June 2017 Outcrop

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

Volume 66 • No. 6 • June 2017

OUTCROP | June 2017

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Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

OUTCROP The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

910 16th Street • Suite 1214 • Denver, CO 80202 • 303-573-8621 The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) is a nonprofit organization whose purposes are to promote interest in geology and allied sciences and their practical application, to foster scientific research and to encourage fellowship and cooperation among its members. The Outcrop is a monthly publication of the RMAG.

2017 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT

TREASURER

Larry Rasmussen larryr@whiting.com

Karen Dean deankaren@comcast.net

PRESIDENT-ELECT

TREASURER-ELECT

Terri Olson tmolson8550@gmail.com

Robin Swank robin.swank@gmail.com

1st VICE PRESIDENT

SECRETARY

Steve Sturm 303petro.images@gmail.com

Jennifer Jones jaseitzjones@gmail.com

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

1st YEAR COUNSELOR

Cat Campbell CCampbell@bayless-cos.com

Jim Emme jim_emme@yahoo.com 2nd YEAR COUNSELOR

Rob Diedrich rdiedrich@sm-energy.com

RMAG STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Barbara Kuzmic bkuzmic@rmag.org MEMBERSHIP & EVENTS MANAGER

Hannah Rogers hrogers@rmag.org ACCOUNTANT

Carol Dalton cdalton@rmag.org PROJECTS SPECIALIST

Kathy Mitchell-Garton kmitchellgarton@rmag.org MANAGING EDITOR

Will Duggins will.duggins@i-og.net ASSOCIATE EDITORS

ADVERTISING INFORMATION

Rates and sizes can be found on page 36. Advertising rates apply to either black and white or color ads. Submit color ads in RGB color to be compatible with web format. Borders are recommended for advertisements that comprise less than one half page. Digital files must be PC compatible submitted in png, jpg, tif, pdf or eps formats at a minimum of 300 dpi. If you have any questions, please call the RMAG office at 303-573-8621.

Ad copy, signed contract and payment must be received before advertising insertion. Contact the RMAG office for details.

DEADLINES: Ad submissions are the 1st of every month for the following month’s publication.

WEDNESDAY NOON LUNCHEON RESERVATIONS

RMAG Office: 303-573-8621 | Fax: 303-476-2241 | staff@rmag.org or www.rmag.org

Holly Sell holly.sell@yahoo.com Greg Guyer Greg.Guyer@halliburton.com Cheryl Fountain cwhitney@alumni.nmt.edu Ron Parker ron@bhigeo.com DESIGN/PRODUCTION

Nate Silva nate@nate-silva.com

The Outcrop is a monthly publication of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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Outcrop | June 2017 OUTCROP

October 19, 2017

R M AG

DA P L

Prospect Fair & Technofest

Westin Denver Downtown More Information Coming Soon

email: staff@rmag.org

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phone: 303.573.8621

OUTCROP | June 2017

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

fax: 888.389.4090 4

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web: www.rmag.org

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

follow: @rmagdenver

OUTCROP Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

CONTENTS FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS (CONT.)

28 Leadville Mining District Trip

31 In The Pipeline

29 In Memoriam: James R. Steidtmann

36 Outcrop Advertising Rates

31 In Memoriam: Doris Lucier ‘Dee’ Tyler 32 Lead Story: Scientists Link Recent California Droughts and Floods to Distinctive Atmospheric Waves

37 Calendar 37 Advertiser Index ASSOCIATION NEWS 2 RMAG 2017 Summit Sponsors

DEPARTMENTS

4 RMAG/DAPL Prospect Fair & Technofest

6 RMAG April 2017 Board of Directors Meeting

13 2017 RMAG Golf Tournament

8 President’s Letter

15 Save The Date: RMAG DWLS Fall Symposium, RMAG Core Workshop

14 RMAG Luncheon Programs: Ned Sterne 18 RMAG Luncheon Programs: Matthew Bauer 22 Mineral of the Month: Spodumene 30 Welcome New RMAG Members!

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

COVER PHOTO Lake Shasta, CA, August 20, 2014–California’s lingering drought exposes the 180-200 foot drop in water levels. The state’s largest reservoir is receding at an average of 4.9 inches per day.

(David Greitzer, shutterstock.com)

17 RMAG Sporting Clay Tournament 19 Paleozoic and Mesozoic GIS Data from the Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region: Volume 1, Available Now!

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ASSOCIATION NEWS (CONT.)

21 Save The Date: RMAG Rockbusters Bash 27 RMAG On The Rocks Field Trips

OUTCROP | June 2017

RMAG APRIL 2017 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

By Jennifer Jones, Secretary jaseitzjones@gmail.com

(Sept. 27-28) is coming along nicely – please see the RMAG website for the call for papers (due June 1).

The Mountain Geologist has some interesting papers upcoming, and RMAG expects to have a new special publication later this year. The Membership Committee has been busy with student events at CSU and Metro State, mentorship events, developing a member survey, and planning more social events for the rest of the year. There are five exciting field 1 andsummer 2 man Mudlogging Summit Gas Referencing™ trip opportunities, starting with the Picketwire diGeosteering Mudlogging nosaur trackServices site May 14 - a Leadville bike trip (July 22), Niobrara & Juana Lopez (August 5), ammonite collecting (August 26),Mike andBarber Codell-Niobrara field trip Manager and core workshop 10-11).

Please see Serving(September the Rocky Mountain Region the Events page on the website for more information 230 Airport Rd. Ph (435)657-0586 or to register.

Unit D Cell (435)640-1382 Heber As City,always, Utah 84032 email: mbarber@summitmudlog.com please check the RMAG website often www.summitmudlog.com for the exciting events and opportunities coming up soon! We look forward to seeing you.

The April meeting of the RMAG Board of Directors was held April 19, 2017 at 4 PM. All board members were in attendance. Treasurer Karen Dean and Treasurer-Elect Robin Swank reported that the RMAG financials are continuing as expected, and the board voted to align the RMAG fiscal year with the calendar year. Executive Director Barbara Kuzmic reported that a survey of non-renewing members returned several forgotten renewals, and plenty of helpful feedback for RMAG. The golf tournament at Arrowhead Golf Club is on for June 14 – please see the Events page on the RMAG website for details.

