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In This Issue...The Calgary Flood of 2013

CSPG 50th Core Conference, 2019

Advances in Earth Science Research Conference

September 6, 2019 1:00-4:00 pm, AGAT Laboratories

Workshop Presentations *subject to change*

Reservoir Models for the Duvernay Formation from Facies and Sequence Stratigraphic Analysis Speaker: Nicolas Harris, University of Alberta

Are We Underestimating the Role of Natural Fractures in Western Canada's Unconventional Plays? A Discussion around the Duvernay and Montney Speakers: Amy Fox, Enlighten Geoscience & Graham Davies, Graham Davies Geological Consultants

Hidden Secrets of the Devonian Duvernay Formation: Origin of OM and Minerals, Diagenetic Processes and their Influences on Rock-Fluid Interaction Speaker: Raphael Wust, AGAT Laboratories

Lithofacies Dependency of Petrophysical and Geomechanical Properties of the Duvernay Formation: The Importance of Representative Rock Sampling for Capturing Reservoir Heterogeneity Speaker: Henry Galvis-Portilla, University of Calgary

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RESERVOIR ISSUE 4 • JULY/AUGUST 2019 3

PRESIDENTMarty Hewitt

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FRONT COVER

Cross-beds and mud rivulets, Russia. Bi-directional tidal cross-beds occur in shoreline exposures of Miocene Nutovsky Formation, northern Sakhalin, Russia. The Nutovsky is one of the primary onshore and offshore reservoirs in the region. The root-like markings are surficial muds washed down from the overlying soils and Quaternary alluvium.

Photo: Philip Benham

JULY/AUGUST 2019 – VOLUME 46, ISSUE 4

MONTHLY SPONSORS ..............................................................................................4

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR ...................................................................................6

TECHNICAL ARTICLE

The Calgary Flood of 2013 ........................................................................................7

Go Take a Hike ........................................................................................................13

UPCOMING EVENTS

Technical Luncheon ...............................................................................................15

SOCIETY NEWS

CSPG 50th Core Conference, 2019 ........................................................................16

Advances in Earth Science Research Conference ................................................18

Queen’s University and Acadia University Bermuda Carbonate Seminar BIOS, Bermuda – 2019 ............................................................................................22

Honorary Membership ...........................................................................................24

Medal of Merit .........................................................................................................26

President’s Award....................................................................................................28

H.M. Hunter Award .................................................................................................30

Tracks Award ...........................................................................................................32

Walt Gamp Obituary ..............................................................................................33

Robert A. Meneley Obituary ..................................................................................34

6 RESERVOIR ISSUE 4 • JULY/AUGUST 2019

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

GeoConvention 2019 and the 50th Core Conference are already history. Summer has arrived and by

the time Members receive this issue, will be at its height. Days are (sigh!) already getting shorter and the sun is rising further south. But at least the daylight hours still exceed darkness. Get out there and golf, run and make plans for the full sweep of CSPG social/athletic events coming up in the fall.

The good news to report at this time is all about the autumn professional development opportunities CSPG is planning and promoting, beginning with CSPG Core to Characterization Workshop, October 3 that will be held in conjunction with the SPE ATCE Conference. Gussow 2019 happens October 15-17 and will deal with the basic science for “New Direction in Geoscience for Unconventional Resources – living at the interface between geochemistry, geomechanics and engineering”. The two conferences continue the series begun in the spring at the Rock Analysis Workshop and the Core Conference on reservoir characterization and classification. Given the sense of optimism currently in vogue, the more professional petroleum geologists know about these vital topics, the more marketable their skills will be in 2020 and forward.

In additional to the conference events, don’t forget the technical division’s free lunchtime talks for September in the back pages that also count for

Professional Development Credits and the September Luncheon on the 17th. Check the CSPG website for details.

We have a full crop of articles in this edition for you to harvest as well. Jon Noad’s analysis of the 2013 flood and its aftermath are featured, along with the award citations for the Honorary Membership, Medal of Merit, President’s Award, H.M. Hunter, and Tracks award.

It is still the season of field geologizing, and if you find yourself in breathtaking New Brunswick, take in the Go Take A Hike contribution for this edition from Dave Keighley, our guy at UNB.

That’s it for this go-round and may you all finish in the money.

Tom Sneddon Professional Geologist (Alberta), Professional Geoscientist (B.C.) retired recently as Director of Geoscience and Outreach for APEGA, has been a member of the CSPG for over 40 years, and has pursued a career in geoscience since his university days. He has two degrees – both from Alberta: initially from the University of Calgary in 1969 (B.A. Geography), and from the University of Alberta (M.Sc. in Water Resources, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1981). His initial industry experience was with Amoco Canada in 1967-69 as a “Geophysical Professional Assistant” for seismic data management, processing, and seismic section preparations.

Tom has taken his broad geoscience experience – over 30 years of earth sciences experience, including experimental watershed research, hydrology, hydrogeology, environmental geology, oil and gas prospect development, drilling programs, and extensive field work in minerals exploration and development – in both government and industry, and applied it to the promotion of professionalism within the geosciences, through his role at APEGA.

Readers of The RECORDER, The Source, the CSPG Reservoir, and The PEG have seen Tom’s numerous articles on the role of the professional geoscientist.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

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THE CALGARY FLOOD OF 2013Jon Noad, Gran Tierra Energy; University of Alberta

IntroductionOn June 21st 2013, over 100,000 people left their homes in Canada's biggest ever evacuation. The flooding in Alberta over the following week was, at the time, the costliest disaster in Canadian history, estimated at more than $1.7 BB in insurable value. The communities most affected by the flooding were Canmore, Calgary and High River. Despite previous flooding in 2005, few lessons appear to have been learned and little improvement made in handling such a catastrophe. In this article we will examine the reasons for the flooding, its impact, its geological significance and the likelihood of it being repeated.

Why did the flood happen?The Bow River rises at the Bow Glacier in Banff National Park and flows 587 km through the Bow River Basin, before forming the South Saskatchewan River where it joins the Oldman River near Grassy Lake in southern Alberta. The river is fed by precipitation, with around 600 mm of snow and rain falling in mountain valleys to around 300 mm on the eastern Prairies. Between 25 to 50% of the precipitation falls as snow.

In mid June 2013 a high pressure system in northern Alberta blocked the passage of a low pressure system to the South (a rare cold low). Easterly winds pumped humidity onto the rising slopes of Rocky Mountain foothills, drawing water all the way from the Gulf of Mexico. This led to rainfall that exceeded 300 mm of rain between the 20th and 21st June, equivalent to at least six months’ precipitation in what is classified as a semi arid region. Ground conditions saturated by snow melt exacerbated the runoff, which caused rapid erosion of the mountainous terrain around Canmore. However, contrary to popular belief, snowfall levels were actually fairly low in the Spring of that year and did not contribute significantly to the flood waters.

Geological impact upstreamUpstream, the impact of the heavy rainfall

could be studied near Canmore. Cougar Creek feeds into Canmore from the mountains to the northeast. Where the creek debouched from the mountains into the valley, it had deposited a large alluvial fan. Prior to the 1940s the highway skirted the fan, which was cut by a series of distributive channels. By 2013 the highway had been cut across the fan, and housing developments covered its surface. A narrow, straight path had been excavated to contain Cougar Creek, instead of the channels being allowed to migrate across the fan surface as in earlier times.

The creek’s drainage basin is only 40 km2, yet it is estimated that, from June 20th, the creek fed 4 billion litres of water through a 23 m gap at the head of the alluvial fan in less than two days. This resulted in a series of debris floods that transported a slurry of coarse sediment through the creek. Debris floods occur where sediment loads increase due to extreme rainfall, triggered by hill slope processes such as debris flows and slumps. Boulders the size of small cars rode these flows, which eroded up to 100

Figure 1. Downtown Calgary at the height of the flooding (Phil Benham).

Figure 2. Flooding in High River, 2013 (Phil Benham).

(Continued on page 8...)

TECHNICAL ARTICLE


feet into the banks of the creek, sweeping away several large houses.

Later excavations into the creek bed revealed a stack of debris flood deposits, with at least 7 separate episodes recorded, dating back over the last 4000 years. The debris flood deposits are interbedded with fluvial (river) deposits and palaeosols (ancient soils). Debris flows are triggered by landslides, which evolve into debris floods when they encounter a channel. They are also known as hyperconcentrated flows, due to the high sediment load, and two populations (small and large events) have been identified in Canmore. The resulting floods washed away portions of Highways 1 and 1A, and triggered several mudslides leaving Canmore, for a time, completely cut off. Most of the flooding occurred close to Cougar Creek, and the 2013 flood event has been estimated as a 400 year return event.

Geological impact downstreamBy the time it reaches Calgary, the Bow River is a typical glacial river, dominated by a very coarse bedload, with large limestone pebbles and boulders on the river bed. The suspended load comprises glacial rock flour, mainly clay to silt grade sediment, at fairly low concentrations. This means that there is little mobile sediment available to be deposited as overbank deposits, when the river breaches its banks. As a result, following the flooding, the basements of properties adjacent to the river were typically coated with a relatively thin veneer of (smelly) mud. Locally there were thicker deposits of silt, but these were usually eroded within a few weeks.

Two studies support this finding. The first focused on a low lying area alongside the Bow River in Inglewood, just to the east of the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers. This area was flooded to a depth of at least 3 feet during the flood, with the river flowing through it. However no more than a cm of siltstone was deposited here, with a rippled top demonstrating the flow path parallel to the main channel. Meanwhile another study, examining deposition in the river thalweg (the deepest portion of the Bow River channel) in the same area, found that the sediment fill was dominated by golf balls, the only coarse grained bedload capable of being transported significant distances by the river currents.

This is not to say that the coarse limestone and quartzite pebbles remained stationary. However they were typically transported only a few metres, with the flood waters building up gravel braid bars to a level several decimetres above the river surface. It has been observed that the resulting bars have gradually been flattened and deflated (surfaces lowered) over the succeeding years, probably due to a combination of Spring runoff and ice push generated by the frozen river during the Winter.

