OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists
Volume 66 • No. 9 • September 2017
OUTCROP | September 2017
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Vol. 66, No. 9 | 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.
2017 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT
TREASURER
Larry Rasmussen larryr@whiting.com
Karen Dean deankaren@comcast.net
PRESIDENT-ELECT
TREASURER-ELECT
Terri Olson tmolson8550@gmail.com
Robin Swank robin.swank@gmail.com
1st VICE PRESIDENT
SECRETARY
Steve Sturm 303petro.images@gmail.com
Jennifer Jones jaseitzjones@gmail.com
2nd VICE PRESIDENT
1st YEAR COUNSELOR
Cat Campbell CCampbell@bayless-cos.com
Jim Emme jim_emme@yahoo.com 2nd YEAR COUNSELOR
Rob Diedrich rdiedrich@sm-energy.com
RMAG STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Barbara Kuzmic bkuzmic@rmag.org MEMBERSHIP & EVENTS MANAGER
Hannah Rogers hrogers@rmag.org ACCOUNTANT
Carol Dalton cdalton@rmag.org PROJECTS SPECIALIST
Kathy Mitchell-Garton kmitchellgarton@rmag.org LEAD EDITOR
Cheryl Fountain cwhitney@alumni.nmt.edu ASSOCIATE EDITORS
ADVERTISING INFORMATION
Rates and sizes can be found on page 3. Advertising rates apply to either black and white or color ads. Submit color ads in RGB color to be compatible with web format. Borders are recommended for advertisements that comprise less than one half page. Digital files must be PC compatible submitted in png, jpg, tif, pdf or eps formats at a minimum of 300 dpi. If you have any questions, please call the RMAG office at 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.
Holly Sell holly.sell@yahoo.com Greg Guyer Greg.Guyer@halliburton.com Ron Parker ron@bhigeo.com DESIGN/LAYOUT
Nate Silva www.nate-silva.com
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. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
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Outcrop | September 2017 OUTCROP
Sharpen Skills with PTTC!
Hydraulic Fracturing in Horizontal Wells
Wednesday-Thursday, September 20-21, 2017, 8:00 am – 5 pm. BP offices, 380 Airport Road, Durango CO Fee: $300, includes lunch, class notes, and PDH certificate Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Miskimins, Colorado School of Mines Course Description
This two-day short course focuses on the challenges and issues that arise when hydraulic fracturing operations are conducted in horizontal wells, as compared to vertical systems. The mechanics of completion and diversion techniques and tools, such as plug-n-perf and sliding sleeves, will be discussed, along with the pros and cons of these various horizontal well completion systems. In-situ stress profiles and their effects on transverse and longitudinal fracture growth, both near wellbore and far-field, will be addressed. Stress shadowing and the resulting impacts on cluster and stage spacing will be reviewed. Proppant and fluid selection, proppant transport, and the conductivity requirements will be discussed. The application of diagnostics, such as DFIT’s and geometric measurements (tracers, microseismic, fiberoptics, etc.) will be reviewed, along with how the results can be integrated for enhancing future treatments. Other topics include: perforating, fracture clean-up, flowback, brittleness, enhanced permeability volumes, treatment optimization, and post-treatment analysis. All disciplines are welcome to attend the course; however, a basic understanding of hydraulic fracturing should already be in place prior to enrollment.
Sedimentology, Ichnology and Sequence Stratigraphy of the Cretaceous Parkman Sandstone, Powder River Basin, Wyoming Thursday-Friday, October 11-12, 2017, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm. USGS, Core Research Center, Lakewood, CO Fee: $500, includes lunch, class notes, and PDH certificate Instructor: Dr. James Maceachern, Simon Fraser University Course Description
There has been a revival in drilling activity in the Parkman Sandstone. With this renewed interest comes a number of exploitation problems. Production from Parkman wells tends to be erratic, and in some cases the cleanest sandstones are the worst reservoirs. Correlation is challenging, as log motifs change rapidly along both depositional strike and down depositional dip. Like most Powder River Basin clastic reservoirs, there appear to be as many interpretations as there are operators. A thorough understanding of Parkman sedimentology and stratigraphy can solve at least some of these problems. Through a systematic approach of determining the hydrodynamic processes responsible for the observed sedimentary facies, integrated with animal responses to the environment (as manifest through bioturbation), the core data explored in this workshop presents new ideas on depositional environments and correlation methods. Using lectures and hands-on core exercises, participants will learn how to identify and interpret the significance of bedding styles, sedimentary structures and trace fossils, assess bioturbation index, and differentiate key sequence stratigraphic breaks from autogenic surfaces. By integrating these observations, participants will be able to interpret the relative influence of river-, tide-, and wave-related processes on the various depositional environments. After taking this workshop, participants should be able to better relate production trends to reservoir distribution and quality. Class Descriptions and Register Online: www.pttcrockies.org
66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org For more information, contact 4 Mary Carr, 303.273.3107,Vol. mcarr@mines.edu
OUTCROP | September 2017
OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists
CONTENTS FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
18 Proposed Budget Cuts May Close the USGS Library in Lakewood
6 RMAG July 2017 Board of Directors Meeting
25 Award for Excellence in Teaching Earth Sciences 26 Guest Commentary 34 Leadville Mining District Fieldtrip on Bikes 40 Lead Story: Wyoming Seems to Have It All for Geologic Features
10 President’s Letter 19 In The Pipeline 20 RMAG Luncheon Programs: James Hagadorn 22 RMAG Luncheon Programs: Robert Coskey, Steve Cumella 24 Welcome New RMAG Members! 48 Calendar
46 Robert M. Cluff Memorial Scholarship
49 Advertiser Index
ASSOCIATION NEWS
11 Sporting Clay Tournament
2 RMAG 2017 Summit Sponsors
15 On The Rocks Field Trips
7 RMAG DWLS Fall Symposium, RMAG Core Workshop
21 RMAG/DAPL Prospect Fair & Technofest
8 2017 Solar Eclipse Publications Sale!
23 RMAG Core Workshop
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
COVER PHOTO The JAXA/NASA Hinode mission captured this image of a solar eclipse on January 6, 2011. Photo courtesy of NASA.
49 Outcrop Advertising Rates
5
33 Save The Date: Rockbusters Bash 47 RMAG 2017 Short Course
OUTCROP | September 2017
RMAG JULY 2017 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING By Jennifer Jones, Secretary jaseitzjones@gmail.com
Welcome to Cheryl Fountain, who has taken over as editor of the Outcrop! A sincere thank you to Will Duggins for all of his hard work. The Mountain Geologist has some interesting papers upcoming, and RMAG expects to have a new special publication later this year. Student, mentor, and social events are happening regularly – please be on the lookout for upcoming events, such as the Happy Hour at Breckenridge Brewery 8/24, energy game night 11/2, and more. There are two remaining exciting summer field trip opportunities - ammonite collecting (August 26), and Codell-Niobrara field trip and core workshop (September 10-11). The committee worked hard to reschedule the Picketwire trip, but it appears that a reschedule for next year will be necessary. Please see the Events page on the website for more information about any of these opportunities. As always, please check the RMAG website often for the exciting events and opportunities coming up soon! We look forward to seeing you.
The July meeting of the RMAG Board of Directors was held July 19, 2017 at 4 PM. Treasurer Karen Dean reported that the RMAG financials are continuing as expected, and a meeting is scheduled for August to address investment adjustments. Executive Director Barbara Kuzmic reported that membership is steady. There has been a great response to the membership survey that was sent out, and we appreciate your participation! This data will help us better address the wants and needs of our members. Barbara also attended the AAPG meeting in Billings, which was very productive. The Prospect Fair and Techno Fest is in planning; please visit pftfdenver.com for more information. The August luncheon will feature the first vendor booth participant, author David Allard. The August breakfast series is featuring some exciting topics. The Fall Symposium is planned for 9/27-28, and speakers are lined up. Additionally, a stratigraphy short course is offered 11/15-16. Please visit the RMAG website for more information.