The monthly luncheon program is booked for the year, and feedback on the presentations so far has been positive. Small changes to the luncheon feedback surveys are in process – we appreciate your commentary! The Continuing Education committee has several exciting events in the planning stages, and the Fall Symposium/Hot Plays Core Workshop

Neil H. Whitehead, III

W.W. Little Geological Consulting, LLC

Consulting Geologist

William W. Little, Ph.D. Senior Consulting Geologist 20 South 5000 West Rexburg, Idaho 83440-3613 Cell: 208/201-6266 wwlittle@gmail.com Website: http://littleww.wordpress.com

KES T

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OSCIENCE L GE , LL RE

PhD

• Field Studies • Geological Mapping • Sequence Stratigraphy • Sedimentary Petrology • GIS Services • Training Courses

CPG-AIPG

PG WY

Rocky Mountain Basins Wellsite to Petroleum Systems ArcGIS 303-679-8573

fax 303-679-8574

31634 Black Widow Way

OUTCROP

Thomas E. Hoak, Ph.D. Consulting Geoscientist

Conifer, CO

neil3@q.com 80433-9610

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Kestrel Geoscience, LLC

Structural Geology Seismic Interpretation Magnetic and Gravity Interpretation Basin Analysis and Restoration Regional Desk Studies Integrated Exploration Prospect Generation Presentation Graphics

OUTCROP | June 2017

Littleton, CO USA

Phone: (303) 933-5805 Cell: (720) 375-3015 kestrelco@comcast.net kestrelgeoscience.com

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Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

Improve Your Skills with PTTC Petrophysical Evaluation of Unconventional Reservoirs Saturday, June 24, 2017, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm Double Tree - Skybridge One, Billings Montana Fee: $275, includes lunch, class notes, and PDH certificate Instructor: Jack Breig

Course description: The course will cover the petrophysical approaches to the evaluation of Shale Oil, Tight Gas Sands, and Shale Gas Techniques using both open and cased hole logs. Attendees will learn basic interpretation procedures to determine porosity, hydrocarbon saturation, TOC, volumes of in-place hydrocarbons, recoverable hydrocarbon estimates, and net pay criteria. Worked examples from a number of North American reservoirs will be part of a comprehensive workshop manual to be provided to all attendees.

Petroleum Geostatistics

Sunday, June 25, 2017, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm Double Tree - Skybridge One, Billings Montana Fee: $250, includes lunch, class notes, and PDH certificate Instructor: Dr. Todd Hoffman, Montana Tech, Petroleum Engineering Dept.

Course description: This course will teach you how to use geostatistical tools to create high quality petroleum reservoir models. Fundamental techniques such as kriging and sequential simulation will be covered along with more recent developments such as object based methods and multipoint geostatistics.

We will use hands-on examples to create a deeper understanding of the methods as well as use software to perform field scale applications. By the end of the course, you know when to use particular techniques and the general concepts and equations behind the techniques.

Petroleum Fluids and Source Rocks in E&P Projects

Wed - Thursday, August 9-10, 2017, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, Location: Golden, CO. Fee: $500, includes snacks, class notes, and PDH certificate Instructor: Dr. Alexei Milkov, Colorado School of Mines, Geology Dept.

Course Description: In this course you will learn how to sample, analyze and interpret petroleum fluids and source rocks to add value to various projects across E&P value chain. We will cover the following topics:         

Fundamentals of petroleum composition and properties.

Sampling of rocks and fluids.

Analytical techniques used to evaluate potential of source rocks and composition of petroleum fluids.

Characterization and risking of source rocks and prediction of fluid properties in exploration prospects.

Interpretation of data from drilled exploration wells to assess the value of the discovery.

Use of geochemical data to assess reservoir compartmentalization during appraisal and development.

Geochemical surveillance of oil & gas production.

Use of geochemical data to locate producing intervals and allocate petroleum production.

Identification of oil sources for petroleum spills and leaks.

Examples and case studies will be from both conventional and unconventional petroleum systems around the world.

Class Descriptions and Register Online: rmsaapg2017.com For more information, contact Mary Carr, 303.273.3107, mcarr@mines.edu

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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OUTCROP | June 2017

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

By Larry Rasmussen

A Lifelong Fascination With Caves

Twenty-year-old Harvey at Torgac Cave in New Mexico, April, 1964. cliffs admiring the ancient artwork as we went. Eventually, we came to a place where the cliffs were broken down and we could slowly climb up through the rubble to the top of the mesa.

The top of the mesa was flat and forested with pinon pine and 8

juniper. Probably the most exciting part of the trip was coming across piles of Pennsylvanian limestone on top of the mesa that were surrounded by broken pottery shards. We were looking at unexcavated ancestral

OUTCROP | June 2017

When I was in 8th or 9th grade, Harvey DuChene, a geologist who worked with my dad, told us about this really neat place in New Mexico that was the field area for his Master’s thesis. Normally, our vacations took us to Montana to visit my dad’s family or to Wisconsin to visit my mom’s kin, but on this particular spring break we headed to the Nacimiento Mountains southwest of Los Alamos. Along the Rio Guadalupe near Jemez Pueblo, there is a nearly complete section of Pennsylvanian strata exposed along the steep slope of a mesa capped with Pleistocene Bandelier Tuff. Thinking back on it now, this trip likely had something to do with me constantly badgering my parents to take me fossil collecting. As I remember, some beds were particularly fossiliferous with well-preserved brachiopods, crinoid plates and stems, and bryozoa.

Occasionally we would come across beautiful specimens of Spirifer replaced with bright pink-red silica. As we neared the sheer cliffs, we noticed that the ground was littered with broken, painted pottery shards and petroglyphs were carved into the tuff. There was nowhere to ascend to the top, so we walked along the base of the

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Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

POSITIONED FOR GROWTH

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

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Puebloan ruins, which was far more exciting to me than any of the fossils we found as we made our way to the top. I never forgot that trip and ended up taking friends out there years later. At the time, however, I remember thinking how lucky Harvey was to study the geology here against an incredibly cool archaeological backdrop.

Harvey traces his interest in geology via a family trip to California when he was 9 years old. “The move to California was, indirectly, the reason I became a geologist.” At the time, Harvey’s family was living in Royal Oak, Michigan and his father had an interview in Fullerton, California, so they decided to make a three-week vacation out of it.

They loaded up their ’52 Packard and drove through Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri, and all along the way, there were signs imploring them to visit caves. Harvey’s own words say it best: “I remember saying, ‘Let’s go visit a cave, Dad’ and he said, ‘We’re going to go see a good one.’ We kept passing all these signs and never stopped. Pretty soon, we were in Oklahoma and then Texas and there were no more signs for caves. I’m 9 years old, and I figured that this was just typical. Dad put me off, and I thought maybe we’d see a cave but probably not. What I did not know was that in 1937, my dad had taken a motorcycle trip from Detroit to Oaxaca, Mexico, and on the way he stopped at Carlsbad Cavern. So he knew what he was talking about.

We finally ended up in Carlsbad, and, of course, when you drive into

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Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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OUTCROP | June 2017

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

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town even today you see signs that say ‘Eat Lunch 800 Feet Underground!’ A big part of what made visiting Carlsbad extraordinarily special was the anticipation that maybe there really was going to be a ‘good one.’”

OUTCROP | June 2017

Harvey illuminating speleothems in Lechuguilla Cave, circa 1995. Photo by: David Harris, Harris Photographic degree in Geology and then spent the next four years in the Navy.

He decided to return to the University of New Mexico for graduate school and was accepted on probation (see above paragraph). Lee Woodward, a professor at UNM and Harvey’s thesis advisor, was an important mentor who taught him how to conduct field work, helped improve his technical writing abilities, and inspired him to perform better academically. Although he wanted to do a thesis 10

related to caves, it was a subject that was viewed as having little practical application. Instead, for his thesis he conducted a mapping project that wove together igneous petrography, structural geology and stratigraphy on the south end of the Nacimiento Mountains, a range that separates the east edge of the Colorado Plateau from the Rio Grande Rift. He figured that he could study something practical and always maintain caving as a hobby.

