SAnD News and Events

2018

October - December
July - September

April - June

As we head into the final stretch of the semester we would like to congratulate the following SAnD researchers on their upcoming summer internships.

  • Sebastian Cardona will be at Statoil in Houston, Texas.
  • Matthew Huels will be at Antero Resources in Denver, Colorado
  • Matthew Steidtmann will be at Encana in Denver, Colorado
  • Leiaka Welcome will be at Oxy in Houston, Texas.

Congratulations to our SAnD researcher  Enry Sihombig who will be heading to Indonesia this May for the Indonesia Petroleum Association (IPA) Convention and Exhibition 2018 where he will present his research on:

  • Strike-Slip rift basin architecture and development in offshore area Jatibarang    sub-basin – New findings and future opportunities.
  • Sedimentological characteristics of lacustrine associated reservoir in transtensional rift basin: Lake Singkarak modern analogue application in Lower Talangakar Formation, Jatibarang sub-basin, NW Java.

This Spring SAnD had the absolute pleasure of hosting Dallas Dunlap of the University of Texas, Austin during his visit to CSM. Dallas delivered a well received, exciting  talk titled Ancient Carbonate Channel-Levee Systems: Browse Basin, NW Shelf Australia for the eight Van Tuyl in the spring series.

Dallas it was a pleasure, and we look forward to you visiting us again soon!

January - March

SaND wants to thank AAPG Grants-in-Aid for providing funds for research to 2 of our students:

Matthew Steidman – $2,500 from the Paul Danheim Nelson Grant
Leiaka Welcome – $2,500 from John & Erica Lockridge Grant


Graduate researchers recently presented posters at the 2017 GE Poster Fair, sponsored by ConocoPhillips.  This was a great run up to the upcoming AAPG meeting in Utah.

AAPG ACE meeting will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah May 19-21, 2018.  SAND will have a research booth, alongside other booths held by our colleagues in CoRE and MUDTOC.  SAND Presentations at the meeting include:

 

Presenter: H. Deng
Title: Mass Failure Complex Morphometrics as an indicator of Flow Rheology and Composition: A Comprehensive Study in the Gulf of Mexico 
Session Title: Theme 9:  Computational Geoscience for Energy Innovation
Session Type: Poster
Session Date: Tuesday, May 22nd, 2018

 

Presenter: E. Sihombing
Title: Form and Fill of Rift Basins Along Strike-Slip Fault Systems; Lower Talangakar Formation, Jatibarang Subbasin, Offshore NW Java, Indonesia
Session Title: Theme 7: Lake Basins and Their Deposits, From Rifts, to Forelands (SEPM)
Session Type: Poster
Session Date: May 22, 2018 9.00 am – 5.00 pm

We at SaND would like to say a huge congratulations to our student researchers on successfully defending their Master’s Thesis:

 

Alex Cheney defended on December 19th, 2017

Thesis title – Controls on deposition, lithologic variability, and reservoir heterogeneity of prolific western interior shelf sandstone reservoirs: Tocito and El Vado Sandstones, San Juan Basin, NM.


Mimi Do defended on January 10th, 2018

Thesis title – Nature and distribution of clay minerals in high net-to-gross deepwater fans: Taranaki basin outcrops, New Zealand case study.


Xiaoxue Liuzhuang defended on January 10th, 2018

Thesis Title: Seismic geomorphology of continental margin evolution in the late Cretaceous to early Tertiary of the Browse Basin, Northwest Australia.


Obianuju Ugwu-Oju defended on January 09th, 2018

Thesis Title: Clinothems of the Cretaceous Berbice Canyon, offshore Guyana.


 

2017

October - December

Thank you for visiting Dr. Henry Posamentier!

This Fall SAnD had the absolute pleasure of hosting Dr. Posamentier during his visit to CSM. Dr. Posamentier not only delivered a well received talk as the 2017 Weimer Lecturer, for the department’s Van Tuyl series, but he also took the time to visit with students and faculty. We are definently looking forward to him visiting us again soon!


Congratulations to Matthew Huels who was awarded the Fall 2017 John & Lois Haun Scholarship in the amount of $2,000.

July - September

Welcome to our new visiting scholar Hehe Chen.

Hehe will be with the SAND group for a fifteen month visiting scholar research program. He is busy mapping the Jurassic-age drainages of the Rankin Platform, offshore northwest China and looking at mass balance of erosion and deposition in the Dampier rift systems.


Welcome to our newest SAND member Enry Sihombig.

Enry will be pursuing his Msc in geology, with his research detailing the sedimentological characteristics of lacustrine associated reservoir in transtensional rift basins. His main area of study is located in the Jatibarang Subbasin, NW Java.


As summer continues our students are still doing great things with fieldwork and research in order to prepare for our upcoming Fall Fluvial-Deltaic-Shallow Marine meeting.

Lots of new and exciting news ahead!


Congratulations to Matthew Huels who was awarded the 2017-2018 SM Energy Scholarship in the amount of $1850.00


Congratulations and good luck to our former SaND member Andrew Reisdorf as he begins his next chapter as part of the Schlumberger team.

April - June

Now that summer has officially began, we would like to wish the following SAnD researchers good luck as they begin their summer internships.

  • Sebastian Cardona is at Statoil in Austin, Texas.
  • Alex Cheney is at BHPBilliton in Houston, Texas.
  • Mimi Do is at XTO in Fort Worth, Texas.
  • Matthew Huels is at Denbury Resources in Plano, Texas.
  • Leiaka Welcome is at NPS, Rock Creek Park, Washington D.C.

