July 2012 Outcrop

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

Volume 61 • No. 6 • July 2012

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Vol. 61, No. 7

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July 2012

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

CONTENTS Features

6 Lead Story: Try and Try Again, DinnehotsoNortheast Arizona Prospect 10 Check it out!

18 Creative Genius!

Association News 4 RMAG – Horizontal Drilling and Completion Symposium 13 RMAG and PTTC Present Summer Short Course 15 Membership Notice 19 Determine Future Guidebooks

24 REVIEW: On-the-Rocks Field Trip 28 Help Wanted!

Departments 4 RMAG May Board of Directors Meeting 12 Luncheon Program 14 President's Column 18 New Members 21 On-the-Rocks Field Trips 23 In the Pipeline 29 Advertisers Index 29 Calendar of Events

19 The Outcrop Needs YOU! 23 Call for Papers: The Mountain Geologist

COVER PHOTO The Racetrack Basin is a dry lake in Death Valley National Park. Pebble to boulder-sized rocks with tracks up to 3.2 kilometers are inferred to move when the playa is wet. An interesting website discussion by Paula Messina to learn more is http://geosun.sjsu.edu/paula/rtp/intro. html.

Photo by Donna Anderson

Volume 61 • No. 6 • July 2012 OUTCROP

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RMAG May Board of Directors Meeting

By Kimberley Alanis, Secretary ((Kimberley.Alanis@vantageenergy.com) The Board of Directors meeting was held on May 16, 2012 in the RMAG office boardroom. The meeting began with a review of RMAG’s April income and expenses.

Our budget is still on track. Income is up from last year and expenses are close to where they were projected to be for this year.

The Continuing Education Committee reported that lunch talks are scheduled through September. You may have already noticed, RMAG has decided not to move the luncheon talks from the Marriott City Center, as previously planned due to a misunderstanding. The luncheons will continue to be held at the Marriott City Center throughout the remainder of the 2012 calendar year. I hope everyone enjoyed the first speaker, Dick Bishop, of the Summer Speaker Series that was held on June 13th. Be on the lookout for dates and the speaker line-up for the rest of the talks in this summer series.

RMAG is staying busy with several great events planned for the remainder of the year. Ready, set, mark your calendars!!! The Niobrara Symposium is planned for

July 24th, the Prospect Fair is set for September 12th, the Fall Symposium will be held on October 22nd, and the Rockbuster Ball is being planned for November.

Much of the meeting was spent discussing criteria for a new RMAG employee. The RMAG Board of Directors is in the process of interview candidates.

Thank you to all who applied and everyone who gave us recommendations. Hopefully, by the time you read this we will have added a new face to the RMAG office.

The RMAG Golf Tournament was held on June 28th at Fossil Trace. It was sold out. I hope everyone had a great time, I know I did. I look forward to this event every year. A big THANK YOU to Neil Sharp and the rest of the committee members involved who made this event possible.

The June Board of Director’s meeting was held on Wednesday, May 20th, at the University Building conference room on the 11th floor. The July meeting will be held July 18th at the same location.

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RMAG – Horizontal Drilling and Completion Symposium Practical Applications from Select Plays; the Niobrara, Bakken, Mississippi Lime, Mancos, Sussex, Shannon and Mowry.

Date: October 23, 2012 Locations: Marriott City Center, Denver #BLLFO 5ISFF 'PSLT /JPCSBSB &BHMFGPSE (SBOJUF 8BTI 8PPECJOF 1FSNJBO )BZOFTWJMMF #BSOFUU 8PPEGPSE FUD

With a variety of industry presentations keyed to the basics of horizontal drilling, the RMAG Fall Symposium is looking for presentations on case studies and lesson's learned from the practical application of the techniques used in specific plays. This includes the Niobrara, Bakken, Mississippian Limestone, Mancos, Sussex, Shannon and Mowry.

Potential speakers are requested to submit an abstract concerning one or more of these plays no later than July 27, 2012. Submittals and questions can be sent to staff@rmag.org.

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The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists 910 16th Street • Suite 1125 • 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.

2012 Officers and Board of Directors Co-Editors Kristine Peterson k.peterson@laramidegeo.com

President – Pete Varney pete.varney@alumni.mines.edu

Treasurer – Larry Rasmussen larryr@whiting.com

Holly Sell hsell@nobleenergyinc.com

President-Elect – Debra Higley-Feldman higley@usgs.gov

Treasurer Elect – Mike Kozimko mkozimko@yatespetroleum.com

Catherine Campbell ccampbell@bayless-cos.com

1st Vice-President – Paul Lillis plillis@usgs.gov

Design/Production Debbie Downs debradowns@att.net Wednesday Noon Luncheon Reservations RMAG Office: 303.573.8621 Fax: 303-628-0546 RMAGdenver@aol.com www.rmag.org

ADVERTISING PROFESSIONAL CARDS Will be actual size.

HELPFUL HINTS – Both black and white and color art will be accepted. If you are submitting digital files, please save in the PC format. Minimum resolution for jpg, tif, pdf or eps files is 300 dpi. Simple line art and photographs provide helpful illustration. Borders are recommended on large copy.

An advertising agreement will be sent to you.

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Counselor (1 Year) – Mark D. Sonnenfeld sonnenfeld@whiting.com Counselor (2 Year) – John Ladd john.ladd@fmr.com

2nd Vice-President – Greg Anderson ganderson@samson.com Secretary – Kimberly Alanis Kimberley.alanis@qepres.com

OUTCROP ADVERTISING RATES Ad Size

Cost Per Insertion

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Professional Card

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Advertising rates apply to both black and white ads and 4 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 or eps formats at a minimum of 150 dpi. If you have any questions, please call the RMAG office at 303573-8621.