On the winding tour through Carlsbad, Harvey remembered seeing lots of shadowy-looking holes and wanted to know where they went. It was a fabulous experience for him that sparked a lifelong fascination with caves.

In high school, he spent hours in the library reading every book about caves that he could get his hands on. Fortuitously, a Spanish teacher he had was a graduate of the University of New Mexico. Coming from a blue-collar family in those days, Harvey hadn’t given too much thought to attending college. This particular teacher and his wife (also a graduate of UNM) urged him to apply to the University of New Mexico where he was eventually accepted after fulfilling a few deficiencies. Still interested in studying caves, he realized that geology courses would help him understand how they formed. In his mind, studying geology was the perfect plan because “I wouldn’t have to mess around with all that other stuff like physics, math and chemistry because I could just study rocks. Well, you know how that works.” While Harvey claims to have done his best to flunk out of school, he ended up with a bachelor’s

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Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Harvey began his career with Amoco in Denver in 1973, and when Amoco suggested a few years later that they were going to move him to Houston, he quit in order to keep his family in the Rockies. Very quickly, he was hired on with Slawson, where he worked until he was recruited by geologists at Davis Oil Company in 1981. Ironically, one of his final projects for Slawson was acquiring leases across what would become Edsel Field, a Minnelusa field whose discovery well was drilled by Davis in November of ‘81. The project belonged to Davis’ Minnelusa geologist, Dan Bean, but due to his familiarity via Slawson, Harvey was asked to sit the well because the birth of Dan’s first child was imminent. Regarding his time working for Marvin Davis, Harvey said “Working for Davis Oil was an astounding experience, because I got to work with some of the best exploration geologists that I’ve ever run into in my life. What Marvin did was to take that talent and give it a chance to flower. What heady times those were.”

Harvey’s true, underlying passion throughout college and his career was caves. In the early 1960s when he was at UNM, cave exploration was undergoing a rebirth, and he would make frequent treks to the Guadalupe Mountains to explore known caves and discover new ones. He and his fellow cavers innovated rope climbing techniques for vertical caving, exploring 300-foot pits when not

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

many other people at the time were doing this. Harvey even designed his own climbing harness which he had sewn by a local parachute manufacturer. The vertical caving systems allowed them to see some spectacular places that no one else had seen before.

Understanding how caves formed was of particular interest to him as it provided broader insight to basin evolution and its relationship to petroleum systems. Some of Harvey’s good friends (and contemporary spelunkers), Carol Hill, David Jagnow and John McClean, wrote extensively about the significant role that hydrogen sulfide

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OUTCROP | June 2017

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

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Kathy and Harvey DuChene just before going on stage for a performance of Scarlet Belles, August, 2012. that time was approximately 60 miles long. He invented a rudimentary GIS system that utilized a data collection using FoxPro, and he integrated the data with a three-dimensional survey of the cave using AutoCAD. This was a 9-year labor of love that lasted into the late 1990s.

Harvey trained up 40 people to help him collect data. All told, he made 45 trips into the cave averaging 4 days per trip (six months of his life!). It was also the project where he met his wife, Kathy, who was his photographer, note-taker and artist during the survey.

Harvey and Kathy currently live in Lake City, Colorado, a small town (pop. ~400) about 55 miles south of Gunnison. To call him retired isn’t quite accurate, as he maintains a very active schedule. He’s involved with the Hinsdale County Historical Society where he teaches geology to young kids. He is also the President of the Lake Fork 12

Valley Conservancy who work on river restoration in partnership with local, state and federal agencies, helping to mitigate toxic effluents from past mining activities in the area. He and Kathy do a lot of international travel, mostly centered around caving. For the past several years, he has been conducting bat inventories in tectonic caves (i.e. not solution caves) that fall within a wilderness study area in extreme northwestern Colorado. “It’s a neat project, and we’ve found several very interesting caves, but they’re sure not what you would expect. They’re in Precambrian sandstone.”

and sulfuric acid played in the speleogenesis of caves in the Guadalupe Mountains, including Carlsbad and Lechuguilla caverns. The notion that some caves were formed via dissolution by sulfuric acid was revolutionary in the early 1970s, and Harvey and his friends were on the front lines of this rapidly developing hypothesis. In a 2013 synthesis (DuChene, 2013), Harvey discussed the interplay of subsurface hydrodynamics and hydrocarbon migration relative to the rising Alvarado Ridge and opening of the Rio Grande Rift. Imbibition of fresh water during extension inoculated Artesia Group petroleum reservoirs with anaerobic bacteria, thereby setting up conditions for oil biodegradation and prolific H2S generation. Intermixing of H2S with oxygen-rich meteoric water created sulfuric acid which, in turn, accelerated cave formation in the Guadalupe Mountains. The 3D positions of large passageways and galleries, which were tied to sulfuric acid dissolution, spoke to fluctuating water table elevation related to episodic tectonic spasms of the Rio Grande Rift.

In 1989, Harvey embarked on a long-term project that he refers to as the greatest experience of his life. Kim Cunningham, a speleologist with the USGS, suggested that Harvey make a proposal to the Parks Service to conduct an inventory of the minerals in Lechuguilla, essentially building a geologic map of the cave, which at

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DuChene, Harvey R., 2013, Tectonic influences on petroleum migration and speleogenesis in the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and Texas, Search and Discovery Article #120139.

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RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Ned Sterne — June 7, 2017

From mantle to mountain top A restorable east-west transect across Colorado following Interstate 70 Edward J. (Ned) Sterne1, Stephen P. Cumella2, Robert G. Raynolds3, John J. Miller4, James W. Granath5 1. Consulting Geologist, 2. Consulting Geologist, 3. Research Associate, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, 4. U.S. Geological Survey Emeritus, 5. Granath and Associates Consulting Geology

OUTCROP | June 2017

show greater depths within some of the hinterland relative to the foreland basins suggesting underthrusting may have been an important structural process.

Preliminary versions of the restoration show approximately 67 km of translation or 26% shortening across the uplifts between the Denver and Piceance basins.

