June 2022 Outcrop

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

Volume 71 • No. 6 • June 2022

The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

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Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

1999 Broadway • Suite 730 • Denver, CO 80202 • 720-672-9898 The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) is a nonprofit organization whose purposes are to promote interest in geology and allied sciences and their practical application, to foster scientific research and to encourage fellowship and cooperation among its members. The Outcrop is a monthly publication of the RMAG.

2022 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT

Rob Diedrich rdiedrich75@gmail.com PRESIDENT-ELECT

2nd VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

SECRETARY

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Matt Bauer matthew.w.bauer.pg@gmail.com

Ben Burke bburke158@gmail.com

Sandra Labrum slabrum@slb.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT

TREASURER

Courtney Beck Antolik courtneyantolik14@gmail.com

Mike Tischer mtischer@gmail.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT

TREASURER ELECT

Ron Parker parkero@gmail.com

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

Mark Millard millardm@gmail.com

RMAG STAFF

Anna Phelps aphelps@sm-energy.com COUNSELOR

Jeff May jmay.kcrossen@gmail.com

Bridget Crowther bcrowther@rmag.org

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

Courtney Beck Antolik courtneyantolik14@gmail.com Nate LaFontaine nlafontaine@sm-energy.com Wylie Walker wylie.walker@gmail.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Elijah Adeniyi elijahadeniyi@montana.edu

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Outcrop | June 2022 OUTCROP

S E-R OCK -TH

ON

2022 RMAG FIELD TRIPS Registration open!

Colorado Glaciology | June 25 | Minturn/Vail, CO Trip leader: Vince Matthews

Leadville Mineral Belt Bike Tour | July 9 | Leadville, CO Trip leader: Fred Mark

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument & Clare Quarry Fossil Collecting | August, Date TBD | Florissant, CO Trip leader: Monument Visitor Center Staff

Detroit City Portal Rhodochrosite Mine Tour | August 19 | Alma, CO Trip leader: Dean Misantoni, Mine Geologist Limited registration - sign up for drawing to attend

Picketwire Dinosaur Trackways | October 22-23 | La Junta, CO Trip leaders: Martin Lockley & Bruce Schumacher Trip run in conjunction with Dinosaur Ridge

Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists e: staff@rmag.org | p: 720.672.9898 | w: www.rmag.org

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

CONTENTS FEATURES 6 2022 RMAG Summit Sponsorship Packet 16 Lead Story: Geochemistry of Heavy Mineral Sandstones of the Rock Springs Formation, Mesaverde Group, Southwestern Wyoming 24 100 Years Of RMAG Field Trips

DEPARTMENTS 12 President’s Letter 36 Hybrid Lunch Talk: Andrew Keene 38 Hybrid Lunch Talk: Dr. Lesli J. Wood 40 Member Corner: Maria Wood Henry

42 Welcome New RMAG Members!

44 Letter To The Editor 46 In The Pipeline 46 Outcrop Advertising Rates 50 Advertiser Index 50 Calendar

30 Behind The Scenes Tour: Denver Museum Of Nature And Science

ASSOCIATION NEWS 2 RMAG Summit Sponsors 4 2022 RMAG Field Trips 11 RMAG Juneteenth Volunteers 13 RMAG Geohike Challenge 15 Publish With The Mountain Geologist 48 RMAG Foundation Honors The Neal J. Harr Outstanding Seniors Graduating In Geology

COVER PHOTO Photograph of the heavy-mineral sandstone at Richards Gap, near its easternmost extent. View is to the southwest, with Red Creek in the background.

Photo by Derek Lichtner

RMAG Summit Sponsorship

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April 21, 2022 Geoscience Community: RMAG could not exist without the very generous support of our Summit Sponsors, and we greatly appreciate all the companies that have contributed over the years.

Following two pandemic years the world has reshaped itself and faces new challenges. Here in RMAG’s 100th year we have continued to adapt to the changing environment to meet both the needs of our members and the greater geoscience community, as well as honor our sponsors’ commitment to RMAG. In the past few months, we have transitioned from solely online events to hybrid lunches, where local members can gather for lunch and the talk and our members across the country and around the world can tune in for the talk. We will continue to do a mix of online and in-person short courses as the year progresses, creating opportunities for learning and networking for all our members.

Your generous sponsorship dollars are supporting seven field trips this summer, from a raft trip on the San Juan to a tour of Colorado’s Glaciology, and we’ve already had a behind-the-scenes tour of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and a virtual trip to learn about the soon-to-close CEMEX Niobrara Quarry. The RMAG Mentorship program is in full swing, connecting the next generation of geoscientists with veterans of the industry. As the weather improves and people return to the office, we look forward to many more events in person, from social to educational.

Your sponsorship dollars continue to support our excellent publications including the monthly Outcrop newsletter, the quarterly Mountain Geologist journal, and special publications such as Subsurface Cross Sections of Southern Rocky Mountain Basins. We recognize your financial commitment with website and publication advertising as well as through social media before each online event. With a LinkedIn group of over 2600 members, we make our sponsors visible to the geoscience community for both virtual and in person events.

If you are already a Summit Sponsor or are looking for a smaller way to financially support the organization, the 2022 Golf Tournament will be on June 7th with plenty of sponsorship opportunities, and later this year we will be throwing the 100th birthday party, with multiple opportunities to sponsor the celebration.

Thank you to those who are already a Summit Sponsor, and if you are not already a sponsor, please look at the many complementary benefits included with the sponsorship levels. Please feel free to contact our staff with questions about sponsorship by email: staff@rmag.org or by phone at 720672-9898.

We and the staff of RMAG thank you all for your continued support and look forward to seeing you in person this year.

Rob Diedrich

Bridget Crowther

2022 RMAG President

RMAG Executive Director

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OUTCROP | June 2022

RMAG Summit Sponsorship Platinum, Gold, & Silver Sponsors

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2022 RMAG Summit Sponsorship All sponsor benefit event tickets follow RMAG event registration deadlines.

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RMAG 2022 2 Summit Sponsorship Opportunities Platinum Sponsor Gold Sponsor Silver Sponsor

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1999 Suite 730 Denver, CO, 80202 Vol. 71,Broadway, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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web: www.rmag.org

follow: @rmagdenver OUTCROP | June 2022

RMAG MAY 2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

By Sandra Labrum, Secretary slabrum@slb.com

Committee is continuing to do great work bringing us a full slate of articles to celebrate the 100th anniversary of RMAG. Educational Outreach is spearheading the RMAG foundation teacher of the year applications (due June 7th) so be sure to nominate your favorite earth science teacher. On the Rocks, has an amazing lineup for field trips for the year, see the calendar linked on the RMAG website for the full schedule. The next event is San Juan Float trip on June 14-16! Finally, Diversity and Inclusion committee is continuing to work on increasing the diversity in RMAG members and increasing the visibility of RMAG at events that we typically haven’t participated in. Be sure to stop by the booth if you find yourselves at the Juneteenth event.

I hope you all have a fantastic month and I hope to see you at the RMAG Golf Tournament. Until next time!

Hi everyone!

The May Board of Directors meeting took place May 18th, 2022 at 4pm via Microsoft Teams. All board members except one were present. April was another great month for new members we had 14 join! Welcome to all the new members we are so happy to have you. The Finance committee provided an overview of the financials for April.

RMAG had a net operating loss due to extra payroll expenses.

The Continuing Education Committee is continuing to host hybrid lunches with great success.

They are also seeking abstracts for the Powder River Basin Symposium. If you have a PRB talk, make sure to submit today! The Membership Committee is making progress on increasing the membership and the mentorship program is in full swing. Be on the lookout for upcoming information about the return of the Geohike Challenge. The Publications

Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of of RMAG

Rocky Mountain Section

THE FUTURE OF ROCKIES GEOLOGY HYATT REGENCY DENVER AT COLORADO CONVENTION CENTER

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SCAN FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER

Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

Volunteers Needed!

Come represent the geosciences at the tent hosted by RMAG Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Friends of Dinosaur Ridge at

Denver’s Juneteenth Celebration and Festival in Historic Five Points June 18-19, 2022 Why? Sponsored by RMS AAPG Foundation and RMAG Foundation

• Come share your love of geology!

• Rocks and minerals on display!

• Dig for fossils!

• Create your own dinosaur masks!

The purpose of the RMAG D & I committee is to increase the diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists itself and the geoscience community as a whole. We are hosting a booth at the Denver Juneteenth festival to increase our exposure as a group and boost interest in geology in a venue that will include more black, indigenous, and people of color than we would be able to reach at any other event in the Denver metro area.