SaND wants to thank AAPG Grants-in-Aid for providing funds for research to 3 of our students:

Hang Deng – $2,500 from the Paul Danheim Nelson Grant
Mimi Do – $1,500 from the Suzanne Takken Memorial Grant
Matthew Steidman – $2,500 from John & Erica Lockridge Grant

We would also like to thank S4SLIDE for awarding 2 grants, of $500 each to Hang Deng and Sebastian Cardona to relieve the costs of travel to attend and present posters for AAPG ACE 2017.


Sebastian Cardona has been awarded a grant by the U.S. Science Support Program to attend the 2017 Petrophysics Summer School workshop organized by the European Petrophysics Consortium (EPC) and collaboration from the ECORD (European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling), IODP (International Ocean Discovery Program), BP, Schlumberger, and Total E&P.

This second Petrophysics Summer School will take place in the University of Leicester, UK from July 2-7, 2017 and will provide a unique platform that will bring together experts from both academia and industry to give training in the theory and practice of petrophysics and, notably its applications across both IODP and industry.

http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/geology/research/gbrg/projects/iodp/summerschool17


AAPG was a huge success for Mines and for SAnD.

Mines and SAnD at AAPG

L. Wood and the Spice Boys played at the 100 year gala event and rocked the night away. We hope you had a chance to hang out with us during the convention!

Our CSM-AAPG IBA competed at ACE on Saturday April 1, 2017. We are proud of all their hard work throughout the semester!

Mines at AAPG
Mines at AAPG


Mines student presenting at ACE 2017

Mines student presenting at ACE 2017

Mines student presenting at ACE 2017

Our students (Sebastian, Stephen and Hang) presenting their posters at ACE 2017

Lots of new and exciting news ahead!


International Ocean Discovery Program

Sebastian Cardona has been selected to join as a ‘sedimentologist’ in the Expedition 372 “Creeping Gas Hydrate Slides and Hikurangi LWD” by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) at the end of the year (http://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops/precruise/hikurangislides/summary.html)
One of the primary objectives of the mission is to investigate the relationship between gas hydrate and underwater landslides (mass-transport deposits). Sebastian will be able to bring his experience studying outcrops of submarine landslides as well as learn more about the potential hazards that gas hydrates can pose to seafloor stability.

January - March

ICGP logoSignificance of Modern and Ancient Submarine Slope LandSLIDEs logoHang Deng (PhD Candidate) and Sebastian Cardona (PhD Candidate) were awarded a $500 grant by the S4SLIDE program.  Hang will present his poster titled “Quantitative Characterization of Submarine Mass Transport Deposit (MTD) Top Surface Topography and Its Influence on “Healing Phase” Post-emplacement Sedimentation” and Sebastian will present his poster titled “Macroscopic to Microscopic Criteria for Assessing Spatial Changes in Material and Bounding Surface Character of Mass-Transport Deposits and Implications for Seal Quality” at the upcoming AAPG ACE Meeting in Houston, Texas April 4th.  S4SLIDE is a worldwide community collaboration on the study of submarine mass failures that is supported by IGCP.

Find more info at https://twitter.com/s4slide and https://sites.google.com/a/utexas.edu/s4slide/home


Khushboo AroraKhushboo Arora has successfully defended her doctoral thesis on shelf sands and the processes that move them. Congratulations Khushboo!


AAPG ACE 2017 logoGraduate researchers recently presented posters at the 2017 GE Poster Fair, sponsored by ConocoPhillips.  This was a great run up to the upcoming AAPG meeting in Houston April 2-5.

AAPG ACE meeting will be held in Houston, Texas April 2-5.  SAND will have a research booth #1209, alongside other booths held by our colleagues in CoRE and MUDTOC.  SAND Presentations at the meeting include:

Presenter: L. Wood
Session Title: Theme 12: SEPM Research Symposium: How Seismic and Sequence Stratigraphy Have Advanced: 40 Years after AAPG Memoir 26 and 30 Years after SEPM Special Publication 42 II
Session Type: Oral
Session Date: April 4, 2017

Presenter: Z. Liu
Title: Continental Slope Evolution in Tertiary: Northwest Australia
Session Title: Theme 5: Deepwater: Deep-Marine Deposits: New Insights Relevant to Worldwide Deep-Water Exploration and Production (AAPG)
Session Date: April 4, 2017
Presentation Time: 1:30 PM- Posters
Session Location: Exhibition Hall D-E

Presenter: H. Kobayashi
Title: Morphological and Geological Characterization of Mass-Transport Deposits in the Deepwater Fold and Thrust Belt (DWFTB) of Offshore Malaysia
Session Title: AAPG Student Posters II
Session Date: April 4, 2017
Presentation Time: 8:30 AM- 12:00 PM
Session Location: Exhibition Hall D-E

Presenter: L. Welcome
Title: Arid Continental Rift Systems: Exploration of the Rio Grande Rift Basin Complex
Session Title: Theme 1: Siliciclastics: Challenging Basins/Mixed Systems (SEPM)
Session Date: April 4, 2017
Presentation Time: 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Session Location: Exhibition Hall D-E

Presenter: H. Deng
Title: The Influence of Topography on Subaqueous Sediment Gravity Flows and the Resultant Deposits: Examples From Deep-water Systems in Offshore Morocco and Offshore Trinidad
Session Title: Theme 5: Deepwater: Contributions From Numerical and Physical Models (SEPM)
Session Date: April 3, 2017
Time: 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Session Location: Exhibition Hall D-E