This synthesis indicates an early Laramide phase of differential subsidence starting at ~78 Ma and coincident with the arrival of magmatism related to encroaching flat-slab subduction beneath central Colorado. This was followed by a late Laramide phase of differential uplift starting at ~68 Ma and continuing episodically to at least 56 Ma. Onset of the early Laramide phase was marked by abrupt realignment of isopach trends with stratigraphic thicks developing in the Piceance and Denver basins separated by a thin across what are now South Park and the Sawatch Range. Onset of differential uplift during the late Laramide is indicated variously by the appearance of basement clasts in the Arapahoe Conglomerate at ~67 Ma, thrust deformation before, during and after intrusion of sills at ~63 Ma, fault gouge dated between ~68 and ~56 Ma, possible inflections in the apatite fission track elevation/age gradients at ~67 Ma, and deformation after the Laramie Fm. (~69 Ma) and before the South Park Fm. (~67Ma). The post-Laramide was marked by denudation and development of the Rocky Mountain Erosional Surface starting at ~45 Ma with localized increased heat flow and reburial of this surface beneath

In the spirit of past Colorado structural syntheses

by Hayden, Grose and Tweto, the aim of this project is to build a restorable transect following Interstate 70 east to west across the state. The section incorporates disparate data sets including potential field, seismic, well, thermochronology, and outcrop data, much of which has become available since a section like this was last published, to illustrate Colorado’s structural evolution. Restoring Laramide geometries involved using a projected top Cretaceous horizon as the upper bounding surface and a mid-crustal interface as the basal decollement/lower bounding surface. Refraction seismic combined with magnetotellurics provide evidence for the undulating mid-crustal interface at subsea depths between 12 and 29 km. In areas stripped to basement, missing stratal and structural cover geometries were projected into the section aided by low-temperature thermochronology and by analog to structures seen along strike. Ancestral Rocky Mountain structures were treated as early elements of the Laramide fault arrays, a premise supported by their reactivation during the Laramide. To permit restoration, the crooked section following Interstate 70 was projected into a straight profile oriented parallel to N65E, which approximates the Laramide transport direction. Recent wells and reflection seismic showing fault-bend folds, multiple bedding-parallel detachments, and stacked triangle zones guide the structural style and allow greater translation to be interpreted within the Laramide thrust systems. These data also

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Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

RMAG DWLS Fall Symposium September 27, 2017 The American Mountaineering Center

Registration opens Wednesday, July 5th at 8am!

Symposium Registration (Day 1 Only) RMAG Member - $150 Non-Member - $175 Student - $50 (Availability is limited at this rate and will be on a first come, first serve basis.)

Symposium & Core Workshop Registration (Day 1 and Day 2)* RMAG Member - $300 Non-Member - $300 Student - $100 (Availability is limited at this rate and will be

RMAG Core Workshop September 28, 2017 USGS

on a first come, first serve basis.)

Save the Date email: staff@rmag.org | phone: 303.573.8621 Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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web: www.rmag.org

910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202 15

OUTCROP | June 2017

LEADERS IN PETROLEUM GEOCHEMISTRY ROCKY MOUNTAINS

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

KEY Source Rock Oil Gas PVT

REGIONAL INTERPRETIVE STUDIES

GEOCHEMICAL DATABASES

ANALYTICAL SERVICES WWW.GEOMARKRESEARCH.COM IN DENVER CONTACT DR. JOHN CURTIS (303) 619-0372

Well Site Geology Remote Geosteering Petrographic Analysis Field Geologic Studies

phone 406. 259. 4124 sunburstconsulting.com OUTCROP | June 2017

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extensive volcanics to ~30 Ma. Differential extension overprinting the earlier contractional orogen began at ~28 Ma with the development of the Rio Grande Rift and other Tertiary basins and continues today. Finally, recent passive-source seismic shows low-density mantle and crust underly high elevations, active denudation and epeirogenic uplift centered on Colorado since ~10 Ma.

Ned Sterne received a B.A. in geology from Harvard University in 1979 having finished an undergraduate honors thesis on the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone of Ladakh, northern India. He completed an M.A. in geology in 1981 at Dartmouth College after studying ammonium illites associated with exhalative ore deposits in the Delong Mountains of northern Alaska. Following a stint in Rocky Mountain and international petroleum exploration for Amoco from 1981 to 1992, he has been an independent play generator and consultant, except for the period of 2004 to 2009 when he worked for Petro-Hunt doing Rocky Mountain exploration. He is currently active as an independent in the Denver Basin and consults on a variety of domestic and international exploration projects. Recent international projects include interpreting deep crustal seismic profiles in the offshore of Tanzania and Mozambique and, across the East Russian Arctic Shelf.

His extracurricular activities include structural research along the Front Range and across Colorado, sculpting, and amusing his wife and three daughters.

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

SC

The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

porting lay

Tournament

9 21 17

Kiowa Creek Sporting Club • Prizes for individual high score and team 1st, 2nd and 3rd flights.

• Includes one round of 100 sporting clays, lunch, and door prizes.

• Does not include ammunition (please bring enough ammo for 100 clays or you may purchase ammo at Kiowa Creek).

• You may also rent a gun for $20 onsite.

Registration and sponsorship open on August 1st.

5 Person Team (member): $425 5 Person Team (non-member): $500

email: staff@rmag.org

fax: 888.389.4090

phone: 303.573.8621

910 16th Street #1214, Denver, CO, 80202 Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

Individual (member): $85 Individual (non-member): $100

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web: www.rmag.org

follow: @rmagdenver OUTCROP | June 2017

RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS Speaker: Matthew Bauer — July 5, 2017

Induced Seismicity in the Denver Basin Prompts Updated Basement Fault Configuration Model

By Matthew William Bauer and Michael Joseph Harty III Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401

HURRY! OUTCROP | June 2017

fluids were flowing the entire 3,297 meters of the well. After the well was plugged back 143 meters and the spinner test was repeated indicating that the majority fluids were then entering units above 3,000 meters TVD. A reduction in the rate of earthquake events suggests that the plug-back reduced or removed basement Communication.

Using gravity, aeromagnetics, and interpretations of overlying structure from well penetrations, basement fault configurations were mapped. Measurements of borehole breakouts and earthquake

From June 2014 to January 2016 a swarm of earthquakes occurred in central Weld County Colorado in close proximity to two injection wells. The swarm occurred in an area with no known prior record of seismic activity. The earthquake hypocenters had a median depth of 5,000 m suggesting seismicity was occurring in the crystalline basement while disposal wells in the area inject fluid into the overlying sedimentary section.

To test for basement communication, spinner surveys were collected from the deeper of the two wells. The spinner surveys indicated that injected

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There’s still time to register for the RMAG Golf Tournament! June 14 @ Arrowhead Golf Club.

REGISTRATION CLOSES JUNE 7, CLICK HERE!

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Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists

Paleozoic and Mesozoic GIS Data from the Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region: Volume 1 The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) is, once again, publishing portions of the 1972 Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region (Mallory, ed., 1972) as a geospatial map and data package. Georeferenced tiff (Geo TIFF) images of map figures from this atlas has served as the basis for these data products. Shapefiles and file geodatabase features have been generated and cartographically represented for select pages from the following chapters: • Phanerozoic Rocks (page 56) • Cambrian System (page 63) • Ordovician System (pages 78 and 79) • Silurian System (pages 87 - 89) • Devonian System (pages 93, 94, and 96 - 98) • Mississippian System (pages 102 and 103) • Pennsylvanian System (pages 114 and 115) • Permian System (pages 146 and 149 - 154) • Triassic System (pages 168 and 169) • Jurassic System (pages 179 and 180) • Cretaceous System (pages 197 - 201, 207 210, 215, - 218, 221, 222, 224, 225, and 227).

Available now, as a digital download!

Prices will increase on November 1st.

Member Price: $75 Non-Member Price: $95 Corporate Price: 2-5 copies - 5% off member price per copy 6-10 copies - 10% off member price per copy 11+ copies - 15% off member price per copy

Visit www.rmag.org to purchase your copy today.