Two aspects of river behaviour during the flooding had significant impacts on the city. Firstly many of the point bars along the river were flooded. Point bars form on the inside of meander bends, and grow in size as the river migrates laterally. During high flow, rivers tend to take short cuts across the point bars rather than flowing around them. This led to severe flooding in areas including Bowness, the downtown area and in Inglewood. Scouring also occurred in many areas, undercutting the banks, destroying pathways and weakening bridges, often to the point of collapse.

Impact on the communities of Calgary and High RiverCalgary was undoubtedly hit very hard by the flooding. Over 80,000 people were evacuated from 26 neighbourhoods along the river banks and the downtown area was virtually abandoned for a week or more.

Figure 3. Debris flood flowing down Cougar Creek in Canmore (Phil Villeneuve).

Figure 4. Cougar Creek erodes through Highway 1 in Canmore.

Figure 5. Areas impacted by flooding in Calgary (image taken from Google’s Alberta flooding map; June 21st, 2013). Red shading marks declared State of Emergency areas.

(Continued from page 7...)



The Saddledome was among facilities damaged by flood waters, as were several transit tunnels. In Inglewood the Bow River ate away 60 metres of bank and many other riverside pathways were washed away. Later that week the Bonnybrook Bridge collapsed as a CPR train, pulling trucks loaded hazardous chemicals, was crossing the Bow River. The pilings underpinning the bridge had been scoured, but very fortunately the trucks did not hurtle into the river. A number of pedestrian bridges were washed away.

Thousands of private houses were flooded. In some properties, water spilled through

windows into basements, but in many cases the lack of a sewage return valve meant that flood waters entered via the outflow pipes. The former “acts of God” were technically NOT covered by insurance, while the latter cases were. Cleaning up after the flooding had to be very thorough as there was a risk of E. coli bacterial infections from the stagnant flood waters.

The City of Calgary showed incredible spirit, later winning a special award. Calls for volunteers to help with the clean up operation were inundated with thousands of willing helpers. Despite the Elbow River diverting its course through the Grounds,

the Calgary Stampede went ahead less than two weeks later. The town of High River was completely evacuated after the Highwood river flooded over the tops of vehicles in the downtown area. Sadly, three of the four victims of drowning were in High River, and citizens waited longer than in Calgary before being allowed to return to their homes. Whole areas of the town were eventually razed to the ground and returned to their natural state. More than twenty other municipalities, including Medicine Hat and Turner Valley, were also affected by flooding. Clean up costs and damage repair in Alberta has been estimated to exceed $5 Billion, of which perhaps $1.7 Billion was

Figure 6. Flooding in Inglewood, on a pathway adjacent to the Bow River (Jon Noad).

Figure 7. Unhappy giraffes in Calgary Zoo during the flood (Calgary Zoo by permission).

Figure 8. Beaver sheltering under a tree at Fort Calgary with her kit during the flood (Jon Noad).

Figure 9. Silt deposited close to the Bow River near Beaver Flats (Jon Noad).


covered by insurance.

Impact on wildlifeMany animals were forced to migrate further from the river, with skunks walking to adjacent blocks. Beavers were flooded out of their dams and cowered under trees along the river bank. Water birds were obviously unaffected, although the infrastructure at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary was partially destroyed. Fish were caught by hand in Bridgeland, after swimming along the street. Residents of the zoo were hard hit, with the hippos able to float out of their enclosure, while the giraffes were submerged up to their tummies. Stories suggesting that the lions and tigers had to be relocated to the downtown jail

were urban myths, and luckily a peacock was the only animal fatality in the zoo.

Flood mitigationSeveral steps were taken to prepare the residents of southern Alberta for further flooding. In Canmore a debris net and steel mesh were erected across Cougar Creek, just upstream of where the creek leaves the confines of its channel in the mountains. In Calgary, councillors bought out flood zone properties, and recommended building a dry dam west of Bragg Creek. They also investigated building a 5 kilometre tunnel to divert flood waters from the Elbow River away from the beltline. A channel was also constructed to divert water around High River.

Flood statistics and the likelihood of a repeat floodThere is a continuous record of the depth of flow in the Bow River dating back to 1911. The three largest floods were recorded in 1879, 1897 and in 2013. The highest discharge, around 2249 m3/second passing a set point, was in 1879, compared to 1740 m3/second in 2013. The peak flows in the earlier floods were some 30% higher than Calgary experienced in 2013. Caution is required when comparing floods separated by over 100 years, due to the changes in river management, with several dams being constructed along the river in the 1930’s and 50’s.

Following floods in Calgary in 1928 and

Figure 10. Thin layer of silt deposited as overbank deposits close to the Bow River in Inglewood (Jon Noad).

Figure 11a. View of the braid bars at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers at Fort Calgary in November 2012 (on the left, pre flood: Google Earth) and in October 2013 (post flood).

Figure 11b. Same view as above, with braid bars picked out in yellow.Figure 12. The area delineated in red was completely eroded during the flood in Inglewood (Google Earth).


TECHNICAL ARTICLE


1932, there was a hiatus until 2005. Some “experts” believed that this was due to the calming influence generated by the dams, but examination of discharge records for the four major rivers in southern Alberta (Red Deer, Bow, Oldman and Milk Rivers) suggests that all that happened was that floods continued to occur every four years or so, but typically impacted small communities and hence did not make the news. All of these floods occurred in June, and there is considerable evidence that similar weather patterns develop every few years, in late Spring, somewhere in

southern Alberta. Indeed, the following year saw a very similar high trapped over Milk River, causing severe flooding in that area.

The flood of 2013 saw discharge rates five times the average discharge in the Bow River, and up to ten times the average discharge in the Elbow River. River levels were some 14 feet above the seasonal average in the Bow River as it flowed through Calgary. What is the chance that history will repeat itself? There is approximately a 63.4% chance of one or more 100 year

Figure 13. Restoration of the eroded area in Figure 13, in Inglewood (Jon Noad).

Figure 15. View of the Mission area in Calgary, showing the flooded oxbow lakes, where many large houses had been constructed.

Figure 17. Graph showing the peak discharge by year for Calgary. Note the extreme flood events in 1879, 1897 and 2013 (Jon Noad: data from government open source website).

Figure 14. View of the flooded point bar at Inglewood Golf Course.

Figure 16. The collapse of the Bonnybrook Bridge in Inglewood, due to scouring around the central pillar (Jon Noad).



floods occurring in any 100 year period, and a 26.4% chance of one occurring in a 30 year period. The 2013 flood was only 60% of the highest recorded discharge, so was not a 100 year flood. A flood study by Montreal Engineering in 1977 suggested an average recurrence interval of 70 years for a 2270 m3/second flood, making the 2013 flood a small one. Since then several studies reduced the risk to as low as 1720 m3/second (2010), laughably smaller than the 2013 flood figures. All of this suggests that we are likely to see another flood, equal to or greater in size than the 2013 flood, within the next 25 years.

ConclusionsThe 2013 flood was one of Canada’s greatest disasters in terms of cost, exceeding that of Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately only five lives were lost, in no small part due to the greatest evacuation in Canadian history. However little has been done to prepare Calgary for the “next one” beyond a couple of minor projects. In an overall environment of global warming, rainfall is liable to increase, potentially fuelling much larger floods, and there is a real need to revisit the increasing risk to Calgary of another “100 year flood”.

ReferencesWikipedia

Canmore town website

Article by Jerry Osborn, Calgary Herald,

Figure 18. Flooding in the Fort Calgary area in 1897 (published with permission from Glenbow Museum).

Figure 19. River catchment areas for the Red Deer (blue), Bow (brown). Oldman (green) and Milk (purple) River basins (Alberta Environment; open source government map).

Figure 20. Graph showing flood events in the four catchment basins in Figure 20. Note how there is a flood event every three to five years somewhere in southern Alberta (Jon Noad: data from open source government website).

Figure 21. My daughter enjoying the puddles during the flood (Jon Noad).

2013

FiguresNote that photos were taken by several different people and are used with their permission. Those not specified, as well as the sketches, were provided by the author.



GO TAKE A HIKEJohnson Mills - Cape Maringouin, New BrunswickDave Keighley

Trailhead: Route 106 runs between Moncton and Sackville, New Brunswick. Route 935 forms a coastal loop south of 106 between Dorchester and West Sackville. From the Dorchester end, take 935 south for ~15.5 km, much of the last 10 km being unpaved (route 935 turns 90o east, 700 m further south). At this point, the coast is accessed via a 0.35km trail west through woodland and bush, with spectacular coastal views along the way.

Distance: 3.8 km one way to the abandoned wood pier west of Pink Rock Lake (7.6 km round trip). A wet and muddy track runs from the coast (400 m north of the abandoned wooden wharf) inland to where route 935 makes the 90 o turn, and can be used for emergency exit. To visit Cape Maringouin further south, it is recommended to access the coast via Slack's Cove (see "Take a hike: Maringouin Peninsula #1") and hike 3.6km west.

Elevation change & difficulty: All coastal. Mostly pebble beach but ~ 1km of boulder-covered wave-cut platform with small ledges and promontories. Easy to moderate hike. High tides around promontories can cut off access and exit. Be aware of high-tide times and start any hike early on a falling tide. Hikes should be completed at least 3 hours prior to a spring high tide.

Previous articles have noted that the Bay of Fundy is home both to the world's highest tides and several impressive geo-hikes, including a location on the east side of the Maringouin Peninsula of SE New Brunswick. Another shoreline hike is possible on the west coast of the Peninsula (from where, on a clear day the location of another reported geo-hike at Hopewell Cape may be visible WNW across the bay). The shoreline provides a mixture of boulder to gravel beach and wave-cut platform landward of extensive mudflats. Unstable cliffs prevail along much of the coast, limiting access.

From the access point, a short stroll through a woodland path or adjacent un-named brook will bring you to the shore at the northern end of the hike. Walking southward the cliffs and (at low tide) the foreshore expose a gentle syncline and then progressively steeper dipping, over 1 km thick, Pennsylvanian (Cumberland Gp) and Mississippian (Mabou Gp) rocks. Very large coalified tree trunks and cannonball concretions are exposed as well as, further south, rare fossilized trees in life position (i.e. horizontal in the outcrop). These life-position trees underlie the strata containing similar life-position trees famously preserved at Joggins. Geologically early folding can be observed in the cliff-face (Craggs et al. in press). Be careful to distinguish such folds from recent ones at the top of cliffs that likely formed from glacial movement or even more recent mass movement.