Presenter: H. Deng
Title: Quantitative Characterization of Submarine Mass Transport Deposit (MTD) Top Surface Topography and Its Influence on “Healing Phase” Post-emplacement Sedimentation
Session Title: AAPG Student Posters II
Session Date: April 4, 2017
Time: 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Session Location: Exhibition Hall D-E

Presenter: Stephen Schwarz
Title: Giants in the Rift: Petroleum System Elements of Rift-Basin Hosted Giant Fields
Authors: Stephen Schwarz(1); Leiaka Welcome(1); Lesli Wood(1)
Institutions: 1. Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, United States.
Session Title: Theme 11: Future of Energy: Exploration and Essential Tools for the Next Generation (AAPG)
Session Date: April 3, 2017
Presentation Time: 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Session Location: Exhibition Hall D-E

Presenter: M. Steidtmann
Title: Incised Valleys in the Parkman Sandstone, Wyoming: New Sequence Analysis Opens Up New Exploration and Development Opportunities in the Powder River Basin
Session Title: AAPG Student Posters II
Session Date: 04-Apr-2017
Presentation Time: 8:30 AM
Session Location: Exhibition Hall D-E


Sebastian CardonaInternational Ocean Discovery ProgramSebastian Cardona (PhD candidate) has been accepted as a scientist for the shipboard party of International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Creeping Gas Hydrate Slides and Hikurangi LWD Expedition (372).  The Expedition 372 Co-Chief Scientists (CCs) are Ingo Pecher (University of Auckland) and Philip Barnes (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research).


Warme FestThe WarmeFest is rocking this morning in the Green Center here on the CSMCampus, in honor of Dr. John Warme. Dr. Jeff May is filling attendees in on his field work on the nude beaches of California!


S4SLIDE London WorkshopDr. Lesli Wood attended a two day workshop in London sponsored by the S4SLIDE program, a community effort funded by UNESCO IGCP.  The workshop brought together a group of scientists working on mass failures around the world, at multiple scales, multiple ages and in multiple settings to discuss design of a community database in mass failures (photo right).


Zane Jobe delivers keynoteDr. Zane Jobe (photo left) and Dr. Lesli Wood both gave key note addresses at the currently in progress Deepwater Systems: Advances and Applications Conference going on in London at the Royal Geological Society.

2016

October - December

Stephen SchwarzStephen Schwarz has successfully defended his Master’s Thesis research titled “Syn-Rift Drainages and Sedimentary Fill Architecture: A Case Study in the Jurassic of the Dampier Sub-Basin” and has officially become Dr. Wood’s first graduate student to be completed from Colorado School of Mines!  Congratulations Stephen!


Rob GawthorpeDr. Rob Gawthorpe, 2016-2017 CSM Visiting Scientist and Professor of Petroleum Exploration at University of Bergen in Norway presented the Van Tuyl Lecture on Thursday November 17 titled “Rift Tectonics and Sedimentation – Insights from the Corinth Rift, Greece”.  Rob is collaborating with SAnD researchers in numerous studies of rift basin sediments and processes in the Rio Grande Rift, U.S. to the northwest shelf of Australia.


Several SAND researchers will be accepting internships for Summer 2017.  These include:

Sebastian Cardona will be working at Statoil’s Houston Office
Mimi Do will be working with XTO offices in Dallas, Texas
Alex Cheney will be working at BHP Billiton’s Houston Office
Matt Steidtman will be working at QEP in Denver, CO

Andrew Reisdorf has accepted a full time position at Schlumberger in Houston starting in 2017


Hang Deng will present a poster titled “The Influence of Topography on Subaqueous Sediment Gravity Flows and the Resultant Deposits: Examples from Deep-water Systems in Offshore Morocco and Offshore Trinidad”. Drop by an see it if you are at AGU in December!

Session Date and Time: Thursday, December 15th; 1:40 PM – 6:00 PM
Presentation Length: 13:55 – 14:10
Session: Sediment Transport Capacity of Flows: Controls on Source-to-Sink Evolution from Upland Catchments to the Deep Ocean II Posters
Location: Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA


Lesli Wood will beattending the Geological Society of London Deep-water Depositional Systems: Advances and Applications meeting January 25-27. 2017 at Burlington House to present a key note talk entitled “Mass Failure Processes and Deposits: A spoonful-of -sugar approach”.

July - September

Sebastian CardonaGSA 2016 logoPhD student Sebastian Cardona was the lastest awardee of the Stephen E Laubach Structural diagenesis Fellowship. This award addresses the rapidly growing recognition that fracturing, cement precipitation and dissolution, evolving rock mechanical properties and other structural diagenetic processes can govern recovery of resources and sequestration of material in deeply buried, diagenetically altered and fractured sedimentary rocks. The award highlights the growing need to break down disciplinary boundaries between structural geology and sedimentary petrology, exemplified by the work of Dr. Stephen Laubach and colleagues.

Article: Geology PhD student receives interdisciplinary research award

Pengfei Hou (PhD) presented his research on the Atoka Formation:

Stratigraphic architecture and depositional environments of an early foreland basin source-to-sink system: the Pennsylvanian Atoka Formation, Arkansas

Pengfei Hou

Pengfei Hou


Stephen Schwarz (MS) and Pengfei Hou (PhD)

Stephen Schwarz

Stephen Schwarz (MS) and Pengfei Hou (PhD) presented a technical talk and poster (respectively) at the 2016 Annual AAPG International Conference and Exhibition in Cancun, Mexico.