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.

The Outcrop is a monthly publication of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists 910 16th Street, Suite 1125• Denver, CO 80202

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LEAD STORY Try and Try Again

Dinnehotso-Northeast Arizona Prospect

by Don Stone

Editors Note: The following is just one chapter selected from an ongoing book project intended to illustrate the activities and challenges encountered by an independent petroleum geologist/entrepreneur in his efforts to make a living in the oil patch.

On December 28, 1973, I had just signed a letter agreement for the sale of my Halleck Prospect, a structural play on the Pass Creek Platform in the southern Hanna Basin of Wyoming.

My youngest brother, Bill, working for Davis Oil Company at the time, afforded me a communication avenue to Davis, the most active independent oil company in the Rocky Mountain region. In one of our conversations, Bill asked me if I would be interested in a large block of Navajo Tribal leases constituting the Dinnehotso Prospect that Davis had acquired in Vol. 61, No. 7

northeastern Arizona. The original lease purchases were based on a geologic idea that Bill had brought from his time at Mobil Oil Corporation, before he accepted an offer from Davis Oil Company to go to work in the Davis Denver office in 1968. The prospect concept was both stratigraphic and structural but not well defined. Davis had access to Mobil’s single-fold seismic coverage, 6

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Lead Story

Dinnehotso-Tocito area map.

line. The reservoir objective was the Pennsylvanian Lower Hermosa (“Barker Creek”) biostromal reef carbonates, which are equivalent to the “Tocito” zone of the Tocito Dome oil field in northwestern New Mexico. This field has produced more than 10 million barrels of 45° API oil and 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas from Ivanovia algal platelets and Chaetetes coral porosity in Lower Hermosa biostromal buildups. This particular buried reef trend was thought to be identifiable in an irregular east-west band extending across northwestern New Mexico and into northeastern Arizona. The reef band represents the oldest cycle of off-lapping reef buildups in the southern Paradox Basin, and culminates at the giant Aneth oil-field complex in southern Utah (producing from the “Desert Creek” cycle).

Localization of the Dinnehotso Prospect area was based on evidence for well-developed, oil-stained reef porosity encountered in the inconclusive wildcat test American Mining Navajo # 1 well, located in the SE/4 NW/4 Section 28, T38N, R24W, Apache County, Arizona, together with a seismically defined, northwest-trending structural closure and interpreted Pennsylvanian-Permian

acquired in the early 1960s, and there was the hope that reprocessing the data with more modern methods could lead to a better understanding of the structural element and perhaps also reveal some possible stratigraphic features critical to the primary objective, Pennsylvanian reef trend.

I reviewed the geologic data base and fundamental prospect concept of the play and told Bill that I would be interested in pursuing some kind of arrangement with Davis Oil. On January 4, 1973, Bill called and said Marvin Davis was willing to let me try to sell the Dinnehotso acreage block, and he would expect $5 per acre or $73,450 for the 14,690 acre leasehold. The Davis Oil Company offices were on the 12th floor of the Denver Club Building in downtown Denver, 6 floors above Sherwood Exploration Company’s office. This made it convenient for me to hop upstairs and pick up all the supporting geologic data that Bill had gathered on the Dinnehotso prospect. With this data package I began a review of the prospect geology and potential.

The Dinnehotso Prospect was located within the Navajo Indian Reservation 20 miles south of the Utah state line and 40 miles west of the New Mexico state OUTCROP

Continued on page 8 »

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Lead Story

Continued from page 7

Ivanovia algal porosity Tocito Dome Hermosa.

structural growth. This last factor was considered critical to the oil accumulation at Aneth and at Tocito Dome.

I wasted no time in preparing geologic displays and lining up meetings with clients to present the Dinnehotso Prospect. I made presentations to some 16 interested oil company’s receiving a positive response from most of them. But it was taking some time for these companies to evaluate the prospect risk and economic potential.

It was during this period (January to early March) that (Sherwood Exploration Company) had rented out the small outer room in my Denver Club office to Jack Parker.

Jack was a long-time friend and iconic Rocky Mountain petroleum geologist. He had just returned to Denver after several years working as exploration manager for Vol. 61, No. 7

Kirby Petroleum in Texas and needed a base for the job interviews he had lined up with Denver oil companies.

He soon found a position as Exploration manager for Northwest Pipeline Company in Denver.

When I showed Jack the Dinnehotso Prospect he took an immediate interest. On February 25, 1974, he called from his new digs at Northwest Pipeline and said he would commit to the purchase of the Dinnehotso leasehold at $7.50 per acre if I would pay the rentals due shortly (@ $1.25/acre). An agreement was signed between Northwest Pipeline and Sherwood Exploration Company and between Tesoro – who had a 75% interest in a small part of the Davis leasehold -- and Sherwood in March, 1974. In these agreements, Sherwood received 8

July 2012

Lead Story a 1% overriding royalty “of all oil, gas and casinghead gas produced” on the Dinnehotso leasehold. Other overrides were held by Davis Oil Company employees (Paul Messinger, Marlis Smith, Bill Stone).