The primary purpose of this publication is to provide regional-scale, as well as local-scale, geospatial data of the Rocky Mountain Region for use in geoscience studies. An important aspect of this interactive map product is that it does not require extensive GIS experience or highly specialized software.

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RMAG LUNCHEON PROGRAMS

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This study of the Denver Basin earthquake swarm in relation to nearby injection wells in conjunction with interpretations of the local stress regime and the basement fault configuration will enable operators and regulators to locate injection wells safe distances from critically stressed basement faults and better mitigate the risk and hazards from induced seismicity in the basin.

focal plane solutions were analyzed to understand the local stress regime and identify the orientations of critically stressed basement faults. These critically stressed basement faults will be most likely to slip; and being larger than faults in the overlying sedimentary section, can produce seismic events with sufficient magnitude to pose risk to the public.

Matthew W. Bauer, P.G. received his B.S. in geology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2004. Matthew is currently a student at Colorado School of Mines pursuing his M.S. in geology. While at Mines, he was a member of the 2016 AAPG Imperial Barrel Award team that won the Rocky Mountain Section and placed 3rd out of approximately 180 teams worldwide.

Matthew worked with the consulting firm ARCADIS U.S., Inc. for ten years providing environmental services for upstream and midstream petroleum companies, including liability assessment for asset transfer, abatement, and litigation support. His work at the Colorado Geological Survey involved structural and geophysical mapping in the Denver-Julesburg Basin. Matthew is also the owner of Fracture Rocks LLC which utilizes custom tools for the gathering, processing, and interpretation geological data for petroleum development.

Matthew’s thesis research involves trends in production and reservoir properties in the Pronghorn Member of the Bakken Formation.

By automating the gathering and separation of well log, core, and production data, insights have been made about the structural and depositional environment during the first transgression of the Upper Kaskaskia Sequence in the Williston Basin. His other research RMAG publication Ad-­‐-­‐-­‐prof card size 2 5/8 X 1/1/2; 12 issues @ $144 interests includes utilizing photogrammetry to better understand cycles in mudrock deposition and workflow enhancement to let geologist spend more time interpreting geology.

Advanced mass spec mud gases while drilling and data analysis for reservoir evaluation and intelligent completion design.

Tracy Wicker-­‐geologist, account manager tracy@crowngeochemistry.com 580-­‐214-­‐1271

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OUTCROP | June 2017

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2017 Schedule 14 - 18 August 4 - 8 Sept By arrangement

$3200 Professional/$1900 Student Information and registration: http://littleww.wordpress.com wwlittle@gmail.com

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

Save the Date

RMAG Rockbusters Bash Professional Awards Celebration

November 9, 2017 The Curtis Hotel, Denver, CO email: staff@rmag.org

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fax: 888.389.4090

phone: 303.573.8621

Vol. 66,16th No.Street 6 | www.rmag.org 910 #1214, Denver, CO, 80202

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web: www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | June 2017 follow: @rmagdenver

MINERAL OF THE MONTH

By Ronald L. Parker, Senior Geologist, Borehole Image Specialists, P. O. Box 221724, Denver CO 80222 ron@bhigeo.com

SPODUMENE The Pegmatite Giant

»»CONTINUED ON PAGE 23 Spodumene, Dara-iPech Pegmatite Field, Chapa Dara District, Konar Province, Nuristan, Afghanistan.

Note the classic 2/m monoclinic symmetry, striations parallel to the c crystallographic axis, zonation within the upper third of the crystal and the pink (kunzite) to green (hiddenite) color variation. 3.5 x 5 x 1.8 cm. Photo by Jamison Brizendine.

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MINERAL OF THE MONTH: SPODUMENE

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a decidedly inclined aspect.

Like most silicates, spodumene has a high hardness of 6.5 to 7.0 (Klein, 2002) with a specific gravity of ~3.15-3.20.

Spodumene displays the classic pyroxene prismatic cleavage {110} at angles of 87° and 93° (Nesse, 2004).

Spodumene is transparent to translucent can be colorless or can occur in a variety of colors including yellow, light green, emerald green, pink, lilac, purple, violet, white and gray (Mindat, 2017). The transparent to translucent varieties kunzite (pink to lilac) and hiddenite (green) are highly

Spodumene (LiAlSi2O6) is a comparatively rare lithium pyroxene that is almost exclusively found in granitic pegmatites.

Although the most common form of spodumene is as drab, chalky, opaque, grayish-white blades within pegmatites, the transparent to translucent varieties kunzite (pink to lilac) and hiddenite (green), are highly prized as gemstones.

Spodumene crystals are known to reach enormous size (>40 feet long), ranking them with some of the largest mineral crystals known. As a source of lithium, spodumene has commercial value in many industrial applications.

The name spodumene derives from the Greek spodoumenos, which means “reduced to ashes” a reference to the residue from blowpipe flame analysis of the mineral. Mauther, (2011) describes the etymology of the name in detail.

As a pyroxene, spodumene is an inosilicate, all of which are constructed upon a backbone of silica tetrahedra aligned in a single chain. Silica tetrahedral chains are aligned with the c crystallographic axis (Klein and Philpotts, 2013).

Spodumene belongs to the 2/m crystal class (monoclinic), and hence, it is a clinopyroxene.

Spodumene crystals are frequently encountered as elongated prisms flattened along {001} (Johnson, 2002). This means that “crystals are often lathelike, flat with two broad faces and two narrow faces”

(Jones, 2006). Spodumene is somewhat unusual in that it does not exhibit much isomorphic substitution. Except for trace elements, the dominant constituents do not vary in abundance much, excepting slight substitution of Li by Na and minor Fe3+ for Al (Nesse, 2004). Euhedral crystal faces usually display a strong striation parallel to the c crystallographic axis (Johnson, 2002).

Unit cell dimensions of spodumene are a=9.52Å, b=8.32Å and c=5.25Å, for an axial ratio (a:b:c) of 1.14:1:0.63. The β angle (between the a and c axes) is 110°, giving euhedral crystals

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MINERAL OF THE MONTH: SIDERITE

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prized as gemstones. Kunzite owes its coloration to trace amounts of manganese; hiddenite is green because of trace chromium or vanadium (Jones, 2006). The pleochroism in spodumene is apparent in many kunzite specimens that display a variation in color intensity with orientation. Kunzites can appear almost colorless until viewed along the c-axis, where the color darkens significantly. Some darkly colored kunzites may also be dichroic – rich purple along the c-axis can change to green when viewed perpendicular to the c-axis (Cook, 1997). Spodumene can often be discriminated from similar minerals by yellow, orange or pink fluorescence under longwave and shortwave ultraviolet light (Mineral Data Publishing, 2001).

In thin-section, spodumene displays moderately high positive relief and is often colorless. Colored varieties (kunzite, hiddenite) may display lilac or green pleochrosim (Jones, 2006). Maximum interference colors in thin-section are upper 1st order to middle 2nd order. Spodumene is biaxial positive (+) with a 2V angle ranging between 58° and 68°.

Because spodumene is readily weathered, thin-sections often display rinds of Li-micas, albite and eucryptite. As a pegmatite mineral, spodumene commonly occurs in sizes that are larger than standard thin-section slides (Nesse, 2004).