S.Schwarz
Theme 9: Reservoir Prediction and Characterization II
Title: Drainage Systems in Rift Basins: Implications for Reservoir Quality (Oral)
Authors: S. Schwarz, L. J. Wood, and D. B. Dunlap

P. Hou
Theme 9: Clastic and Carbonate Reservoir Prediction and Characterization II
Title: Stratigraphic Architecture and Depositional Environments of A Mud-Rich, Fine-Grained Early Foreland Source-to-Sink System: Pennsylvanian Atoka Formation in Arkansas (Poster)
Authors: P. Hou, L. J. Wood and Z. R. Jobe


Rob GawthorpeWelcome Dr. Rob Gawthorpe

SAND and CSM welcome Dr. Rob Gawthorpe, Professor at the University of Bergen Norway, to a one year sabbatical in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at CSM. Rob is a world thought leader in rift basin evolution and fill, as well as deepwater and continental margin depositional systems. SAND students and researchers are looking forward to collaborating with Rob on work in the continental Rio Grande Rift of New Mexico as well as in a multitude of other areas. Welcome Rob!


Zane JobeWelcome Dr. Zane Jobe

SAND and CSM welcome Dr. Zane Jobe to campus. Dr. Jobe has taken a position as Research Scientist in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, and will serve a duel roll as Director of the Chevron Center of Research Excellence at the Colorado School of Mines. Zane’s many interests include deepwater and fluvial channels and drainages, as well as processes in basins from source to sink. Welcome Zane!

April - June

field trip for the Four Corners Geological Society

About time! After working in the San Juan Basin for nearly 25 years, we led our first field trip for the Four Corners Geological Society. It was an opportunity to thank a group of people who have been so generous with their support of students and providing their expertise and data. It was a short, two day affair but what a great group of people. Attendees included Jim and Sarah Fassett who has worked in the basin his entire life and published several seminal papers on the basin, as well as brand new geos. Alex Cheney (MS Candidate CSM SAND) and Matthew Huels (New SAND MS Student) both assisted in the trip and shared their own interests. A good time was had by all.


AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition 2016 logo

Great job Andrew Reisdorf, Stephen Schwartz, and Alex Cheney. Your respective works were well received at this year’s ACE which was held in Calgary, during June 19-22nd. Keep up the hard work SAnD team!

Stephen Schwarz at ACE 2016

Alex Cheney at ACE 2016

SAnD would also like to say A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to the CSM IBA team who came third in the world at ACE 2016. We are so proud of you all!!

Mines IBA team at ACE 2016


INPEX visits SAnD at CSM

On June 10th SAnD had the pleasure of hosting two remarkable geophysicists from INPEX at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) campus: Mr. Masamichi Fujimoto (Senior Geophysicist) and Mr. Satoshi Ishikawa (Geophysicist), both traveled from Japan, to meet with Dr. Lesli J. Wood and their fellow colleague, and SAnD Researcher Hirofumi Kobayashi.

The purpose of the trip was for INPEX representatives to meet with Dr. Wood for in person discussions, so the INPEX team could become more familiar with SAnD’s current research projects and database at CSM. Discussions were also held regarding future INPEX-SAnD collaborative opportunities.


Now that summer has officially began, we would like to wish the following SAnD researchers good luck as they begin their summer internships.

Sebastian Cardona is at Statoil in Austin, Texas.
Alex Cheney is at BHPBilliton in Houston, Texas.
Andrew Reisdorf is at Schlumberger in Houston, Texas.
Stephen Schwarz is at Aera Energy in Bakersfield, California.
Leiaka Welcome is at HAKS in New York City.


Spring 2016 Field Trip to Trinidad: SAnD at the beach!

SAnD in Trinidad

Lesli Wood in Trinidad

On Sunday May 15th, upon completion of a successful spring semester, several members of SAnD, along with members of the CSM AAPG chapter, under the guidance of Dr. Lesli J. Wood embarked on a weeklong field trip to the island of Trinidad. The group of 17 (16 students and Dr. Wood) arrived in Trinidad on Sunday May 15th and departed on Saturday May 21st,after both a successful and enjoyable trip.

The objective of the field trip was to traverse the island of Trinidad in order to visit and explore pertinent outcrops, so that students could gain a better understanding and appreciation of the structure and stratigraphy of a giant hydrocarbon province located in the southeastern Caribbean Margin; Trinidad, Tobago and Barbados. The students’ learning experience and time in the field was further enhanced by the provision of detailed field guides, enlarged structure maps and annotated seismic lines.

The days comprised of several stops at various destinations throughout the island, active discussion, and lectures which addressed the respective geologic themes. Some of the stops included, but were not limited to the following localities:

  • Stollemeyer Quarry- Especially significant for understanding reservoir characterization
  • Morne L’Enfer at Cedros Bay – Significant outcrop for understanding parts of the stratigraphy and structure of the Western Trinidad
  • A full tour of the Atlantic LNG Plant
  • Manzanilla Fm. at Fishing Pond area – Discussion of the structure of the Caribbean Plate Margin and fields off the north coast
  • Digity mud volcano- A visit to one of the island’s prominent mud volcanoes

SAnD would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Tricia Alvarez and Dr. Hasley Vincent who co-lead the field trip along with Dr. Lesli J. Wood.

SAnD in Trinidad

SAnD in Trinidad


AAPG GRANTS IN AID RECIPIENTS 2016. Four of our students received AAPG Grants-in-aid awards.

