:00 PM.
FEBRUARY 21, 2023
DPC Lunch and Learn.
Speaker: Rob Wilson, VP of Analytics at East Daley Capital. “The Supply and Demand Outlook for 2023.” 11:30 AM- 1:00 PM at DERL, 730 17th St. Suite B-1, Denver. Contact: Gabby Richmond (gabby@ denverpetroleumclub.com).
DWLS Luncheon. TBA.
Dear Outcrop Editor,
I would like to bring to the attention of RMAG members that the Curtis-Hedberg Award for the Energy Geology Division of the Geological Society of America is accepting nominations at this time. This was formerly the “Coal Division” with only the Cady Award, however three years ago it was expanded to include all energy disciplines and in 2020 the revised Division established the Doris Curtis-Hollis Hedberg Award for contributions to the science of Petroleum Geology, honoring two renowned petroleum geologists. Both were GSA presidents during their distinguished careers. Dr. John Armentrout was the first recipient of this Award in 2021, Arthur R. Green was the second recipient and in 2022 Eve Sprunt, former president of SPE, was the recipient.
The nominees can be from anyone/anyplace in the world and must be a member of the GSA. I hope my fellow RMAG members will give this some thought and nominate a deserving person.
—Robbie Gries, past president, GSA. (PS as the instigator of this award I have removed myself from consideration!)
Gilbert H. Cady Award
Nominations due March 1st. Submit nominations to the Cady Award chair. The Gilbert H. Cady Award recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of coal geology that advance the science both within and outside of North America. Learn more at community. geosociety.org/energydivision/awards/cady
Curtis-Hedberg Award
Nominations are due May 1st. Nominations will be evaluated by the Curtis-Hedberg Award Committee. The nomination should include the name, office or title, and affiliation of the nominee; date and place of birth; education, degree(s) and honors and awards; major events in his or her professional career; accomplishments that warrant nomination. Send three copies of the nomination by the deadline to the committee chair, Jenna Shelton by email at jlshelton@ usgs.gov. More info is available at community.geosociety.org/energydivision/awards/curtishedberg.
RMAG’s Educational Outreach committee wants to create a collection of Colorado rocks that can be paired with the Colorado geological map. The committee will use these rocks as an educational tool to teach elementary, middle, and high school students about the geology of Colorado, geological processes, and Colorado mineral resources.
While you are on your summer vacations to the many wonderful areas in Colorado, please consider picking up rocks for our collection. We ask you note where you collected the rocks and the formation name. ROCKD is a great app that uses your location and geological maps to “map” the formation under your feet. Keep in mind to collect rocks where it is allowed.
Some examples of rocks from formations that we would love in our collection:
• Maroon
• Leadville
• Chinle
• Green River
• Navajo/Nugget
• Entrada
• Lodore
• Dakota
• Sawatch
• Igneous and Metamorphic rocks
• Wasatch
• Volcanics (San Juan – Flat Tops)
When your rocks are ready, contact us at edoutreach@rmag.org
Thank you!
I grew up in the Himalayan foothills in Pakistan. Lots of spectacular outcrops around. My dad owned a bookstore, and it was a privilege to walk in there and take any book I wanted. I was seven when I found my first bivalve fossil and decided I wanted to get into geology. By age fifteen, I had read Bill Galloway’s Terrigenous Clastic Depositional Systems. I moved to the U.S. when I was sixteen and lived with my aunt in St. Louis, MO, while attending high school. After graduating, I moved to Tampa, FL, for a year, where I worked menial jobs eighty hours a week to save up for college.
My first job was that of a busboy at a Fudruckers in St. Louis, MO, when I was in high school - cleaning up client messes. It prepared me well for my current role as a geological consultant
Besides geology-related full-time and contract work in the oil and gas and mining industries, I have worked as a mountain guide, climbing instructor, and women’s self-defense instructor.
I needed to pay more attention to the importance of soft skills. At the beginning of my consulting career, I was so focused on being technically solid that I didn’t realize that my success wasn’t determined
only by the quality of my work but also by how I made my clients feel.
Students should have an open mind and be well-rounded. We never know when our careers will transition from one type of geology into another, so it’s silly to pigeonhole yourself early in your career. For example, I meet students working on their Masters in Economic Geology at the School of Mines who can take oil- and gas-related courses, with the credits counting towards their degree, but none do.
Our educational system at the university level assumes that students will have financial support from their parents or from the government. The system is designed to weed out those who don’t fit this mold. I put myself through school by working full-time and commuting by bus from Aurora to Boulder every day during my undergraduate years. But I couldn’t devote the time needed to get good grades and ended up with a low GPA. When I applied to graduate school, no one wanted to accept me.