Considering the casual way in which Marvin Davis said he would take $5 per acre for his Dinnehotso lease block, and knowing that Marvin was uncomfortable with exploration prospects outside of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming where all of his successes had so far occurred, it seemed only prudent to attempt to negotiate with Marvin for a per-acre price lower than the loosely stated five-dollar figure. So I called Davis Oil Company and asked to speak to Marvin Davis. He would probably not have accepted my called except that Davis Oil was seriously considering committing to Sherwood’s Halleck Prospect in the southern Hanna Basin in central Wyoming, and he may have assumed that I had something important to say about the Halleck Prospect agreement. When he came on the line I got right to point and asked “would you take three dollars an acre for the Dinnehotso leasehold?” Without hesitation he said yes and hung up. With that simple one-minute call I just

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made Sherwood an extra $21,247 and, as it turned out, another $8,133 for Sherwood when Tesoro agreed to go along with the Davis $3 price on their smaller interest in the Dinnehotso leasehold.

The pesky paper work of filling out assignment forms for the 24 individual Tribal leases was generously completed by Ruth Aivaliotis, secretary to Paul Messinger, chief landman and deal-maker at Davis oil. These assignments were delivered to Sherwood Exploration together with an invoice for the May rentals already paid

by Davis. Then shortly after this, Sherwood also received assignments and a rental invoice from Tesoro. Total rental reimbursements paid by Sherwood were $11,569. From the total check of $110,175 from Northwest Pipeline, and after lease rental payments and $44,069 to Davis and Tesoro for the Dinnehotso lease block, Sherwood’s net was $54,336 (before salaries and other miscellaneous office expenses), which equates to $229,930 in 2012 dollars.

The next step was the delivery in June by Davis Oil of the Mobil seismic tapes to Northwest Pipeline for Continued on page 10 »

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Lead Story

Continued from page 9

reprocessing and interpretation. This was performed by John Vreeland, geophysicist for Northwest Pipeline. The results apparently were not compelling as Northwest Pipeline decided not to pursue development of the Dinnehotso Prospect and offered Sherwood reassignment of the Dinnehotso leases in February 1975. I accepted.

After Jack Parker informed me of Northwest Pipeline’s decision to relinquish the Dinnehotso leasehold, but before the paper work had been done, I mentioned the Dinnehotso Prospect to Bill Leroy, Vice President of Reserve Oil and Gas in Denver, and followed up with a presentation on February 11, 1975, to Rex Nelson, geologist at Reserve. Along with the Dinnehotso leases, Sherwood promoted a “Northeast Arizona” lease purchase opportunity” in which client was required to nominate and bid on an additional 50,000 acres of Navajo Tribal leases in a future competitive, sealedbid sale. Sherwood’s proposal called for a twenty-five cent per acre commission for Sherwood on any leases won in the lease sale, with the total commission not to exceed $75,000. The proposed agreement included an overriding royalty of 1% for Sherwood Exploration on the Dinnehotso leasehold and 3% on any new leases acquired in the Northeast Arizona area. Also, purchaser(s) must drill a Mississippian test within a 5-year period or reassign all leases to Sherwood free and clear of any burdens other than basic 16 2/3rds Tribal royalty and Sherwood’s existing royalties.

It was during this time that I interviewed and offered a job to Brad Morrison who was working as a geologist for Shell Oil Company in the Gulf Coast area. He accepted my offer, moved to Denver and started with Sherwood Exploration in May, 1975. I put Brad to work on the Dinnehotso Prospect and he produced a geologic report

that I used in a new set of “show and tell” meetings with potential purchasers and contributed to the eventual sale of the Dinnehotso and Northeast Arizona deals.

The Society of Exploration Geophysicists held their annual meeting in Denver in the early part of March and I attended some of the presentations and also one of the all-day seminars. And then, on the 16th, my wife Charity and I flew down to San Salvador Island in the Bahamas where I was part of the class in underwater photography put on by Skin Diver magazine. This was a very enjoyable break in my hectic daily routine in Denver and resulted in considerable improvement in my knowledge and skill as an underwater photographer. The only negative consequence was Charity’s broken toe, stubbing it against a wayward scuba tank onboard the dive boat.

On March 19, 1975, Reserve committed to the Navajo Tribal prospects, bringing in Clinton Oil Company as a 50% partner. Reserve had also planned a 30mile, 2D seismic acquisition program. I arranged for the Dinnehotso leasehold assignments to be made directly from Northwest Pipeline to Reserve and Clinton.

I arranged for the Dinnehotso lease assignments to be made directly from Northwest Pipeline into Reserve and Clinton. Contracts with these purchasers were executed in late 1974, and the $20,000 “finder’s fee” paid to Sherwood in early 1975. Sherwood picked up these lease assignments from Northwest Pipeline and delivered them to Reserve and Clinton in April. The 1% Sherwood overriding royalty on the Dinnehotso leases was carried forward.

But the Reserve-Clinton Partnership never performed and Sherwood again took reassignment of the Dinnehotso leases. A new round of presentations was short-lived as Exxel Energy Corporation, Jim Peterson (President) stepped up and signed an agreement with Sherwood in

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Lead Story March, 1978. By this agreement, Exxel took assignment of 80% net revenue interest Dinnehotso leases directly from Reserve and Clinton and paid the April and May lease rentals. In the Sherwood-Exxel agreement Exxel made it clear that they were planning to “farmout the leases to one or more parties who will pay the cost of drilling a Pennsylvanian test on one of the leases and reimburse Exxel for all its costs incurred pertaining to this prospect”. Exxel agreed “to pay Sherwood $5 per net mineral acre as additional consideration for the leases within 10 days following the commencement of the test well on the leases, whichever first occurs”. And if a well is not commenced on or before February 16, 1979, Exxel must either pay Sherwood $5 per acre or reassign the leases to Sherwood. As it turned out, Exxel did succeed in farming out the prospect to partners Cabot Corporation and Crystal Oil Company, but since the well had not yet started drilling, Sherwood received Exxel’s check for $73, 415 (equivalent to $230,219 in 2012) on February 15, 1979.