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Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
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RMAG DWLS Fall Symposium September 27, 2017
Presenter Lineup
Mike Bingle-Davis - Complexities of the Cane Creek Member of the Paradox Formation – Analysis of Core from the Cane Creek and Three Mile Units, Utah
The American Mountaineering Center
Steve Sonnenberg - Codell-Regional Richard Bottjer - Stratigraphic Control of Reservoir Development, Heath Formation, Central Montana
Speaker Lineup
Rebecca Johnson - Petrographic and Petrophysical Characteristics of the Upper Devonian Three Forks Formation, Southern Nesson Anticline, North Dakota
Zachary Grant Hollon- Mowry Comparison Adam Jackson - Wolfcamp
Michael Nieto - Inorganic Geochemical Record and Relationship to Rock Strength Properties of the Devonian-Mississippian Middle Bakken Formation, Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA Tobi Kosanke - High-resolution Hyperspectral Imaging Technology: Implications for Thin-Bedded Reservoir Characterization Catherine E. Campbell - A Simplistic Workflow to Estimate How Much of OOIP is Producible Michael Dolan - Prediction of organic porosity using wireline and thermal modeling techniques: Examples in the Williston, Anadarko and Permian Basins Jesse Havens - High frequency depositional variability in interbedded carbonates and shales affects mechanical heterogeneity: implications for resource exploitation in the Woflcamp Formation, West Texas, USA. Katie Joe McDonough - Mapping Wolfberry Lithofacies and Geomechanics in 3D: Petrophysics and Stratigraphy Constrain Interpretation of Prestack Inversion, Midland Basin William R. Drake - The Role of Silica Nanospheres in Porosity Preservation in the Upper Devonian Woodford Shale on the Central Basin Platform, West Texas
RMAG Core Workshop September 28, 2017 USGS
Rebekah Simon - Diagenetic controls on the spatial variability of carbonate pore systems within an unconventional chalk-marl reservoir — Testing paradigms of chalk diagenesis in the Cretaceous Niobrara Formation, Denver Julesburg Basin Alan P. Byrnes - Two-phase and three-phase relative permeability of unconventional Niobrara chalk using integrated core and 3D image rock physics
Regis tratio n cl os es 9/20! register online at www.rmag.org
Symposium & Core Workshop Registration (Day 1 and Day 2) RMAG Member - $300 Non-Member - $300 Student - $100 email: staff@rmag.org | phone: 303.573.8621 Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
Symposium Registration (Day 1 Only) RMAG Member - $150 Non-Member - $175 Student - $50 |
web: www.rmag.org
910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202 7 OUTCROP | September 2017
50% off
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Become an RMAG Member and gain the benefits of the sale! staff@rmag.org
OUTCROP | September 2017
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(303) 573-8621 8
| www.rmag.org
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@rmagdenver
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
Purchase your favorite RMAG publications several ways: 1. Order your publications online in the RMAG store at www.rmag.org. 2. Or call into 303-573-8621. Tax not included in the below prices.
$25.00 $15.00
Hydrocarbon Source Rocks in Unconventional Plays, Rocky Mountain Region - Digital
$40.00
Tectonic GIS Data from the Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region - CD or Digital
$12.50
2003 Piceance Basin Guide Book - CD or Digital
$12.50
2005 Gas in Low Permeability Reservoirs in the Rocky Mountain Region - CD or Digital
$12.50
2008 Hydrocarbon Systems and Production in the Uinta Basin, Utah - CD or Digital
$12.50
2008 Shale Gas in the Rocky Mountains and Beyond - CD or Digital
$15.00
2011 Bakken Guidebook - CD or Digital
$15.00
2011 Revisiting and Revitalizing the Niobrara in the Central Rockies - CD or Digital
$15.00
The Mountain Geologist 2006-2010 - CD or Digital
$25.00
Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region - CD or Digital
$12.50
2009 The Paradox Basin Revisited: New Developments in Petroleum Systems and Basin Analysis - CD or Digital
$25.00
The Mountain Geologist 1964-2005 - DVD Set or Digital
$5.00
The RMAG Library 1937-2001 13 CD Set
$50.00
The RMAG Library 1937-2001 - DVD Set or Digital
$6.25
TRAILWALKERS GUIDE to the Dinosaur Ridge, Red Rocks and Green Mountain Area - Book
email: sta@rmag.org
Oil & Gas Fields of Colorado - CD or Digital
fax: 888.389.4090
phone: 303.573.8621
follow: @rmagdenver
910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202 Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
web: www.rmag.org
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OUTCROP | September 2017
PRESIDENT’S LETTER By Larry Rasmussen
The USGS Library
Books and documents from German libraries, similar to the Heringen Collection, were stored in mines to escape bombing during the war. (Hadden, 2009)
A Priceless Resource to Geoscience Researchers
10
available to researchers. And by ‘free’, let me emphasize that there is no cost for admission to either of these resources. The summer months are typically busy, and last week was no exception. Aleksandra Novak, a PhD student from Colorado State University, was
OUTCROP | September 2017
cuttings, all of it absolutely free to the public. All one has to do is call (or email) the CRC, tell them what cores or cuttings we want pulled, and reserve a time. Similarly, the paleontology collection housed in the same warehouse and managed by Kevin ‘Casey’ McKinney (see my column from July) is freely
After recently spending four days looking at core at the USGS Core Research Center (CRC), I was again reminded of the priceless resource for research that we geologists literally have at our fingertips here in Colorado. The USGS facility in Lakewood houses a massive collection of core and
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Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
SC
The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists
porting lay
Tournament
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Kiowa Creek Sporting Club • Prizes for individual high score and team 1st, 2nd and 3rd flights. • Includes one round of 100 sporting clays, lunch, and door prizes. • Does not include ammunition (please bring enough ammo for 100 clays or you may purchase ammo at Kiowa Creek). • You may also rent a gun for $20 onsite.
Registration closes September 14th! register online at www.rmag.org
5 Person Team (member): $425 5 Person Team (non-member): $500
email: staff@rmag.org
phone: 303.573.8621
910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202 Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
Individual (member): $85 Individual (non-member): $100
fax: 888.389.4090 11
web: www.rmag.org
follow: @rmagdenver OUTCROP | September 2017
PRESIDENT’S LETTER
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looking at Bakken core with her adviser, Dr. Sven Egenhoff, another student was looking at Mowry core, a gentleman was examining cuttings in an adjacent room, and two students from New Mexico were looking at some of Bill Cobban’s inoceramids in the paleontology collection. Another free resource at the Lakewood facility whose importance cannot be overstated is the USGS Library. Home to the largest Earth and natural science publications collection in the world, the USGS Library houses over 1.5 million books and more than 3 million maps, photographs and field records. Fully one-third of the library’s material is either unavailable elsewhere, or housed in fewer than 10 libraries worldwide. You might be thinking, ‘So what? USGS publications are freely available on their Publications Warehouse website.’ Well, while their pubs warehouse is a wonderful research tool in its own right, Librarian Emily Wild informed me that fewer than half of all USGS publications have been digitized and are available online. Furthermore, many documents from other federal agencies that are available at the USGS Library are still being catalogued. One of the gems of scientific research available to professional and academic geoscientists of all makes and models (petroleum, minerology, hydrology, paleontology, environmental, astrogeology, etc.) is right here in our own backyard. I spoke with Emily about her career with the USGS, what she does, and what makes the USGS Library so special. Emily Wild was a budding mathematician at Hartwick College in
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PRESIDENT’S LETTER Oneonta, New York, but tutoring geology students in calculus brought her to the attention of department professors who emphasized the importance of mathematical applications in geology. After getting recruited to the geology department, Emily worked as a research and teaching assistant for faculty, and tutored other students in physical geology, mineralogy and petrology. She was obsessed with SEM microscopy and, appropriately, ended up writing a thesis for her Bachelor’s degree in geology on lacustrine diatoms. Following graduation, she got her first experience with professional librarianship, assisting reference librarians and science majors at Hartwick with library research. In late 1995, Emily was hired as a hydrologist for the USGS and ultimately landed at the Massachusetts-Rhode Island water office in Providence, RI. The job carried with it a variety of duties from research and field work that yielded over 60 publications, to frequent outreach presentations to the Rhode Island Resources Board and the Public Drinking Water Protection Subcommittee. Given her continued love for library research, and with the support and encouragement of the USGS, Emily began to pursue a Master’s degree in Library and Information Studies at the University of Rhode Island, all while she worked full-time as a hydrologist. Emily’s ‘dream job’ appeared in 2008 when she was informed that a reference librarian at the USGS Library in Lakewood was planning to retire. Her education
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
and skillset turned out to be a perfect match and she was hired as a Librarian and Physical Scientist, and has been working at the USGS Library in Lakewood for nearly a decade. When asked what Emily does on a day-to-day basis, she responded that it could be pretty much anything. For example, if there’s a disaster anywhere in the world that’s related to natural resources (e.g. earthquake, volcanic eruption, major flood), then usually she ends up helping people locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally with rapid information dissemination to help them locate data related to the disaster. Regional research inquiries over the past
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OUTCROP | September 2017
PRESIDENT’S LETTER
OUTCROP | September 2017
Emily Wild, USGS Librarian and Physical Scientist, holding an 1853 copy of Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology.