In fact, the stigma of a low undergraduate GPA stuck with me even after I had a perfect 4.0 in my Masters’ courses. As a result, I couldn’t get into any of the Ph.D. programs I wanted. I also learned that the research labs at major oil companies only accepted students from specific schools and, consequently, I had to start my career as an asset team geologist
working a job any high school student could do. Fortunately, I met some amazing professors (Dr. Surinder Sahai and Dr. Darwin Boardman) at Oklahoma State University who were willing to take a chance on me and accepted me into their Masters program. These guys gave me an opportunity when no one else wanted to, and I’ll forever be grateful for what they did.
When I was an undergraduate at CU-Boulder we did a ten-day field course, part of which was on rafts down the Colorado River. It was my first time rafting and, on top of that, through some world-class eolian and fluvial outcrops.
I founded Applied Stratigraphix back in 2012, and we provide short-courses, field trips, and consulting services to the oil, gas, and mining industries. I work with a team of brilliant geoscientists and collaborate with reputable consulting firms on projects
worldwide. Most of my time is spent on marketing and client relations, including our multiple social media accounts. The most fun part of my job is spending at least one hundred days out in the field every year. Field work includes scouting new locations, measuring sections, and mapping for future field courses all over the U.S. and overseas.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO WHEN YOU ARE NOT WORKING?
I train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and spend as much time as possible in the Himalayas, where I have a vacation home.
IF YOU COULD VISIT ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD THAT YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN, WHERE WOULD YOU GO?
Tibet – the culture and vast expanses of emptiness have always fascinated me.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE? A River Runs Through It
WHAT IS THE CRAZIEST/MOST DARING THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE?
I free-soloed (ice-climbed) the 280-foot Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs when they were frozen back in my twenties. In hindsight, it was a pretty stupid thing to do, and now I know why men have shorter lifespans!
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE?
Beyond fear lies freedom (anonymous Everest Climber).
RMAG’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee is featuring a monthly Member Corner. We hope you’ll enjoy learning about the diverse community of Earth scientists and wide variety of geoscience disciplines that comprise our membership. If you would like to appear in an upcoming column, or if there is someone you would like to nominate, please contact staff@rmag.org
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Massive chunk of deep blue sodalite from Bancroft, Ontario. Specimen is 14 cm in long dimension. This hand sample has a very “light” feel to it – a consequence of a lower specific gravity compared to other silicates. Photo by Ronald L. Parker.
Sodalite, Na8(AlSiO4)6Cl2, is a rare, chlorine-bearing tectosilicate mineral that occurs in silica-undersaturated, alkalic igneous rocks like nepheline syenites. Sodalite is a feldspathoid and is most commonly observed with a deep royal blue color. Sodalite rarely forms euhedral crystals, most often occurring as a massive material, fracture coatings or vein fills. Sodalite is a common ornamental stone used in beads, cabochons, jewelry and sculptures. Some sodalites are fluorescent and this characteristic is especially intriguing in the syenite rocks known as Yooperlites that are found in glacially-derived beach sands ringing Lake Superior.
Sodalite was 1st discovered in 1811 from occurrence in the Ilimaussaq Complex near Narsaq in southern Greenland where it has a reddish color that quickly turns to green in light (tenebrescence). The name sodalite is derived from its high sodium (Na) content.
Sodalite is a feldspathoid (aka foid), the group of Al-bearing anhydrous tectosilicates that are chemically like feldspars except that they possess fewer silica tetrahedra (SiO44-). Feldspathoids form from alkalic melts that are enriched in K+ and Na+ and depleted in Si4+. There are several other foids that belong to the Sodalite Group, including nepheline, (Na,K)AlSiO4, cancrinite, Na6Ca2(AlSiO4)6*2H2O and leucite, KAlSi2O6 (Johnsen, 2002).
The sculpture Gold Prospectors, by Vasily Konovalenko is comprised of quartz, agate, calcite, dinosaur bone, gold-plated silver, horn, jade, jasper, petrified wood, ruby, sapphire, silver and, sodalite. Sodalite has been intricately carved to make the pants of the standing miner. Used with permission from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (https://www.dmns.org/). Photo by Rick Wicker.
The structure of sodalite is comprised of a framework of four-member and six-member tetrahedral rings that result in an open crystal structure with large spaces that can accommodate the large anion Cl- (Klein,2002). Nosean (or noselite, Na8(AlSiO4)6SO4) and hauyne (or hauynite, (Na,Ca)4-8(AlSiO4)6(SO4)1-2) are very similar to sodalite but they incorporate the large anion SO42- in place of Cl- (Klein, 2002).
Synthetic minerals with the sodalite structure are the subject of a great deal of research because they exhibit many unusual and potentially useful properties (Chukanov et. al., 2022).