Above: Photomontage of the west coast of the Maringouin Peninsula south of Johnson Mills. Here beds young to the north (locally overturned near the base) and incorporate strata spanning the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary (generally placed within the fine grained units, centre of photo). Folding of these rocks, driven by salt tectonics, commenced syndepositionally with strata shown on the far left. Student, circled, for scale.



Safety: Be mindful of the tide schedule so that you do not become trapped on the beach. High tides around promontories can cut off access and exit. Commence any hike on a falling tide. A hike should be completed at least 3 hours prior to high tide. Many areas of the beach are covered in very slippery seaweed and, or, mud. Wear appropriate footwear. Thick mud glued to footwear reduces traction. Beware falling rocks.

Federal government tide data: tides.gc.ca/eng/station?sid=170.

Further reading:Craggs, S., Keighley, D., Waldron, J. & Park, A. 2017. Timing of salt tectonics affecting Pennsylvanian strata in the northern Cumberland Basin, SE New Brunswick, eastern Canada. Basin Analysis, v. 29, pp.266-283.

A stretch of coastline beach forming a broad embayment west of Pink Rock Lake mostly lacks outcrop, except for sporadic occurences of Visean(Windsor Group) limestone and highly distorted gypsum and red mudstone. The evaporite forms part of a roughly east-west, anticline-forming salt wall that extends many km east into Nova Scotia. The salt tectonics producing this wall were the result of buoyant, northerly directed salt evacuation from depth. This evacuation helped the development of a vast thickness of south dipping strata preserved further south along the Maringouin shoreline, and along the Joggins coastline in Nova Scotia. The salt evacuation also caused the folding and vertical beds seen to the north along the hiking trail (Craggs et al. in press). The evaporites in the section previously have been mined and exported via sea, although nowadays only a ruined wooden wharf remains, which marks the southern end of the hike.

Woodland atop the cliff-faces that are south of the wharf provide the nesting sites for pairs of bald eagles. The mudflats along the entire west coast of the peninsula provide the major feeding grounds for over 2 million migrating shorebirds from mid-July to mid-August, including 75% of the global population of semipalmated sandpipers. This is their only feeding stopover in a 4000 km southward migration. Take care not to disturb any of the birdlife, so keep your distance.

Top: Within near vertically dipping beds to the north of the salt wall anticline way-up indicators include the basal part of a fossil tree preserved in life position (thicker base to the right). Metrestick for scale.

Middle: Students from a University of New Brunswick field school examine the highly deformed gypsum beds that form the core of a salt wall exposed near the southern end of the hike.

Bottom: View of the west coast of the Maringouin Peninsula at Johnson Mills. Interbedded tabular sandstone and mudstone of the upper Boss Point Fm. (Pennsylvanian) produce the parallel seaweed-covered sandstone reefs and enclose redbeds of the Little River Fm. in the core of the Johnson Mills Syncline.



TECHNICAL LUNCHEON

Generation, Migration, Accumulation and Recovery of Hydrocarbons in Tight Rocks: Insights from Laboratory Observations SPEAKERCynthia Hastrom | CNOOC International

Time: 11:30 am doors open Date: October 23, 2019 Location: Hyatt Hotel, Imperial Ballroom 5/7/9, 700 Centre Street SE, Calgary AB T2G 5P6

CSPG member ticket price: $46.50+gst Non-member ticket price: $55+gst Please note: The cut-off for ticket sales is 4:00pm, October 16, 2019

ABSTRACTComposite channel bodies in the McMurray Formation compose the main reservoirs in the southern Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR). Despite the economic importance of the vast bitumen resources they contain, a comprehensive regional analysis of their extent and morphology is lacking. An exceptional dataset composed of 190+ drill cores, core photographs from over 1,000 wells, wireline logs from more than 14,000 wells, and 3-D seismic data were used to document the regional extent and morphology of four McMurray Formation parasequence sets and associated channel bodies in the southern AOSR. Additional goals included establishing if channel-body characteristics are linked to reservoir distribution, and exploring for sedimentological trends within and amongst individual channel bodies of differing stratigraphic age.

To determine if some regional channel-body deposits are better SAGD reservoirs than others, average reservoir parameters were calculated and compared. The results indicate that although channel-body thickness and average net sandstone thickness vary, the facies distribution, sandstone average porosity, and channel-body shale volume are constant between channel bodies.

The McMurray Formation stratigraphic framework and mapped channel bodies can be employed to map point-bar

deposits and understand facies changes in a formation that is particularly heterolithic and laterally discontinuous; this will aid the prediction of sandstone trends while planning future reservoir delineation programs. Furthermore, future investigations of upstream-downstream sedimentological, ichnological, and morphological trends within the channel bodies that may provide additional insights into the McMurray Formation’s depositional environment. In terms of predicting SAGD success, identifying the stratigraphic origin of a channel body is apparently unnecessary; once the point-bar deposits have been delineated and the sweet spots identified, projects in all the various channel bodies can be successful.

BIOGRAPHYAn enthusiastic geologist, Cynthia has 16 years of industry experience in a variety of technical roles, including 6 years spent mapping Nexen’s oil sands assets. During her time as an oil sands geologist, she was intrigued by the regional stratigraphic relationships within the McMurray Formation and was inspired to learn more about fluvial stratigraphy and sedimentology. Earlier this year she completed a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary, which focused on the stratigraphic architecture and lithofacies distribution in meander-belt and point-bar deposits of the McMurray Formation and the modern South Saskatchewan River. She holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Geology from the University of Alberta and is presently a sedimentologist exploring offshore Atlantic Canada with CNOOC International.

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CSPG 50TH CORE CONFERENCE, 2019By Christa Williams & Tom Plumridge

The 50th CSPG Core Conference was a success! Held at the world class AER Core Research facility May 16-17th, 2019 in Calgary. We had the opportunity this year to step back and reflect on the last 50 years of the Core Conference, providing perspective on how the past can guide our success as we move forward in our science. Isaac Newton eloquently identifies this concept in his famous quote, “If I have seen further than others it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”

Our focus this year was to remind delegates the importance of returning to the rocks again and again, to challenge their interpretation and unlock new potential. This year’s theme of Reservoirs Through Time, highlighted the changes in analysis methods and the subsequent interpretations, and how the rock and its properties remain constant. The challenge all geoscientists face is the need to remain humble in our interpretations, as we endeavor to explore and exploit all reservoirs. As we continue to unlock additional resources in unconventional plays, we see a resurgence in the importance of applying new concepts in known pools and fields.

This year’s conference had a total of 736 registered attendees, and attracted a great deal of attention and conversation around some of our industry’s hot spots. Plays that’s were featured, included the Montney, Duvernay (East and West basins), Eagleford, and Austin Chalk plays. As well, new learnings and applications were highlighted in the Oil Sands, Viking, Manville and Carbonate plays ranging from

Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The program this year consisted of twenty-five presentations from across Canada, with the addition, of two presentations some of the most prominent plays in the United States. The knowledge, ideas, understanding and application presented this year was outstanding and delegates were able to take away new and different concepts that they can apply directly to their day-to-day work. Furthermore, the value in re-connecting with old colleagues and making new connections over a box of core, can never be understated.

Its success would not have been possible without all our sponsors; Tourmaline (Title sponsor), AGAT Laboratories (for an always great core meltdown), Stratum Reservoir (for continuing on the delicious BBQ lunches), Core Laboratories

(for keeping us happy with coffee and sweets), Enlighten Geoscience, DigitCore (Tarcore Labs), ALT, Canadian Discovery, Baker Hughes, Rockhound Advisory Corp, Belloy, Enersoft, Freeman Audio Visual and the Alberta Energy Regulator, for which we are extremely grateful for their ongoing support. We would also like to extend our thanks to the CSPG Board and staff, especially Candace Jones & Kristy Casebeer for organizing the logistics of the conference. A big thanks to all the volunteer hours put in by the Core Conference committee members and a special thanks to Ashley Moisson and the staff at the AER for their pivotal role in organizing the core. Finally, many thanks to all of the fantastic presenters, without which we would not have had the outstanding technical content and program to share with all our delegates.

Figure 1. 2019 Core Conference: Presentation room

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August 15-19, 2021 | Banff Centre | Banff, AB, Canada

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We would like to congratulate this year’s Core Conference Award winners: Best Core Presentation: Nancy ChowAbstract Title: Sedimentology and Petroleum Evaluation of the Upper Devonian Duperow Formation, SW Manitoba

Best Student Core Presentation: Meagan GilbertAbstract Title: The Dinosaur Park-Bearspaw Formation Transition in the Cypress Hills Region of Southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada.

Cole RossAbstract Title: Correlating Clearwater sandstones within the Marten Hills and Nipisi regions of north-central Alberta

Next year will celebrate the CSPG Core Conference with GeoCanada! We look forward to another strong technical program with a diverse and always interesting display of core and talks. Thanks again for a fantastic year, we look forward to seeing you all next year!

Images: All photos by Matt Sommers

Figure 2. 2019 Core Conference Committee: L to R: Carson Renaud, Brent Kuntz, Christa Williams, Tom Plumridge, Liese Mclaren, Kelsea Pedersen

Figure 3. 2019 Core Conference: Core presentation

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ADVANCES IN EARTH SCIENCE RESEARCH CONFERENCEBy Jane Marzetti

In March the University of Toronto hosted the 18th annual Advances in Earth Science Research Conference. (ASERC) The conference attracted 64 delegates from schools across Southern Ontario to present their research. Over the Saturday and Sunday the presentations covered a very wide range of different geological topics.