documents was discovered by a group of US Army soldiers toward the end of World War II. The collection consists of books, maps and reports that were looted by the Nazis as they advanced into neighboring countries. Hadden 14
(2008) states that the looted documents were the result of three policies carried out by the German Army during the war. First, looting libraries of occupied countries was part of the Nazi’s
couple of years have been related to the 2013 floods in Colorado, wildfires, the Gold King Mine and Animas River, the Collbran landslide, and Colorado’s energy and mining industries. One of Emily’s specialties with the USGS Library is helping patrons with anything related to hydrology, which is no surprise given her background as a USGS hydrologist. Her other specialty is helping locate materials related to energy and mining. “Every day I have an oil, gas, uranium or minerals question. If you drive any direction in Colorado, you will bump into someone in the oil, gas or minerals field. It’s just everyday life here.” One of the many outreach presentations that she gives on energy includes pictures of trains travelling through Denver. “Every 15 minutes one or two gigantic trains goes through downtown Denver hauling something. Sometimes it’s coal, sometimes it’s oil, and sometimes it’s components of a windmill.” And she says that some people are shocked to learn that this happens all the time, so she spends time educating library patrons (as well as her LoDo neighbors) about these things and reassuring them that trains hauling tanker cars full of oil are perfectly safe. I asked Emily if she could tell me about a special collection at the USGS that might be interesting to our readers. She told me about the fascinating Heringen Collection, so-named for the Wintershall potash mine in Heringen, Germany, in which a cache of German, Polish and Russian
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Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
September
10-11
d e l e c n
Codell-Niobrara Field trip & Core Workshop 1-day Front Range Cretaceous outcrops paired with a½ day at the USGS Core Warehouse to examine the same formations. Run by Gus Gustason and Tofer Lewis.
Ca
Registration closes September 7th.
September
16
Montrose Area Geology Field Trip: Montrose ...Where the Colorado Plateau Meets the Rocky Mountains We are adding an exciting new On the Rocks field trip to our fall schedule to examine the regional geology of the Montrose, Colorado area. Field trip leader Laurie Brandt will lead us on a tour of two major physiographic provinces, the Colorado Plateau and the South Rocky Mountains. Registration closes September 13th.
Register for field trips on the Field Trip page at www.rmag.org.
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
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OUTCROP | September 2017
PRESIDENT’S LETTER German planning, from engineering problems to the effects of topography and ground conditions on military operations. The cache of looted documents was discovered as Allied armies were pushing into the German homeland in early 1945. As these armies advanced into Germany, they were discovering large caches of art, gold and documents hidden in mines and other underground facilities. The U.S. Counter-Intelligence Office assigned special teams to look for commercial and scientific data, and one of these teams, the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency, was given direct responsibility for operating the foreign scientist program (code-named ‘Overcast’ and later,
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ruthless concept of ‘total war’ in which anything of financial or technical value would be carted off to Germany, and anything else of lesser value would be destroyed. The second policy was a racist one, systematically destroying non-Germanic cultural and educational materials and depriving library access to those people considered to be inferior by the Nazis. The third policy was to specifically loot documents that might provide strategic and tactical assistance to German military geology units. During the war, there were approximately 400 geologists who became (voluntarily or involuntarily) soldiers in the army to assist with all levels of
‘Paperclip’), and they were the group that discovered and opened the Wintershall potash mine. Four hundred tons of documents were removed to sorting facilities, first at the Offenbach Archival Depot in Frankfurt and then to the Foreign Technology Office at Wright-Patterson Air Base in Ohio. Approximately 10 tons of material dealing with geology, hydrology or the earth sciences were sent to the USGS, and cataloging of these documents began in spring 1946. The Heringen Collection was first mentioned in a USGS annual report in 1948. According to library policy, all of these acquired books, maps and other documents were integrated directly
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PRESIDENT’S LETTER
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
earlier, less than half of all USGS publications have been scanned. Of the 65 papers that Emily authored or co-authored only 12 are available for full-text download. Emily brought up Jack Reed who authored the geologic map of North America. She has located numerous publications that he authored which are not even cited in Publications Warehouse. There is an enormous chunk of the USGS Library that is not cataloged, let alone digitized, and fluctuating budgets and missions within the USGS have made it difficult to place higher priority on scanning USGS Library archives for public consumption. Emily says that, “it would take decades for librarians
to capture this information.” For
into the library’s collection and were not maintained or noted separately from the rest of the material in the library. During the war, the American scientific community had limited access to literature printed in Europe, and no access to German scientific literature, and the Heringen Collection was a much-needed trove of information. Ultimately, 23,000 documents from this collection are filed alongside more than a million other books in the USGS library and many of the studies and maps that were acquired are still very useful. Maps of Afghanistan created by German geologists and geographers in the late 1930s for a planned invasion (which never occurred) are still valid, and they became very useful to researchers following the 9-11 terrorist attack in the US and our subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. All of the Heringen Collection is housed at the Reston library, but none of it is digitally available. I asked Emily what percentage of the USGS Library was available online, and it wasn’t an easy question to answer. While the library contains complete sets of all publications from state geological surveys and local geological societies (some of whom are no longer active), all of these materials are copyright protected and none of it can be scanned and made available for public download. While publications by the US Bureau of Mines or US Atomic Energy Commission could be made digitally available, most of these are not even indexed let alone scanned. As I mentioned
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me, this was the major takeaway from my discussion with Emily.
The fact that such a tiny percent-
age of material has been digitized and the length of time required
for such an endeavor, only under-
scores how essential it is to maintain physical libraries like the
USGS Library for public scientific research.
Hadden, R. L., 2009, the Heringen Collection of the US Geological Survey Library, Reston, Virginia, Earth Sciences History, v. 27, n. 2, 242-265.
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Proposed Budget Cuts May Close the USGS Library in Lakewood In June, RMAG sent a letter (below) to U.S. Senators and Representatives who represent the State of Colorado in order to express support for the USGS Library and opposition to the President’s proposed 52% budget cut for the library. This cut would effectively eliminate the Lakewood branch, which is a tremendous resource to our geological community (please see month’s President’s Column). If you would like to read more on the subject, there is a recent article from Earth and Space Science News, a letter written by the American Library Association, as well as a letter sent on behalf of the American Institute of Professional Geologists and American Geosciences Institute.
* * *
On behalf of our organization, our 1763 association members and our Board of Directors, I am writing to you today to urge you to provide continued funding for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Library, which is located in Denver, Colorado. This USGS Library is one of the world’s largest and most important Earth and natural resources libraries. Information lies at the heart of all scientific endeavors. The USGS Library is a core part of the infrastructure of the geoscience profession, which includes energy, minerals, water, the environment, natural hazards, and other Earth topics that are critical to national safety and prosperity. The USGS Library, is funded at $5.8 million for FY2017, provides approximately $45 million in value annually, calculated solely on the cost of replacing the Library’s services on the retail market. This return on investment of over $7 for every $1 invested takes no account of the value accrued to the nation from the use of the information accessed through the Library. The President’s budget request would cut funding to the USGS Library by 52 percent, eliminate three-quarters of the Library’s full-time employees, and eliminate three or possibly all four library locations, located in Reston, VA., Flagstaff, AZ., Menlo
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Park, CA., and the location housed at the Denver Federal Center, in the state you represent. Should the libraries close, the public would no longer have access to the materials housed in the USGS libraries, and all collections would be placed in a dark archive. If the materials are placed in a dark archive, the Library’s unique collections would, for all intents, be inaccessible to USGS and other government personnel, and the entire geoscience community in the United States. If these resources are rendered inaccessible, the nation will lose an invaluable scientific asset, and the opportunity for continued commercial return from the information housed in the Libraries; not to mention the loss of our nation’s investment in these valuable collections. The USGS Libraries house 1.5 million volumes, and over 3 million maps, photographs and field records. This information is timeless and irreplaceable. Geological observations do not go out of date, even if interpretations change. It is important to note, more than one-third of this information is unique to the USGS, or is available from fewer than 10 libraries world-wide. The USGS Library is vital to the economic prosperity and well-being of our country. Small businesses and consultants in the energy, mining, environmental, and engineering sectors are among the most frequent users of the collections. State and local agencies, universities and research institutions also rely heavily on the USGS Library for information that they could not otherwise access. The Library’s online services attract more the 1.3 million visitors per year, including many teachers and students. Closing public access to the USGS Libraries would cause financial hardship, particularly to small energy and infrastructure businesses that are the foundation for economic growth and employment. Understandably, you will face many difficult choices in crafting the FY2018 budget. Respectfully, the geologic community in Colorado requests fully funding the $5.8 million needed to preserve this national resource.
By Larry Rasmussen
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Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
IN THE PIPELINE
SEPTEMBER 16, 2017 RMAG On the Rocks Field Trip #2. Montrose Area Geology Field Trip: Montrose…Where the Colorado Plateau Meets the Rocky Mountains.
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
DWLS Luncheon.
SEPTEMBER 25-27, 2017
RMAG Luncheon. Speaker: James Hagadorn. “Colorado’s Paleozoic Mass Extinctions: Signals from Slime, Salts, and Fossils.” Maggiano’s Little Italy, Denver. RSVP to staff@rmag.org.