Sodalite is isometric with a high symmetry belonging to the bar43m (hextetrahedral) crystal class. Sodalite is rarely observed as euhedral
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crystals, mostly occurring as massive fracture fills and coatings. When crystals do occur, they are usually dodecahedral (12-sided, Mineral Data Publishing, 2001). Remarkable, colorless sodalite dodecahedra are well-known from lavas from Vesuvius (Klein, 2002).
Sodalite is known to display a variety of colors, including colorless, white, gray, green, yellow and pink. By far, the most common color for sodalite, however, is a vibrant, royal blue, often with cross-cutting white veins (Annersten and Hassib, 1979). The blue color that most often decorates sodalite is a result of a negatively charged oxygen atom that resides in a defect in the crystal structure that selectively absorbs light in the visible spectrum, leaving blue (Skalwold and Bassett, 2016).
As a consequence of its more open structure, sodalite has a lower specific gravity (2.15-2.3) than more Si-enriched tectosilicates like quartz (2.65) or the feldspars (2.54-2.62). Sodalite has a vitreous luster, one poor cleavage {011} and a hardness of 5½ to 6. The streak for sodalite is an incongruent white – a distinction that can be used to discriminate sodalite from the sometimes look-alike feldspathoid lazurite
Photo by Ronald L. Parker.
(lapis lazuli) (Johnsen, 2002; Klein, 2002).
College) to Magnet Cove. The sodalite coated fracture wall was a favorite every time (see photo).
The common massive blue variety of sodalite has widespread commercial value as an inexpensive and plentiful gemstone. Sodalite can be carved and tumble polished to make attractive beads, cabochons, necklaces, earrings and other pieces of jewelry. Sodalite has been used to create magnificent works of art, as in the figurines carved by the Russian master craftsman Vasily Konovalenko. A treasure trove of these sculptures is on permanent display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) in an exhibition entitled “Konovalenko: Gem Carvings of Russian Folk Life” (Hagadorn and Nash, 2011; Nash et. al., 2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Konovalenko
Sodalite and sodalite group minerals also display interesting and unusual light behavior which has made them the subject of investigation for commercial uses. Most sodalite is fluorescent, cathodoluminescent and, sometimes, phosphorescent (Schneider, 2008). Some of the brightly colored sodalite group minerals are being used as pigments and visible and infrared phosphors. Some of these minerals display tenebrescence (aka photochromism) – they reversibly change color when exposed to light. Tenebrescent sodalites are being investigated for use in security papers and smart coatings for blinds (Finch et. al., 2016). Hackmanite, a colorless variety of sodalite, is especially tenebrescent, turning red after exposure to UV light, then slowly fading to pink (Farndon and Parker, 2011).
The sculpture Swan Song, by Vasily Konovalenko is composed of agate, calcite, gold, jasper, nephrite, obsidian, pyrite, ruby, silver, sodalite, and tiger’s eye. Sodalite is prominent as the material of the blue pants. The sculpture is 17 inches tall. Used with permission from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Photo by Rick Wicker.
The arts and crafts mineral trade is also enamored of a certain type of sodalite that occurs in the rock known as yooperlite. Yooperlite refers to a
specific type of syenite with brightly fluorescent sodalite that was first discovered in 2017 in Lake Superior beach gravels. The name, of course, refers to the U.P., or Upper Peninsula, of Michigan, the location of the 1st discovery. The story goes that Erik Rintamaki
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was testing out his new UV flashlight on a late-night stroll to see if Lake Superior agates would fluoresce. Instead, he “discovered a rock that looked like a hot lava ball.” (Peterson, 2019a and 2019b). Since then, a cottage industry has sprung up for collecting and selling yooperlites. I bought a few yooperlites at the Moab Rock Shop. In my yooperlites, the syenites are a light gray color, not blue (See photos). No one currently knows the origin of the sodalite-bearing syenite that is the source of yooperlites. The supposition is that these sodalite-bearing syenites were carried to the south from source regions in the Canadian Shield by the multiple advances of continental glaciers during the Pleistocene (Peterson, 2019a).
Synthetic sodalite minerals are noteworthy because they contain a 3D system of channels and cages that are microporous and can accept many different anionic groups. Sodalite-type compounds
constructed with tetrahedra centered by W, Mo, Ga, Be, Ge, P or As are advanced materials that have found use as pigments, molecular sieves for purifying water and gases, sponges for storing hydrogen and methane, sorbents for radioactive isotopes and heavy metals, superconductors, catalysts, desalinization and gas separation membranes (Chukanov et. al., 2022).