Booth Hours • Saturday, June 18, 11am-8pm • Sunday, June 19, 11am-8pm • Volunteers are requested to work 3-hour shifts • Sign up to volunteer here or go to www.rmag.org/juneteenth

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PRESIDENT’S LETTER

By Rob Diedrich

A Geologic Icon

What image would you choose to represent Colorado Geology on a specialty license plate? This question was raised during a recent dinner conversation among geo-colleagues. There are many options in a state filled with geologic wonders: Maroon Bells, Garden of the Gods, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to name a few. But the feature we all seemed to agree on was Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, a location which is significant to geologists as the site of one of the world’s most striking unconformities and to the public as one of the world’s most iconic outdoor concert venues.

Red Rocks as show in a 1905 USGS Publication. The photo shows a boulder strewn natural The 1905 USGS Publiamphitheater between two Fountain Formation monoliths named Ship Rock (left) and Creation cation, Geology and UnderRock (right). The seating area in use today was constructed in the late 1930s. ground Water Resources of the Central Great Plains, includes an early photograph of Formation sedimentary layers were tilted during the Red Rocks and describes the outcrops as “divisions Laramide Orogeny and eroded into their present-day of the Pennsylvanian-aged Wyoming formation, conforms along Colorado’s Front Range. sisting of brick red conglomerates, sandstones and In a portion of Red Rocks Park, a natural amphishales with thin interbedded limestone.” The red theater formed between two towering monoliths of beds were later correlated to similar outcrops along steeply dipping Fountain red beds. Named the “GarFountain Creek in Teller County and renamed the den of Angels, the area was known for its natural Fountain Formation. acoustics. In the early 1900’s, popular musicians beThese sediments were shed off the Ancestral gan to perform there. Plans to create a concert venue Rockies and deposited on an erosional surface of were envisioned. Finally in 1936, with the benefit of Precambrian rock that is 1400 million years older.

Federal funding, the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) This surface, readily seen at locations in Red Rocks began work to build a structure where live perforPark, is called “The Great Unconformity” and is one mances could be enjoyed in a truly unique geologic of the largest depositional time gaps found anywhere setting. An estimated 50,000 cubic yards of earth and on earth. Then, 70 million years ago, the Fountain CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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Your next adventure awaits...

2022 RMAG Geohike Challenge July 1 - September 6 Join us for the 3rd annual Geohike Challenge, RMAG’s geological scavenger hunt & photo contest. List of items to find drops July 1st.

Registration is open! $20/person $30/person with hat Winners announced at RMAG Anniversary Party on Sept. 22nd

Scan for details and to register: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists e: staff@rmag.org | p: 720.672.9898 | w: Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org 13www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | June 2022

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

‘The Great Unconformity’ as seen at Red Rocks Park, representing a time-gap of 1.4 billion years. The Pennsylvanian-aged Fountain Formation Fm (upper left) rests unconformably on the Precambrian (lower right). The plaque identifying the contact was erected by the Colorado Scientific Society and RMAG.

rock debris were redistributed to build the foundation. Ten boxcar loads of cement and 90,000 square feet of red sandstone from the Lyons Formation were used in the construction of the amphitheater we see today.

Have you ever visited the geologic display at the Geology Marker and Picnic Shelter turnout at Red Rocks Park? This is the site of a unique collaboration between RMAG and the Colorado Scientific Society and is the subject of this month’s centennial anecdote. The ‘Panorama of the Front Range Foothills’ sign was erected in 1962, 60 years ago! It is a colorful metallic panel with raised lettering that summarizes Red Rocks’ geologic history along with a beautiful artistic rendering of major geologic and OUTCROP | June 2022

topographic features looking eastward across the plains. A colored east-west cross-section from Green Mountain to the Front Range is also featured. Check this out during your next trip to Red Rocks Park!

Have you noticed RMAG’s new look? To usher in our second century, we have created a colorful logo with a geology inspired design. Thanks go to Past President Cat Campbell, who spearheaded this effort, and to RMAG staff and both 2021 & 2022 Board members who provided input. Stay tuned for changes in the Outcrop as we freshen-up the appearance.

And our legacy rock pick and oil derrick symbol? It remains the official corporate seal of the RMAG and will continue to appear in our publications.

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https://www.rmag.org/publications/the-mountain-geologist/

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LEAD STORY

GEOCHEMISTRY of Heavy Mineral Sandstones of the Rock Springs Formation, Mesaverde Group, Southwestern Wyoming

By Derek Lichtner

Wyoming State Geological Survey

geology of a small subset of these landlocked, lithified beach placers of the Interior West.

W

HEN MANY GEOLOGISTS CONSIDER the vast mineral resourc-

es of Wyoming’s thick Cretaceous section, they immediately think of oil, gas, and coal. However, as supply-chain-sensitive mineral commodities such as rare earth elements become more and more essential to our modern technologies, “old” outcrops are being revisited from a relatively new perspective: critical minerals.

This article is a brief preview of Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) research on one of the lesser-known potential sources of critical minerals in the United States: heavy-mineral sandstones of the Rocky Mountain region. Certain Cretaceous-aged sandstones, such as those of the Rock Springs Formation in southwestern Wyoming (Fig. 1), contain paleoplacer deposits of heavy minerals. Similar beach sands of Quaternary age, such as those near Jacksonville, Florida, are often mined for titanium minerals and zircon. Such deposits also commonly contain rare earth elements. Using modern geochemical methods, this study reexamines the critical-mineral OUTCROP | June 2022

WHY SO CRITICAL?

In 2018 the U.S. Geological Survey, acting under Executive Order 13817, published its “list of critical minerals,” a catalogue of mineral commodities with vulnerable supply chains deemed critical to the economic and national security of the Unites States. Revised every three years, the most recent iteration of the list details 50 mineral commodities that are essential for domestic manufacturing, national defense, and modern technologies.

The critical mineral commodities most relevant to this study—titanium, zirconium, and the rare earth elements—have many applications. Powdered titanium dioxide sees widespread use as a durable white pigment, and the resistance to corrosion and high strength-to-weight ratio of titanium metal are vital to many industries, especially aerospace (Woodruff and others, 2017). The refractory properties of the mineral zircon play an important role in

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FIGURE 1:

Regional map of the Rock Springs uplift in southwestern Wyoming, showing outcrop of Rock Springs Formation, the locations of known heavymineral sandstones, and other useful geographic and geologic information.

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LEAD STORY The Cretaceous heavy-mineral sandstones of the Rocky Mountain region, known from Montana through New Mexico, were formed in much the same way as their modern geologic analogues. In what is now modern-day western Wyoming, eastern Utah, and eastern Idaho, rocks of the Sevier mountain belt were weathered, eroded, transported by river systems to the east, and deposited in the subsiding Sevier foreland, along the shore of the Western Interior Seaway. In some locations, reworking of the sediments by waves and longshore currents resulted in accumulations of heavy minerals such as ilmenite (FeTiO3), zircon (ZrSiO4), monazite ([light REE,Th] PO4), and xenotime ([Y,heavy REE,Th,U]PO4) as beach placer deposits. Unlike in the simplified model in the previous paragraph, many of the heavy minerals were likely sourced from Sevier arc volcanism (Force and others, 2001), deposition took place in the context of overlapping Sevier and Laramide tectonics (Minor and others, 2021), and the sands have undergone lithification.

No production is known from the Cretaceous heavy-mineral sandstones of the Rocky Mountain region, although many of these deposits were examined as potential sources of titanium minerals in the 1960s (Dow and Batty, 1961; Houston and Murphy, 1962). Published data on zirconium, the rare earth elements, and other critical mineral commodities in these deposits are scarce.

The Rock Springs Formation deposits were chosen for this initial study because they (1) complement recent WSGS mapping projects in the Firehole Canyon area, and (2) their sedimentology and stratigraphy has been studied in detail (Roehler, 1989).

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the ceramics industry, and the neutron-absorption characteristics of zirconium metal are used in nuclear reactors (Jones and others, 2017). And, of course, the rare earth elements have been a major topic of discussion lately—and rightly so, because they are needed for the magnets, visual displays, and other components essential to both consumer electronics and the growing renewable energy industry (Van Gosen and others, 2019).

The U.S. federal government’s critical mineral list has spurred several national, statewide, and local efforts to study critical-mineral geology. The USGS’s Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI), perhaps the most extensive and well-known of these efforts, has funded several projects in Wyoming, including several WSGS bedrock geologic maps in the central Laramie Range, and deployment of airborne geophysical surveys over the Medicine Bow Mountains. The University of Wyoming’s Center for Economic Geology Research is also leading several new projects as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals Initiative (CORE-CM).

One small part of these greater efforts is this WSGS study, a geochemical investigation of heavy-mineral sandstones near Rock Springs, Wyoming.