SEPTEMBER 19, 2017
SEPTEMBER 6, 2017
SEG Annual Meeting. Houston, TX.
SEPTEMBER 20-21, 2017 PTTC Rockies Short Course. “Hydraulic Fracturing in Horizontal Wells, Durango, CO.” Colorado School of Mines.
SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 RMS-SEPM Luncheon. SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
SEPTEMBER 21, 2017
OCF Denver Chapter Luncheon. RVSP to 303-258-6401.
RMAG Sporting Clay Tournament. Kiowa Creek Sporting Club. Bennett, CO.
SEPTEMBER 27-28, 2017
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RMAG DWLS Fall Symposium American Mountaineering Center, 710 10th St., Golden CO
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RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: James Hagadorn — September 6, 2017
Colorado’s Paleozoic Mass Extinctions Signals from Slime, Salts, and Fossils By James Hagadorn
Marty Hall
Program Development Manager Multi-Client Services
geochemical, and paleontological work in Dyer and Lykins Formations reveals the signatures of these two events, tracks them across basins, and hints at an untapped record of unusual facies, faunas, and signals across these events.
Colorado’s sedimentary record likely warehouses three of the five mass extinction events, including the end-Devonian, Permian-Triassic, and Cretaceous-Tertiary events. Although the K-T is well known, the end-Devonian and P-T have been more challenging to identify in outcrop and in core, despite their relevance as regional subsurface tiepoints between basins. Recent stratigraphic,
James Hagadorn is the Tim & Kathryn Ryan Curator of Geology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. With interests in deep time and soft rocks, he has enjoyed getting to know Colorado’s spectacularly exposed and little-metamorphosed sedimentary geology. An established scientist and steward of collections, James also reaches out to the community whenever possible to help illustrate how science and scientific thinking are relevant to everyday Coloradans. Read his syndicated monthly science newspaper column, Just the Facts, or follow him on Instagram (jwhagadorn), Twitter (@JamesWHagadorn), Facebook (JWHagadorn) or at http://www.dmns.org/james . And be sure to check out coloradostratigraphy.org!
7765 Windwood Way P.O. Box 549 Parker, CO 80134 USA P: 720.851.6152 C: 303.885.8860
TM
geokinetics.com marty.hall@geokinetics.com
TM
geokinetics.com
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Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
October 19, 2017
Exhibitor Booth registrations and Sponsorship opportunities are available. Register online at www.pftfdenver.com.
EXHIBITORS - Early Bird Registration has been extended to September 19th! Vendor Booth Price Early Bird (through 9/19): $850 Regular (September 20th - October 12th): $1000
Prospect Booth Price Early Bird (through 9/19): $550 Regular (September 20th - October 12th): $650
R M A G
D A P L
Prospect Fair & Technofest Keynote Speaker
Tom Petrie General Registration - $30 | Student Registration - $20
Westin Denver Downtown email: sta@rmag.org
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phone: 303.573.8621
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202
fax: 888.389.4090 21
|
web: www.rmag.org
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follow: @rmagdenver
RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speakers: Robert Coskey and Steve Cumella — Oct. 4, 2017
Thermal Conductivity of Organic Shales and Coals How Their Presence and Persistence Effect Thermal Maturity Robert Coskey and Steve Cumella velocities and the first derivative indicates flattening of the temperature curve. Because thermal gradient increases at capillary seals, they can be readily identified on first derivative curves. While it is important to identify the insulating lithologies, it is equally important to identify their persistence through time as this can profoundly affect the thermal maturity of underlying source rocks. The burial and exhumation history of the Front Range from southeastern Wyoming to the Monument Hill
Mature source-rock intervals commonly act as thermal insulators to heat flow and can be identified by the first derivative of a wireline temperature log. When displayed in a cross section, the first derivative curve readily identifies intervals where the temperature curve flattens (insulators) and steepens (conductors). The lithologic control of thermal conductivity is so strong that stratigraphy can be easily correlated using only the first derivative curve. The first derivate correlates strongly to the sonic curve in mature source rock intervals; the sonic curve shows slow
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Coskey has given numerous technical and educational presentations, explaining the realities of oil and gas drilling and hydraulic stimulation for the Federal Reserve Bank, civic organizations and at many technical conferences. In 2011 he was named Outstanding Scientist of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists. Steve Cumella is a consulting geologist in Denver, Colorado, working primarily for Whiting since 2014. He received his bachelors and masters in geology at University of Texas at Austin and 22
started his career with Chevron in 1981. Steve worked the Piceance Basin and other Rocky Mountain basins at Barrett Resources, Williams, Bill Barrett Corporation, and Endeavour International. He was awarded Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists’ Outstanding Scientist Award in 2005 and AAPG’s Robert H. Dott, Sr. Memorial Award for Best Special Publication in 2010. He was an AAPG Distinguished Lecturer in 2011. He is past executive editor of the Mountain Geologist and was president of the Grand Junction Geological Society in 1991. Steve has authored several publications, given numerous presentations, and led several fieldtrips.
His work with geochemistry, rock physics and basin modelling led to the development of the “Maturation Trap” model which has been successfully used
as an exploration tool in multiple basins in North America.
Robert J. Coskey received his B.A. and M.A. in geology from the State University of New York at Oneonta and entered the oil and gas industry in 1978. His career includes exploration roles at Mobil Corporation, Forest Oil and Rose Exploration, Inc. along with numerous consulting engagements in the US and international. In 1989 he co-founded Rose Exploration, Inc. and has discovered significant hydrocarbon reserves in the Paradox, and Williston basins.
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
October 26, 2017
| 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
USGS Core Research Center
RMAG Core Workshop Selected Rocky Mountain Tight Oil Sandstone Plays: Symposium and Core Workshop Presenters: Rich Bottjer, Coal Creek Resources; Gus Gustason, Enerplus; Kevin Smith, Garnet Ridge Resources Back due to high demand! This is the same Core Workshop that was presented in March 2017.
This workshop will discuss current �ght oil sandstone plays in Cretaceous reservoirs in the Powder River and D-J Basins, Wyoming and Colorado, focusing on the Wall Creek-Turner, Codell, Sussex, and Parkman sandstones. Tight oil sandstone plays have developed where uneconomic ver�cal producers were drilled in the past and/or between exis�ng ver�cal oil fields where higher-permeability facies are present. In contrast to “conven�onal” ver�cal produc�on from sandstones in the same interval, these �ght oil reservoirs are areally extensive and generally contain a high percentage of burrowed or bioturbated lithofacies. Petrophysical evalua�ons of these �ght oil sandstone plays are challenging due to rela�vely high clay content, thinly interbedded sandstones and mudstones, and/or complex pore networks. These sandstones are characterized by moderate porosi�es, ranging up to 18%, but low permeabili�es, ranging from .001 to .1 millidarcies. Oil and gas resources are recoverable due to the development of mul�-stage fracture s�mula�ons in horizontally drilled wells. The reservoir characteris�cs of each play will be demonstrated with approximately 2000 feet of core and core analyses from more than 30 wells and par�cipants will have an opportunity to compare and contrast the different plays. This workshop and symposium will essen�ally be a re-presenta�on of a short course offered at the AAPG-ACE conven�on held in Denver in June, 2015. The format will be modified slightly but many of the cores shown will be the same.
Registration opens September 11th at 8:00am. Members: $175 | Non-members: $200 | Students: $75 email: staff@rmag.org
phone: 303.573.8621
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202
23
fax: 888.389.4090
web: www.rmag.org
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follow: @rmagdenver
WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!
Brody Awalt
lives in Glendale, Colorado.
Guilford Ellsworth
is a student at The University of Memphis in Arvada, Colorado.
Ralph Cantafio
T. Robert Kelley
works at Esquire at Cantafio Hammond in Denver, Colorado.
lives in Littleton, Colorado.
Aubrey Collie
Kelsey Kidd
is a Geologist at BP Lower 48 in Denver, Colorado.
works at Flat Gathers LLC in Denver, Colorado.
Aleksandra Novak
is a student at CSU Geosciences in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Paul Rindfleisch
KES T
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OSCIENCE L GE , LL RE
is a Soil Data Quality Specialist at USDA/ Natural Resources Conservation Service in Evergreen, Colorado.
Pamela Stephens
Thomas E. Hoak, Ph.D. Consulting Geoscientist
works at University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado.
Kestrel Geoscience, LLC
Structural Geology Seismic Interpretation Magnetic and Gravity Interpretation Basin Analysis and Restoration Regional Desk Studies Integrated Exploration Prospect Generation Presentation Graphics
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PETROLEUM
Littleton, CO USA
Phone: (303) 933-5805 Cell: (720) 375-3015
RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS
kestrelco@comcast.net kestrelgeoscience.com
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OUTCROP | September 2017
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area of Colorado provides an example of how the pre-Oligocene erosion of nearly 2500 to 3000 feet of Paleocene section including the Arapahoe, Denver, and Dawson formations can affect the thermal maturity of source rocks such as the Niobrara or other lower Cretaceous organic shales. While it appears that the Wattenberg geothermal anomaly controls where the Niobrara is highly thermally mature, the areas where the Niobrara is anomalously immature may be a function of the erosion of the Paleocene thermal insulator prior to the Oligocene.