The conference opened up with a mixer where students were able to network with each other, as well as industry sponsors. Saturday morning opened up with quaternary science and sedimentary geology, where Lillian Navarro gave a keynote talk on the Neoproterozoic deep marine phosphatic deposits in southern Canadian Cordillera. Over the lunch break the CSEG put on their Challenge Bowl, where teams of two competed for the chance to come to Calgary for Geo Convention and compete in the Challenge Bowl. Ian Watson from imperial gave a talk on the energy outlook to 2040 and the potential student roles in extraction of energy. He showed that there will still be a demand for oil and gas in the future and how companies are becoming more environmentally aware. Saturday afternoon concluded with talks on geophysics and planetary science, with Semechah Lee giving a keynote talk on the effect of aseismic slip on the source process of induced seismicity, and how to use that information to predict earthquakes.

Sunday opened with talks on environmental geology and economic geology. A keynote talk was given by Melissa Anderson on the search for seafloor hydrothermal vents: where tectonics, volcanism, and biology meet, essentially trying to understand the sea floor for the extraction of mineral deposits. The conference talks closed out with the topic of Paleontology where Marc Laflamme gave a talk on the complexity in the oldest animal communities. His main focus is on the Ediacaran, trying to understand all the different soft bodied organisms, and not only how they interacted with each other but also how

they interacted with the environment.

The CSPG Foundation sponsored both the conference, where we had a booth set up to network with the students, but also sponsored the best sedimentary presentation. The award went to Max Chipman for the talk of investigating feeding strategies and fluid dynamics of irregular archaeocyathans from the Forteau formation, Southern Labrador, Canada. Throughout the conference, there was a poster session running in the lobby. The poster on from your laundry to the lake: blue jeans as a source of anthropogenic microfibers to the aquatic environment by Samantha Athey won the

best poster award.

The conference was a great opportunity to network with students and demonstrate all the benefits of being a CSPG student member, such as scholarships and event grants, as well as the different events that the CSPG organizes for students.

This trip was sponsored by the CSPG Foundation

Both Photos taken by Jane Marzetti


Conference Overview: Our growing understanding of unconventional plays demonstrates the need for new or improved methods and concepts to account for multiscale distribution of rock and fluid properties in these highly heterogeneous and complex systems. In recent years, these challenges sparked tremendous developments and innovations in geoscience disciplines as well as a better integration between them. Gussow 2019 will aim at gathering high profile international geoscience experts to share their knowledge about cutting edge research and recent developments in geoscience disciplines and their application to optimizing production from unconventional resources.

For full technical program information please visit

www.cspg.org/Gussow

Gussow 2019 Registration Rates Member full delegate $ 1375 CAD Non member full delegate $ 1575 CAD Full delegate registration includes: access to technical sessions, two nights accommodations, conference food package (includes: ice breaker & conference dinner)

REGISTER TODAY!

Session 1 - Diagenetic controls of reservoir quality in tight rocks Session Chairs: Joe MacQuaker | ExxonMobil + Kitty Milliken | Bureau of Economic Geology TITLE SPEAKER AFFILIATION

Clay mineral factories prior to the evolution of land plants: sedimentary processes and diagenetic products Dario Harazim University of Calgary

Links between lake chemistry, organic matter, microbial processes, and dolomitization in the Green River Formation

(Eocene), Uinta Basin, Utah Max Pommer Colorado School of Mines

Element cycling in the middle-late Triassic Shublik Fm.: mineralization vs recycling of biolimiting nutrients in an

organic carbon-rich mudstone Kate Whidden USGS

Silica diagenesis and its role controlling storage capacity in unconventional reservoirs Kev Taylor The University of

Manchester

Session 2 - Origin and Impact of Organic Matter in Unconventional Reservoirs Session Chairs: Wayne Camp | Anadarko Petroleum Corp + Hamed Sanei | Aarhus University TITLE SPEAKER AFFILIATION

Petrographic characterization of kerogen, bitumen and residual oil from SEM electron micrographs: examples from the Cretaceous Niobrara Formation, DJ Basin, Colorado USA

Lyn Canter Sedimentary Solutions, LLC, Denver, CO

Solid bitumen in shale reservoirs: a challenge in organic petrography and geochemistry David Misch Montan Universitaet,

Leoben, Austria

Evidence for the priming effect and alteration of transported refractory organic carbon Dane Synnott University of Calgary,

Calgary, AB

New techniques and applications of organic petrography and spectroscopy: insights for shale petroleum systems Paul Hackley US Geological Survey,

Reston, VA

Possible effect of structural deformation on shale reservoir properties: An example from Lower Cambrian shales of

Eastern Upper Yangtze Platform, South China Yong Ma Geological Survey of

Canada, Calgary, AB

Geochemical fractionation of organic matter in the Argentinian Jurassic-Cretaceous Vaca Muerta shale Aleksandra Malachowska

Gdansk University of Technology University, Gdansk, Poland

A new porosity prediction method for unconventional mudstone reservoirs Wayne Camp Anadarko Petroleum Corp,

Houston, TX

POSTER PRESENTATIONS TITLE SPEAKER AFFILIATION

Combined impact of stress and structure on hydraulic fracture height growth Qiao Lu University of Pittsburgh

Characterizing pre-existing fracture networks using microseismicity and seismic anisotropy: Implications for

fault reactivation during hydraulic fracturing Nadine Igonin University of Calgary

Clumped isotopes composition of thermogenic methane in the Montney Formation (northeastern British Columbia, Canada): New insights on gas generation temperatures

Xavier Mangenot Caltech

Origin of sulfate minerals in the Lower Triassic Montney Formation, Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin Mataneh H. Liseroudi University of Calgary


Session 3 - The role of structure in unconventional plays Session Chairs: Julia Gale | Bureau of Economic Geology + James Wood | Calaber1 Resources TITLE SPEAKER AFFILIATION

A new generation of stress maps for development of unconventional oil and gas plays in the conterminous U.S. Mark Zoback Stanford University

Implications of constraining natural fractures and in-situ stress trends for field development strategies in

unconventional reservoirs: Examples from the Permian basin David Forand Chevron USA

A tale of three earthquakes: New insights into fault activation in light of recent occurrences David Eaton University of Calgary

Geomechanical simulation of different conceptual models for microseismic interpretations Shawn Maxwell Encana Corporation

Direct observation of hydraulic fractures in the Hydraulic Fracture Test Site (HFTS) slant core, Midland Basin, Texas: insights into distribution, morphology, and interaction with

natural discontinuities Julia W. Gale Bureau of Economic

Geology

Influence of spatially-varied natural fracture properties on hydraulic fracture growth Andrew Bunger University of Pittsburgh

Natural and induced structural fabrics in drill-cores from the Montney Formation, western Canada Kevin Gillen Vox Terrae

Session 4 - Geological controls and impact of fluid distribution in resource plays Session Chairs: John Curtis | GeoMark Research + Tristan Euzen | IFP Canada TITLE SPEAKER AFFILIATION

Tight Hydrocarbon Plays: How Source, Reservoir and Fluid Dependencies Control their Formation Tim Matava GGIM

Topic: Biomarker Applications John Curtis GeoMark Research

Connection between PVT realities and petroleum geochemistry Kevin Ferworn GeoMark Research

Meter-scale Lithofacies Cycle and Controls on Variations in Oil Saturation, Wolfcamp A, Delaware and Midland Basins Tongwei Zhang Bureau of Economic Geolo-

gy

Integrated Geochemical Studies of Produced Water from Unconventional Petroleum Reservoirs, Permian Basin,

USA – Utility and Applications Christopher Laughrey Weatherford

Topic: Flowback water geochemistry L. T Bryndzia Shell International E & P

Application and use of Time Lapse Geochemistry in Uncon-ventional Resource Appraisal and Development Elizabeth Watt ConocoPhillips

Session 5 - Geological controls and impact of fluid distribution in resource plays Session Chairs: Stephen Sonnenberg | Colorado School of Mines + Ruben Dominguez | Shell Canada TITLE SPEAKER AFFILIATION

Step-Change Advances in Shale/Tight Oil Well Performance Vello Kuuskraa Advanced Resources In-ternational

Carrier Beds as Unconventional Reservoirs Gretchen Hough University of Wyoming

Putting It All Together: Understanding the Value and Impact of Data Darren Arcuri Shell Canada Ltd.

Identifying Opportunities through Value Mapping of the Alberta Montney Wet Gas Fairway Mary Lee Shell Canada Ltd.

Topic: Wolfcamp Delaware Basin topic Jacquie Colborne CSM

Topic: Denver Basin Niobrara topic Anne Grau WPX Energy *subject to change


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QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY AND ACADIA UNIVERSITY BERMUDA CARBONATE SEMINARBIOS, BERMUDA – 2019By Noel James

This past May, Acadia and Queen’s university students participated in the week-long Bermuda Carbonate Field Seminar at the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences. The trip was organized by Professors Peir Pufahl and Noel James and partially supported by the CSPG. The following narrative of this excursion is written by the students themselves:

Our group orientation began on the afternoon of Friday, April 26th on the island of Bermuda. There was time to spend exploring the nearby town of Saint George and become acquainted with BIOS before we attended an evening lecture summarizing the geology and the reef systems we would be exploring over the course of the week.

The first day in the field, Saturday April 27th, was spent becoming familiar with the local patterns of sedimentary features, rock units, and specific coral types. We explored the major units that make up the bedrock structure of the island and their association with different degrees of diagenesis. Each unit can be identified by individual characteristics that help to determine the age, and therefore, formation sequence as sea level fluctuates through time. Snorkeling at Whale Bone Bay, located on the north side of Bermuda, presented an opportunity to identify some of the corals that are found on the majority of Bermuda’s reefs, as well as a chance to identify typical changes in the ecosystem such as depth, light, wave action, shoreline proximity, and nutrient fluctuation. The Whale Bone Bay lab then drew on the specifics of that area and were applied to understand the composition of collected sediment samples. Our lecture that evening focused on intricacies of the boiler and breaker reefs that we would be analyzing over the course of the week.