A LIGHT TREATMENT OF HEAVYMINERAL SANDS

Heavy-mineral sands go by many names: black sands, titaniferous sands, or beach placers, to name a few. They form along coastlines where the winnowing action of waves has washed away mineral grains of relatively low density, such as quartz and feldspar, leaving behind concentrated accumulations of “heavy” minerals such as ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, and magnetite. Modern beach placers often share similar geologic histories: they are associated with passive continental margins, are located downstream of a source of high-grade metamorphic rocks, and were deposited in tropical or subtropical latitudes, where climate facilitated weathering and disaggregation of the source rock (Van Gosen and others, 2014).

OUTCROP | June 2022

THE ROCKS OF ROCK SPRINGS

The heavy-mineral sandstones of the Campanian-aged Rock Springs Formation of the Mesaverde Group are maroon-colored, well sorted, well rounded, and very fine grained, with abundant ilmenite and zircon. The sandstones form elongate lens-shaped exposures up to 2,700 ft long, 1,000 ft wide, and 7 ft thick. Although the volume of any single deposit is relatively small, an estimated 21,873,000 tons of Cretaceous heavy-mineral sandstones occur throughout

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LEAD STORY

FIGURE 2: Typical exposure of the McCourt Sandstone Tongue with accompanying stratigraphic column and interpretations of

depositional environment. The “Pretty Water Creek” heavy-mineral sandstone crops out near the right edge of the image. Photograph taken in sec. 8, T. 16 N., R. 102 W., looking south. Measured section data from Roehler (1989). Lithologic symbology is FGDC standard.

Wyoming (Dow and Batty, 1961).

The Rock Springs heavy-mineral sandstones crop out along the eastern flank of the Rock Springs uplift, a north–south trending, doubly plunging, asymmetrical Laramide uplift in the middle of the Greater Green River Basin (Fig. 1). One deposit, at Richards Gap, occurs on the northern flank of the Clay Basin anticline adjacent to the Uinta Mountains uplift, and is separated from the other deposits by the Red Creek syncline.

Seven of eight of the known deposits in the Rock Springs Formation are in the McCourt Sandstone Tongue, a regressive sequence composed of tan to gray ledge-forming sandstones deposited in shoreface and beach environments (Roehler, 1989). In a typical section (Fig. 2), the lowermost McCourt Tongue is composed of drab siltstone and very finegrained sandstone of the lower shoreface, which

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grade upward into the tan, plane-bedded, fine- to medium-grained sandstone of the middle shoreface. Upsection, the deposits of the upper shoreface, or surf zone, consist of tan to gray, fine- to medium-grained sandstone with 3-ft-thick planar crossbeds. The overlying forebeach sandstones are similar, but with thin parallel, tabular beds produced by waves washing across the beach. Together, the cliff-forming upper shoreface and forebeach deposits comprise the distinct tan-to-white sandstones that cap the McCourt Tongue throughout the Rock Springs uplift. In some locations, tan crossbedded berm and beach-dune sandstones are preserved at the very top of the McCourt Tongue. The heavy-mineral deposits typically are found near the top of the sequence, in surf, forebeach, river mouth, or beach-berm environments.

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LEAD STORY sample, collected by the WSGS in 2015 (Sutherland and Cola, 2016).

For this study, the geochemistry of 84 samples from eight known Rock Springs Formation deposits was measured by AGAT Laboratories for major element oxides and trace elements. Several patterns emerged from the analytical results (Fig. 3). Most samples were consistently enriched in the mineral commodities listed in Table 1. It should be noted that five times the crustal abundance is an arbitrary cutoff that, although indicating enrichment, does not

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PRELIMINARY RESULTS Many of these deposits were discovered in the 1950s by U.S. Atomic Energy Commission airborne radiometric surveys or during USGS reconnaissance and mapping. Limited geochemical and mineralogical datasets exist for a few of the deposits (Dow and Batty, 1961; Houston and Murphy, 1962). Prior to WSGS mapping of the Richards Gap 1:24,000-scale quadrangle (Kehoe and others, 2021; Lichtner and others, 2021), published analysis of all rare earth elements is known for only one Rock Springs-area

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Table 1 Critical or economic mineral commodities in the Rock Springs heavy-mineral sandstones that have an average concentration of at least five times the composition of the upper continental crust. This study adheres to the definitions of Van Gosen (2019) for the rare earth elements (REEs): “light” REEs consist of lanthanum (La) through gadoliniumn (Gd), and “heavy” REEs are terbium (Tb) through lutetium (Lu) plus yttrium (Y). Scandium (Sc), although it has similar properties, is excluded from the REEs because it does not often occur in the same geologic contexts. These definitions are not universal; analyses from other sources cited in the text were converted to fit these definitions.

Element

Concentration (ppm)

Symbol

Range

Beryllium

Be

Min. <5

13.8

Crustal abundance 2.1

Scandium

Sc

5.00

118

62.0

14.0

Max. 21.0

Average

n 19 84

Titanium

Ti

2,700

229,000

130,057

3,800

84

Vanadium

V

68.0

1,280

692

97.0

84

Manganese

Mn

244

9,620

4,035

770

84 83

Arsenic

As

<5

106

27.6

4.8

Yttrium

Y

16.0

627

231

21.0

84

Zirconium

Zr

180

42,500

13,775

193

84

Niobium Palladium

Nb Pd

10.0 <0.001

669 0.16

345 0.04

12.0 0.00052

84 4

Silver Indium

Ag In

<1 <0.2

22.0 0.6

7.0 0.4

0.053 0.056

54 62

Tin

Sn

<1

59.0

18.1

2.1

81

Antimony "Light" REE

Sb La–Gd

0.40 167

22.5 20,845

5.10 4,672

0.4 137.8

84 84

"Heavy" REE Total REE

Tb–Lu, plus Y La–Lu, plus Y

24.6 192

976 21,821

355 5,027

31.3 169.1

84 84

Hafnium

Hf

4.00

1,320

379

5.3

84

Tantalum Tungsten

Ta W

0.70 1.0

86.4 59.0

28.0 14.9

0.9 1.9

84 84

Platinum

Pt

<0.005

0.024

0.009

0.0005

11

Thorium Uranium

Th U

10.4 3.29

1,100 95.0

268 44.0

10.5 2.7

84 84

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LEAD STORY

FIGURE 3: “Spider” plot of critical mineral and economic mineral commodities detected in the Rock Springs Formation

samples relative to average composition of the upper continental crust from Rudnick and Gao (2014). Element symbols for noncritical economic mineral commodities are gray; the rare earth elements plus yttrium (Y) are magenta; and the symbols of all other critical mineral commodities are black. Elements are in ascending order of atomic number.

imply an economic deposit.

Several of the mineral commodities in Table 1 are often mined from this type of deposit. Titanium minerals are the most common product of heavy-mineral sands. Zircon is often a co-product, and the rare earth elements are sometimes byproducts. Titanium was measured in the Rock Springs deposits at an average concentration of 13.0 percent (21.7 percent TiO2), which is about 34 times the average upper continental crust. Zirconium averaged 1.38 percent (1.86 percent ZrO2), or about 71 times continental crust. Total “light” rare earth elements averaged 0.47 percent (0.55 percent rare earth oxides), or about 34 times continental crust, and total “heavy” rare earth elements averaged 355 ppm (435 ppm oxides), or about 11 times continental crust.

The abundance of titanium minerals in the Rock Springs deposits exceeds those in a typical sedimentary ilmenite deposit, which average about 1.8 percent titanium (3 percent TiO2; Woodruff and others, 2017). However, because of the considerable hardness of the Rock Springs sandstones, a more appropriate comparison might be igneous titanium ores,

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which, depending on mineralogy, average 6.6 to 11 percent titanium (11 to 18 percent TiO2; Woodruff and others, 2017). In addition, the rare earth element concentrations, although elevated, are somewhat less than the most promising domestic rare earth deposits, such as the Bear Lodge alkaline complex of northeastern Wyoming, which contains carbonatites with an average grade of about 2.6 percent total rare earth elements (3 percent rare earth oxides; Dahlberg and others, 2014). However, the fraction of heavy compared to light rare earth elements in the Rock Springs heavy-mineral sandstones is comparable to the Whitetail Ridge resource of the Bear Lodge prospect.

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BIGGER PICTURE, IN BRIEF

A few of the geochemical results in this study support hypotheses of Houston and Murphy (1977) and Roehler (1989), and may assist in predicting the critical mineral geology of other Cretaceous heavy-mineral sandstones or in locating undiscovered deposits.

First, the variation in critical mineral commodities within a single Rock Springs heavy-mineral

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LEAD STORY

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CONCLUSIONS

sandstone is greater than the variability between the deposits, suggesting that enrichment was a local process that took place in a shared regional context.