  • Mimi Do: $2500 from the Peter W. Gester Memorial Fund
  • Hang Dang: $2500 AAPG Foundation Fund
  • Andrew Reisdorf and Alex Cheney: $1750 each from the John and Erika Lockridge Named Grant.

Congratulations to them and thank you AAPG for your continuous support!


Congratulations to our Ph.D student, Hang Dang, for receiving the GSA Grad Student Research Grant in the amount of $1375. Keep up the hard work!


SAnD field trip to Arkansas

SAnD field trip to Arkansas

SAND held their 15th annual meeting, or at least the deepwater systems half of it, Thursday April 21 followed immediately by a four day field trip to visit the passive margin (Jackfork) and the active margin (Atoka) deepwater deposits of Arkansas, which are under ongoing study by several graduate projects. Erik Scott and Repsol was kind enough to host the meeting this year in Repsol’s Woodland Texas facilities. Material from the meeting should be online by early May.

SAnD Annual Meeting

January - March

AAPG SEG ACE 2016

SAnD is heading to AAPG ICE Cancun, September 6-9th, 2016!

Congratulations to fellow SAnD members Pengfei Hou (PhD) and Stephen Schwarz (Ms). Their respective abstracts were accepted, and as a result, both students will be attending and presenting at this year’s AAPG|SEG International Conference and Exhibition.

Pengfei will be presenting his research in Mexico as a poster, under the theme: Clastic and Carbonate Reservoir Prediction and Characterization. Pengfei’s abstract title is: Stratigraphic Architecture and Depositional Environments of a Mud-Rich, Fine-Grained Early Foreland Basin Source-to-Sink System: Pennsylvanian Atoka Formation in Arkansas.
Stephen will be presenting his research in Mexico as an oral presentation on September 7th, 2016 during session theme 9: Reservoir Prediction and Characterization II. Stephen’s abstract title is: Drainage Systems in Rift Basins: implications for reservoir quality.
Keep up the great work Team!


On March 25th, 2016, the Graduate Student Government hosted the 1st Annual Graduate Research And Discovery Symposium (CSMGRADS) at the Colorado School of Mines. During the symposium a student poster presentation was held from 1:00 to 4:00 pm in the Student Center Grand Ballrooms, on CSM Campus. The following SAnD members presented posters during the session:

  • Hirofumi Kobayashi(PhD)- Morphologic and geologic characterization of mass transport deposits in fold and thrust belts: Sabah fold belt of Malaysia.
  • Leiaka Welcome (PhD) – Arid continental rift systems: Exploration of the Rio Grande Rift Basin complex.
  • Stephen Schwarz (Ms.) – Rift Basins, understanding reservoir challenges through a seismic geomorphologic approach.

Stephen Schwarz

Leiaka Welcome

Hirofumi Kobayashi

Keep up the great work Team!


Arkansas Field Trip

Arkansas Field Trip

Arkansas Field Trip

Arkansas Field Trip

The purpose of this trip was (1) To re-visit the Webco Quarry in El Paso, Arkansas for Andrew Reisdorf to collect more data for outcrop reservoir modelling, and for Pengfei Hou for stratigraphic architecture and ichnology study for the Middle Atoka Formation. (2) To do a reconnaissance of the outcrop localities for the upcoming post SAnD consortium meeting field trip at the end of April 2016. The personnel on this trip include Dr. Lesli Wood, Dr. Darrin Burton (Lesli’s previous student from UT Austin), Andrew Reisdorf, Pengfei Hou.

The data collected in this trip includes: measured sections from Webco Quarry, hand samples from Webco Quarry, more photos panels of all the walls in the Webco Quarry, more trace and body fossil photos from Webco Quarry, more photo panels from the Blue Mountain Dam outcrop, more outcrops along Mount Magazine along Highway 309, photo panels from the Midway Quarry (Schwarz Stone Co.) of the Pennsylvanian Hartshorne Sandstone, and some other un-visited outcrop localities of Atoka along Interstate 40 of the Atoka Formation, which should be paid more attention to for future field work.


Andrew Reisdorff and Alex Cheney both received a grant from the Bartshe Endowment Fund.

Bartshe Endowment
Established through the generosity of R. Timothy Bartshe, an alumnus who received degrees in mining engineering in 1971 and geological engineering in 1973, the Bartshe Endowment supports the thesis-related expenses of geology graduate students specializing in stratigraphy and sedimentology.

Congratulations to the both of them!


GE Department Student Research Fair On Thursday February 18th 2016, the 3rd annual GE Department Student Research Fair was held at the Colorado School of Mines campus, in Ballrooms A & B at the Ben Parker Student Center, Golden, Colorado. This year’s research fair consisted of over 70 student presenters, spanning a total of 7 categories. The SAnD consortium was very well represented at the ConocoPhillips sponsored event, as every member successfully presented a research poster for judging and viewing respectively .

Special acknowledgment and congratulations to the following two SAnD members for placing in their respective categories:

Mr. Stephen Schwarz (Ms) – runner up in the Petroleum/Soft Rock Masters category.
Mr. Hirofumi Kobayashi (PhD) – runner up in the Pre-Candidacy PhD.
What an exciting Spring semester thus far!


Congratulations to first year Masters student Alex Cheney on receiving the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists’ $5000 grant! The purpose of the grant is to support geologic studies in the Rocky Mountains and to reward excellence in geologic achievement. Alex’s research goals are to better define the characteristics and controls of the petroleum system in the San Juan Basin, complete a regional characterization of the Gallup/Tocito/El Vado interval and predict new directions for exploration growth.