The following day was focused on shallow reef environments (e.g., boiler reefs) on the south side of Bermuda. The reefs we visited allowed to observe the differences between an unhealthy and healthy cup reef. The first stop was located within Castle Harbour, where we snorkeled over an unhealthy cup reef. Historic construction and expansion of land in the harbour led to a significant amount of dredging, restricting the circulation of water which is essential to reef health. As we snorkeled, we took note of key characteristics of the unhealthy reef to compare to our next stop. The second reef that we visited was located on the outskirts of the harbour and is considered to be a decent example of a healthy cup reef. The diversity and abundance of species increased significantly here. We were also able to observe these health differences between the reefs in the lab by examining the collected sediment samples. The evening was then focused on the major characteristics of a deep reef as well as a primer for an exercise we would complete on the morphology of a mini atoll the following day.

Our first stop on Monday, April 29th was at North Rock, a breaker reef located on the outskirts of the reef systems on the north side of Bermuda. Here, we were able to explore the structure of a cup reef in an environment with more depth than the reefs observed from the previous day. As such, we were able to observe the zonation covered in the deep reef lecture. We then made our way to a nearby mini atoll, called Stake Reef. With underwater notepads, our group was able to record the various distinctive characteristics that split the atoll into zones based on depth. We were then able to use these characteristics unique to depth (i.e., observations of light, wave energy, and water column sediment) to understand why zonation occurs. Our lab for the day was split between sediment

observation from the two different stops as well as a group collaboration for a presentation explaining the zonation we determined at Stake Reef.

The fourth day in the field began with a trip to the Bermuda Aquarium, where we were able to learn more about the marine life of Bermuda, as well as identify and observe many of the carbonate producing organisms. We also completed a second field exercise located at Harrington Sound, a bay towards the north side of the island.

A group photo taken in the laboratory at BIOS where we completed our work on the collected sediment samples.

An example of one of the many cup reefs located on the south side of the island.

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The purpose of the exercise was to log a transect between two islands in the bay, about 300 meters apart, to understand the different zones based on limiting factors, epifaunal and infaunal species, and sediment samples. We prepared a group presentation on our findings from Harrington Sound. We discussed zonation as well as the differences between the rocky coastal zones that prevented the two from being classified as mirror images. Our last field stop for the day was at Bailey’s Bay, a turtle sanctuary on the north side of Bermuda, where we observed green turtles in their sea grass habitat. The final evening lecture focused on properties of diagenesis, karst, and geochemistry as a precursor for the two remaining days.

Our first stop on the following day was Devonshire Bay, located on the south side of Bermuda. Here, we were able to analyze a large portion of Bermuda’s geologic record from the exposed bedrock on the coast. Units were identified and separated via our understanding of the typical diagenetic properties associated with the age and environment of formation. We were able to construct a history of the island with respect to the changes of sea level and erosional processes. We then traveled to Warwick Long Bay, a beach located on the south side of the island. It is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in Bermuda and we had the opportunity to enjoy snorkeling in the

reefs and time to explore the shore. The rest of the day was spent touring through the historic city of Hamilton.

The final day in Bermuda, Thursday May 2nd, was dedicated to karst. Our first stop was the Crystal Caves, where we were given a tour of the cave systems and had a chance to see some truly spectacular speleothem formations. We discussed the types of processes that may have led to the formation of specific features as well as the geochemical properties the cave. We then traveled to Walsingham Pond and snorkeled around the outside edge. The environment was extremely different from anything we had seen on the trip thus far. The aquatic life is more limited here. However, due to the consistency of the pond ecosystem, delicate species are given an opportunity to flourish compared to the offshore reefs that are dominated by constant wave action. We also visited a second crystal cave where we swam in meteoric water that pooled in the center. The most interesting aspect of this experience was the combination of salt water and fresh water in one pool. The differing densities create a lens so that with a snorkel mask, your depth vision is blurry while in the shallow fresh water layer until you dive deep enough to reach the salt water where your vision becomes clear again. Our final stop of the day was an outcrop located on the Solo Petroleum Ltd. grounds, where we analyzed karst

processes in the various units of exposed bedrock. These observations, along with understanding diagenetic properties, allowed us to derive the number of units present, their specific identities, and circumstances of formation. This final stop tied together the bedrock geology of Bermuda. We completed our experience in Bermuda with a plankton tow after sunset. A net cast off of the back of the boat functioned as a collection for the plankton as well as means to observe bioluminescence once reeled in. We brought the plankton back to the lab so that we had the chance to observe their movement and variety under a microscope.

Overall, the carbonate seminar in Bermuda was an incredible experience and a practical learning environment. The ability to observe topics of study in person allows for a deeper understanding of the material, as well as invaluable opportunities to witness the enthusiasm our educators have for their professions. The trip was truly an inspiring and unique addition to an undergraduate education and we are all grateful for the experience.

An underwater photograph with a view of students snorkeling through the reefs in Bermuda.

A group photograph taken overlooking the coast on the north side of Bermuda.

SOCIETY NEWS AWARD CITATIONS


HONORARY MEMBERSHIPHonorary Membership is the oldest award bestowed by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. Any person who has contributed distinguished service to the cause of energy geosciences in eligible for membership as an Honorary Member. Recipients are persons who have made outstanding contributions to the society or geologists or other earth scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the cause of petroleum geology on a national or international basis. Past Presidents of CSPG are given honorary membership at the age of retirement with automatic consideration for honorary membership being given earlier (i.e. at the end of their three year term) on the basis of the preceding criteria.

The CSPG w e l c o m e s Dr. Graham R. Davies as an Honorary Member of the Society, r e c o g n i z i n g h i s o u t s t a n d i n g s c i e n t i f i c

contributions through his research and industry projects that have involved a complex mix of carbonate and siliciclastic sedimentology, stratigraphy, and petroleum geology. His comprehensive and detailed geological reports are the stuff of legend and have greatly influenced and benefited the petroleum community over the past 45 years.

Graham was born in Perth, Western Australia. He obtained his B.Sc. with honors from the University of Western Australia in 1964, and his Ph.D. on carbonate sediments of Shark Bay, WA, in 1969- the latter published as AAPG Memoir 13. After two years as a postdoc associate at Rice University, Houston, working on Permian carbonates in New Mexico and the subsurface of west Texas, he joined the GSC in Calgary. At the GSC he conducted subsurface work on Devonian carbonates and field work on Permo-Carboniferous carbonates and evaporites in the Yukon

and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, including evaluation of many of the Paleozoic cores drilled by Panarctic Oils. In the Arctic he documented occurrence of a major Pennsylvanian-Permian reef-building organism (Palaeoaplysina); in 2014, a new species of that fossil was named in Graham’s honor- Eopalaeoaplysina daviesi.

In early 1977, Graham, Bob Maiklem, Cliff James, and Geochem Labs of Houston, founded AGAT (Applied Geoscience And Technology) Consultants (named by Graham) which later became AGAT Laboratories. Graham initially was Vice President and Technical Manager of AGAT, but subsequently bought out his partners to become principal owner and President. During his tenure, AGAT pioneered reservoir quality analysis of sandstones, eventually owning and operating three scanning electron microscopes for that purpose (one in Denver office). At that time, Graham began presenting (with Dr. Mike Wilson from Denver) a five-day ‘Geology for Engineers’ course for the Petroleum Society of CIM, later for SPE, that continued twice a year for 29 years. Graham also designed the first AGAT Table of Formations of Alberta which still adorns many walls in Calgary in modified format.

Graham sold his interest in AGAT in the 80s, and started Graham Davies Geological Consultants (GDGC), through which he continues to operate today. For many years, GDGC specialized in multi-client reservoir projects in western Canada, with emphasis on the Triassic (Montney, Charlie Lake, Baldonnel), some in collaboration with other geologists. One of the larger projects with international industry support was on Structurally-controlled Hydrothermal Dolomite Reservoirs- a summary of that report published in 2006 in the AAPG Bulletin won both AAPG and CSPG best paper awards. Graham also has conducted many joint-venture projects with Canadian Discovery (CDL), including on the Barnett and Permian of west Texas, Bakken of North Dakota and Saskatchewan, and Duvernay, Montney and Second White

Specks of western Canada.

Through his career, Graham has published close to 80 papers and many abstracts, and has authored or co-authored over 650 industry reports. He has described over 1450 drill cores from Canada, US, and other countries including Ghana and Jordan, with about 600 of these from the Montney.

Graham has been an active member of the CSPG for over 45 years, chair of many committees and conference sessions, and served on the executive as vice-president in 1975. He has shared his expertise through numerous presentations to CSPG, AAPG, SEPM and GSA, and core workshops and short courses on a variety of topics including Triassic reservoirs and structurally controlled hydrothermal dolomites. He also has given six CSPG luncheon presentations.

Graham has won many awards from the CSPG and other organizations for his masterful and diverse contributions. These include the inaugural 1993 A.D. Baillie Award, the 2002 R.J.W. Douglas Medal, the 2007 Medal of Merit, and the 2008 Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award of the AAPG.

With his major scientific achievements and his diverse and formidable contributions to industry and the geological profession, Graham Davies is a most worthy recipient of CSPG Honorary Membership.

CSPG honors C l i n t o n Tippett with H o n o r a r y Membership for having served the society in a wide range of volunteer c a p a c i t i e s

since he joined as a member in 1982. In his early years he was Chair of the Structural Geology Division, Treasurer of the Continuing Education Committee and Chair of the GeoCalendar Committee.



From his first exposure to it, he was involved as a leader and exploration game judge of the Student-Industry Field Trip (SIFT) and continues to pursue that facet of his commitment up to the present time. Clint was the Chair of the 75th Anniversary Committee for 2002 and continues his historical pursuits as Chair of the History and Archives Committee, a role he took on in 1998. He was a Trustee of the Educational Trust Fund (now known as the CSPG Foundation) from 2007 to 2010. He has been a member of the Medal of Merit Committee since 2008 and has been Chair of the Stanley Slipper Gold Medal Committee since 2010. On the technical side he has contributed to a number of CSPG publications, served as a technical session chair at our conventions and worked as an Associate Editor of the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology. He has more recently renewed his involvement with the GeoCalendar and with the Reservoir magazine. He is a contributor to and an editor of the soon-to-be-published Go Take a Hike book. Clint recently stepped up his game by taking on the CSPG Presidential trifecta with his CSPG Presidential term being in 2018.