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
RMAG & RMAG FOUNDATION
Award for Excellence in Teaching Earth Sciences - 2017
For the seventeenth year, the Accordingly, Deb recognized the need Rocky Mountain Association of Geto open the enrollment to any stuologists Foundation has honored a dent wishing to commit to the attenteacher that actively promotes exdance requirement, and by doing so cellence in teaching of earth science she has reached out to more stuwith its “Teacher of the Year Award.” dents than ever before. She invites The RMAG, K-12 Education and Outguest speakers to the meetings, many reach Committee, solicits and judgwho are involved in the oil and gas es applications submitted by teachindustry in Platteville, Weld County. ers from the Front Range area. The Several of her student’s parents are award, presented at the August 2nd employed in the oil and gas industry, luncheon, is made possible by generand they have an innate fascination Deborah Munson (center) is a 4th and 5th ous donations and supporters of the to learn more about their parent’s grade teacher at Platteville Elementary RMAG Foundation. occupation. Through MESA, the stuSchool, she is the RMAG 2017 Teacher The 2017 recipient of the RMAG dents are made aware of the employof the Year Award recipient. The award nd Excellence in Teaching Award is Ms. ment opportunities available to them was presented at the August 2 luncheon. Deborah Munson. Deb teaches the Standing at left, Jerry Cuzella, K-12 Outreach by pursuing an education in math 4th grade at Platteville Elementary and science. Chairman, and at right, Tanya Inks, RMAG School, and is also the Math, EngiHer colleagues confirm that she Foundation board member. The award is neering and Science Achievement is an exceptional teacher and a natusponsored by the RMAG Foundation. (MESA) Advisor. She earned a B.S. ral leader. Deb represents her school degree in Horticulture at Colorado State University and at the District Accountability Committee and regularly the M.A. degree in Education at the University of Northcommunicates with the staff to gather ideas and share ern Colorado; she has been a teacher for 11 years. concerns. She works with other teachers in the ProfesAs a 4th grade teacher, Deb teaches all subject arsional Learning Community and continuously assists eas and integrates earth science into these subjects as other teachers in integrating science education into much as possible. She recognizes elementary school as their language arts lessons. an important time to encourage young students to exEvery day, she brings a passion for math and sciplore science and develop an enthusiasm and inquisitive ence to her school – her students, and fellow teachers spirit to learn and experience the scientific wonders of are the better for it. Deborah Munson is a passionate our universe. and exceptional teacher and is an outstanding examThe MESA Club at Platteville Elementary is an afple of those dedicated educators who make a signifith th terschool program for 4 and 5 grade students whose cant and positive impact on our children. It is to people only requirement to participate is an interest in math like her that we owe our gratitude for developing young and/or science and a willingness to attend meetings minds and planting the seed for an interest and appreregularly. Originally, the program was open to only 10 ciation of geology and the sciences. She represents the or 12 students selected by the advisor. Platteville Elbest of those who teach earth science and is a very deementary has a diverse group of students with reserving educator worthy to be presented the RMAG’s spect to income and ethnicity and many of her students 2017 Teacher of the Year Award. have had little if any firsthand experience with science. —Jerry Cuzella
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
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GUEST COMMENTARY logically and scientifically challenged. Those furthering the catastrophism outcome, in order to further sway public opinion, are by ignorance or design dismissing objective descriptions of controlling elements of the climate. This serves to chill in depth discussion in favor of adoption of simple catch phrases which allow a cartoonish characterization of a complex system, leading the public to accept simplistic inevitable catastrophic predictions. This is a dangerous trend for the scientific community to tolerate, given that in order to do so, we must ignore well-reasoned, and supportable research that does not support and even in some cases refutes this dogma. In my opinion, we as scientists should resist this trend and tenaciously hold to our objectivity and natural sense of curiosity. As I will point out, much of what is established climate science is almost totally unknown to the general population. I feel that we as scientists are acquiescing to the popular cartoon version of “climate change”, and as such are allowing a simple and flawed understanding to become the popularly held belief. We must not allow science to be distorted by those who seek to use it to advance power, influence and political ambitions. I fear this is what is driving the trend, since the loudest voices are those of political figures. I have recently had a productive exchange with a colleague on a Sigma Xi online forum. This person, who is a qualified researcher with background in the subject of climate, happened to disagree with me, but we engaged in a mutually satisfying data-rich exchange over several weeks. We interacted on the pros and cons of both of our points of view and we both learned from the experience, as it the norm for scientific exchange. The material I presented to him is shown, in part, below. He did not dispute any of this material, other than where the original authors make caveats. We both agreed this is valid scientific data. So I make this available for your consideration, and for the broader community if you deem it worthy of presentation. At this time, it is worth communicating with you and perhaps more of the geological community because this is material that to me is compelling and relatively unknown to the general public. Because of preconceived biases in thinking and research funding,
“After reading the interesting article by Richard Nunn on the National Ice Core Lab, and being reminded of the almost universal acceptance of the popular dogma which regards CO2 as the dominant greenhouse gas on earth, I have been stirred to respond. This is not a criticism of Richard Nunn or his article, but that just served as a reminder for me to enjoin the larger community on this subject.”
SCIENTIFIC CONCERNS I have become increasingly concerned that there is now a complacency in the geologic and scientific community with regard to acceptance of the popular characterization of climate change as being solely anthropogenic, and specifically and dominantly the result of atmospheric CO2 concentration. So I pen this letter to you in order to clarify the facts regarding CO2 and climate. For more than a few decades I have assumed a passive but very interested posture on this subject. Although not my area of primary expertise, I have spent a significant amount of time, studying and attempting to understand and absorb the literature and trying to gain a complete understanding of earth’s climate systems, as they are now understood. I have carefully studied the subject as an interested party for a few decades and have benefitted from learning as an earth scientist for my entire career. I have remained relatively quiet on this subject because discussions, especially with non-geoscientists, can cause heated controversy and my outlook has always been that the truth will out in the end, so why ruffle feathers. As a geologist, I am always taking the long view, so why get involved? Recently however, in response to current trends of public discourse which are moving farther and farther away from objective discussions of the climate systems, and instead are moving towards routine acceptance of over-the-top predictions of catastrophism as dogma, I see that even lifelong scientists seem to be checking their objectivity at the door and joining the chorus of alarmists who claim that our very existence is likely at risk from climate change. I know from study of the subject that such assertions can and should be
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GUEST COMMENTARY
time. I usually do not quote those values without some caveat, because the methods for determining temperature and atmospheric chemistry in the deep geologic past are proxy methods, and have not fully converged. That said, here is one such curve of partial pressure of CO2, normalized to present day, presented by Dr. Daniel Rothman in 2002, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The annotation bubble added is my own. The grey bars across the top represent eras of documented intermittent glaciation. Typical estimates
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many of these lines of inquiry are ignored or minimized, even within the scientific community.