Second, enrichment in critical mineral commodities is greatest at the thickest parts of the sandstone lenses and least near the edges, suggesting that simply the presence or absence of heavy minerals such as ilmenite, zircon, and monazite is the primary control on enrichment. Third, enrichment tends to be greatest near the top of a deposit, reflecting increasing transport capacity upsection in a progradational depositional sequence. Fourth, where exposure is sufficient to infer paleogeography, deposits tend to be more enriched and thicker landward, with a sudden termination at their western end, whereas to the east the deposits gradually thin and decrease in heavy-mineral content, reflecting the forebeach and foreshore geometry, as well as the progressive landward winnowing of non-heavy minerals. Lastly, samples collected from prospect pits and adits were not geochemically distinct from surface exposures, suggesting that recent meteoric waters did not play a significant role in mineralization. (However, no drilling or trenching was conducted by the WSGS to verify this.) Together, these observations suggest that the enrichment process is primarily sedimentological, a result of the sorting of heavy minerals by waves and currents, as opposed to some sort of hypogene, hydrothermal, or supergene alteration process. Alternation of ilmenite, however, does play an important role, which will be discussed in the forthcoming WSGS report.

This study provides new geochemical analyses for previously unmeasured elements that are of critical modern importance. In addition to already known enrichment in titanium minerals, the heavy-mineral sandstones of the Rock Springs Formation also exhibit elevated concentrations of zirconium, niobium, rare earth elements, and several other mineral commodities. However, this study is by no means a comprehensive assessment of ore quality, and any comment on induration, alteration, tonnage, and overburden in this article or the forthcoming WSGS report is speculation.

The WSGS report, to be released later this year, will provide additional background information, outcrop photos, thin section photomicrographs, scanning electron microscope images, further examination of the variations between and within the deposits, and conjecture on their shared tectonic and sedimentological context.

REFERENCES

Dahlberg, P.S., Noble, A.C., Pickarts, J.T., Rose, W.L., and Jaacks, J.A., 2014, Technical report on the mineral reserves and development of the Bull Hill mine, Wyoming: Rare Element Resources Bear Lodge Project Canadian NI 43-101 Technical Report, 516 p.

Dow, V.T., and Batty, J.V., 1961, Reconnaissance of titaniferous sandstone deposits in Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Colorado: U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 5860, 52 p.

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

Well Log Digitizing • Petrophysics Petra® Projects • Mud Log Evaluation Bill Donovan

Geologist • Petroleum Engineer • PE

(720) 351-7470 donovan@petroleum-eng.com

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LEAD STORY Group (Campanian–Maastrichtian) architecture, Wyoming-Utah-Colorado region, USA: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 134, p. 419– 445.

Roehler, H.W., 1989, Origin and distribution of six heavy-mineral placer deposits in coastal-marine sandstones in the Upper Cretaceous McCourt Sandstone Tongue of the Rock Springs Formation, southwest Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1867, 34 p., 1 pl.

Rudnick, R.L., and Gao, Shan, 2014, Composition of the Continental Crust, in Holland, H.D., and Turekian, K.K., eds., Treatise on Geochemistry, v.

4, p. 1–51.

Sutherland, W.M., and Cola, E.C., 2016, A comprehensive report on rare earth elements in Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Report of Investigations 71, 137 p.

Van Gosen, B.S., Fey, D.L., Shah, A.K., Verplanck, P.L., and Hoefen, T.M., 2014, Deposit model for heavy-mineral sands in coastal environments: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070-L, 51 p.

Van Gosen, B.S., Verplanck, P.L., and Emsbo, Poul, 2019, Rare earth element mineral deposits in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1454, 16 p.

Woodruff, L.G., Bedinger, G.M., and Piatak, N.M., 2017, Titanium, in Schulz, K.J., DeYoung, J.H. Jr., Seal, R.R. II, and Bradley, D.C., eds., Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1802-T, 23 p.

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Force, E.R., Butler, R.F., Reynolds, R.L., and Houston, R.S., 2001, Magnetic ilmenite-hematite detritus in Mesozoic-Tertiary placer and sandstone-hosted uranium deposits of the Rocky Mountains: Economic Geology, v. 96, p.

1,445–1,453.

Houston, R.S., and Murphy, J.F., 1962, Titaniferous black sandstone deposits of Wyoming: Geological Survey of Wyoming [Wyoming State Geological Survey] Bulletin 49, 120 p., 7 pls.

Houston, R.S., and Murphy, J.F., 1977, Depositional environment of Upper Cretaceous black sandstones of the western interior: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 994-A, 29 p.

Jones, J.V. III, Piatak, N.M., and Bedinger, G.M., 2017, Zirconium and hafnium, in Schulz, K.J., DeYoung, J.H. Jr., Seal, R.R. II, and Bradley, D.C., eds., Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1802-V, 26 p. Kehoe, K.S., Gay, G.W., and Lichtner, D.T., 2021, Preliminary geologic map of the Richards Gap quadrangle, Sweetwater County, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Open File Report 2021-2, 12 p., scale 1:24,000.

Lichtner, D.T., Gay, G.W., and Kehoe, K.S., 2021, Heavy-mineral sandstone in the Upper Cretaceous Rock Springs Formation, Richards Gap, Wyoming: Wyoming State Geological Survey Open File Report 2021-6, 37 p.

Minor, K.P., Steel, R.J., and Olariu, Cornel, 2022, Tectonic and eustatic control of Mesaverde

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FEATURE

100 YEARS OF RMAG FIELD TRIPS

By Laura L. Wray

The Cadillac of trips was in 1980 and again in 1994, when two Aspen Airway turboprop aircraft took trip participants to Jackson, Wyoming with overflights of the Wyoming-Utah Overthrust Belt and the Bighorn Basin (Kellogg, 1997). Available corporate sponsorships at the time defrayed the cost of these trips, but today, air travel for RMAG field trips is almost unimaginable due to cost.

As road conditions improved, bus travel became popular. In the mid-1950’s, trips to the Raton, North and Middle Park Basins attracted up to 200 participants, with accompanying trucks to haul the luggage and gear. Large numbers of geologists could be recruited if trips were run in conjunction with annual meetings. On some occasions, camping was arranged when necessary (RMAG Outcrop, 1956 and 1957).

In 1961, “Do it yourself field trips” were advertised for the “foothills monocline” and Clear Creek Canyon (RMAG Outcrop, 1961). Today, as in the past, some trips involve camping; pre- and/or post-convention excursions are popular (though not with anywhere close to 200 people); and both existing and new road guides allow extensive options for “Do it yourself field trips”.

Through the 1970s and early 1980s, joint field trips were planned with the New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming Geological Surveys; Grand Junction and

F

IELD TRIP—THE CLARION CALL OF ALL GEOLOGISTS! As students, we rev-

eled in the freedom of an outdoor classroom, seeking to understand the messages within the outcrops. As professionals, we sought out field trips to network and to better design our analogs for depositional environments and structural developments. We soaked up the knowledge of field trip leaders and fellow participants. In our retirement years, we continued to be drawn to new geologic locales and evolving interpretations, enjoying the comradery of all who joined the expeditions.

One hundred years of RMAG field trips clearly showcases the extensive and impressive geologic expertise within our community, past and present. It’s true that the objectives of field trips have remained the same over 100 years. But the logistical and implementation details have changed substantially.

CHANGING TRAVEL MODES

In 1926, a train trip was organized to Rifle, Colorado to visit the oil shale operations, known as Naval Oil Shale Reserves 1, eight miles west of the town. Train travel was rare for field trips because it offered very limited access to Colorado’s geology.

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FIGURE 1: On the Rocks field trips since 1999 (map by Mike Tischer)

trips to encourage networking and comradery. Jim Rogers, RMAG President in 1986, remembered vividly the devastating effects of layoffs, increased oil production overseas that produced a glut on the world market, and OPEC’s decision to opt for market share by dropping oil prices from $34 to $29 a barrel. Concurrently, a severe drop in the U.S. rig count and the catastrophic plunge of West Texas Intermediate crude from $35 a barrel to $10 a barrel resulted in rampant layoffs and office closures. In response, the RMAG Board took many measures to cut costs, while still trying to serve a membership in disarray.

Despite economic woes and with the urgency

Four Corners Geological Societies; the Geological Association of America; the Association for Women Geoscientists; Desk and Derrick; AAPG; Rocky Mountain Section of AAPG; and other organizations.

Today, there continues to be a strong interest in collaborating with other agencies and local geologic organizations.

RISE OF ON THE ROCKS FIELD TRIPS

The mid-1980’s, as many of us remember, was a dark time for all geologists and geologic organizations. Jim Lowell, RMAG President in 1985, recalls that the Board sought ways to promote weekend

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100 YEARS OF RMAG FIELD TRIPS twisty road from the west side. The bus blew one tire along the way, but fortunately, as Ron recalled, the participants were still able to have lunch served at the top of the mesa. Priorities were important then as they are now!

Another feature of the past, the blue Schlumberger beer wagon, no longer trails the car caravans as it did in the boom days of the late 70s and early 80s. Six-packs of beer, commonly stashed in coolers, may still show up from time to time, but “cracking a cold one” does not occur until after the last stop and never by a driver.