A test well on the Dinnehotso Prospect under the operating name Exxel Energy Corporation Navajo Tribal

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29-1, was finally spud on March 27, 1979, in the NW/4 SW/4 of Section 29, T38N, R24E, Apache County, Arizona. The well drilled the entire Paleozoic section and into the Precambrian crystalline basement to a total depth of 6020 feet. After all the time, effort, and money spent on the development, promotion, and negotiation on the Dinnehotso-Northeast Arizona prospect package, it was surely disappointing that the well was abandoned as a dry hole. No Pennsylvanian Ivanovia reef development and no encouraging oil shows were encountered, even though the nearby American Minerals well had reported the presence of both these encouragements. This result is another confirmation of the manifest high risk inherent to oil and gas exploration, and anyone engaged in this activity should be prepared for such negative outcomes.

The rare successful exploration venture, however can and often does, make up for the numerous unsuccessful projects that keeps the independent explorationist engaged and optimistic. And with entrepreneurial determination, one can always make a profit and enjoy the ride, as in the Dinnehotso adventure.

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Luncheon Program – July 11th update on Mancos Shale Prospectivity Study

By Robert Ressetar, Senior Geologist, Utah Geological Survey, July 11, 2012

Compared to other shale-gas plays in the u.S., the Mancos presents some daunting challenges to drillers, including its thickness (averaging 4000 ft) and its relatively lean TOC.

The Utah Geological Survey, the University of Utah, and Halliburton are at the mid-point of a three-year study of the natural gas prospectivity of the Mancos Shale in the Uinta Basin of Utah, sponsored by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America. Compared to other shale-gas plays in the U.S., the Mancos presents some daunting challenges to drillers, including its thickness (averaging 4000 ft) and its relatively lean TOC. We are using stratigraphic, geophysical, geochemical, and engineering techniques for the purpose of providing the hydrocarbon industry in the basin with additional information to guide drilling strategies. This presentation will be a progress report on the project and will focus on the following: 1. Log correlations tied to cores and outcrop descriptions are used to develop a sequence stratigraphic model of the Mancos.

2. XRF and other geochemical analyses of cores define lithofacies and chemofacies that refine the sequence stratigraphic model.

3. Trend surface analysis of vitrinite reflectance data produces a predictive model of thermal maturity based on elevation and geographic location.

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Luncheon ReseR ReseR Rvations vations & infoRmation Luncheons will be held at the Marriott City Center at California and 17th St. Please check the event listing in the lobby for the room. People gather at 11:30 a.m., lunch is served at 12:00 noon, and the speaker presentation begins at about 12:20 p.m. The price of the luncheon is $30.00. Checks should be made payable to RMAG. No reservation is required for the talk only and the cost is $5.00. Please make your reservation prior to 10:30 a.m. on the Monday before the luncheon. Please Note: If you make a reservation and do not attend the luncheon, you will be billed for the luncheon. Cancellations are not guaranteed after 10:30 a.m. the Monday before the talk. You may send someone in your stead.

Your attendance is welcomed and encouraged. Bring a guest or new member!

Vol. 61, No. 7

Call 303-573-8621

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President’s Column

By Pete Varney

The Saga Continues...

One thing should be very clear as I work through this series on various forms of energy - petroleum is the most useful source for liquid fuels. No doubt about it. But, liquid fuels are not required for most purposes, they are just more convenient for things such as powering an internal combustion engine. There is one form of energy that is cheaper and far easier to use for a plethora of daily activities: electricity...

Of course we can use petroleum, and its cousin natural gas, coal, wood and...ready for this...gravity to produce electricity via generators. Burn something, heat water, make steam, turn a turbine, move a conductor through a magnetic field and you have electricity.

Michael Faraday discovered this in the early 1830s.

Mr. Edison was a great believer in direct current and 50 years after Faraday’s discovery, Edison built the first electrification project in this country based on direct current. Mr. Westinghouse, on the other hand believed that alternating current was more efficient and safer.

Nicola Tesla tested the Westinghouse idea by installing an alternating current generator in the Ames power station near Ophir, Colorado to help power the mines in the Telluride area. It worked, and the rest is yes, you guessed it...history. The alternating current age was born right here in Colorado. But, the turbines were turned by water via Pelton wheels, not steam. The Ames power station and its successor the Ames Power Plant, 1905, has been producing alternating current electrical energy since the early 1890s and is still in service as part of the Public Service Company/Xcel Energy system.

Where does the energy come from to turn the wheels in the Ames plant? Gravity. If you run water over a drop

Vol. 61, No. 7

and put a turbine in a position to capture the flow, you enter the realm of hydrodynamics. The gravitational drop changes potential energy to kinetic energy that allows work to happen. Turbines turn and current flows. In the instances of the Ames Power Plant, the water came from Trout Lake near Lizard Head Pass in the western San Juan Mountains. Water has been turning mill wheels for a long, long time and has been the driving force for AC current for over one hundred years. There is another fluid that is also capable of significant work: air, moving air.

Wind results from density differences in the atmosphere. Gravity drives the movement of air masses although buoyancy is certainly important too.

Nonetheless, move the air and put a turbine in the flow path and you can generate electricity. It’s happening right now all over the world.

These two energy sources, hydro and wind, have their drawbacks. If you build a reservoir to store water and produce a hydraulic head, you will change the local environment. If you build “wind farms” with hundreds of turbines, you endanger flying things both man-made and natural.

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President's Column

Almost everything we do that does not require, absolutely require, liquid fuels is possible with electricity.