Spodumene, as a lithium-bearing igneous rock, is almost exclusively found in granitic pegmatites, in association with primary quartz, alkali feldspar and sodic plagioclase (Wenk, 2004). Pegmatites are extremely coarsely-crystalline igneous rocks that occur as dikes or veins cross-cutting pre-existing rocks (Klein, 2002). Pegmatites form at the end of crystallization of an igneous pluton. At the conclusion of fractional crystallization, the remaining magma is depleted in the elements that crystallized in higher-temperature minerals (Fe, Mg, Ca) and is enriched in Si, Al, Na and K. Also present in the last gasp

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Hiddenite, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Paul and Janet Clifford Collection, 1.2cm x.7cm x 1.2cm #87168, Photo by Jamison Brizendine

Spodumene, Mawi pegmatite, Nilaw-Kolum pegmatite field, Du Ab District, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, Paul and Janet Clifford Collection, 4.3cm x 2.4cm x 2.3cm, #04067. Photo by Jamison Brizendine 24

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

MINERAL OF THE MONTH: SIDERITE migrate readily and add to rapidly growing minerals.” (Winter, 2001, p. 207). Spodumene is notable as having some truly gigantic mineral crystals – 40-foot-long spodumene crystals weighing many tons are known from the Black Hills of South Dakota (Klein, 2002; Wenk, 2004).

Ironically, lithium-rich pegmatites are mostly the result of magmatic incorporation of lithium from sedimentary depositional environments.

Lithium accumulates in sea-floor muds by incorporation into clay and mica structures. Lithium is also concentrated into evaporative sedimentary basin deposits. When either of these lithified sedimentary materials are incorporated into melts, they bring the lithium with them. Introduced to granitic melts, the lithium is then concentrated during subsequent fractional crystallization of the magma to the point of pegmatite genesis (London, 2017).

Spodumene has commercial value as a source

»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24

of magmatic crystallization are non-compatible elements - those that because of ionic radii or ionic charge (or both) do not readily fit into more common igneous mineral structures. These elements include Li, Cs, Be, B, Mn, P, F, Ag, Au, U and several others. Mineral associations with spodumene represent these incompatible elements and include quartz, microcline, albite, muscovite, lepidolite, petalite, beryl, tourmaline, and eucryptite (London, 2017). Also, concentrated in the residue at the end of solidification are volatiles (H2O, CO2, S, Cl, F, B and P) which decrease viscosity and facilitate high-pressure fracturing and explosive injection of this last gasp into overlying rock (Klein, 2002). (The reason pegmatites commonly crosscut country rock). Minerals in pegmatites display large crystals not because of slow cooling – to the contrary. Large pegmatite crystals are the result of “poor nucleation and very high diffusivity in the H2O-rich phase, which permits chemical species to

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MINERAL OF THE MONTH: SIDERITE

»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 of lithium, the lightest of all metals, which is used as an additive in glass and ceramic manufacture (Kesler, 1994). Lithium added to lithium-aluminum and lithium magnesium alloys imparts high-temperature strength and improves elasticity (Klein and Philpotts, 2013). Lithium-ion batteries are in widespread use in home electronics, power tools and electric vehicles (Wikipedia, 2017).

Lithium based grease is used in automotive, military and industrial equipment (Klein and Philpotts, 2013).

Spodumene is distributed in granite pegmatites worldwide. Notable occurrences include the Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. In the United States, significant occurrences are noted from the Black Hills of South Dakota, from Cleveland County, North Carolina, from the Pala District in northern San Diego County, California and Taos County, New Mexico (Mineral Data Publishing, 2001).

Spodumene, Nuristan, Afghanistan, Paul and Janet Clifford Collection, #7680, 7.2cm x 6.5cmx 1.1cm. Photo by Jamison Brizendine.

Klein, Cornelis and Philpotts, Anthony, 2013, Earth Materials – Introduction to Mineralogy and Petrology: New York: Cambridge University Press, 536 pp.

London, David, 2017, reading Pegmatites: Part 3 – What Lithium Minerals Say, Rocks & Minerals: 92(2): 144-157.

Mauthner, Mark, 2011, The History of Kunzite and the California Connection, Rocks & Minerals: 86(2): 112-131.

Mineral Data Publishing, 2001, Spodumene, http://www.handbookofmineralogy.com/pdfs/ spodumene.pdf, accessed 4/13/2017.

Nesse, William D., 2004, Introduction to Optical Mineralogy, 3rd Edition: New York: Oxford University Press, 348 pp.

Wenk, Hans-Rudolf and Bulakh, Andrei, 2004, Minerals – Their Constitution and Origin: New York: Cambridge University Press, 646 pp.

Wikipedia (2017) Lithium-ion Battery, https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery, accessed April, 27, 2017.

Winter, John D., 2001, An Introduction to Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 697 pp.

WEBLINKS:

• http://www.minerals.net/mineral/spodumene. aspx • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spodumene • https://www.mindat.org/min-3733.html • http://webmineral.com/data/Spodumene.shtml#.WRjTAGgrLdM • http://www.galleries.com/Spodumene

REFERENCES:

Cook, Robert B., 1997, Connoisseur’s Choice: Spodumene var. Kunzite, Nuristan, Afghanistan, Rocks & Minerals: 72(5): 340-343.

Johnsen, Ole, 2002, Minerals of the World: Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 439 pp.

Jones, B., 2006, The Frugal Collector: Silicates, Part IV: Dioptase, the Spodumenes, and Olivine, Rock and Gem: 36(12): 20-25.

Kesler, Stephen A., 1994, Mineral Resources, Economics and the Environment, New York: MacMillan College Publishing Company, Inc., 391 pp.

Klein, Cornelis, 2002, The 22nd Edition of the Manual of Mineral Science: New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 641 pp.

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Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

July

22

Registration opens June 22, 2017 at 8:00am.

2017

Leadville Mining District Tour.

Fred Mark will lecture on geology and history while participants bike the 11-mile trail in Leadville, followed by a visit to the Leadville Mining Museum.

Niobrara and Juana Lopez trip.

On the west side of Front Range led by Steve Sonnenberg.

August

05

Registration opens July 6, 2017 at 8:00am.

Ammonite fossil-collecting trip.

Near Kremmling, led by Dennis Gertenbach and assisted by Donna Anderson.

August

26

Registration opens July 26, 2017 at 8:00am.

Codell-Niobrara Field trip & Core Workshop 1-day Front Range Cretaceous outcrops paired with a ½ day at the USGS Core Warehouse to examine the same formations.

Run by Gus Gustason and Tofer Lewis.

September

10-11

Registration opens August 10, 2017 at 8:00am.