After-dinner activities in the “olden days” involved retiring to a room for a scotch or other hard liquor, perhaps with a cigar. Today’s smoking bans and health concerns snuff out most opportunities in buildings, buses, and cars. Alcohol consumption is not openly advertised, and it is increasingly frowned upon for safety and liability reasons. Today, it would be unlikely to find a contest such as that sponsored

by RMAG in the 1960’s that awarded prizes for the best responses to the question “Why I go on field trips?” First place prize in the 1960s was a $10.71 bottle of Scotch; second place was a six-pack of Coors Banquet Beer; and third place was one shot of Scotch on the rocks. RMAG now has liability insurance for field trips and requires waivers and safety forms for everyone. Trip costs remain reasonable, covering insurance and administrative expenses, which adhere to the philosophy that field trips are a truly a service to RMAG members.

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to provide continuing education, the On the Rocks Field Trip Committee was created in 1986 under the leadership of Penny Frush. The inaugural trip went to the Raton Basin with a stop at the K/T (aka K/Pg) boundary and the Kaiser Open Pit Mine. Three other trips were proposed for which participants could carpool and bring their own lunch to keep expenses low, but it is unclear whether those trips materialized (RMAG Outcrop, 1986). Subsequent trips were not advertised in the Outcrop until 1994 when Bob Raynolds organized 5-6 trips and led half of them himself. He remembers the recruitment of “Red Shirts”, volunteers who helped control traffic flow around long, car caravans parked along road and highway outcrops. But it wasn’t until 1998 that a larger On the Rocks Field Trip committee swung into high gear. It has been sponsoring 6 to 10 spring, summer, and autumn trips ever since.

In the three-plus decades of On the Rocks field trips (1986 to the present), the types of trips and the geologic contents have been impressive. Consider the following offerings to RMAG members which, in addition to vehicle transport and short hikes, include bike tours, river trips, and trips with camping opportunities available. An impressively wide range of geologic topics and locations (Figure 1) have been presented: fossils; building stones; carbonates; coalbed methane; geohazards; geothermal; glacial geology; kimberlites; minerals and mineral collecting; mining geology sites; mudrocks; Precambrian and older rocks; National and State parks; Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic igneous, metamorphic, metasedimentary, and sedimentary rocks; sandstones and siltstones; sedimentation processes; stratigraphy; structural features and relationships; vineyards and terroirs; and all varieties of volcanics. These topics reflect the huge diversity of Colorado geology in our backyard.

GEOLOGIC GUIDEBOOKS AND ROAD LOGS Field trip scope has evolved in the last 100 years.

In 1937, a guidebook accompanied a three-day tectonics field conference that was run by RMAG (then called the RMAPG, P for petroleum) in conjunction with Wyoming and Montana geologic societies. Included in the book was an extensive multi-page bibliography, road logs, cross sections, black and white photographs, and hand-drawn sketches of outcrops and terrain. A 1947 field conference in Central Colorado (Figure 2) was designed for a car caravan to travel from Denver through Leadville, Glenwood Springs, Rifle, and Cripple Creek, examining classic structural and stratigraphic outcrops interspersed

LOGISTICS AND MEMORIES

Not all trips run smoothly. Many of you can remember some of the snafus that occurred along the way. Ron Pritchett recalled that after a 1991 Coalbed Methane conference in Glenwood Springs, a bus tour was arranged to the top of Grand Mesa along the OUTCROP | June 2022

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100 YEARS OF RMAG FIELD TRIPS

FIGURE 2: Today and Yesterday: Top from 2013 On the Rocks trip to the Snowy Range, led by Art

Snoke, photo by Ron Parker. Bottom from 1947 field trip to Central Colorado led by Carl Heiland and others, photo from RMAG First 40 Years. The 1947 group is dressed in khakis and several are wearing ties! There is one woman, possibly Margaret Boos (right center), in the group. Dress and gender attendance are quite changed in 2013.

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with historic mining sites. Among other leaders of this trip were two well-known local geologists, F.M. VanTuyl (Colorado School of Mines) and Odgen Tweto (U.S. Geological Survey). The guidebook included detailed geologic descriptions and illustrations provided by the USGS and Denver-based companies, while the pre-trip instructions to the participants ordered them to stay in their assigned cars, be quiet during lectures (Figure 3), bring along snake bite kits, and check nightly for ticks.

The quantity and high qualiFIGURE 3: General Instructions from 1947 field trip suggest that some things ty of geologic materials produced haven’t changed too much. But some of you will remember typewriters before the advent of computers. in association with field trips and conferences are astounding, and today provide invaluable pre-urand larger-scale cross sections and maps. Acrobat banization data. Throughout the 1950s, for example, PDF copies of field guides can be emailed and used publications led to field trips in six of the ten years on tablets or phones in the field. GPS data are used during the decade, covering Front Range geology to locate or document field trip locations and road from Denver to Colorado Springs (Figure 4), northlogs. During the pandemic, RMAG pivoted to virtuwestern Colorado, the Denver-Boulder Foothills, the al field trips, which are now in the mix for the future.

Raton Basin, North and Middle Parks, and selected Most recently, an ArcGIS Online interactive web app, locations for Cretaceous rocks in Colorado and addeveloped by Mike Tischer, allows you to explore jacent areas. Not to be outdone, five years’ worth of and learn more about RMAG’s upcoming field trips. publications in the 1960s included: road logs for ColCheck out the 2022 field trips here. orado, edited by Robert J. Weimer and John D. Haun; In the past, sponsors were enlisted to support new guidebooks for Front Range and Foothills with field conferences, field trips, and the production of a manual for high school classrooms; and updatthe field guides and road logs. Fifty-four Denver-area ed guide books for the Raton Basin, northern Denadvertisers from 1960’s include such company types ver Basin, and southeastern Colorado. Trips in the as exploration, drilling, logging, completion, geopho1970s, 1980s, and 1990s supplemented additiontography, surveying, explosives, microfilm service, al geological publications with field guides and road banks, testing, petroleum information, geophysical, logs in the Piceance Basin and in southwestern, west engineering, printing and supply, investment, seiscentral, and western Colorado. mograph services, newspapers, and restaurants.

Field trips now are self-supporting.

TECHNOLOGY AND SPONSORSHIPS As we moved into the 21st century, technological advances greatly assisted the composition and production of field guides and road logs. Digital guides lowered publication costs substantially, allowing inclusion of colored diagrams, photographs,

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TODAY AND ONWARD

Today, On The Rocks field trips are designed to maintain reasonable costs; opportunities for

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100 YEARS OF RMAG FIELD TRIPS

FIGURE 4: The 1955 Field Trip to the Geology of the Front Range shows how the views have changed. This photo is

taken from the east side of the hairpin on Alameda Parkway (now closed to vehicles) looking southeast. No roads, no houses, no racetracks!

SOURCES

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professionals, students, and families; a variety of physical challenges and geographic locations; and diverse topics to be discussed. It is no wonder that in the last RMAG membership poll, field trips ranked very high in terms of program popularity. Because field trips are an inherent component of every geologist’s life, it is no doubt that RMAG trips will continue to be developed and offered every year.

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• Thanks to editors Donna Anderson, Jane Estes-Jackson, and Matt Silverman • RMAG Outcrop as cited • 1947 RMAG Guidebook to Central Colorado • 1955 RMAG Guidebook to the Front Range • The First 40 Years History of RMAG • Kellogg, H., 1997, The 75th anniversary history of the RMAG: The Mountain Geologist, v. 34, no. 4.

• Interviews and personal recollections of RMAG members.

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FEATURE

BEHIND THE SCENES TOUR DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2022 ARRANGED BY THE RMAG ON THE ROCKS FIELD TRIP COMMITTEE

By Laura Wray and Denise Stone

began. The group was then divided in half with an opportunity to be led by both doctors Hagadorn and MacCracken.

Since its original start in 1868, the museum has grown not only through specimen acquisitions but by multiple expansions to create more space. The result is a hodge-podge of architectural styles blended into one structure. This is readily apparent in the “Bone Preparation Room”, accessed through a secret doorway in the second-floor women’s bathroom. Dr. Hagadorn illustrated some of the 11 additions to the Museum over the decades by pointing to the walls of 1929 yellow Robinson brick, a 1950 building exterior wall, and 1970 cinder block walls painted white (Figure 1).

“D

O YOU WANT TO FONDLE THE OLDEST THING ON EARTH?”

asked Dr. James Hagadorn, the Tim & Kathryn Ryan Curator of Geology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS).

He and Dr. Gussy MacCracken, a paleobotanist and post-doctoral fellow at the Museum were about to lead an RMAG field trip with 40 people on an after-hours “Behind the Scenes Tour” to see spectacular mineral and fossil specimens not on display currently for public viewing.