1. Thanks to SAnD researcher Alex Cheney, as well as plenty of input from his colleagues, we have a new SAnD logo going forward.  Thanks Alex!

SAnD logo SAnD logo

2. Summer Time, and the jobs are still there.  Several SAnD researchers have summer internships this year.

  • Alex Cheney will be with BHPBilliton
  • Sebastian Cardona will be with Statoil.
  • Stephen Schwarz will be with Aera Energy.
  • Andrew Reisdorf will be with Schlumberger.

Still more may be on the horizon.  Proof positive that in bad times, there are still opportunities for good people.

3. The CSM Student Poster Fair is happening from 4:00 to 6:00 pm on the CSM Campus on Thursday February 18th, and amid the group, we have 13 SAnD students presenting posters on their work.  Topics include:

  • Alex Cheney – Controls on regional distribution patterns in prolific western interiors shelf sand reservoirs: Tocito, El Vado and Gallup Sands of the San Juan Basin.
  • Hang Deng – The influence of topography on gravity-flow-driven processes and resultant deposits: examples from deep-water system in offshore Morocco and offshore Trinidad
  • Hirofumi Kobayashi – Morphologic and geologic characterization of mass transport deposits in fold and thrust belts: Sabah fold belt of Malaysia.
  • Kherlen Batbayar – Depositional, stratigraphic and oil potential assessment of the Middle Jurassic Eedemt formation of the Nyalga sub basins of Mongolia
  • Stephen Schwarz – Rift Basins, understanding reservoir challenges through a seismic geomorphologic approach.
  • Leiaka Welcome – Arid continental rift systems. Exploration of the Rio Grande Rift Basin complex
  • Pengfei Hou – Stratigraphic architecture and depositional environments of a mud-ric, fine-grained early foreland basin source-to-sink system: the Pennsylvanian Atoka Formation of Arkansas
  • Mimi Do – Nature and distribution of clays in high net:gross deepwater submarine channel and lobe complexes: consequences for reservoir models and fan architecture.
  • Obianuju Ugwu-Oju – The Berbice Mega-canyon in the Cretaceous continental margin of northeastern South America: A mega-submarine sediment feeder to the Cretaceous deepwater fans of northeastern South America
  • Sebastian Cardona – Multi-Scale Approach to Assess the Seal Capacity of Mass-Transport Deposits: Case Study from the Jubilee Gas Field, Offshore Gulf of Mexico and Outcrops from the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand
  • Xiaoxue Liuzhuang – Continental slope evolution in a late Cretaceous super-greenhouse setting: Northwest Australia

2015

October - December

Rapanui MTDMimi and SebastianDECEMBER:

Mimi and Sebastian performed fieldwork in New Zealand November of 2015. Sebastian’s main goal this field season was to create a seismic scale photomosaic of the Rapanui MTD along the western coast of Taranaki Basin.

In total, he collected ~3km in high-resolution photos for interpretation. Mimi’s aim was to collect near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS) data points within various facies of a submarine channel to lobe complex for clay identification. This novel approach will be used towards better characterizing clay distribution, morphology, and fabrics within a high sand-to-mud submarine fan system.


Stephen Schwarz (Masters Candidate) attended the 2015, 34th Annual GCSSEPM Foundation Perkins-Rosen Research Conference for Petroleum Systems in Rift BasinsDecember 13-16, Stephen Schwarz (Masters Candidate) attended the 2015, 34th Annual GCSSEPM Foundation Perkins-Rosen Research Conference for Petroleum Systems in Rift Basins. During the conference which was held in Houston, Texas Stephen presented his work titled: Drainage Systems in Rift Basins: implications for reservoir quality and Structural Setting, Architectural Elements, and Basin Fill Evolution Structural Setting. Stephen’s research was not only well received, but also generated further interest. Dr. Lesli Wood (Advisor) and fellow SAnD member Leiaka Welcome (PhD Candidate) were also in attendance, collecting and exchanging data and ideas regarding rifts with fellow colleagues.


Congratulations to Andrew Reisdorf, Stephen Schwartz, and Alex Cheney!

Their abstracts (respectively) titled:
“Three-Dimensional Modeling of a Quarried Deltaic Reservoir System: Atoka Formation, Arkansas”
“Drainage Systems in Rift Basins: Implications for Reservoir Quality”
“Controls on regional distribution patterns in prolific Western Interior shelf sand reservoirs: Tocito, El Vado and Gallup Sands of the San Juan Basin”

All were accepted for presentation at AAPG’s Annual Convention & Exhibit 2016. The upcoming AAPG ACE will be held in Calgary between 19-22 June, 2016.


Dr. Lesli Wood will be giving the RMS AAPG December talk on Wednesday December 2 at Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant- 500 16th Street Mall #150, 11:30am. The topic of her talk is “Re-visiting controls on shelf sand distribution and renewing exploration success in these highly complex depositional settings: Application of worldwide studies to improved exploration success in the basins of the Western Interior.”


NOVEMBER:

New Zealand field tripSebastian Cardona (PhD Candidate) will attend the 7th International Conference for Submarine Mass Failures and their Consequences at the end of October to be held in Wellington, New Zealand. Sebastian will present his work on the sealing properties of mass transport deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S., as well as co-lead the conference field trip. Following the meeting, Sebastian a


Mimi Do is heading to New Zealand this month, where she will meet up with Sebastian Cardona for field work on the deepwater turbidites and mass transport deposits of the North Island.


Andrew Reisdorf and Uju Ugwe-Oju received grants through the Apache Scholars Program which recognizes exceptionally high academic achievement in Geology and Geophysics.