If there is a downside, it is that if you burn fossils fuels to generate electricity, you are creating a point source of pollution and that can be a problem.

On a recent trip to California, I noticed that I could see the San Gabriel Mountains on the north side of Los Angeles from San Diego – something that was hard to do when I was growing up in the San Diego area many years ago. Strict air quality rules have cleared the air...at least in southern California. However, if you visit the Grand Canyon, you will see an all-too-common haze that is produced from coal-fired power plant effluvia – at least in part. So if

neWs At a recent RMAG luncheon, Pete Stark of IHS gave an informative talk on the future of petroleum in the US. If I interpret what he said correctly, we are on the road to becoming energy self sufficient largely due to the success of horizontal drilling in tight shales. Apparently “peak oil” or “peak gas” is still some ways off – so there is time to carefully consider alternative energy sources.

If demand does not skyrocket...

CONTACTÊUS

California shifts to all electric cars, the coastal view will be spectacular, but if California drivers venture to the Grand Canyon, they may not be able to see it through the haze.

Is there are way around these complications? Stay tuned . . .

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Membership Notice

LOCATION we’ll lease it, permit it, gather it and sell it

The office was notified that many of our members are still sending time sensitive material, such as registrations, to the rmagdenver@aol.com email address. This email address is no longer valid.

Here is a list of the contact information as of December 1, 2011.

General Email: staff@rmag.org Office: 303-573-8621 All Accounting: Carol Dalton Custom Accounting Solutions, LLC cdalton@rmag.org or cdalton@custom-accountingsolutions.com 202-573-8621 ext. 2

your ideas - we make them happen LEASING - PERMITTING - DAMAGES - ROW

Please update your contact information accordingly.

Thank you for your continued support!

»

303-279-0789

The RMAG Staff

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July 2012

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New Members

Welcome to new active members...

William Long William works for Samson Resources located in Denver, CO.

William cutler Bill is Principal Geologist for Integral Consulting located in Honolulu HI.

Jennifer Bobich Jennifer resides in Denver, CO.

Daniel Rothberg Daniel hails from Woodbridge, CT.

Bailey Beitscher Bailey is as Exploration Geologist for Cimarex in Denver, CO.

matt Jones Matt is a Geologist at Devon Energy in Oklahoma City, OK.

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Patrick Walsh Patrick is Chief Geologist for Ormat in Reno, NV.

Creative Genius!

Inspire your exploration efforts by visiting the DaVinci Machines exhibit now taking place in downtown Denver at The Pavillions at 500 16th St. Welton is the cross street on the SE corner.

“The DaVinci Machines Exhibition," on loan from the Museum of Leonardo DaVinci in Florence, Italy, contains over 60 hand-crafted inventions built from Leonardo’s 500 year old designs and is the life work of three generations of Florentine artisans, who have painstakingly brought to life the creations by the brilliant scientist, geologist, inventor and artist Leonardo DaVinci “(1452 – 1519 AD).

Tickets are $14 for adults and $9 for children. Plan one to two hours for your visit. The exhibition is planned to be on display through September. http://www.davinciexhibitdenver.com/

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July 2012

The Outcrop Needs YOu! We need articles and photos for the Outcrop!

Have you attended a great lecture or read an interesting new geology or energy book? Have you attended a class or gone on a field trip that would interest the membership?

Have you learned a new technique or found some great public domain software? Share your research so we can grow together. We are looking for articles about the new water laws, basin modeling on the “cheap,” new geologic trails or programs, legislative concerns, new technology.

Please submit your ideas or articles and photos to: Kristine Peterson k.peterson@laramidegeo.com Cat Campbell Catherine.e.campbell@gmail.com Holly Sell HSell@nobleenergyinc.com Please be sure to include a phone number and make sure our emails are white-listed. We have had a few submissions that we wished to run but we could not reach the submitters by email and had no other contact information.

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Send your article or photo today!

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What topics interest you for future publications? Are you willing to review papers or help edit a future guidebook?

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Please contact Dean DuBois at Dean.Dubois@ encana.com or Paul Lillis at plillis@usgs.gov.

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July 2012

On-the-Rocks Field Trips Catastrophic Glacial Outburst Floods on the upper Arkansas River Field Trip from Leadville to Buena Vista Trip Leader: Keenan Lee, Colorado School of Mines, klee@mines.edu, July 21, 2012 the floods During the Pleistocene, glaciers from the Sawatch Range flowed down three contiguous tributary valleys to the Arkansas River near Granite, Colorado. The Lake Creek glacier probably pushed the Arkansas River out of its channel, and the Clear Creek and Pine Creek glaciers crossed the river and rammed into granite walls on the far side of the valley. These glaciers formed an ice dam about 670 ft high that blocked the Arkansas River and created a large lake about 600 ft deep that extended 12 miles upstream to the Malta Substation below Leadville.

When the ice dam broke, the lake drained catastrophically. The outburst flood tore out the ends of the moraines and carried the detritus down the valley in a torrent of dirty water that deposited a sheet of flood boulders 60 ft thick in less than a day. Many flood

boulders are tens of feet in diameter, and some can be found 150 ft up on the valley wall.

At least four catastrophic floods swept the Upper Arkansas Valley, together called the Three Glaciers Floods.

Field evidence documents well the last two floods, but only patches of older flood boulders attest to two earlier floods. The most recent flood dates to the Last Glacial Maximum, or Pinedale age, with a cosmogenic age of 17-19 ka. The oldest flood is older than 760 ka, and the second flood is older than 640 ka. The age of the third, or penultimate, flood is currently under debate. Perhaps field trip participants can judge the field evidence and contribute to a solution. the field trip The trip will begin in Leadville and cover 50 miles with 10 stops, ending in Buena Vista. Stops will include overviews of the three glacial systems, a view of the glacial damsite from atop a lateral moraine, a cluster of ice-rafted boulders at the shoreline of Three Glaciers Lake [the paleolake], flood boulder deposits, flood boulders 150 ft above the modern Arkansas River, remnants of the two oldest floods, and the granddaddy flood boulder 61 ft long.