THE KNOWN SCIENCE
Allow me to put the impact on earth’s climate of atmospheric CO2 in perspective as objectively as possible. Proxy methods used for determination of atmospheric chemistry of the deep geologic past (beyond the directly measured ice core data), have significant uncertainties, but have been in the literature for some Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
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GUEST COMMENTARY
(from all methods, not just this one) of maximum past CO2 concentrations are between 2,000-10,000 ppm, or as much as twenty times current levels. I personally believe the evolution and expansion of grasses (the first land plant capable of vegetating extremely large regions of land surface) during the Eocene are responsible for the dramatic reduction of atmospheric CO2 leading to levels observed in the modern era. I have labelled this on the chart. All similar analyses that I have seen show that there is no strong historical correlation of CO2 to global temperature in the geological past. This said, I do not dispute the rather straight forward physics supporting the greenhouse effect of atmospheric CO2 as a warming gas, but what is little understood, nor communicated to the public is that the magnitude of warming caused by CO2 alone is relatively small. Temperature increases that are routinely quoted by those who advocate extreme global
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warming, necessarily require feedback mechanisms capable of amplifying CO2 warming in order to produce much larger temperature changes than CO2 can produce on its own.The most widely distributed “compelling” historical evidence that suggests that there is a strong correlation of temperature to CO2 concentration comes from one source, polar ice core data. As pointed out in the recent summary article in The Outcrop, these core samples contain inclusions (bubbles) of trapped atmosphere that is largely the same as that which was present at the time the ice formed at the surface from snow, thus a preservation of atmospheric historical concentrations of gases. The most famous popular exposition of this correlation was made by Al Gore in his 2007 film “An Inconvenient Truth”. While showing a graph of historical temperature and CO2 history, his comment in the movie was: “...do ya think there might be a correlation?” I
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have recreated a similar graph from the original data below. Not surprisingly, mine is also much like the one presented in the August Outcrop article because I use the same raw data. I agree, there is a strong correlation between CO2 and temperature (red and blue curves), but there is more to this story than meets the eye. It has been pointed out by a number of researchers (but not by Al Gore) that the increase in CO2 trails the warming by as much as 300-400 years in several glacial cycles, which make the argument that CO2 is directly causing the temperature to increase a problematic one. This is further complicated by the popular dogma that warming in modern times is directly tied, in real time, to current CO2 concentration increases. In any case, there is no doubt that Gore’s movie-based exposition of this correlation, when
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
presented as matter-of-fact, turned many heads and those who did not look further into the subject were strongly convinced ice core CO2-temperature correlation was the lynchpin proving the overwhelming causal influence of CO2 on global temperature going back through time. So, with that background, I have created the chart below. I have added one more track that shows the history fine atmospheric dust (also measured in these same ice cores). I have appended the modern CO2 concentration spike at the right-hand end of the CO2 history track to show the radical departure resulting from modern fossil fuel consumption. Physical models of CO2 thermal absorption on atmospheric temperature suggest that doubling CO2 from 200 ppm to 400 ppm should increase global temperature by about 1 degree
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GUEST COMMENTARY C. In order for the observed temperature variations during the last 400,000 years to be caused by CO2 concentration, one must invoke a feedback mechanism that amplifies the CO2-only warming effect by ~10 fold or more. Details of, or even the existence of such a paleo mechanism are rarely if ever discussed in the public discourse. In fact, average warming trends since the dawn of the industrial revolution are consistent with the temperature increase expected from CO2 alone, with no feedback amplification. This observation suggests that significant amplified climate feedback to CO2 has yet to be proven. Also, compare the correlation between the dust curve (amber) and the temp curve. Statistically, there is a stronger (negative) correlation of log10-dust conc. to temperature than CO2 concentration to temperature. In addition, the dust concentration shows no problematic time lag vs. temperature. So, realistically the dust concentration could be legitimately tested as a real time “causal” mechanism for temperature change. Would it not seem reasonable to propose that in times of lower natural atmospheric dust, temperatures would be warmer? Have you ever seen this mentioned this as a possible alternative or contributory mechanism for global temperature variations? Probably not much, but I have. There are several published studies suggesting this mechanism. Unfortunately, they suffer similar fates because the researchers receive no further funding and consequently there is no further study. These data (dust concentration) are available in the same ice core data repository as the CO2 data, but the funding determines what gets studied and CO2-related research attracts the money. There may be a number of other areas of pursuit that I am not aware of, that have not been studied, because the jury has decided...all harm is done by CO2. Terms have sprung up in the popular jargon, such as “Carbon pollution” (even though atmospheric “carbon” would be a solid and actually be included in the “dust” category). CO2 is a natural atmospheric gas, so calling it a pollutant is a stretch. Similarly, global warming has now become “climate change” with the unspoken, but implicit assumption that it is man-caused. Climate change has been popularly linked to any severe weather event and thus by association the “agent of destruction” is logically but
OUTCROP | September 2017
incorrectly perceived by the public to be CO2. Returning to the dust in ice, and how might this be tied to CO2 variations? My geological brain tells me that in periods of global glaciation continental ice sheets preclude vegetation over the land mass beneath the ice. In addition, the regions adjacent to these ice sheets are dominated by “arctic deserts” (which may be the primary source of much of the atmospheric dust found in ice cores). When the ice sheets recede, large areas of land become vegetated again, quickly stabilizing the dust. Then after several hundred years, the organic content in soil is abundant enough to generate significant CO2 from the decay and microbial digestion of plant material (which is the dominant source of natural atmospheric CO2). No such source of CO2 exists when large land areas are covered by ice. Such a mechanism may merit more discussion and research. With the popular focus on CO2, the public is never reminded of the irrefutable fact that water vapor and cloud formation are the overwhelmingly controlling components of the earth’s greenhouse. Water in the atmosphere dwarfs any other single atmospheric component in creating the greenhouse effect. No one doing research in the physics of climate science will dispute that this is a true statement, but this aspect is at best, soft-sold to the public. The public almost never hears about the dominance of water vapor because this would take the focus off of CO2 and other man-made gases as the progenitors of climate change. My point being, our current discussions in the public realm are anything but objective, and we as scientists are partially to blame because we allow this to happen. We need to put objectivity back into the mainstream of public discourse on this subject. Using the plot below, I shall demonstrate the impact of water vapor IR and visible-light spectral absorption characteristics compared to the other primary atmospheric gases. The total atmospheric absorption profile covering both IR and visible spectra (second profile from the top) is dominated by the profile of water vapor. In the IR frequencies, only part of one band of CO2 absorption occupies a range that is not already at least partially occluded by water vapor’s numerous and broad absorption bands. Water vapor’s
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GUEST COMMENTARY articulated to the public when discussing the numerical climate models. (Source: http://homepages.ius. edu/kforinas/ClassRefs/Climate/greenhouseeffect. htm) Water vapor’s absorption and associated warming effect is only one facet of water’s controlling influence of the global greenhouse. Water vapor, when condensed to form clouds becomes earth’s dominant reflector of incoming solar energy (albedo). During interglacial periods (such as now), cloud cover can serve as the largest single negative forcing of the greenhouse (meaning causing global cooling). The capability to numerically model the dynamic formation and dissipation of clouds on a time and spatial scale that would accurately mimic the phenomenon in nature is currently beyond the capability of numerical global climate models. As a result, this very impactful phenomenon in current climate models must be estimated and approximated using general relations. The impact of cloud formation in climate models is acknowledged as one of the most uncertain elements
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greenhouse dominance is multiplied by the fact that water vapor is concentrated in the lower layers of the atmosphere, and this relative distribution is not without significant effect. Infrared (black body) radiation emits from the earth’s surface, so water vapor gets an exclusive “first shot” at absorption and trapping of this radiation. Much of the greenhouse is the result of absorption and re-radiation within the lower layers of the atmosphere, so is further dominated by interaction with water vapor, as a positive climate forcing (meaning it serves to increase temperature). In comparison, CO2 is a “well mixed gas”, meaning that it is distributed through the entire atmosphere, so it can fully absorb only the energy that makes it through the entire atmosphere. It is well known that because of water vapor’s dominant role in the greenhouse, water vapor’s role must be leveraged in numerical climate modelling in order to create amplifying feedback responding to CO2’s more modest warming effect. This feedback is the primary source of warming that is predicted from numerical climate models, but this fact is also rarely
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GUEST COMMENTARY
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of the models. Since water vapor/ clouds essentially can be thought of as the dominant elements of both the warming and cooling behavior of the greenhouse, then forward prediction using numerical models can be expected to be highly uncertain if the cloud effect in those models is also uncertain. I am not advocating for or against any particular climate prediction outcome/prediction. I am essentially agnostic on this, as I believe any outcome, even the most extreme predictions are well within past climate variations produced naturally on earth. The earth’s climate has proven to be remarkably robust, even in the presence of huge historical perturbations. I am simply pointing out the existing science should be objectively passed along to the public, along with complete historical observations. I wish to advocate for scientists, especially earth scientists, to point out whenever possible that the prevalent over-thetop rhetoric, and mischaracterizations suggesting that CO2 concentration is the primary control on the earth’s greenhouse, is not scientifically truthful. Allowing this situation to continue serves the public poorly in the long run and eventually will degrade popular respect for the objectivity of the scientific method. This is why I choose to speak out. Thank you for your consideration. Best Regards, Jay Scheevel, Grand Junction, CO Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
Save the Date
Registration opens September 5th at 8:00am!
RMAG Rockbusters Bash Professional Awards Celebration
November 9, 2017 The Curtis Hotel, Denver, CO email: sta@rmag.org
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phone: 303.573.8621
Vol. 66,16th No.Street 9 | www.rmag.org 910 #1214, Denver, CO, 80202
fax: 303.476.2241 33
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web: www.rmag.org
OUTCROP | September 2017 follow: @rmagdenver
Fred Mark Field Trip Kick-Off, Lecture (Photo by Chris Gough)
Leadville Mining District Fieldtrip on Bikes By Laura Wray, Anita Powers, and Jennifer Kirk | Saturday, July 22, 2017
OUTCROP | September 2017
self-guided stops to observe interesting aspects of the Mining District.