After resounding yeses to Dr. Hagadorn’s question, he asked what else we would like to see and after the suggestions finally ceased, the adventure

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James Hagadorn illustrates the architectural variety of building stones in the Bone Preparation Room. Floor to ceiling shelves are full of specimens from localities in Colorado and surrounding states.

FIGURE 1:

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vacuums sucked up the dust that is harmful for the preparators to breathe. Many of the specimens being prepared required detailed reconstruction. For highly fractured bones, the individual pieces are painstakingly glued together and placed in a fiberglass cradle for easy transport. (Figures 3 and 4).

In the “New Big Storage Room”, the “world’s largest shower curtain” was released from its Velcro vertical edge and drawn across the room to reveal shelves of large, jaw-dropping mineral specimens (Figures 5 and 6). And finally, our group got to

We then paraded in single file along a narrow, dark passageway lined with bookshelves that were filled with old scientific journals as cell phone lights illuminated the way. Rare collections of these references pose challenges for storage in the Museum.

We popped out through a doorway in the “South Pacific” diorama.

Next, we descended to the “Dirty Prep Lab” where a Triceratops skull from the Kaiparowits Formation in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah was being prepared. (Figure 2) Mudstone was being removed from the skull as two

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DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE

FIGURE 2: (above) Triceratops skull being cleaned . Note

the vacuums at the top of the photo. Pen for scale.

FIGURE 3: (left) Individual bone fragments are glued together

on a fiberglass cradle which can be moved intact.

FIGURE 4: (below) Dr. Hagadorn demonstrates the ease with which

glued bone fragments can be transported in a custom-made cradle.

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DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE

FIGURE 5:

A 53-pound pyrite specimen from the Climax Mine in Lake County Colorado.

FIGURE 6:

Dr. Hagadorn fulfills his promise of showing us meteorite examples representing the oldest rocks on Earth (4.5 billion years).

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DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE FIGURE 7: Dr. MacCracken

discusses Ceratopsian excavations at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.

Dr. MacCracken discusses the world-class collection of mammoths and mastodons, as well as other mammals, from the 2010-2011 Snowmastodon excavation in Aspen.

FIGURE 8:

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see examples of the oldest things on earth – meteorite specimens (Figure 7).

Five meteorites in the collection represent the oldest rocks at the museum.

They are 4.5 billion years old, far exceeding the currently acknowledged age of the earth at 3.96 billion years.

Halfway through our tour, Doctors MacCracken and Hagadorn exchanged groups. Dr. MacCracken then showed us a Ceratopsian skull (Figure 7), also from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, that revealed a small area of preserved dinosaur skin. From there, we went to the Snowmastodon room where participants helped to move floor to ceiling shelves on runners, using cranks, to slide them to one side. What were exposed on the selected shelves were some of the mastodon and mammoth bones, skulls, and teeth from the 2010-2011 Snowmastodon excavation of Ziegler Reservoir in Aspen which was being dredged to deepen and enlarge the town’s water supply (Figure 8). The bones of these and thousands of other 120,000- to 70,000-year-old Ice Age mammals were extremely well-preserved in the muds of an ancient lake.

This astounding collection of bones attracted worldwide experts who participated in two short excavation efforts before construction of the reservoir was

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DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE for insects and mammals. As the group left the Museum to join in small groups for dinner on the way home, the beer consumed certainly didn’t have that bitter taste at all!

Having the DMNS in our backyard is one of the many benefits of being a geoscientist in Denver. It houses world-renowned collections, employs researchers who are experts in their fields, utilizes the time and talents of dozens of volunteers, and shares science, nature, and history with the local community. The RMAG On the Rocks Field Trip committee plans to offer this unique “Behind the Scenes Tour” again in the winter.

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started. In addition to the thousands of large bones collected, there were other mammal and amphibian bones, as well as wood, seed, pollen, and insect remains that documented the depositional and climatic history of this area.

The last stop, of particular interest to the assembled geologists, was the oldest Hops leaf fossils from the Hells Creek Formation in Montana, dating from 66.5 to 67 million years ago (Photo 9). Dr. MacCracken commented that the hops preservation was so good because the leaves were a bitter deterrent

FIGURE 9:

Hops leaf fossils from the Hell Creek Formation, Montana

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HYBRID LUNCH TALK Speaker: Andrew Keene Date: June 1, 2022 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Improving Drilling Efficiencies

by Utilizing 3D Seismic Inversion Data and Advanced Wellbore Planning, Permian Basin, Texas Andrew Keene, SM Energy

ABSTRACT Optimizing drilling speed in the Permian Basin has tremendous im-

pacts to an independent producer’s bottom line. Any gained efficiencies are largely a result of an integrated geology, geophysics, and engineering

workflow. By using a new well planning workflow that utilizes 3D seismic inversion in the early stages of well planning, in combination with a

robust “dynamic drilling window” workflow, problematic zones are iden-

tified and avoided before the well is even spud. In 2020, these methods helped deliver an average increase in lateral drilling efficiency of 18% as

compared to 2019. This paper presents a case study example and briefly describes the new well planning workflow.

Andrew Keene is going on 3 years as a geophysicist with SM Energy Company working primarily reservoir characterization, asset development, and operations optimization in the Permian Basin, Texas. Previously, he obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Montana, with a thesis on surface mass loading in the Susitna River watershed, Alaska. He has extensive geologic and geophysical field and laboratory experience in New Zealand and Norway, as a student and a researcher. Through these experiences and his current role, Andrew focuses on integrating geology and geophysics with math and software to creatively solve problems and engineer solutions.

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Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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HYBRID LUNCH TALK Speaker: Dr. Lesli J. Wood Date: July 6, 2022 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Re-examining our Paradigms on Shelf Processes and Deposits, and the Role of Shelf Processes in the Basinward Movement of Sands to Deepwater Dr. Lesli J. Wood, Colorado School of Mines the way they move sediment. As climates change, it is the global shelves and shorelines that will be most impacted by that change, getting hit from both the basinward side (ie., hurricanes, storms and sea level) and the landward side (river flows, storm sediment surges, etc.). This talk will discuss the implications of new learnings in shelf processes for the basinward movement of sediments and the role that the super-greenhouse shorelines of the Western Interior Cretaceous Seaway can play to our understanding of future global geomorphologic responses to change.

We will talk about what has been, what is and what might come and how it can impact the way we engineer our near shore and offshore world.

ABSTRACT Time to re-examine what we know about shelf processes both updip-to-downdip, and along shoreline, and the influence of shelf processes on deepwater sediment supplies. Wave impacts on shelf liquifaction, alongshore current-formed channelization and sediment transport, Cretaceous-age storm-generated hyperpycnal flows and their interaction with Western Interior Cretaceous seafloor topography are just a few of the processes influencing the movement of sediments across the shelf in ways that challenge us to think beyond our traditional “progradation and retrogradation” of shorelines. We have combined outcrop and subsurface studies with physical and numerical modelling to understand these processes and

LESLI J. WOOD is the Robert J. Weimer Distinguished Professor of Sedimentary and Petroleum Geology at Colorado School of Mines and Associate Department Head in Geology and Geological Engineering. She holds a Ph.D. from Colorado State University (1992), an M.S. degree from the University of Arkansas (1988) and a B.S. from Arkansas Tech University (1985). Dr. Wood has served as SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology national SecretaryTreasurer, the GCSSEPM President and is the currently the Editor of the online knowledge database; STRATA and is a long time member of numerous societies; AAPG; SEPM; RMAG, GSA, Colorado Scientific Society. After completion of her Ph.D., Dr. Wood was employed with Amoco where she spent five years in exploration and operations working Trinidad, Venezuela and Pakistan, then moved to the Upstream Technology Development team where she worked in basin analysis, reservoir characterization, sequence stratigraphy and coherency and spectral decomposition technology development.

Lesli left Amoco in 1997 and spent 18.5 yrs with the Bureau of Economic Geology in the University of Texas at Austin, where she originated and directed the Quantitative Clastics Laboratory research group. In 2015, she moved her research group to Colorado School of Mines where it was renamed the SAND program. She has experience managing numerous large government- and industry-supported research projects and she has led dozens of field and core workshops. Today she teaches an expanded menu of courses for the new energy landscape that include shelf hazards to engineering and installations, characterization of clastic reservoirs exploration and sequestration, subaqueous mass failures, seismic geomorphology, basin analysis and planetary geology! Dr. Wood has authored numerous papers on these subjects, presented hundreds of lecturers and posters at society meetings, universities and public venues and won numerous best paper, best poster and Society awards.