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To sign up: Go to the RMAG website: www.rmag.org Considerations: Bring your lunch for lunch-with-a-view on a lateral moraine after a half-hour hike (0.7 miles, 450 vertical ft). One optional, short side-trip requires 4WD; we can carpool from road. There is only one outhouse along the route; trees are abundant. The trip will take place at high altitude; consider your physical ability to hike in such an environment. Bring plenty of water.

For logistical questions contact: Sandra Mark, smark@wispertel.net, 303.810.7827.

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On-the-Rocks Field Trips

Medicine Bow Mountains

By Cat Campbell Trip Leader: Art Snoke, August 25, 2012 More than two and a half billion years of geologic history are recorded in the rocks of the Medicine Bow Mountains. From an ancient continent and stromatolites to ocean basins and volcanic island chains, the Medicine Bow Mountains are a geologist’s dream to explore. This trip will specifically visit the Snowy Range, which consists of the magnificent quartzite peaks visible from the scenic byway. The Laramide uplift exposed this brilliant white rock with the highest peak, Medicine Bow Peak at an elevation of 12,013 feet.

Beyond the Laramide orogeny, the Medicine Bows have added structural complexity due to the Cheyenne Belt, a suture zone that runs through the mountains southwest-northeast. The metamorphosed rocks to the south of the belt were deposited in an ocean basin 2.0 to 1.8 billion years ago and then were intruded by granite plutons and mafic complexes until 1.4 billion years ago.

To the north, a vastly different set of rocks are preserved with an Archean core overlain by metasedimentary and volcanic rocks 2.5 to 1.7 billion years old. These Archean and younger rocks are over 42,000 feet thick in some areas.

Paleozoic time was dominated by regressions and transgressions of numerous seas over this area of Wyoming. The region was structurally quiescent until the Pennsylvanian when uplift slightly to the west of the current Medicine Bows created the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. Erosion reduced this mountain to chain to low relief highlands into the Permian as oceans returned to the area.

The boundary between the Paleozoic Era and Mesozoic Era cannot be defined in the rock succession due to lack of fossils in the record. Things changed however in the Mesozoic Era with deposition of thousands of feet of sediment consisting of sands, silts, volcanic and even coal. Most of this deposition occurred during the Cretaceous due to the vast sea covering the land.

By the end of the Cretaceous, the compressional forces of the Laramide orogeny likely produced islands in this

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Vol. 61, No. 7

seaway allowing erosive forces to remove the Paleozoic and Mesozoic sections exposing the Precambrian basement in the central part of the Medicine Bows. This uplift continued until the end of the Paleocene.

The current scenery of the Medicine Bow Mountains is dominated by the carving of glaciers that receded approximately 15,000 years ago. Shallow glacial basins are now filled with water throughout the alpine environment of the Snowy Range, adding to the magnificence of the white quartzite cliffs.

Since the glaciers retreated, the appearance of the mountains have changed little except for small traces of mineral exploration that has occurred over the past 100 years. The initial gold rush brought hundreds to the mountains exploring stream bed and digging for the metal; few were successful. The early 1900s brought slightly more successful prospectors for platinum and palladium followed by copper and in the 1970s, uranium.

Fluctuating prices caused prospectors to come and go with the last rush occurring in 1977 for placer diamonds, which were few and far between. Traces of mines and tailings can be seen in the area.

Come explore the majestic Medicine Bow Mountains on August 25th with Art Snoke, a professor of geology at the University of Wyoming. Don’t forget, On the Rocks trips are free!

Knight, Samuel H., 1990. Illustrated geologic history of the Medicine Bow Mountains and adjacent areas, Wyoming. Geological Society of Wyoming Memoir 4.

For more information please see http://www.wsgs. uwyo.edu/stratweb/MedicineBowMts/Default.aspx Hausel, Dan W. 1993. Guide to the Geology, Mining Districts, and Ghost Towns of the Medicine Bow Mountains and Snowy Range Scenic Byway. Geological Society of Wyoming Public Information Circular No. 32.

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July 2012

in the Pipeline July 25, 2012 Oilfield Christian Fellowship Luncheon – To RSVP call Barb Burrell at 303-675-2602 or e-mail OCF-DenverChapter@pxd.com.

July 10, 2012 Desk and Derrick Luncheon – For reservations, please contact RSVP@deskandderrick.org.

July 10, 2012 RMAG Luncheon – “Update on Mancos Shale Prospectivity Study.” Speaker: Robert Ressetar, Utah Geologic Survey.

august 25, 2012 On-the-Rocks Field Trip – "Geology of the Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming." See page 23 for more information.

July 21, 2012 On-the-Rocks Field Trip – Catastrophic Glacial Outburst Floods on the Upper Arkansas Valley. See page 22 for more information.

september 15, 2012 On-the-Rocks Field Trip – "Geology of Glenwood Canyon Bicycle Trip."

»

July 24, 2012 RMAG and PTTC Summer Short Course – “The Influence of Plate Tectonics on Niobrara Sweet Spot Development” Speakers Monte Swan and Stan Keith.

See page 26 for more information.

If you have any events that you would like to post in this column, please submit via email to Holly Sell at hsell@ nobleenergyinc.com or to the RMAG office at rmagdenver@ aol.com for consideration.