Twenty-one cyclists met at 7:45 AM along the 11.6-mile Leadville Mineral Belt Trail for an RMAG sponsored field trip to the west side of the Leadville Mining District. Participants ranged from geologists to accountants and dentists. The trip started with an overview lecture by geologist and trip leader, Fred Mark. In twelve stops along the Trail, Fred put together a comprehensive history of Leadville’s boom and bust cycles. The group was treated to some fascinating mining geology and also interesting historical tidbits of the mining days in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Fred offered insightful commentary on what it might have been like to have lived and worked these finds. Several of the most financially impactful mines, such as those in California Gulch and the famous Matchless Mine, can be accessed from the Mineral Belt trail. The trip also included a couple of
TRIP START: OVERVIEW OF LEADVILLE DISTRICT AND MINING GEOLOGY.
Mining occurred from 1860 until 1999 and the Leadville District produced 14 billon dollars (using 2017 metal prices) from approximately 28.9 million tons of ore containing: • 3.3 million ounces of gold • 265.4 million ounces of silver • 2.4 billion pounds of lead • 1.9 billion pounds of zinc • 110 million pounds of copper • 6 million tons of manganese ores
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LEADVILLE MINING DISTRICT FIELDTRIP
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• A small amount of bismuth ore • Iron pyrite roasted to produce sulfuric acid
STOP 1: CHARCOAL KILNS (SELF-GUIDED): Spruce and pine trees, abundant in Leadville, were burned slowly in pits or kilns and converted to charcoal which fueled the smelters. After the arrival of railroads in 1880, charcoal use declined because the railroads began to deliver less expensive coke made from coal.
STOP 2: NEWMONT WATER TREATMENT PLANT AND THE RESURRECTION MILL SITE (SELF-GUIDED): The Newmont Plant, completed in the 1990’s, is critical to the successful remediation of the Upper Arkansas River. Several mills were built in this area, treating ore from a number of mines, including those in the California Gulch (next three stops).
STOPS 3 – 4: DISCOVERY OF CARBONATES, PLACER GOLD AND CALIFORNIA GULCH. 43 million years ago, a large, copper-rich stock intruded the heavily faulted and eastward-dipping rocks in the Leadville area. “Approximately 40 mya, hydrothermal fluids sourced from a depth of about 7 to 8 kilometers began to move along
(Photo by Laura Johnson)
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permeability paths (faults, karst surfaces, and the base of earlier sills).” (Fred Mark’s 2017 Field Guide, p. 8). Gold was deposited in veins and stockworks when fluids were above 420o C. but as those fluids cooled below 380o C., silver and base metals were deposited in veins and mantos (large, tabular bodies). Remains of the AY and Minnie Mines, site of the 1860 bonanza placer discovery in California Gulch, one of the richest placers every found in Colorado. 2.4 billion dollars (2016 dollars) was produced in 7 months.
STOP 5: IRON HILL KARST AND REPLACEMENT MINERALIZATION (SELF-GUIDED):
Fred Mark, assisted by Sandra Mark, demonstrates that orebody distributions are controlled by fully integrated cave systems and that the Leadville mantos resemble those patterns in plan view.
(Photo by Willis Wilcoxon)
STOP 6: WOLFTONE MINE, THE UNDERGROUND BANQUET AND COLLECTORS DUMP.
Wolftone Mine was one of the largest zinc mines in the world.
STOPS 7 AND 8: EPA REMEDIATION AREAS.
Where there is or was mining in the US, the EPA is there. In order to control acid drainage from sulfide-rich dumps or piles, they were covered with carbonate material and dubbed “wedding cakes” (as shown on pg. 37, bottom right).
STOP 9: LITTLE PITTSBURG, FRYER HILL AND THE MATCHLESS CORE.
(Photo by Jennifer Kirk)
Where there is a lot of money made in a brief period of time, there is scandal. The group left their bicycles at the ruins of the mines and headed into the woods to hear Fred’s lecture on the history of the Little Pittsburg Mine. Fred named this part of the trip “Good Times/Bad Times” and recounted the swing of incredible success (billions in today’s dollars) to poverty, beset with squabbles and turf wars. Of particular OUTCROP | September 2017
interest was the story of Horace Tabor, the several cycles of fortune and demise, driven, in part, by his second marriage to a Victorian trophy wife and socialite, Baby Doe, who suffered a heart attack in 1935 and died alone and penniless. Her frozen body was discovered in a humble cabin on the Matchless mine site.
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LEADVILLE MINING DISTRICT FIELDTRIP
(Photo by Chris & Cindy Gough)
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STOP 10: POVERTY FLAT. By 1880, millions of dollars were being made and Leadville was booming. Leadville became the largest mining camp in Colorado and one of the world’s largest silver camps. It became the second largest city in the state, behind only Denver, with a population of over 40,000. Leadville soon became overcrowded, unable to support the hundreds of miners that were flooding into the area. There were shortages of food since there were no local food sources. Food and other supplies had to come either by pack mules or by the stage. To top it off, exorbitant prices were being charged for a place to sleep. Winters were long and bitterly cold; many miners died of exposure and starvation. Crime was rampant and lawmen were unable to control it. Many small shanty towns grew up around Leadville, including
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(Photo by Jennifer Kirk) 37
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LEADVILLE MINING DISTRICT FIELDTRIP
(Photos by Ralf Topper) OUTCROP | September 2017
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LEADVILLE MINING DISTRICT FIELDTRIP
(Photo by Jennifer Kirk) Matchless Mine by Boart Longyear and described by Tommy Thompson, was viewed at the end of the trip. Silver, lead and zinc assays were performed by Newmont Mining with the richest intervals in the Mississippian Leadville Limestone, Molas (karst fill on top of the Leadville), and the Pennsylvanian-age Pando Porphyry. Mantos can be up to 200 feet thick. Here is a core from one that shows the distribution of ores.
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Poverty Flats. (Source: Wikipedia). Another explanation of the name Poverty Flats may refer to the unsuccessful mineral exploration in that area over the decades.
STOP 11: CORE VIEWING. NATIONAL MINING HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM.
This museum is a federally chartered, non-profit, located in the famous 1880’s silver boomtown of Leadville, Colorado. It is “a monument to the memory of the men and women who pioneered the discovery, development and processing of our nation’s natural resources” (http://www.colorado.com/museum/ national-mining-hall-fame-and-museum). Known as the “Smithsonian of the Rockies” and the “Premier Showcase of American Mining,” the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum was established in 1987. The building was built in 1899 and was formerly both the Leadville Junior and Senior High School. The museum houses 25,000 square feet of interactive and informative exhibits showcasing collections of mining’s colorful history. A 357-foot core, taken in 2006 from the famous
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
STOP 12: BEER AND BRATS WITH FRED AND SANDRA.
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After the field trip, Fred and Sandra Mark hosted the group for dinner at their home in Leadville capping off a beautiful day. The setting was ideal, with temperatures in the 50s and 60s, no rain or high-altitude winds, and the mountains teamed with high mountain flowers and wild berries. If only the mosquitos didn’t love geologists, accountants and dentists, it would have been perfect. Thanks to Fred and Sandra Mark for putting together a wonderful day in the mountains as we looked back to the often-difficult life of the Leadville miners. OUTCROP | September 2017
LEAD STORY
LESS PEOPLE,
MORE WONDERS Wyoming Seems to Have It All for Geologic Features By Christina George, Outreach and Publications Manager, Wyoming State Geological Survey Whether it is Old Faithful and the endless geologic features in Yellowstone National Park, the distinctively shaped Devils Tower or the heated mineral hot springs in Thermopolis; Wyoming seems to have it all when it comes to interesting geologic features. The stunning and unique landscapes draw millions of visitors each year to the least populated U.S. state. A monumental attraction this year was the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse. Although the eclipse crossed over several states, Wyoming was a particularly popular destination to view it from because of OUTCROP | September 2017
the predictably sunny weather and open, blue skies. With the path of totality across the center of the state, towns from Torrington to Jackson braced to be inundated with visitors from all over the world. Every town in the 365-mile stretch was expected to over fill, from one of the state’s largest city, Casper, to the town of Dubois, population under a thousand. Cities and towns outside the edges of the path also prepared to accommodate the influx of people who would pour over into their communities.
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Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
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Devil’s Tower, Crook County, Wyoming
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LEAD STORY
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Whether it is Old Faithful and the endless geologic features in Yellowstone National Park, the distinctively shaped Devils Tower or the heated mineral hot springs in Thermopolis; Wyoming seems to have it all when it comes to interesting geologic features. The stunning and unique landscapes draw millions of visitors each year to the least populated U.S. state. A monumental attraction this year was the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse. Although the eclipse crossed over several states, Wyoming was a particularly popular destination to view it from because of the predictably sunny weather and open, blue skies. With the path of totality across the center of the state, towns from Torrington to Jackson braced to be inundated with visitors from all over the world. Every town in the 365-mile stretch was expected to over fill, from one of the state’s largest city, Casper, to the town of Dubois, population under a thousand. Cities and towns outside the edges of the path also prepared to accommodate the influx of people who would pour over into their communities. The Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) is located in Laramie, outside the path of totality in the southeastern part of the state. However, as a state agency that strives to bring an understanding of Wyoming’s geologic past, present and future, we saw the extraordinarily high number of tourists as an opportunity to display some of the fascinating geology found in the state.