OCTOBER:

Mimi Do (MS Candidate) has been awarded a grant from ASD Inc, a Boulder based company recognized for providing high performance analytical instrumentation, as part of their Students in Mining and Energy initiative that will allow her to utilize their state-of-the-art hyperspectral scanner during upcoming field work in the deepwater deposits of the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. Mimi is assessing the ability to map the distribution of clay types in outcrop and possibly tie their distribution to depositional process and facies.


Hang Deng (PhD Candidate) was awarded a grant-for-registration and costs to attend an NSF sponsored Summer Workshop at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana where he also presented a poster. The conference included topics in modeling of sedimentary processes, a topic closely aligned with Hang’s doctoral research in the effect of complex topography on deepwater gravity flows.


Andrew Reisdorf (MS Candidate) will be attending a Petrel Modeling course in Calgary in early December in continued learning toward the modeling study he is doing in collaboration with Pengfei Hou’s work in the Atoka Deltaic quarry deposits of Arkansas.


Leiaka Welcome (PhD Candidate) attended the National Association of Black Geologists 35th Annual Technical Conference in Houston, Texas September 9-12th. Leiaka is serving as the organization’s national Assistant Secretary and Social Media chair for 2015-2017. NABG was established and incorporated in 1981 in Houston, Texas and has been an active organization nationwide with members in the oil and gas industry, academia, government and academia.

July - September

Fall, 2015: Cardona and Prieto to present research at 7th International Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences

Sebastian Cardona and Maria Prieto both received significant financial grants from the organizers of the upcoming 7th International Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences (funding by E-MARSHAL/IGCP-585 and S4SLIDE/IGCP-640) to be held this fall in New Zealand. Both Maria and Sebastian will be presenting their research, and Sebastian will be co-leading a field trip in association with the conference.

Congratulations to both Sebastian and Maria. They do excellent science!


Fall, 2015: Maria Prieto Research Presentation in New Zealand

Maria PrietoMaria Prieto AAPG presentationMaria Prieto has just completed a manuscript for submission to the proceedings of the upcoming 7th International Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences to be held in New Zealand this fall. She will present the results of her work in current-driven sedimentation along continental margins.


Fall, 2015: Sebastian Cardona Research Presentation in New Zealand

Sebastian CardonaSebastian Cardona will present his research in the sealing capacity of mass transport deposits at the 7th International Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences to be held in New Zealand this fall. Sebastian has recently performed fieldwork and collected samples in well-exposed outcrops of mass transport deposits (MTDs) on the western shore of New Zealand near Mokau, New Plymouth. He documented about 1 kilometer of exposure and collected nearly 50 samples to study the different styles of deformation and microfabrics within a single MTD. His research hopes to reveal styles of deformation in MTDs and how they transmit fluids in the subsurface to better predict their seal potential.


Summer, 2015: Dallas Dunlap working on SAND projects in Colorado

Dallas DunlapDallas Dunlap is spending some productive time this summer out of the Austin heat and in the Colorado mountains working on a variety of projects with SAND researchers. Dallas is spending some time loading and interpreting seismic data from the northwest shelf of Australia.


Summer, 2015: Sebastian Cardona receives grant from Clay Minerals Society

Sebastian Cardona is the recipient of a $3000 grant from the Clay Minerals Society to further his studies in the sealing capacity of MTDs. He will use the funding to complete x-ray goniometry analyses on the MTD samples as part of his PhD.


Summer, 2015: Lesli Wood in Southeast Asia and Australalia; working with INPEX and PETRONAS

Lesli WoodLesli Wood is spending July and August in the southeast Asia and Australia region. She will be working in Kuala Lumpur as a guest of INPEX, as well as teaching an INPEX sponsored class in the Connectivity of Deepwater Reservoirs. The work with INPEX and PETRONAS in the Sabah fold belt is part of ongoing studies at SAND of deepwater fold and thrust belt sedimentation, being headed by doctoral candidate Hirofumi Kobayashi.

April - June

SAND presentations at AAPG in Denver, CO, June 1-3, 2015

TALKS
Arora, K., Mohrig, D.and Wood, L. 2015, Influence of storm processes on cross-shelf sediment transport
Session Title: Theme 4: Quantitative Characterization and Modeling of Sedimentary Systems (AAPG/SEPM)
Session Date: June 3, 2015
Presentation Time: 9:05 AM to 9:25 AM
Session Location: Room 501/502/503

POSTERS
Sebastian Cardona, Lesli Wood and Lorena Moscardelli, 2015, “Sealing Capacity of Mass Transport Deposits: Depositional Model for a Deepwater Reservoir in the Jubilee Gas Field, Eastern Gulf of Mexico”
Theme 4: Deepwater System Architecture
Session Day and Time: Wednesday, June 3, 2015, 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Location: Exhibition Hall

Logan West and L. Wood, 2015, Imaging of Deepwater Channel Architectural Elements of the Jackfork Formation, Arkansas, Using Ground Penetrating Radar and Application to Reservoir Modeling
Session Day and Time: June 1, 2015 ; 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Location: Exhibition Hall

Hirofumi Kobayashi, Keita Kojima, Lesli Wood, 2015, Linkages Between Deepwater Fold and Thrust Belt Structuring and Reservoir/Seal Nature, Deepwater, Offshore Malaysia
Theme 4: Innovative Methods for the Characterization of Deepwater Systems (AAPG/SEPM)
Session Day and Time: June 3, 2015, 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Location: Exhibition Hall , Booth Number: 16B