Clint has highlighted several aspects of his Presidential tenure as deserving note. After several years of struggle, the Society, through the efforts of both staff and volunteers, has once again achieved financial equilibrium. A new Code of Conduct has been developed and implemented. Several new groups including GeoWomen and Operations Geology Division have joined the fold. The Society is working to implement many of the recommendations that were made in the report of the recent Task Force on Awards. Cooperation with the CSPG Foundation has been achieved through a Memorandum of Understanding – and relationships with GeoConvention continue to be amicable. The Society has good working relationships with both its internal Divisions and Committees and with the external organizations that are our partners in various endeavors. Clint has observed that all of these things can be taken for granted but require a lot of hard work to achieve and maintain.

In recognition of his many contributions,

Clint was presented with one of the inaugural H.M. Hunter Awards in 2004. He has received three Tracks Awards for his roles as CSPG Technical Co-Chair of the 1989 CSPG-CSEG Convention, as a founding member of the Environmental Geology Technical Division and as the Chair of the 2002 75th anniversary celebrations. These have been complemented by numerous Volunteer and Service Awards over the years.

Clint is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) as a P.Geol. He belongs to numerous technical organizations including the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the Geological Association of Canada (GAC), the Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC), the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU). His historical connections include membership in the Petroleum History Institute (PHI) and the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO). He has been President and Editor of the Calgary-based Petroleum History Society (PHS) since 2000. Clint is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for Energy with Geoscience BC and is the Chair of the Yukon Oil and Gas Advisory Committee (YOGAC).

Clint’s interest in geology originated in his youth while growing up in Winnipeg, the city of his birth. Summer excursions and stops at outcrops paved the way for an early aspiration to be a field geologist. Clint pursued that path up to and through university. He worked for the Geological Survey of Canada in the summer of 1973, mapping an area of Melville Peninsula, north of Hudson Bay, with the results forming the basis of his B.Sc. thesis at Carleton University, Ottawa (1974). He continued his studies of deformed metamorphic rocks, making a transect through the Selkirk Mountains, north of Revelstoke, B.C., in 1975, and graduating from Carleton with his M.Sc. in 1976. Seeking a change of scenery, he moved to Kingston, Ontario and attended Queen’s University. After mapping work for the Geological Survey of Canada on central Baffin Island in the summers of 1977, 1978 and 1979, he gained his doctorate in 1980.

Nearing graduation and upon learning of the promise of the petroleum industry, Clint underwent a conversion from hard rock to soft rock and obtained employment with Shell Canada in Calgary. This actually seemed like a natural progression as Clint’s father had worked for Shell in the 1960’s as an accountant. Clint’s career with Shell featured the variety that only a geologically diverse country like Canada can provide. Coming in as a structural geologist, his main fairway of activity was the Rocky Mountain Foothills. Over the years this involved natural gas and crude oil exploration and development stints in the Waterton Complex, Turner Valley, Moose Mountain, the Jumping Pound Complex and Caroline. Other Western Canada postings were regional New Ventures and the Devonian Slave Point and related plays in northern Alberta, BC and NWT. Frontier activities included three tours in the Mackenzie Delta, two on the West Coast Offshore and one on the East Coast offshore from Nova Scotia to Lancaster Sound and the High Arctic. Discoveries and delineation successes were involved in most of these roles, at least in Western Canada. To top it off, Clint enjoyed several years in Shell Canada’s Corporate Strategies Department where he learned about diesel marketing, amongst other things, and had the opportunity to teach several strategic management courses in Switzerland. His final assignment was Project Coordinator in Shell’s Canol Shale play in the Central Mackenzie Valley near Norman Wells. Clint also played the role of informal corporate historian at Shell. His long tenure there was something of an anomaly in this day and age of rapid job-hopping.

Clint has published a number of papers on the various aspects of his thesis topics and on his cordilleran experiences. Publications on the distribution of glacial erratics on Baffin Island, the Pulsation Theory of Intraplate Tectonics and the management of the human environment complete the roster of his technical output.

The CSPG is pleased to welcome Dr. Clinton Tippett to the ranks of its Honorary Members.



MEDAL OF MERITThe Medal of Merit has been awarded since 1952 and is the most prestigious and oldest technical award of the society. The medal is awarded annually for the best peer reviewed paper on a geological subject related to the petroleum geology or the geology of energy generation and extraction, of Canada. The stated objectives of the Medal of Merit Award are: to promote the preparation and publication of geological papers of high quality, to give honorable recognition to works of merit, and by means of suitable publicity, to bring the attention of the members and of the public to the activities of the geological petroleum profession by awarding the Medal of Merit annually for the best paper.

As specified in CSPG bylaws the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Medal of Merit is awarded annually for the “best paper related to Canadian petroleum geology” published during the previous publication year, in this case for peer reviewed papers published in 2017. The paper awarded the Medal of Merit for 2018 was written by James Walker, István Almási, Frank Stoakes, Ken Potma, Jennifer O‘Keefe (née Cranshaw) and is entitled “Hypogenic karst beneath the

Athabasca Oil Sands: Implications for oil sands mining operations”. The paper was published in the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, Vol. 65, No. 1, p. 115-146 (March 2017).

The paper provides a detailed description of the middle to late Devonian stratigraphy and hydrogeology in the mineable and SAGD oilsands areas, near Fort McMurray, Alberta. The study includes over 2000 cores, 500 km of 2D seismic data and over 200 ground water monitoring wells with emphasis on the Kearl Mine. The authors demonstrate that dissolution and karstification of the Prairie Evaporite Formation has brecciated the aquitard between the Devonian aquifers and the McMurray Formation. Brecciation and the associated natural fractures have created conduits for cross-formational fluid flow and an increased risk for water inflow while mining near the sub-cretaceous unconformity. To prevent, minimize and manage water in-flow, the authors have suggested mitigation techniques such as leaving sufficient material above the sub-cretaceous unconformity, aquifer depressurization, and temporary in pit water storage

This work is an important contribution to Canadian petroleum geology as the information and interpretations provide insight that will help to more effectively manage water risk while mining and allow the long-term viability and success of oil sands mining projects.

Biographies James Walker has been working as a geoscientist in the oil and gas industry for 20 years. He joined Exxon in 1999 after g r a d u a t i n g from Oxford U n i v e r s i t y with a Ph.D. in

Himalayan tectonics. He has spent most of his career working exploration projects in the North Sea, West Africa and North Atlantic rift basins. He is currently the geoscience technical lead for ExxonMobil Canada’s East Coast Exploration Team. James also has extensive experience working heavy oil projects and was the geoscience technical



team lead for the Kearl oil sands mine from 2012-2016. He has written and co-authored papers on Himalayan tectonics, North Sea deep water plays and hypogenic karst beneath the oil sands.

István Almási g r a d u a t e d from Eötvös L o r á n d U n i v e r s i t y , Hungary, in 1993 with an M.Sc. and earned his Ph.D. in 2001 from the U n i v e r s i t y

of Alberta. Since 2001, István has been working in Alberta as a hydrogeologist and a development geologist, with emphasis on heavy oil projects (mining and SAGD). He led oil sands exploration and mining development projects for Shell Canada (2006-2011). In 2011, he founded Dome GeoConsulting Inc., offering technical and professional services for the petroleum and mining industry; including civil engineering, water management and environmental projects. In 2011 he was contracted to Imperial as senior hydrological advisor. He has written and co-authored papers on stress field analysis, basin scale hydrodynamics and overpressured regime in the Pannonian

Basin, as well as the hypogenic karst beneath the oil sands in Alberta.

Frank Stoakes ( P h . D . , P.Geol.) is p r i n c i p a l of Stoakes C o n s u l t i n g Group (SCG) Ltd., a geologic c o n s u l t i n g c o m p a n y based in C a l g a r y

(scgltd.com), which he established in 1986. He is a carbonate sedimentologist and is considered an authority on the Devonian of Western Canada. He has been working on the Middle Devonian section beneath the Athabasca Oil Sands since 2008. He now divides his time between the reefs of Belize, Central America and Western Canada.

Ken Potma is retired from Imperial after over 30 years of service. He has worked extensively on carbonates of the western Canada basin, the middle

east, Indonesia and elsewhere. More recently he explored Devonian mudstone oil and gas reservoirs. Among his last projects was a study of the carbonate aquifers and associated sediments underlying the heavy oil belt of eastern Alberta. He has presented numerous technical papers over his career.

Jennifer O'Keefe is from St. John's, Newfoundland where she completed an

undergraduate degree in geology and a master's in g e o p h y s i c s at Memorial U n i v e r s i t y . Jennifer worked in Calgary at Imperial for four years (2010 - 2014), where she worked

on the Kearl Oil Sands Mine. Jennifer was transferred in 2014 to the St John's office (Exxon Mobil Canada East), where she currently works on offshore assets. Since moving home in 2014 Jennifer has married her long-term partner Adam O'Keefe and they recently had their first baby, a little boy named Connor O’Keefe. They love living home with family and enjoy the NL outdoors with their four dogs although they do miss the mountains!

Thank you to the CSPG Foundation for funding this year’s CSPG Outreach programs.

The CSPG Foundation is a CRA-registered charity that supports petroleum geoscience education. To make a donation please visit

www.cspg.org/foundation

THANK YOU - CSPG FOUNDATION



PRESIDENT’S AWARDThe President’s Award is CSPG’s most prestigious form of volunteer recognition. It is presented for sustained and distinguished service to the Society. Recipients are selected by the President at the end of their term. Past winners share the traits of providing exemplary leadership in a variety of roles and capacities that the Society recognizes as a model of service and achievement to be emulated. Many recipients continue their contributions to Society programs and events such that this award often provides a milestone in a distinguished career of exemplary membership.

The two 2018 recipients of the President’s Award, as chosen by 2018 CSPG President Clinton Tippett, are Philip Benham and Greg Lynch.

Philip Benham is a long-time CSPG member who joined the Society in 2000 and immediately started his CSPG volunteer career. He is receiving this award because of the many contributions he has made to CSPG over the years.