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LEAD STORY
Everything we did in response to the eclipse tied into projects/work or services we already provide. This resulted in little to no additional cost or staff time. For example, we added an eclipse component to a project that was underway since last year – an interactive Geotourism map, “Visit Wyoming’s Geology.” The goal of the map is to highlight some of the most interesting geologic features in the state by providing a few facts and photos. OUTCROP | September 2017
While there are eight main sites featured on the map, we added information for several other areas of interest. There is also information about some of the museums throughout Wyoming. While designing the project, we decided to add another layer to show the total solar eclipse path. That way, users could see geologic sites within the path. Adding the total solar eclipse path to the map provided tourists with ideas of how to enhance their experience
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LEAD STORY be in the area to view the eclipse, and he wanted to propose to her in the canyon. He wanted to confirm the canyon was in the path, which it was, and if we had suggestions on beautiful spots along the highway to get on one knee. On Twitter and Instagram, a variety of hashtags were used in posts to increase followers and shares. There are several hashtags related to the eclipse, so it was tricky to determine which one would be more popular. Since the eclipse’s path crossed over several other states, a more universal hashtag, like #eclipse2017, rather than #eclipseWY, seemed to gain more attention. We also added followers from all over the country and even world from some of these posts. The WSGS also provided 200 pairs of solar eclipse glasses to the public, which brought in a substantial increase in customers to our office. The glasses were given to us at no charge by the University of Wyoming. It was a simple outreach effort that did not cost the WSGS other than time for the staff member at the front desk, and yet, we had individuals come in who might not have otherwise visited our office. The total solar eclipse was huge for Wyoming. Businesses benefited and communities saw an increase in tourists. There is a lot more than an eclipse to see in the state, and the WSGS strived to shine light on some of the geologic features. By finding a way to tap into the buzz about the eclipse, the WSGS was able to follow its mission to “promote the beneficial and environmentally sound use of Wyoming’s vast geologic, mineral, and energy resources …”. Geology can be appreciated by everyone, including non-geologists, and the eclipse gave the WSGS a way to show the public some of the interesting features they will find while traveling in Wyoming.
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while in Wyoming. The eclipse lasted less than 3 minutes, but people traveled for extended distances to get here. We wanted to let them know there was a lot more to see while visiting. Another way we highlighted geology within the eclipse path across Wyoming was with frequent posts on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. In May 2016, we made a conscious effort to increase our presence on social media. Our posts have included photos taken while in the field and information about new publications. We sometimes highlight a webpage as a way to publicize our website or post trivia questions to engage followers. With steady growth in followers of our social media pages, we thought shining a light on geology within the eclipse’s path was a way to tie our work to this year’s most exciting event in Wyoming. We started out with twice-weekly posts and increased to daily posts the last two weeks leading up to the eclipse. Posts have included photographs of geologic features, with a fact or two, as well as maps. Our posts about maps have ranged from a general map of Wyoming depicting the eclipse’s path to a map showing the quadrangles we have mapped and are available as free downloads. We had customers come into the office for topographic and Bureau of Land Management maps of areas within the path because they planned to view it in the backcountry. Not only was this an opportunity to serve the public, but it also allowed us to show the public more of our services, particularly our map services. There have been times when the public has reached out with specific requests about the eclipse. We had one follower on Facebook who had questions about the Wind River Canyon south of Thermopolis. He and his girlfriend were going to
HURRY! Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
There’s still time to register for the RMAG DWLS Fall Symposium and/or the RMAG Core Workshop! REGISTRATION CLOSES SEPT 20, CLICK HERE!
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THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGISTS FOUNDATION By Laura Wray laura.wray44@gmail.com
Robert M. Cluff Memorial Scholarship For Graduate Students Specializing in Petrophysics and/or Reservoir Characterization
OUTCROP | September 2017
Thanks to the family and friends of Bob Cluff, long-time member and past president of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, a memorial scholarship has been established in Bob’s name through the RMAG Foundation. When fully funded, the scholarship will support graduate students who are specializing in petrophysics and/or reservoir characterization. Currently with a balance of about $25,000, the fund must reach a minimum of $50,000 to maintain it in perpetuity and to begin offering scholarships. Our hope is to offer the first scholarship in 2018 which means that we must meet or exceed the goal by year-end. SM Energy has become the first Denver company to provide a generous donation to the Cluff Scholarship. This contribution represents their leadership and commitment to providing a yearly scholarship which advances the increasingly important topics of petrophysics and reservoir characterization. The Foundation is greatly appreciative of their generosity. We invite members of RMAG to honor Bob by contributing to the scholarship fund. Members should also consider requesting matching funds or corporate funds from their employers to help fund this scholarship. Two companies, WPX Energy and QEP Resources, have contributed to the scholarship fund through matching gift programs. A contribution to the RMAG Foundation Fund is tax-exempt under IRS 501(c)3, Federal Tax ID 846036048. Contact Laura Wray (laura.wray44@gmail. com) for any questions.
Donate via the website (http://www.rmagfoun-
dation.org/donate/.) Alternatively mail your contribution to the Foundation address below. Make your check payable to: RMAG Foundation, adding “Cluff Scholarship” on the memo line of the check.
The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists Foundation Independence Plaza No. 165
1001 16th Street, B-180
Denver, Colorado 80265
* * *
The Rocky Mountain Association of Geolo-
gists Foundation is a respected non-profit, 501
(c) (3) organization supporting earth science ed-
ucation through scholarships, aid to earth science teaching, and dissemination of geoscience infor-
mation. Our generous donors make our shared vision possible.
The RMAG Foundation (RMAGF) supports ac-
tivities in the earth sciences by granting research scholarships to students in universities and col-
leges across the country, by providing funds to support teaching endeavors by educational organiza-
tions and museums, by giving awards to outstanding students and earth science teachers, and by funding 46
earth science publications and presentations.
Vol. 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org
R M A G
2 0 1 7
Short Course At Liberty Oilfield Services 950 17th St., Denver, CO 80202
Registration opens September 18th at 8:00am at www.rmag.org. Members: $300 Non-Member: $350 Student: $150
Details Lunch is included. Bring colored pencils both days. Emailed material will be provided.
11.15-16.17 Dr. Junaid Sadeque
Sequence Stratigraphic Correlation in Well-logs – a Hands-on Training Workshop Since the 1970s, sequence stratigraphy has arguably revolutionized stratigraphic analyses in the oil and gas industry because of its power to predict flow-units in petroleum reservoirs. The same sequence stratigraphic principles are also presently applied to predicting flow-units in groundwater aquifers. However, even after about 50 years since the founding of the concept, many of us are still lost in the labyrinth of terminology and struggle when it comes to applying the concepts into practice. This is particularly true in case of sparse dataset from well-logs and cores, rather than full 3-D seismic data coverage. Our 2-day hands-on workshop aims at addressing that skill-gap in inferring sequence stratigraphic markers and systems tracts for clastic rocks in absence of seismic information. This goal will be achieved through a series of interesting correlation exercises following a brief recap of the fundamental concepts. The curriculum is focused to benefit both new hires and experienced professionals by providing real correlation examples from the industry with particular emphasis on understanding facies architecture in well-logs and cores for recognizing different depositional sequences. At the end of the course, the students will learn how to avoid common correlation pitfalls in developing a sequence stratigraphic framework and how to make valid stratigraphic predictions for petroleum exploration or groundwater remediation.
email:Vol. staff@rmag.org | phone: 303.573.8621 66, No. 9 | www.rmag.org 910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202
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fax: 888.389.4090 web: www.rmag.org OUTCROP| | September 2017 follow: @rmagdenver
CALENDAR | SEPTEMBER 2017 SUNDAY
3
MONDAY
4
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
5
THURSDAY
6
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
1
2
7
8
9
14
15
16
RMAG Luncheon.
10
11
12
13
RMAG On the Rocks Field Trip #2.
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18
19
20
DWLS Luncheon. PTTC Short Course.
24
25
26 RMS-SEPM Luncheon. SEG Annual Meeting.
22
23
29
30
RMAG Sporting Clay Tournament.
27
28
OCF Denver Chapter Luncheon. RMAG DWLS Fall Symposium
VOLUNTER! OUTCROP | September 2017
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As a diverse community of individuals working towards a worthy cause, we believe that your unique talents can bring us all forward. Volunteers are always needed and welcome! If you would like to volunteer for any of our committees or events, please contact the RMAG office at (303) 573-8621 or staff@rmag.org
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