Natural sodalites are widespread in small abundances. Important localities for larger sodalite occurrences include: the Ilimaussaq Complex in southern Greenland; the Kola Peninsula of Russia; Langesundsfjord, Norway; Eifel, Germany, Kishangarh, Rajasthan, India; Monte Somma and Vesuvius, Campania, Italy; Bancroft, Ontario, Ice River, British Colombia, and Mont St. Hilaire, Quebec, Canada; Cochabamba, Bolivia; Afghanistan and Namibia. In the United States, sodalite is known from Kennebec
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Yooperlite in plain white light and 365 nm longwave UV light. There is very little indication of the sodalite content of the syenite pebble in white light (and the sodalite is not blue). The intensity of the fluorescence is remarkable and has made finding and collecting yooperlites a new sensation in the world of mineral commerce. I purchased this yooperlite from the Moab Rock Shop in 2022. Specimen is 2.5 cm across. Photos by Ronald L. Parker.
County, Maine, Red Hill, New Hampshire, Essex County, Massachusetts, and Magnet Cove, Arkansas (Mineral Data Publishing, 2001; Bonewitz, 2008). Keep an eye out for the royal blue starfire of sodalite at your next Rock and Mineral show. And, by all means, get yourself a UV flashlight!
• https://www.minerals.net/mineral/sodalite.aspx
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodalite
• https://www.mindat.org/min-3701.html
• https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/sodalite.pdf
• https://www.webmineral.com/data/Sodalite. shtml
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Konovalenko
• https://www.mindat.org/loc-3407.html (Magnet Cove, Arkansas)
• http://rockhoundingar.com/magcove.php
• https://www.geology.arkansas.gov/docs/pdf/education/magnet_cove.pdf
• https://www.youtube.com/shorts/O6eywnu67nU (Yooperlite video)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxOIyheHXMo (Light Up the North – The Story of Yooperlites)
• https://store.yooperlites.com/
Annersten, H. and A. Hassib, 1979, Blue Sodalite, Canadian Mineralogist, 17:39-46.
Bonewitz, Ronald Louis, 2008, Rock and Gem: The Definitive Guide to Rocks, Minerals, Gems and Fossils, New York, New York: Dorling-Kindersley Limited, 360 pp.
Chukanov, Nikita V., Roman Yu Shendrik, Marina F. Vigasina, Igor V. Pekov, Anatoly N. Sapozhnikov, Vasily D. Shsherbakov and Dmitry A. Varlamov, 2022, Crystal Chemistry, Isomorphism, and Thermal Conversions of Extra-Framework Components in Sodalite-Group Minerals, Minerals, 12:887-918.
Farndon, John and Steve Parker, 2011, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Minerals, Rocks & Fossils of the World, Leicestershire, U.K.: Anness
Publishing, Ltd, 512 pp.
Finch, Adrian A., Henrik Friis and Mufeed Maghrabi, 2016, Defects in Sodalite-Group Minerals Determined from X-Ray Induced Luminescence, Phys. Chem. Minerals 43: 481-491.
Hagadorn, James W. and Stephen E. Nash, 2011, Hidden Russian Treasures: Mineral Carvings at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Rocks & Minerals, 86:5, 414-419, DOI: 10.1080/00357529.2011.600681
Mineral Data Publishing, 2001, Handbook of Mineralogy: Sodalite, https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/sodalite.pdf Accessed 12/15/2022.
Johnsen, Ole, 2002, Minerals of the World: Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 439 pp.
Klein, Cornelis, 2002, The 22 nd Edition of the Manual of Mineral Science: New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 641 pp.
Nash, Stephen E., Richard M. Wicker, James W. Hagadorn and Tatiana Muntian, 2016, Stories in Stone: The Enchanted Gem Carvings of Vasily Konovalenko, University of Colorado Press, 304 pp.
Peterson, Wayne, 2019a, What are Yooperlites: Exploring Fluorescent Sodalite, Rock & Gem, April, 2019, https://www.rockngem.com/yooperlites-appeal-part-1/ Accessed 12/30/2022.
________________, 2019b, How to Find Yooperlites: Spotting Fluorescing Sodalite on the Shores at Night, May 2019, https://www.rockngem.com/yooperlite-hunting-part-ii/ Accessed 12/30/2022.
Schneider, Stuart L., 2006, The World of Fluorescent Minerals, Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing LTD., 192 pp.
Skalwold, Elise A. and William A. Bassett, 2016, Blue Minerals: Exploring Cause & Effect, Rocks & Minerals, 91:1, pp. 61-77, DOI: 10.1080/00357529.2016.1099136
Sharp, Z. D., G. R. Helffrich, S. R. Bohlen and E. J. Essene, 1989, The Stability of Sodalite in the System NaAlSiO 4-NaCl, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 53(8): 1943-1954.