Register for field trips on the Field Trip page at www.rmag.org.

email: staff@rmag.org

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phone: 303.573.8621

Vol. 66, 6 Street | www.rmag.org 910No. 16th #1214, Denver, CO, 80202

fax: 888.389.4090 27

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web: www.rmag.org

OUTCROP | June 2017 follow: @rmagdenver

Twin Lakes in Colorado. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Leadville Mining District Trip Biking the Mineral Belt Trail and Core From the Matchless Mine Site Fred Mark – Field Trip Leader | Saturday, July 22, 2017

OUTCROP | June 2017

on the Matchless mine site owned by Horace Tabor (1830 to 1899). It cuts the Molas Formation, Leadville Dolomite, Gilman Sandstone, Dyer Dolomite, and Parting Quartzite. We will see a general log by Tommy Thompson, and quantitative and mineralogical analysis of the core donated by Newmont Mining Company.

From 1879 to 1928 the six acre Matchless claim produced an estimated 4 million gross ounces of silver Matchless site and Matchless Mine video. It is also the site of the cabin where Horace Tabor’s second (trophy) wife Elizabeth (Baby Doe, 1854 to 1935) lived the last years of her life in poor means. Her frozen body was found in there in the spring of 1935.

After the tour, Fred and Sandra offer beer and brats at their home in Leadville, featuring views of eight 14,000 foot peaks and much of the mining district. For those that may opt to spend the night in Leadville and do some further exploration on Sunday, check out Leadville and Twin Lakes.

We will bike the paved, 11.6-mile Mineral Belt Trail, map of the trail stopping along the way to learn about the geology and history of the west side of the mining district. Its production from 1860 to 1999 exceeded fourteen billion dollars at present-day metal prices (SEG Monograph 7 and ASARCO annual reports 1987 to 1999, April 7, 2017 spot metal prices).

Elevations along the paved trail range from 9,650 feet to 10,600 feet. The trail follows the right-of-way of three rail lines that were operated in the 19th and 20th century. No grades are over 5%. The trail affords spectacular views of the Sawatch, Collegiate, and Mosquito ranges. Look forward to cooling off; it is said that it has never been above 80 degrees in Leadville during the summer.

Fred Mark, a geologist, historian, and resident of Leadville, will lead discussions and answer questions at various points along the trail. At the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum we will view core from a 357-foot deep hole, drilled and donated by Boart Longyear in 2006. The hole was drilled

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IN MEMORIAM

James R. Steidtmann his life, many people reached out to share their memories of Jim, and so many of those memories were about him as a mentor and teacher. As one former student stated “Jim was not afraid to tackle the big ideas” and he cultivated that philosophy in his students. Whether formally as a Professor, or informally with a fly rod on a trout stream, Jim could be counted on to help others succeed.

Alongside his love of geology, Jim was a quintessential family man. He could often be found on the weekend supporting his family at band events, soccer games and horse shows. He continually surrounded his family and loved ones in warmth, humor and fun. Jim was an avid skier and shooter and enjoyed the simple serenity of reading the latest CJ Box novel from the deck of his cabin in the Medicine Bows. He loved Wyoming with all his heart.

Jim is survived by his wife Randi, sister Sally, children David (Geneviève Aron), Dana (Dave Walter) and Matt, and grandchildren Lauren and Kaya.

A memorial service will be held in the atrium of the Earth Science Building, University of Wyoming, Laramie on Sunday, May 7 from 2-4 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Department of Geology and Geophysics in honor of Jim Steidtmann.

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James R. Steidtmann passed away on Saturday, April 15, 2017 surrounded by his family at his home in Arvada, Colorado. Jim was born on October 14, 1938 in Toledo, Ohio and raised in Bowling Green. His parents worked at a university and like his parents before him, Jim was drawn to science. After attending Bowling Green State University and Dartmouth, Jim earned a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Michigan.

Jim loved the outdoors and fell in love with Wyoming while doing his dissertation research on the origin of the Pass Peak Formation in the Hoback Basin, Wyoming. He was thrilled to land a tenure track position at the University of Wyoming starting in 1968. He quickly made his dedication to the University and geology well known. His first house in Laramie was literally visible from his office window. In 1979, he met another love, his soon-to-be wife Randi, who conveniently, was also a geologist. Jim loved field geology and throughout his life he relished fond memories of his early career doing fieldwork in the beautiful Wind River mountain range. Over the course of his career he took hundreds of budding geologists and scientists into the field – he even took his children (though their enthusiasm wasn’t always apparent).

Occasionally Jim would say that

he “got a Ph.D. in Geology when getting a Ph.D. in Geology was a lot like getting a Ph.D. in camping,” then he’d wait for someone to say, “That sounds like fun,” to which he’d reply with a twinkle in his eye, “Yeah, but instead of carrying sleeping bags and cook stoves, I carry rocks in my backpack.”

Jim also took a particular joy in fostering and cultivating the passions of those around him.

He likely nudged more than a few folks to pursue careers in geology. In the midst of his service as Geology Department Chair, Jim found time to serve as the Faculty Advisor to the UW alpine ski team club, a role he loved. Jim tried to retire in 2003 but was enticed back to direct the Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute at UW. In the last weeks of 29

OUTCROP | June 2017

WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!

Kayla Bronzo

Kelly Hickcox

is a student at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

is a student at University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.

is a Graduate Research Assistant at Colorado State University in Loveland, Colorado.

is a student at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.

works at the Bureau of Land Management in Phoenix, Arizona.

is President at TerraEx Group in Golden, Colorado.

Daniel Collazo

Rachael Hirsch

Karen Conrath

Catalina Luneburg Teresa Malesardi

Brendan Curran

is a Geologist in Lakewood, Colorado.

is VP Geology at FourPoint Energy in Denver, Colorado.

Austin Miller

is a student in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Kristen Dennis

is a student at San Diego State University in La Jolla, California.

Sean O’Brien

is a Geophysicist in Denver, Colorado.

Sarah Edwards

Ellen Reat

is a Geologist at SM Energy in Denver, Colorado.

is a student at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Robert Garrison

is retired in San Antonio, Texas.

Lukas Smith

is a student at New Mexico Tech in Balen, New Mexico.

Michael Genecov

is a PhD Student at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

Katrina Soundy

is a student at New Mexico Tech in San Antonio, New Mexico.

Mario Guzman

is a student at Colorado School of Mines in Lakewood, Colorado.

Thomas Strong

works at the United States Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado.

Aaron Hess

is a student at University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska.

OUTCROP | June 2017

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Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

IN MEMORIAM

Doris Lucier ‘Dee’ Tyler

On April 28, 2017 Doris (Dee) Tyler passed away at the age of 82. Dee was an active member of RMAG, serving as an editor for the Outcrop monthly newsletter and also as a key member in planning weekly Friday luncheons. She helped with managing RMAG through the of the 1980’s when Denver’s oil and gas community was seriously

affected by an industry downturn.

Dee was buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery next to her daughter, Sandra Lee Gervais, who also worked at RMAG for a short time, until her death in 1983. The funeral was held at the Shrine of St. Anne Catholic Church, in Arvada, Colorado on Thursday, May 4, 2017.

WELCOME NEW RMAG MEMBERS!

Kelly Vaughn

»»CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30 Dana Strunk

works at WDVG Laboratories in Houston, Texas.

is a Sr. Asset Developer at PDC Energy in Denver, Colorado.

Christopher Wesley

is a G&G Sales Specialist at IHS in Parker, Colorado.