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WE ARE GREAT WESTERN AND WE ARE COMMITTED TO:

PEOPLE

EXCELLENCE

TEAMWORK

GROWTH

STEWARDSHIP

RESILIENCE

WE ARE #CommittedtoColorado Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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ME B R CORNER

Meet Maria Wood Henry Senior Vice President - Geology, Antero Resources and Antero Midstream Companies

HOW DID YOU END UP INVOLVED IN THE GEOSCIENCES? As a young person I thought I would find my life’s work as a doctor, but geology was in my blood as a third-generation earth scientist and I found my calling here. Looking back on my childhood, I fondly remember many sunny days picking up rocks with my family. Growing up in Osage Hills Oklahoma, I would often ask my father “What is this shiny rock?” and he always seemed to answer “Quartz”. I learned two things from this: first, that it is fun to collect rocks and, second, that there is a lot of quartz on Earth! My father and I also had fun doing geology field work together in southern Colorado during a couple of my summer breaks from University of Texas. He was quite pleased to hand me my first Brunton compass and teach me to use it. I recently found family Physical Geology books that are dated 1941 (from my grandfather Lewis Wood, Mining Engineer), 1958 (from my father Larry Wood, Geophysicist) and 1983 (Me).

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?

My first job was working as a car hop delivering burgers and fries in Spring, Texas, at Steak and Shake Restaurant. Fortunately, my career evolved from that start.

Maria and Family

WHAT JOBS HAVE YOU HAD DURING YOUR CAREER?

I have had the good fortune to work for over thirty years as a geoscientist in the energy industry. In order to take advantage of opportunities and to fit my life, I have had a varied career within this space. I started working both U.S. and International projects

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for major energy producers Amoco and BP. Through subsequent years I worked with private companies, mid-size companies, and my own company. In my early career, I learned so much inside major oil companies where there were opportunities to train and work on a variety of projects worldwide. The challenges were different later raising money and growing a company as part of a private equity team, and different still while running my own company where I had the

Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

opportunity to invest as an equity partner in several international ventures. As a conscious choice, I stayed on a more technically-oriented track for many years, coming to corporate leadership later in my career. Now as part of Antero’s senior management I am pleased to be directing a team of geologists as we deliver natural gas and liquids out of Appalachia’s Marcellus and Utica/Point Pleasant plays to a politically evolving, energy hungry world.

HOW DO YOU BALANCE WORK AND FAMILY?

The concept of work/life “balJeffco Trail Maintenance Volunteers. Maria with Antero Geology Team. ance” doesn’t resonate for me, as I have never been able to separate my roles as a geologist/mother/ Del Paine National Park. I look forward to practicing wife/friend. I was fortunate never to be laid off, but I my conversational Spanish. After many years of butchdid make career changes a few times in search of opering the language, it is a life dream of mine to become timizing what I prefer to call work/life integration. more conversationally fluent. I need to apply some With a natural curiosity about both science and peomore time to that goal! ple, I have found satisfaction in a variety of roles.

WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE YOU HAD TO OVERCOME ON YOUR CAREER PATH?

WHAT ARE SOME RECENT BOOKS YOU’VE READ?

My biggest challenges have been how to find the work/life integration that could work for me and those around me. By feeling empowered to make changes through the years, I “stayed in the game” and continued to find opportunities where I could feel successful in multiple aspects of my life. I brought my children to the office and on travels with me when possible so they could see that part of my life. Annual river trips and hiking expeditions also continue to give me the chance to bring geology and the important people in my life together.

Two recent non-fiction selections that I’ve read as part of a science book club are Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic (by Kevin Krajick) and The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race (by Walter Isaacson).

Both of these books demonstrate how the joy of science and discovery becomes more complicated through competition and commercialization. Also considered are future impacts of applied technologies to the Earth and evolution of the human race.

WHAT IS ON YOUR BUCKET LIST FOR THE NEAR FUTURE?

Traveling to Sewell, Chile, the mining town where my grandfather worked and my father was raised is on my list. As a UNESCO World Heritage site, the former mining town is still open for tours. While in Chile, I also want to travel to Patagonia for a trek in the Torres Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS?

Success is staying curious and finding something to engage with mentally and physically every day. I feel lucky to be a geologist where the lines between work and hobby interests easily blur. I have had the good fortune to travel both in my work and personal life.

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 42

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MEMBER CORNER

» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41

Some of my most vivid memories bring together the integrated “ME” - early career opportunities learning from experienced geologists through helicopter supported field work in Wyoming and Alaska, field work along outcrop beaches in the West Indies with U.S. and Trinidadian colleagues, traveling with my daughter through Peru and observing together how Incan building styles changed with available rock types, hiking with friends in Colorado and thinking about the Earth history around us… life is good.

RMAG’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee is featuring a monthly Member Corner. We hope you’ll enjoy learning about the diverse community of Earth scientists and wide variety of geoscience disciplines that comprise our membership. If you would like to appear in an upcoming column, or if there is someone you would like to nominate, please contact staff@rmag.org.

WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!

Si Arnold

is a student at Fort Lewis College.

Ken Balleweg

is Exploration Vice President at Pucara Gold and lives in Beulah, Colorado.

Luke Basler

is a student at University of Idaho.

Thomas Demchuk

is a BD Manager/Biostratigrapher at Petrostrat, Inc. and lives in Houston, Texas.

Mark Durio

is a Retired Senior Geoscientist and lives in Richmond, Texas.

Jeffrey Evers

is Principle Geologist at Niagara Bottling, LLC and lives in Export, Pennsylvania.

OUTCROP | June 2022

L. Innerarity

is Manager at Innerarity Family Minerals, LLC and lives in Midland, Texas.

Michael Lukk

is a Geologist at ExxonMobil (retired) and lives in Ft Collins, Colorado.

Sarah Mitocky

is a Geologist at Ovintiv and lives in Denver, Colorado.

Sarah Naone

is a student at Brigham Young University.

Abby Roat

Bill Schieb

is a Technical Storyteller at Slant Blue and lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Stephen Secrest

is a Geoscience Manager at PetroLegacy Energy and lives in Spicewood, Texas.

Chloe Welch

is Operations Manager at Total Depth: Premier Remote Geosteering and lives in Denver, Colorado.

Leyna Weller

is a student at Colorado Mesa University.

is a student at Colorado College.

Herb Saperstone

is a Geologist/Filmaker and lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

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Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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OUTCROP | June 2022

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Fundraiser For Ukrainian Female Geologists

OUTCROP | June 2022

and shelling of nearby settlements such as Kharkov (90 km), Akhtyrka (40 km) and there was a siren, we went down to the basement of our house and sat there for a long time until we received the news about the end of the air raid alarm. So we hid until March 2.

During this period, no help reached village, and when the food was gone, myself, my daughter and her children decided to go to my second daughter in Poltava.

My son stayed to defend Ukraine. But in Poltava there was also the same situation: we had to constantly go down to the basement and wait there while there was an air raid. When a shell hit the neighboring house, we decided to take the evacuation train from Poltava to Lvov, and then to Poland. It was a very difficult decision for all of us.

But since my husband is long since dead, and my daughters have no husbands (divorced) and we decided that no one would protect us and it was very dangerous to stay. We had to protect the children.

Therefore, on March 2, 2022, we all (3 women and 5 children) went to the railway station and began to wait for the evacuation train there. The time when the train arrives was not indicated to us, we were told that they were afraid that they would bomb and therefore they told us to just wait on the platform. But there were so many people who wanted to leave that when the train arrived, a terrible panic and crush began: everyone wanted to get on the train. It so happened that me and my daughters with 3 children were pushed into the car, but then two children were pushed out of the train. The trian was in a rush to leave, only then did we see that the children were running after the train and we could not do anything. The train went non-stop to Kyiv. It was horror and shock!! But there were police on the platform and they saw how the

First, I want to say how proud I am of the RMAG community and our sister society, the Denver International Petroleum Society. Thus far we have raised over $42,000 and more than 30% of that has come from this community. DIPS was amazingly generous in this international endeavor, sending along $5000 for the effort.

I have been able to place $22,000 to 22 women so far and have the names and resumes of another 6 women. New ones come every day or two. Most are relocated to Poland (Warsaw, Krakow, Golice, etc), and others are scattered to Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Italy. Many fled from Bucha and from Kharhiv, all from very frightening experiences. Most have traveled with a child or children (one has five!), others have traveled with mothers, sisters, an aging father. Two of the mothers are retired geologists. As we go into the fourth month of the war, I understand a need to send additional money to the women who are using the money for rent and who cannot find work in their new circumstances.

The dedication and efforts made by the Polish people to help and place these refugees is something to behold. Our energetic AAPG member, Piotr Krzywiec, in Warsaw has been locating these refugees and vetting them for the program. (I met Piotr on a field trip in the Pyrenees about 30 years ago!)

If you are interested in donating, please visit the gofundme.com site to make a contribution.