CALL FOR PAPERS:

THE MOuNTAiN GEOLOGiST ATTENTION Geologists, Earth and Science Professors Students ATTENTION Geologists, EarthGraduate Science Professors and Graduate Students ATTENTION Geologists, Earth Science Professors Graduate Students and Publish your Paper in The Mountain Geologist!

Publish your Paper in The Mountain Geologist!

Publish your Paper in The Mountain Geologist!

Mountain Geologist is RMAG’s peer-reviewed, quarterly journal. It focuses on The Mountain Geologist is RMAG’s peer-reviewed,The quarterly journal.

It focuses on

Geologist RMAG’s peer-reviewed, quarterly journal. It focuses on the geologyThe of theMountain Rocky Mountain area of the is United States and related topics from outside the Rocky Mountain area. We accept manuscripts from almost every subgeology ofarea. the Rocky Mountain area ofalmost the United States and related topics from outside the the Rocky Mountain We accept manuscripts from every subdiscipline in the geosciences, from authors in academia and industry. discipline inoutside the geosciences, from authors in academia and industry. the Rocky Mountain area. We accept manuscripts from almost every sub-

the geology of the Rocky Mountain area of the United States and related topics from

Share your experience andindustry. wisdom! The Mountain Geologist circulates to over discipline in the geosciences, from authors inideas, academia and

Share your ideas, experience and wisdom! The Mountain Geologist over 2200 memberscirculates and aboutto 200 university libraries and industrial associates. It has been publishedassociates.

by RMAG It since 2200 members and about 200 university libraries and industrial has1964. been Share your ideas, published by RMAG since 1964. experience and wisdom! The Mountain Geologist circulates to over Pleaselibraries email manuscripts or suitabilityassociates. questions to Joyce Trygstad 2200 members and about 200 university and industrial It has beenNelson at

jtpetr@aol.com or MelatKlinger mel.klinger@fidelityepco.com . Manuscripts must be Please email manuscripts suitabilitysince questions to Joyce Trygstad Nelson published byorRMAG 1964. written in accordance with The Mountain Geologist Authors Style Guide, available online jtpetr@aol.com or Mel Klinger mel.klinger@fidelityepco.com . Manuscripts must be at www.rmag.org. written in accordance with The Mountain Geologist Authors Style Guide, available online Please email manuscripts or suitability questions to Joyce Trygstad Nelson at at www.rmag.org.

jtpetr@aol.com or Mel Klinger mel.klinger@fidelityepco.com . Manuscripts must be written in accordance with The Mountain Geologist Authors Style Guide, available online at www.rmag.org.

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: Niobrara and Greenhorn Formations, Florence Canon City Area

by Ron W. Pritchett

RMAG's On-The-Rocks sequences ((Photo Photo 2) 2) are observed committee launched the first here, including evidence for largefield trip of 2012 on Saturday, scale earth orbital variations and May 19th. Professor Stephen A. climate modulation, proposed in Sonnenberg of Colorado School of 1895 by G.K. Gilbert.

Mines led the one-day trip to four Lunch Stop 3 included a tour stops near towns of Florence and of B.F. Rockafellow Ecology Park Canon City, a few miles from the southwest of Canon City (Sec. historic Florence Field (disc. 1862).

7-T19S-R70W). A complete exposure Outcrops near these towns inspire of marls and chalks of the Smoky discussion of the Niobrara and Hill Member of the Niobrara is Graneros-Greenhorn petroleum Leader Steve Sonnenberg Stop 2, at fractured in this area, including abundant system, which is significant for Ft Hays Ls outcrop fossil evidence in calcareous subsurface petroleum reservoir benches. The Niobrara weathers models through the Denverto a distinctive light brown color, Julesburg Basin of Colorado and likely related to oxidized organics in Wyoming. the Niobrara sequence (2-8 weight The day began cool and rainy; % Total Organic Carbon). Ash-fall 26 people assembled at the bentonite clay-layers can be seen Mineral light-rail parking station and touched in the marl-chalk (corner of Santa Fe and Mineral cycles; participants got close to in Littleton), and we sorted into evidence of volcanic activity during 11 cars.

Niobrara time ((Photo Photo 3).

3).

The day brightened, with sun, Stop 4 provides easy access to wind, and just a little rain as we RMAG Group, Florence Canon City Stop Two an outcrop of Sharon Springs shale made our way to Stop 1 on Highway Codell Juana Lopez.

(Sec. 10-T18S-R70W) – distinctive 115 southwest of Colorado Springs for its black and dark-gray color, (Sec. 11-T16S-R67W), a southeastrich carbon content (3-11 weight facing exposure of fractured Fort % Total Organic Carbon), lack of Hays Limestone - basal member of vegetation, iron-rich concretions, the Niobrara Formation (Photo 1). and anomalous natural gamma Stop 1 shows deformation styles radiation from uranium concentrated of the Ft. Hays limestone, the in the organic material. The Sharon underlying Juana Lopez calcarenite Springs Member is associated with member of the Carlile Shale, the the oil-productive section of the Codell sandstone, and erosional lower Pierre Shale of the Florence surfaces between the members.

Field.