Philip served as the Chair of the CSPG Paleontology Division from 1999 until 2014 and in that capacity built a strong working relationship with the Alberta Paleontological Society. Over the years he arranged and hosted approximately 140 lectures and chaired nine consecutive paleontology conferences that were free

and open to the general public. For this service to the CSPG he was given a Tracks Award in 2012 to add to the many Service and Volunteer Awards he has earned over the years.

Phil loves to share his geological experiences and has written numerous articles for the CSPG Reservoir including many in the “Go Take a Hike” series. These features provide geological information on popular outdoor destinations both near Calgary and around the world. The strong continuity of this recurring theme has made it an important “go to” for our CSPG readers and a cornerstone of our efforts to retain and attract members during difficult times in the industry. Phil is currently chairing the CSPG Cindy Riediger Memorial Book Committee into which many of these hike articles are being compiled. This will be published as a CSPG Special Publication with release expected in 2019.

Phil also is on the Board of Directors for the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation (an organization supported by the CSPG Foundation). He has been involved with that group in outreach for many years developing educational material for science teachers and running workshops that provide the tools to excite their students about the world around them. He is widely travelled (with a preference for unusual places) and this, combined with his passion for photography and public education, provides a basis for his talks on how geology impacts all of us on this planet.

Phil received his B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia in 1987 and his M.Sc. in Geology from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1992. During his university years he worked for the Geological Survey of Canada in the Mackenzie Delta and Haida Gwaii and continued on in a frontier setting with his Master’s research on Bylot Island in the Eastern Arctic. He received a CSPG Regional Scholarship in support of his studies in 1989. Phil joined Shell Canada in 1994 and since that time has worked for Shell on exploration and development projects as a part of a wide

range of Canadian and international business units. He is currently a Geological Advisor to the Kuwait Oil Company on behalf of Shell.

For a more informal look at Phil’s take on being a geologist, readers are referred to his “Talking with Architects” interview published in the July/August 2018 issue of the CSPG Reservoir.

Greg Lynch is a long-time CSPG member, having joined the Society in 1999 and starting his CSPG volunteer career at that time. He is receiving this award because of the many contributions he has made to CSPG over the years.

Greg has been a part of many CSPG programs and services since 1999. He was involved with the Student Industry Field Trip (SIFT, 1999-2005) and was an Associate Editor of the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology (2001-2007). He served on the CSPG Board for multiple terms as Assistant Outreach Director (2007), Outreach Director (2008), Assistant Finance Director (2009) and Finance Director (2010). He has also been heavily committed to the outreach portfolio through the Honorary Address and Earth Science for Society Committees. Most recently he was a force behind the creation of the GeoMatch program as well as initiatives designed to assist members



in transition. He has presented papers at Geoconvention and its precursors and has served in several important convention positions including General Co-Chair (2013). Greg has published in the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology. He also served as a CSPG representative on the Board of the Educational Trust Fund (forerunner of the CSPG Foundation) from 2007-2009 and on the Geoconvention Committee (2012-2013).

Greg has received numerous Service and Volunteer Awards and was presented with a Tracks Award in 2011.

The high water mark of Greg’s commitment to the CSPG was his Presidential term in 2016 as well as his flanking years on the Executive in 2015 and 2017. This timeframe was a difficult one for both the industry and the CSPG as the downturn that started in 2014 rippled through our Society’s finances. A number of financial

and operational initiatives took place over his term in office including a change in office location, reduced staffing and publication adjustments. These eventually bore fruit and returned the Society to a new equilibrium by 2018. During his period, Greg was instrumental in the creation of a rejuvenated strategic plan for the Society. He also initiated the CSPG’s highly successful geothermal and carbon capture workshops and field trips of 2016 and helped rehydrate the CSPG’s Hydrogeology Technical Division.

Greg continues to be committed to serving the CSPG and has recently taken on the role of Chair of the R.J.W. Douglas Medal Committee.

Greg received his B.Sc. from the University of Ottawa in1983, his M.Sc. from Washington State in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in 1989 (all in Geology). In 1989 he joined the Geological

Survey of Canada, working in programs through their Vancouver and Quebec City offices. In 1998 he joined Shell Canada as an exploration geologist. He has worked on numerous new venture and asset teams. He is currently Shell’s Principal Regional Geologist for Western Canada.

Sweat the Subsurface Road Race & Fun Run

(31st Annual CSPG/CSEG/CAPL 10K & 5K Road Race)

Thursday September 19, 2019 | race start time: 6:00pm

Register today! www.cspg.org go to– events– road race



H.M. HUNTER AWARDThe H.M. Hunter Award was originally created to recognize CSPG members who have contributed long term distinguished service to the Society. As such the focus was on volunteers more in the latter part of their careers and who likely had served in a variety of capacities. However distinguished service is not limited to long term service members so the original concept has been modified to also recognize outstanding volunteer efforts of the Society's younger members. The H. M. Hunter Award now recognizes:• a longer term CSPG member (20+years) who

has contributed to the Society on an on-going basis in a volunteer capacity in a variety of portfolios and/or singular outstanding service. This would include an outstanding individual who has not received a major service award recently and if they have been recognized in the past, have contributed to provide great service to the Society since that time. Special consideration is given to those 'behind the scenes' i.e. 'unsung heroes' whose contributions have not been adequately recognized. Such longer-term members have gone above and beyond and by doing so have promoted our profession and the Society.

• a shorter term CSPG member (10-20 years) for exceptional performance, who has gone above and beyond, a rising star as a volunteer to the Society, and who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the CSPG.

Both awards are of equal merit and recognize exceptional volunteer commitment to the Society. The CSPG is built on a legacy of service by members and so strives to recognize and encourage such recipients. There is no restriction as to the number of times an individual may win this award. Nor does this award have to be awarded in either category each year or at all in the unlikely situation of no worthy nominees in a given year.

History of the H.M. Hunter AwardFirst awarded in 2004, this award is named after Mr. H. (Harry) M. Hunter who was a founding member of the Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists. He had one of the longest volunteer careers of the founding members. Harry Hunter served as ASPG

Secretary-Treasurer in 1929, as Business Manager in 1935 and 1937, and as President in 1939. Harry Hunter was the only founding member present at the final meeting of the ASPG where they overwhelmingly agreed to change their name to the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. This award is named in honour of Mr. Hunter's work in the early days of the Society, on the Executive and his subsequent volunteerism. The award is a wall clock chosen to represent the time members have given to the Society. The originator of the award, Astrid Arts, designed the original clock along with the company Slateworks who made them. The current version of the award is a plaque-style, slate, wall clock with the CSPG logo in the center and the name of the winner on a brass plate.

Peter Fermor’s volunteering with the CSPG began in the late 1980’s when invited by Bob McMechan to help run the four day Rocky Mountain field trip portion of the Student-Industry Field Trip (SIFT) which is one of the society’s primary student outreach efforts. Having enjoyed contributing to field trips run by the AAPG and the Montana Geological Society, and with support from his employer Shell Canada, it was easy to say yes to Bob’s request. SIFT has been the focus of Peter’s CSPG volunteer efforts since then.

Peter anticipated that he would be involved

for a few years and then would rotate his role over to other Shell Canada geologists, but things have not worked out that way. Instead he has participated in every SIFT four day field trip but one since he began volunteering, with several other leaders participating with him since Bob McMechan, notably Kevin Root and Clint Tippett.

During this time Peter has participated in the creation of a dedicated digital guidebook for the four day trip, the creation of new posters and presentation material and re-arrangements of the trip itinerary. The itinerary has gradually evolved to reflect the changing objectives of our industry exploration, such as the emergence of tight sand plays and “shale” oil and gas development. Running the two week SIFT program requires dedicated effort from many volunteers and working with those volunteers, field trip leaders and the students has made every trip fun and rewarding.

Peter holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in geology from Queen’s University, Kingston Ontario. He is retired from a career in the petroleum industry focussed on exploration in the Foothills with Shell Canada, Encana and Devon Canada.

Jason Frank’s volunteering with the CSPG began in 2005 when Brett Wrathall invited him to join the Honourary address



committee. As part of the CSPG’s Outreach program, the committee was tasked with selecting and organizing interesting and topical science-based presentations to the general public. The mandate for the talks were that they needed to be timely and educational, as to highlight the role that geoscience plays in the community at large. Topics ranged from climate change to the science of big wave surfing. Each year these presentations were given twice, once in the evening to the general public, and the other during the day to a packed house of over 2,400 elementary and junior high students (at no charge). Jason’s main role was co-ordinating with the various Calgary school boards and teachers to organize seating, bussing and general logistics. It was through this committee work that Jason realized the power that volunteering can have. Packing the Jubilee Auditorium with excited students, and seeing their amazement and wonder for the science of Geology was indescribable! Jason still has some of the hand-written thank-you letters from students who attended these events…perhaps they will be future Geoscientists?

In 2014 Jason volunteered to chair a session with Kevin Mageau at the annual GeoConvention, entitled “Unlocking the Duvernay: Defining the Sweet Spots in a World Class, Liquids-Rich Resource Play.” This session sought to highlight talks on the Duvernay resource; outlining not only the massive scale of resource, but technical and operational highlights of the play’s development.

At the end of 2015 Jason got a call from Greg Lynch, wondering if he’d be interested in taking on the role of technical editor for the society’s monthly magazine the Reservoir. Realizing that the role would be too big for him to do alone, he enlisted the help of Travis Hobbs. Together they co-edited the Reservoir for the past three years. During this time the magazine has experienced some changes, most notably moving from 11 editions down to six, reflecting budget constraints of the society. Other changes have been more subtle and hopefully can continue, namely the introduction of “themed” editions and interviews with some of the “architects” of the society. Jason says that one of the greatest memories

during this time was being able to work with Jason Lavigne and interview their M.Sc. thesis advisor Dr. George Pemberton before his passing in August of 2018. Being co-editor of the Reservoir also gave Jason the opportunity to stay in contact and re-connect with colleagues. It was always fun to hear what they were working on, what challenges they overcame, and then asking if they’d be interested in submitting a paper.

Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Jason holds a B.Sc. (Honours) in Geology and an M.Sc. in Earth and Atmospheric Science (Clastic Sedimentology and Ichnology) from the University of Alberta. He is currently a Senior Geologist at Athabasca Oil Corporation. Prior to joining Athabasca Jason worked at Talisman Energy, Amarone Oil and Gas Ltd., Burlington Resources and Shell Canada Ltd, working both on and offshore conventional clastic reservoirs, and unconventional reservoirs in Alberta, British Columbia and the U.S. He absolutely loves spending spare time with his wife Carly (also a Geologist), and their two children, in the great outdoors.

View Full list of articles

online today at www.cspg.org

Issue Contents Include:

NEW ISSUE OF THE BULLETIN

Anatomy of a late Cenomanian transgressive shelf system: The influence of high-frequency eustasy and crustal flexure on stratigraphy and paleogeography, basal Kaskapau Formation, Western Canada Foreland Basin A.G. Plint

An Alternative Interpretation for the Origin of Black Shale in the Bakken Formation of the Williston Basin D.M. Petty



TRACKS AWARDThe Tracks Award recognizes specific meritorious service to the Society by a member or friend of the CSPG. It is designed to recognize individuals who have set new standards of excellence within the Society – those who have made "tracks" for others to follow.

Colin Etienne is a Corporate Planning Analyst with Canbriam Energy. After graduating from the University of Victoria in 2014, Colin joined Canbriam as a geologist and spent the first four years in technical roles. During his time as a geologist at Canbriam Colin worked on greenfield and brownfield exploration, asset development and operations supervision. Colin recently moved into Canbriam’s finance group working on Corporate Planning. He has been an active volunteer with the CSPG since March of 2014.

Colin is currently the Director of Outreach and co-Chair of the Student Industry Field Trip (SIFT) for the CSPG. During his five years volunteering with the CSPG, Colin has held a variety of roles on the University Outreach and SIFT committees, and was the driving force behind the re-establishment of the Young Geoscience Professionals group. After recognizing the CSPG’s shortcomings in programming specifically targeted towards young professionals, Colin worked to build a group within the CSPG that focuses on helping students make the transition into professional life and ensure the development of skills beyond just technical knowledge.

FIELD TRIP Burgess Shale: Mount Stephen

Trilobite Beds Hike

July 20th, 2019 VISIT CSPG.ORG TO REGISTER TODAY CSPG Student Rate: $ 70 + GST YGP CSPG Member Rate: $170 + GST

Field Trip Description: If you are new to the Burgess Shale and wish to see abundant and obvious Cambrian fossils, this is the hike to do. The site is strewn with rock slabs containing appendages of the Cambrian predator Anomalocaris canadensis; trilobites Ogygopsis klotzi, Olenoides serratus and Elrathina cordillerae as well as brachiopods and sponges.

FIELD TRIP Burgess Shale: Mount Stephen

Trilobite Beds Hike

July 20th, 2019 VISIT CSPG.ORG TO REGISTER TODAY CSPG Student Rate: $ 70 + GST YGP CSPG Member Rate: $170 + GST

Field Trip Description: If you are new to the Burgess Shale and wish to see abundant and obvious Cambrian fossils, this is the hike to do. The site is strewn with rock slabs containing appendages of the Cambrian predator Anomalocaris canadensis; trilobites Ogygopsis klotzi, Olenoides serratus and Elrathina cordillerae as well as brachiopods and sponges.

SOCIETY NEWS


WALT GAMP OBITUARYMarch 23, 1959 – Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

May 6, 2019 – Calgary, Alberta

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Walt Gamp, of Calgary, AB, on May 6, 2019 after an arduous

struggle with cancer that he managed with incredible resilience and dignity.

Walt was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and grew up in Vancouver, BC, where he attended Princess Margaret Senior High School in Surrey. In 1981 he graduated from the University of British Columbia with First Class Honours in geology. It was during his time at the University of British Columbia that he participated in summer jobs doing mining exploration field work in bush camps in Northern Canada, which facilitated his long-lasting love of Northern British Columbia and the Yukon. Following his graduation, he enthusiastically embarked on his career with Hudson’s Bay Oil & Gas. Walt worked for over three-and-a-half decades in the oil and gas industry in Calgary as an exploration geologist. His technical strength and passion for geology led to the discovery of the Seal Slave Point D oil pool in 1985 and the Macoun Winnipegosis oil pool in 1988, both being significant finds. For the duration of his lengthy career, Walt had the opportunity to touch the lives of many geologists by passing on his technical expertise in a mentorship capacity.

Walt was a long-time CSPG member, joining the society in 1982. He was chosen to participate in the Student Industry Field Trip (SIFT) in 1980 and later became an instructor/leader for the trip in 2014. He also volunteered with the Link Award committee from 1991 to 1996.

Walt and his beloved wife Susanne would often joke that they were matched at birth, as Susanne was also born in Rio. They got married in 1983 and travelled extensively before settling down to start a family with the birth of Martin, the Millennium Baby, who was shortly thereafter followed by Lucas.

Outside of work Walt enjoyed hiking, camping, skiing, surfing, scuba diving, travelling, playing cards (especially poker), and strategy-based board games with his family and friends. Walt has instilled a deep love for the outdoors, and all things fun-and-games in his two boys. His favourite vacation spot was Tofino, where he surfed for hours on end – eventually the rest of the family donned wetsuits and joined him. A personal travel highlight was when he returned to his beloved Yukon, for the 100th anniversary of the Gold Rush – this time camping in the comfort of a van instead of bush-tent. He will be lovingly remembered as someone who was persistent in his pursuit for adventure and knowledge, whether it was current events, history, technical, and in the last two years of his life, researching all the information he could find, looking for a possible answer that might put his rare cancer into remission.

Walt’s legacy is undeniable: He was kind, well-spoken, witty, knowledgeable, and determined – an amazing husband and father, Walt leaves behind a prodigious legacy for his boys.

Walt will be forever missed by Susanne, his wife and best friend of thirty-five years; and his two sons, Martin and Lucas; his parents, Roswitha and Armin; his sister, Marianne (Trevor); his brother, Andy (Sylvia); as well as extended family, friends, and colleagues.

SOCIETY NEWS


ROBERT A. MENELEY OBITUARY 1933 - 2019

Bob passed away peacefully in Edmonton on May 28, 2019. Predeceased by his wife, Rose, in

2006. Father of Marie, Anne (Vaidila), Patrick (Michelle), Daniel (Lisa), Angela (Peter) and David (Katherine). Proud grandfather of 15 wonderful grandchildren. Bob was born in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. Following graduation from the University of Saskatchewan in 1958, he began his distinguished career in the oil industry with Imperial Oil, followed by Panarctic, Petro-Canada, and Meneley Enterprises. Throughout his career, Bob was known as a passionate and committed exploration geologist, dedicated to lifelong learning and sharing his knowledge with colleagues and others in the industry. In recognition of his contributions to the industry, he was inducted into the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame in 2004. Robert joined CSPG in 1958 and was awarded the Stanley Slipper medal for his outstanding contribution to petroleum exploration and development in 2007. As a bonus, he collected interesting rock samples to adorn our coffee tables and bookcases, geological maps doubled

as wallpaper, and family road trips through the Badlands and Rockies included enthusiastic, unsolicited lectures about the surrounding geological formations! Bob was a committed and compassionate caregiver for his beloved wife, Rose, who had Multiple Sclerosis. He dedicated himself to ensuring that her quality of life was the best that it could be, caring for her with the ultimate love and kindness. We appreciated not only their ability to overcome health challenges together, but their incredibly positive outlook on life which they conveyed through their travels and years of gracious hosting. Bob was much loved by his extended family in Canada and Rose's family in Ireland. Everyone appreciated his intelligence, wit and generosity. Following Rose's passing, Bob moved to Vancouver and continued to inspire us with his commitment to his family. We are extremely grateful to Angela and Peter for providing wonderful and loving support to Bob in his final months after moving to Edmonton. They coordinated a health care team including Dr. Fraser Armstrong, Alberta Health Services - Home Care, and

caregivers from Friendship Care Services (particularly Vanette, Amber and Maxine) who together ensured that Bob was able to be comfortable and enjoy visits with his family and friends.

To view Bob’s 2007 Stanley Slipper Award Citation visit www.cspg.org/awards

CSPG is starting up it’s mentoring program again and we are looking for members who are interested in mentoring or being

mentored. For more information please see the GeoMatch page or email [email protected]

GeoMatch Mentorship Program


Mark your calendars, and get ready for the 2019 CSPG Mixed Golf tournament on 23rd August at Lynx Ridge Golf course, celebrating 30 years of social golf with your Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists.

The four-golfer, best-ball tournament includes a round of golf, meals, plenty of hospitality and good times, and a chance to network with your colleagues and industry sponsors. This year we trust that we return to the typical August golf, where the course is at its finest, with the inviting fairways, smooth greens, spectacular mountains and the ever-beckoning water hazards and sand traps to capture errant golf shots, instead of smoky skies that only clear because of the rain!!!

30th Annual CSPG Mixed Golf Tournament August 23, 2019

To register please go to www.cspg.org, Events, Mixed Golf Tournament

Member rate: $100+gst Non-member rate: $140+gst Team registration available!

Questions? Contact Kristy Casebeer

[email protected]

REGISTRATION OPEN!

Go to www.cspg.org/c2c for more information

In conjunction with the 2019 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, the CSPG is conducting a one-day core workshop focused on refining and improving reservoir characterization and geomodel inputs using information gathered from core. Engineers and geologists will demonstrate how basins and reservoirs can be better characterized by using examples from Montney, Oil Sands, Organic-rich Mudstones and Tight Sands plays. This workshop will cycle all participants through a series of sessions each focused on the challenges facing specific play types. Attendees will benefit from having these concepts and applications presented by experts from industry and academia.

To view each technical session overview and presenter lists

please visit the CSPG conferences website

Registration will be processed through the ATCE website– link through the CSPG website

Documents

In This Issue - Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists files/pdfs... · Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Tel: 403-513-1230, ... free lunchtime talks for September in the