Zachary Stults

is a Geologist at KP Kauffman Company Incorporated in Denver, Colorado.

Michael Zawaski

is a student at University of Colorado Boulder in Louisville, Colorado.

IN THE PIPELINE

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

RMAG Luncheon.

Speaker: Ned Sterne.

“From Mantle to Mountain Top – A Restorable EastWest Transect Across Colorado Following Interstate 70.” Maggiano’s Little Italy, Denver. RSVP to staff@rmag.org.

31

JUNE 14, 2017

RMS-SEPM Luncheon.

Speakers James Hagadorn, Tim and Kathryn Ryan.

“Slime, Salt, and Redbeds: Recipe for Colorado’s Permo-Triassic, and Possibly an Extinction.” Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver. Email: Luncheons@rmssepm.org

JUNE 7, 2017

JUNE 6, 2017

RMAG Golf Tournament.

Arrowhead Golf Club.

JUNE 28, 2017 OCF Denver Chapter Luncheon.

RVSP to 303-258-6401.

OUTCROP | June 2017

Lake Shasta, CA, August 20, 2014–California’s lingering drought exposes the 180200 foot drop in water levels.

The state’s largest reservoir is receding at an average of 4.9 inches per day. (David Greitzer, shutterstock.com)

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LEAD STORY

Scientists Link Recent California Droughts and Floods to Distinctive Atmospheric Waves Upper Atmosphere Pattern May Open Window to Long-Term Prediction

By David Hosansky Manager of Media Relations, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research BOULDER, Colo. — The crippling wintertime droughts that struck California from 2013 to 2015, as well as this year’s unusually wet California winter, appear to be associated with the same phenomenon: a distinctive wave pattern that emerges in the upper atmosphere and circles the globe.

Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found in a recent study that the persistent high-pressure ridge off the west coast of North America that blocked storms from coming onshore during the winters of 2013-14 and 2014-15 was associated with the wave pattern, which they call wavenumber-5.

Follow-up work showed that wavenumber-5 emerged again this winter but with its high- and low-pressure features in a different position, allowing drenching storms from the Pacific to make landfall.

“This wave pattern is a global dynamic system that sometimes makes droughts

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

or floods in California more likely to occur,” said NCAR scientist Haiyan Teng, lead author of the California paper. “As we learn more, this may eventually open a new window to long-term predictability.”

The finding is part of an emerging body of research into the wave pattern that holds the promise of better understanding seasonal weather patterns in California and elsewhere.

Another new paper, led by NCAR scientist Grant Branstator, examines the powerful wave pattern in more depth, analyzing the physical processes that help lead to its formation as well as its seasonal variations and how it varies in strength and location.

The California study was published in the Journal of Climate while the comprehensive study into the wave patterns is appearing in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. Both papers were funded by the National Science Foundation, which is NCAR’s sponsor, as well as by the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA. The new papers follow a 2013 study by

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LEAD STORY often has this stationary quality when it emerges during the northern winter, and, as a result, is associated with a greater likelihood of persistent extreme events.

To determine the degree to which the wave pattern influenced the California drought, Teng and Branstator used three specialized computer models, as well as California rainfall records and 20th century data about global atmospheric circulation patterns. The different windows into the atmosphere and precipitation patterns revealed that the formation of a ridge by the California coast is associated with the emergence of the distinctive wavenumber-5 pattern, which guides rain-producing low-pressure systems so that they travel well north of California.

Over the past winter, as California was lashed by a series of intense storms, wavenumber-5 was also present, the scientists said. But the pattern had shifted over North America, replacing the high-pressure ridge off the coast with a low-pressure trough. The

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Teng and Branstator showing that a pattern related to wavenumber-5 tended to emerge about 15-20 days before major summertime heat waves in the United States.

STRONG IMPACTS ON LOCAL WEATHER SYSTEMS

Wavenumber-5 consists of five pairs of alternating high- and low-pressure features that encircle the globe about six miles (10 kilometers) above the ground. It is a type of atmospheric phenomenon known as a Rossby wave, a very large-scale planetary wave that can have strong impacts on local weather systems by moving heat and moisture between the tropics and higher latitudes as well as between oceanic and inland areas and by influencing where storms occur.

The slow-moving Rossby waves at times become almost stationary. When they do, the result can be persistent weather patterns that often lead to droughts, floods, and heat waves. Wavenumber-5

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»»CONTINUED ON PAGE 35

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LEAD STORY

The high- and low-pressure regions of wavenumber-5 set up in different locations during January 2014, when California was enduring a drought, and January 2017, when it was facing floods. The location of the high and low pressure regions (characterized by anticylonic vs. cyclonic upper-level air flow) can act to either suppress or enhance precipitation and storms. The black curves illustrate the jet streams that trap and focus wavenumber-5. (Image by Haiyan Teng and Grant Branstator, ©UCAR. This image is freely available for media & nonprofit use.) the impacts of sea surface temperature changes.

First, however, scientists need to better understand why and when the wave pattern emerges.

In the paper published in Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Branstator and Teng explored the physics of the wave pattern. Using a simplified computer model of the climate system to identify the essential physical processes, the pair found that wavenumber-5 forms when strong jet streams act as wave guides, tightening the otherwise meandering Rossby wave into the signature configuration of five highs and five lows.

“The jets act to focus the energy,” Branstator said. “When the jets are present, the energy is trapped and cannot escape.” But even when the jets are present, the wavenumber-5 pattern does not always form, indicating that other forces requiring study are also at play.

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result was that the storms that were forced north during the drought winters were, instead, allowed to make landfall.

CLUES TO SEASONAL WEATHER PATTERNS

Forecasters who predict seasonal weather patterns have largely looked to shifting sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, especially changes associated with El Niño and La Niña. But during the dry winters of 2013-14 and 2014-15, those conditions varied markedly: one featured the beginning of an El Niño while the sea surface temperatures during the other were not characteristic of either El Niño or La Niña.

The new research indicates that the wave pattern may provide an additional source of predictability that sometimes may be more important than

Vol. 66, No. 6 | www.rmag.org

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OUTCROP | June 2017

LEAD STORY this wavenumber-5 behavior,” Teng said, “Our studies are just the beginning of that search.”

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The scientists also searched specifically for what might have caused the wave pattern linked to the severe California drought to form. In the paper published in the Journal of Climate, the pair found that extremely heavy rainfall from December to February in certain regions of the tropical Pacific could double the probability that the extreme ridge associated with wavenumber-5 will form. The reason may have to do with the tropical rain heating parts of the upper atmosphere in such a way that favors the formation of the wavenumber-5 pattern.

But the scientists cautioned that many questions remain.

“We need to search globally for factors that cause SINCLAIR

PETROLEUM

ABOUT THE ARTICLES

Title: Causes of Extreme Ridges That Induce California Drought Authors: Haiyan Teng and Grant Branstator Journal: Journal of Climate, DOI: 10.1175/ JCLI-D-16-0524.1 Title: Tropospheric Waveguide Teleconnections and Their Seasonality Authors: Grant Branstator and Haiyan Teng Journal: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, DOI: 10.1175/JAS-D-16-0305.1

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