Stop 2 (Sec. 16-T19S-R68W), Trip Leader Steve Sonnenberg at Nio C Thanks to Steve Sonnenberg, near the Holcim cement plant, marl chalk sequence Stop Three. who provided a well-organized which mines Ft. Hays limestone, tour, handout, and presentations shows an excellent Codell sandstone exposure, including to help us become familiar with biozones, reservoirs middle, lower-middle, and distal shore face environments and source-bed styles from the Greenhorn, through the and abundant trace fossils. Greenhorn and Juana Lopez Carlile Shale, Juana Lopez and Codell members, the Vol. 61, No. 7

24

July 2012

REVIEW: On-the-Rocks Field Trip Niobrara members, and the Sharon Springs hydrocarbonsource shale, all seen in outcrops of the field trip. Thanks to participants for their good cheer and sense of safety and traffic. Participants received an enjoyable and rich experience in the camaraderie, and variety of rocks, weather and scenery around the upper Canon City embayment (Photo 4).

Your On The Rocks committee has four more trips planned through 2012: • June 9th: Southern Denver Basin near Pueblo: Graneros, Greenhorn, Carlile, and Niobrara formations. Leader: Jeff May, Consultant, and Edmund "Gus" Gustason of Enerplus.

• July 21st: Glacial Outburst Floods – Upper Arkansas Valley • Aug. 25th: Geology of the Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming • Sept. 15th: Geology of Glenwood Canyon Bike Tour See the RMAG website for events and news

of trips as dates draw near: http://

www.rmag.org/i4a/pages/index.

cfm?pageid=3290.

Continued on page 26 »

Juana Lopez calcarenite Member of the Carlile Shale capping Codell Ss. Mbr Stop Two.

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REVIEW: On-the-Rocks Field Trip

Continued from page 25

Co-Leader Jeff May (yellow shirt) and group in the Graneros Shale at Lake Pueblo State Park, June 9, 2012.

Ron Parker and Co-Leader Gus Gustason at the Turonian Cenomanian boundary near Lake Pueblo State Park

Veteran oil finder Dwyane Moredock and friend at the Hartland Shale outcrop Pueblo State Park, June 9, 2012.

Vol. 61, No. 7

26

Ron Parker at the Nio C chalk and a weathered Inoceramus mold.

July 2012

PTTC Summer Workshops ZetaWare Trinity 3D

Tuesday-Thursday July 17-19, 2012, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm Colorado School of Mines, Berthoud Hall room 201 Fee: Non-Profit $1000 and Industry $1500 (includes food at breaks, workbook, and PDH certificate) Instructor: Zhiyong He, ZetaWare Developer Basin modeling:

Integrated basin modeling of source rock maturation, migration pathways and fetch areas. Charge volume and GOR prediction.

Truly easy to use: Point and click, drag and drop petroleum system workflow. OpenGL 3D visualization.

Charge risking:

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Reservoir phase and volume:

Predict reservoir fluid phases with the interactive PVT model. Determine the end results of petroleum migration. Apply engineering concepts in exploration to determine the existence of an oil leg. Validate seismic DHI models by predicting fluid properties and contacts.

Fluid property prediction:

Predict reservoir fluid API gravity and GOR. Using extensive empirical calibrations with hundreds of oils and source rocks from different basins. The cumulatively API gravity of expelled oil is predicted as a function of source facies type, maturity and fetch area. The charge rates, fluid type, thermal history and OWC can be used to further de-risk biodegradation.

Shale Gas and CBM:

Create sorption, solution, free compression and total gas yield (scf/ton or scf/section) maps through burial and uplift history.

Interactively evaluate acreage and predict sweet spots. Calibrated with well data from several basins. Scenario-testing with different thermal regime and erosion amounts. Predicts two basic types (as well as mixed type) of shale gas. Map coal bed methane producible yield based on sorption (maturity and pressure) and permeability.

Hot Spot:

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Pressure prediction:

Predict reservoir pressure by integrating basin modeling and seismic data. Account for arbitrary sand geometry and spatially varying background pressure. Predict maximum hydrocarbon columns and trap extent. Reduce drilling risk and costs.

Petra Basics

Wednesday and Thursday, August 29-30, 2012, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm Colorado School of Mines, Berthoud Hall room 201 Fee: $500, includes food at breaks, workbook, and PDH certificate. Limit 20 people Instructor: Jewel Wellborn, Hydrocarbon Exploration & Development, Inc. Topics include:    

Petra Main Module - Fm Top Organization, Zone Functions, and Computation of Isopach.

Petra Mapping Module - Structure and Isopach using Gridding Functions and Hand Edits.

Petra Cross Section Module - Correlation of Sand Bodies, and Reinterpretation of Isopachs Additional exercises and topics based on class participants interest

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

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Looking at the Alternatives, Aren't You Glad You're a Geo-Scientist?

HELP WANTED!

The Outcrop editors need your help.

Would you like to help edit?

Would you like to assist the editors in reviewing and selecting vintage material for the Outcrop?

PLEASE CONTACT: Catherine Campbell – ccampbell@bayless-cos.com Holly Sell – hsell@nobleenergyinc.com Kristine Peterson – k.peterson@laramidegeo.com

Vol. 61, No. 7

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July 2012

Advertisers index AAPG ....................................... 31

Hoppe, William F. ................... 21

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Breckenridge Expl. Co., Inc... 12

Karo, James C. ....................... 15

Whitehead, Neil H., III ............ 21

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JULY 2012 SUNDAY

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INDEPENDENCE DAY

8

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RMAG Luncheon

Desk & Derrick Luncheon

15

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On-the-Rocks Field Trip

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RMAG Summer Short Course

25

Oilfield Christian Fellowship Luncheon

29

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Ends July 30th • Eight field trips • Four short courses and workshops • Two and oneͲhalf days of presentations • Enjoy the Colorado Mountain Wine Fest

Runs Thursday – Saturday immediately following meeting

Visit our website at www.rmsaapg2012.com

Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists 910 16th Street, Suite 1125 Denver, CO 80202

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