Maria Prieto, L. Moscardelli and L. Wood, 2015, Influence of Bottom Currents on Gravity-Induced Deposits as Potential Triggers for Slope Instability & as Sediment-Redistribution Agents
Session title: Theme 4: Deepwater System Architecture (AAPG/SEPM) – Exhibition Hall
Date and time: June 3rd, 8:30 am – 12:00pm

Stevenson H. Bunn, Lesli J. Wood, and Dallas Dunlap, 2015, Toward an Accurate Reservoir Model of Heterolithic, Tidally-Influenced Deposits: An Ongoing Case Study in the Sego Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Through Second-Generation, Outcrop-To-Subsurface 3-D Modeling
Session Title: Theme 2: Developments and Discoveries (AAPG)
Date and Time: June 3, 2015;  8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Location: Exhibition Hall , Booth Number: 5D


Spring, 2015: Dallas Dunlap Receives Distinguished Service Award

Dallas DunlapThe Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies’ Board of Directors awarded Dallas Dunlap a Distinguished Service Award for his many contributions to the GCAGS and specifically his role as the General Chair of the 2012 Convention and exemplary service as Chair of the Continuity Committee. Dallas has been a research with our program for the past decade as well as fulfilling this involvement. Congratulations to Dallas!


Spring, 2015: Khushboo Arora Receives GSA Research Grant

Khushboo Arora and John SouthardKhushboo Arora (shown here with John Southard) has been awarded a GSA research grant for 2015 for her work in examining shelfal transport mechanisms for deepwater sands and shelf sand accumulations. There were nearly $2 million dollars in requests so the process was very competitive. Congratulations Khushboo! Khushboo will be presenting her work at the upcoming AAPG in Denver.


Spring, 2015: Logan West Receives JSG Funding for Jackfork Field Studies

Logan WestLogan West was awarded funding from the JSG to pursue additional field studies in the Jackfork as a followup to the Ground Penetrating Radar data that he collected in Arkansas last summer. Logan will present some of his work at the upcoming AAPG in Denver. Good job Logan!

January - March

March 1-2, 2015: Lesli Wood Short Course at WEC

Lesli Wood was in Houston March 1 and 2 teaching a Deepwater Reservoirs Connectivity Short Couse for AAPG’s Winter Education Conference. See info at www.aapg.org/career/training/in-person/education-conference/details/articleid/8991/world-class-education-conference.


On Beyond ZebraFebruary 19, 2015: Lesli Wood Talk at Mines

Lesli Wood presented a talk entitled “On Beyond Zebra: Moving from Depositional Models to Integrated Modeling of Deposits” to the CSM Student AAPG Chapter on Thursday February 19th.


February 19, 2015: Hirofumi Kobayashi Poster Presentation at Mines

Hirofumi KobayashiHirofumi Kobayashi (PhD Candidate) presented a poster at the CSM Research Symposium held Thursday, February 19th on the CSM Campus. Representatives from numerous companies attended along with departmental faculty and students from CSM and other Colorado campuses. Hiro’s poster, titled “Sediment movements and basin evolution in Deepwater Fold Belts: Focus Offshore NW Borneo, Malaysia” is available for download at Member Files: 2015 (active SAND member login required).


February, 2015: Logan West Poster Presentation at UT

Logan WestLogan West (PhD Candidate UT) presented a poster at the JSG Research Symposium held in early February at the UT Campus. Logan has been working with Lesli Wood on several large GPR data sets that he collected in the summer of 2014 over several classic Jackfork Sandstone deepwater outcrops. He will present his work at AAPG in June.


February, 2015: Katherine Shover Poster Presentation at UT

Katherine Shover (MS student at UT) presented a poster at the JSG Research Symposium held in early February at the UT Campus. Katherine’s poster, titled “Further evidence for an ancient ocean on Mars: potential Martian analogs to terrestrial contourites and the spatial distribution of other deep-water analogs on Mars”, is available for download at Member Files: 2015 (active SAND member login required).


January 30, 2015: Brian Kiel Research Defense

Brian KielBrian Kiel (doctoral candidate) successfully orally defended his research for his committee and the public on January 30th. Brian is revising some of his chapters and manuscripts and will complete this spring. Brian’s work has generated a unique dataset on river systems throughout the entire United States that chapters the river morphology, as well as elucidates the controls on river morphology. Congratulations Brian!


January 27-28, 2015: Lesli Wood Talk at AAPG

Lesli WoodLesli Wood presented a talk on healing phase turbidite deposits at the AAPG Deepwater and Shelf GTW held January 27 and 28th in Houston. The conference brought together individuals working around the world, with particular interest in 2015 on the areas of the southern Gulf of Mexico.


January 13, 2015: Meeting with Repsol

Tricia AlvarezLesli Wood and Tricia Alvarez visited with Repsol in the Woodlands, Texas offices January 13 to discuss the work SAND is doing in the northeastern South American region. They spent the afternoon in discussions and presentations with representatives from several group in Repsol and discussed ongoing collaboration in the area. Tricia’s dissertation work is available on the SAND database.


January 1, 2015: New Name and Location at Mines!

Snow on campusThe research program “Formerly Known as QCL” is moving to Colorado School of Mines. Beginning January 1, 2015 we start a new phase in our program along with a new name–The Sedimentary Analogs Database and Research Program (SAnD). We will continue to do the great, student-centered, applied research that we have always done, but with new colleagues, collaborators and digs.

Members will be receiving new login info for the SANDatabase, along with the new database location and instructions for accessing it. Come and see us in Golden, Colorado!