Let me end with one heart-wrenching story, a retired geologist from a small town near Kharkiv: “At the time of the start of the military aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, I lived with my son, my daughter and her 3 children in the village of Krasnokutsk, Kharkov region. When air raids began

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Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

children ran after the train and they took them away of 100 km and we traveled for 12 hours. We did not and they called us (as we had sewn pieces of fabric on know what was happening and why we would stand each jacket with their names and our phone numbers). still for long periods. The windows were all curtained The police reassured us and said that there would and it was impossible to turn on the telephones and be another recovery train on which they would put the lights were off. When we finally reached Poland the children. We had no choice and we agreed. All this and crossed the border, we were allowed to turn on time we remained in telephone contact and reassured each other that we would get off our train and wait our phones, we called the children and were horrified for them in Kyiv. When our train was approaching the to find out that they were still on their train, but they railway station in Kyiv, the bombing began. Our conwere being taken to another Polish border, Dorogusk! ductor shouted for us all to lie down on the floor, the This is a distance of 230 km from us. But knowing that lights were turned off in the train and the engineer the children are in Poland and safely gave us strength! decided to continue without stopping in Kyiv. We just Our acquaintances from the Institute of Oil and rushed through Kyiv. For two hours we lay on the floor of the car with no light and with the Gas in Krakow found out that we phones turned off and could not call had arrived in Poland and immethe children. diately offered us help and took “Our acquaintances from So we didn’t meet in Kyiv but our children from the border town stayed alive and still traveled by the Institute of Oil and by bus to Przemysl for us. What different trains to Lvov. It was a difGas in Krakow found out a joy it was to be together again! ficult road, the train was crowded that we had arrived in with people: only women and chilAlive! Safe! dren. We sat and slept right on the We were taken by bus to KraPoland and immediately floor. The train was traveling at kow and settled in the Felix Hotel. offered us help and took night and at low speed. They were We had nothing with us, only docour children from the afraid that if they bombed the railuments. No things, nothing! Just way, the engineer would have time border town by bus to what we were wearing. But we to slow down. So we got to Lviv. But Przemysl for us.

What a when we got off this train, they imwere just happy that we were able joy it was to be together mediately lined us up in a column to leave! But the way people met us and began to board another train again! Alive! Safe!” in Poland was so amazing and wonthat was going to Poland. We immederful that I can’t say enough about diately said that we would be waitit! We were treated with such love ing for the children, but the police and understanding! People gave us so much we needon the platform told us that we could not get off the convoy and had to get on the train now. They promed: food, clothes and toys for children and medicines ised to meet the children and send them to us. There (since the road was hard and it was very cold, we all were so many people that we were simply not allowed caught colds). But that was nothing compared to the to leave the column and were literally pushed into the horror that we had experienced! train. It turned out that the train to which our children Thank you to all people around the world for your were traveling was late and that engineer did not wait help, for your compassion and for your warmth and and went to Poland across the Shegeni border. This was the next horror for us. care! We don’t know when and how it will all end, we But apparently God was looking over us, bedon’t know if we can go back to our home and whethcause the children by the police and put on the next er our house will be whole, but we believe that God train to Poland. We constantly talked to them on the will not leave us!” —Kateryna. phone and knew how things were, but we were still Yours truly, very scared!!

The tracks from Lviv to Przemysl is a distance —Robbie Gries, May 13, 2022

Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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IN THE PIPELINE JUNE 7, 2022

JUNE 1, 2022 RMAG Luncheon.

Speaker: Andrew Keene. “Improving Drilling Efficiencies by Utilizing 3D Seismic Inversion Data and Advanced Wellbore Planning, Permian Basin, Texas.” Online or In-person at Maggiano’s, Denver. 12:00 PM-1:00 PM.

WOGA Summer Golf Clinic.

Broken Tee Golf Course, Englewood, CO. Register at www.wogacolorado.org/event-listing.

JUNE 14-16, 2022 RMAG On the Rocks.

JUNE 7, 2022

San Juan River Raft Trip. Bluff, UT.

RMAG Golf Tournament.

Arrowhead Golf Club,10850 Sundown Trail, Littleton, CO. 2 PM shotgun start.

JUNE 25, 2022 RMAG On the Rocks.

JUNE 7, 2022

Colorado Glaciology. Trip Leader: Vince Matthews. Meet at Wooly Mammoth Park-n-Ride,

COGA Financial Assurance Overview Webinar.

11:00 AM-12:30 PM. Register at coga.org/events.

Golden, CO.

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Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

Confluence Resources is an upstream exploration and production company Confluence Resources is an confluenceresources.com upstream exploration and production company confluenceresources.com Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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OUTCROP | June 2022

RMAG Foundation Honors The Neal J. Harr Outstanding Seniors Graduating In Geology Who Are These Outstanding Students?

OUTCROP | June 2022

• Nicholas Czarnecki, UNC – From a childhood obsession with collecting rocks and minerals, Nicholas developed interests in GIS/GPS, field technologies, geomorphology, and geomorphic hazards. He enjoys utilizing survey techniques to map and better understand local geomorphology and potential geomorphic hazards. It follows, therefore, that he will be exploring career opportunities in surveying and geomorphic hazard assessments.

• Rayni Lewis, Western Colorado Univ. – Rayni’s passion in protecting the western hydrologic supply was amplified during five summers as a raft guide. As a geology major and math minor, and a Teaching Assistant for structural geology, calculus III, and differential equations, she has been funded for a Taylor Park hydrology project near Gunnison. Rayni is also the winner of the RMAG Foundation’s C. Elmo and Kathleen W. Brown Scholarship for summer field camp. She plans to pursue an MS in hydrology.

• Sammy Malavarca, CSU – Following a 10-year

48

career in the brewing industry, she followed her interest from courses in soils and geomorphology by adding structural geology, igneous and metamorphic petrology , and field research skills to her list of academic accomplishments. Her professor, Rick Aster, describes her as an exceptional student who received the highest undergraduate scholarship award offered to students. Sammy’s ambition is to pursue graduate studies.

• Sherri Randall, Colorado Mesa Univ. - Sherri’s particular interests are in geochronology, geochemistry, and GIS. She has been working on her senior thesis since her sophomore year, utilizing 40Ar/39Ar radiometric dating to determine the provenance of detrital sanidine grains in the Miocene rivers of Western Colorado. She has worked in the New Mexico Geochronology Research Laboratory for multiple summers and has analyzed additional detrital zircon data at the Arizona LaserChron Center. A mother of three, she remarks that her “endless hunger for knowledge” will guide her to graduate school.

Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

Row 1: Laura Wray, Donna Anderson, Tanya Inks – RMAG Foundation Trustees; Tim Grover, Professor at University of Northern Colorado; Nate Rogers, RMAG Foundation Trustee Row 2: Nicholas Czarnecki, Outstanding student from University of Northern Colorado; Bill Harr, son of Neal J. Harr; Sherri Randall, Outstanding student from Colorado Mesa University; Bob Tucker and Danielle Ebnother, RMAG Foundation Trustees Row 3: Wendy Bohrson, Department Head and Professor at Colorado School of Mines; Matt Wanda, Outstanding student from Fort Lewis College; Rayni Lewis, Outstanding student from Western Colorado University; Vasey Stephens, Outstanding student from Colorado School of Mines; Sammy Malavarca, Outstanding student from Colorado State University Row 4: Vasey Stephen’s mother; Abby Roat, Outstanding student from Colorado College; Rick Aster, Professor at Colorado State University

Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

• Abby Roat, Colorado College – Abby’s primary interest is in glaciology with modeling experience with subglacial hydrology under the Greenland Ice Sheet. Much of that modeling work has been done with Los Alamos Laboratory. Abby’s plans are to earn an MS and PhD in glaciology.

• Vasey Stephens, Colorado School of Mines – Vasey is interested in starting a career in geologic hazards mitigation and engineering geology after a raft trip through the Grand Canyon. Wendy Bohrson, Department Head and Professor, describes Vasey as “accomplished and collaborative, with a very positive attitude. The CSM Engineering

49

Department sends its kudos to Vasey.

• Matt Wanda, Fort Lewis College - Hailing from Illinois, Matt has discovered the allure of geology and associated sports and activities. He is very interested in the mining industry, particularly after a summer internship at the Lisbon Valley copper mine in southwestern Utah where he assisted in the exploration drilling program. His senior research project involved studying the mineral assemblages, grades of ore, and geologic controls on mineralization at the Two Kids mine in Ouray, Colorado. Matt is interested in a position as an exploration geologist.

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CALENDAR – JUNE 2022 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

1

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

2

3

4

8

9

10

11

15

16

17

18

23

24

25

RMAG Luncheon.

5

6

RMAG Golf Tournament.

7

COGA Webinar.

WOGA Clinic.

12

13

14

RMAG On the Rocks.

San Juan River

19

20

21

22

RMAG On the Rocks. Colorado Glaciology.

26

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27

28

29

50

30

Vol. 71, No. 6 | www.rmag.org