Seabed Mapping and the Search for Oil and Gas Seeps …Seabed Mapping and the Search for Oil and Gas Seeps Offshore ... the Gulf of Mexico, and Brazil. Deep water drilling results

Volume 44 Number 3 November 2013 Page 1

Seabed Mapping and the Search for Oil and Gas Seeps Offshore

John Decker, Philip A. Teas, Daniel L. Orange Niko Resources, Ltd., Jakarta, Indonesia

[email protected]

Over the past 10 years, Unocal, Black Gold Energy, Niko Resources, and their partners acquired over 1 million square kilometers of high resolution multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data in Indonesia. The purpose of these surveys was to identify possible oil and gas seeps on the sea bottom in frontier basins and then to collect piston cores from the most prospective locations for hydrocarbon geochemical analyses. Results to date have allowed us to differ-entiate basins with active thermogenic oil and gas charge from basins with no charge or predominantly biogenic gas charge. In all cases, geochemical biomarker and carbon isotope analyses have shown oils and gases from sea bottom cores to be virtually identical to nearby (mostly onshore) produced hydrocarbons. Overall the oil and gas geochemistry data in deep water Indonesia compare similarly in quality and quantity to deep water petroleum basins offshore west Africa, the Gulf of Mexico, and Brazil. Deep water drilling results so far have been largely consistent with seabed core geochemistry. New wells in basins with robust oil and gas seeps encountered charged reservoirs but unfortunately not in commercial quantities. Basins with few confirmed thermogenic oil or gas seeps have had mixed drilling results. Wells in basins with no charge identified by seabed coring have all been dry. Overall, the multibeam seep hunting pro-gram has been successful in reducing charge risk in frontier basins, but provides no information on reservoir or trap, and seeps at the sea-bottom can be viewed as increasing the risk of an effective seal. (continued)

Palu Submarine Channel Multibeam Survey

Piston Coring System


About the Speaker: John Decker spent the formative years of his career from the mid 1970’s to the mid 1990’s working for various organi-zations in regions throughout Alaska. More recently, John has been involved in offshore oil and gas exploration in In-donesia. Here, he began using high resolution bathymetry to map structural and stratigraphic features of the sea bot-tom and to identify possible locations of submarine oil and gas seeps. He holds a BS from University of California, Berkeley, MS from University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and PhD from the Leland Stanford Junior University.

Multibeam maps and sea bed cores also provide a wealth of geological data that are perhaps of more academic inter-est. Two features that we have studied in more detail are a basin floor fan and associated mega sediment waves in the Makassar Strait. We first discovered a large, 2500 sq km, low relief basin floor fan has been discovered at a water depth of >2000 m in the Makassar Strait in 2003. It is almost invisible on bathymetry but is very well imaged with quantitative multibeam backscatter. The Makassar fan shows a systematically varying backscatter response that paints a picture easily identified as a classic deep sea fan. Channels are straight, bifurcating, and apparently not sinuous. Lobes are gen-erally 1-2 km wide and 2 to 6 km long. The sediment lobes appear more as overlapping elongate (1-2 km wide by 2 to 6 km long) sediment plumes rather than broad classic “lobes”. More arguable interpretations are that each of the plumes appears to be channel fed. Relic channels, presumably from lowstand times, can be seen almost to the distal limits of the fan and appear to feed distal sediment plumes. Proximal sediment plumes occur within or immediately adjacent to proximal channels and are presumably deposited during the current highstand. The channels incise restricted portions of the upper fan system, but do not appear to show significant levee formation adjacent to the channels.

On the Sulawesi slope east of the Makassar Fan, is a large field of mega-scale (wavelengths of 1-3 km and heights of about 10-30 m) sediment waves. Simi-lar sediment waves have also been recognized in deepwater settings in other parts of the world. A near-ly universal feature of these bedforms is that they grow or migrate updip (antidune direction for downdip flow). Hi-res sub-bottom profiler data show that the strata comprising the sediment waves are thickest on the landward-facing (stoss) side and thinnest on the more steeply dipping seaward-facing side. Sediment cores (~6 m length) from the stoss side and wave crest are composed of interbedded very fine sand and mud. Cores from the lee side are entirely mud. Similar bedforms in other basins have been interpreted to be formed by contour currents. Alternatively, we believe that the Makassar sediment waves formed by intermit-tent non-channelized down-slope sediment transport by hyperpycnal flow and/or unconfined turbidity cur-rents associated with onshore tropical storms and resulting floods in onshore Sulawesi.


AGS Luncheon Date & Time: Nov. 21st, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Program: Seabed Mapping and the Search for Oil and Gas Seeps Offshore

Speaker: John Decker, Niko Resources LTD

Place: BP Energy Center

Reservations: Make your reservation before noon Tuesday, Nov 19th, 2013

Cost: Seminar only, no meal: Free Reserve a box lunch: $15 Lunch with no reservation: On an “as-available” basis only

E-mail reservations: [email protected] or phone (907) 564-4028. For more information visit: www.alaskageology.org

From the President’s Desk:

Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is almost here and the winter holidays are looming. Technical glitches or ill advised shut downs not withstanding this month’s luncheon is well worth looking forward to as well.

The topic hits very close to home for me since the speaker and I worked in the same Jakarta, Indonesia office roughly ten years ago. I consider John Decker a great mentor to my career and one of the reasons I was able to come back to Alaska. If I could attain a tenth of his experience and expertise I’d be a better geologist. The work he is presenting was applied in the area I was exploring so I was able to work directly with him. John championed a number of cutting edge or what some might consider unconventional techniques in exploration but always tempered their use with sound geological thinking. I never assume I’m the smartest guy in the room but I like to believe I know how to think. John is often the smartest guy in the room and he knows how to think with the best of them. So much of what we do in geology involves uncovering the hidden and obscured with tools that in one way or another fall into the category of remote sensing. Ob-serving modern analogs is the best we can hope for when trying to unravel the geologic processes that led to what we see today. In the end we’re left with trying to tell the best story from the often obtuse facts that we observe. It is one thing to know a lot and quite another to think it through to a meaningful conclusion.

Thanks go out to Laura Gregersen for taking time to stop by the Challenger Center in Kenai last month (see photo be-low) and talk with kids about petroleum geology. She was helped out with props from her colleagues at the DOG and she reports that it was quite an energetic group. The folks at the Challenger Center were very grateful so I’m glad the AGS was able to help facilitate through Laura’s effort.

~ Matt

Membership Note

Membership renewal is Nov. 1 ; Annual dues for membership in

AGS are:

Full members: $25

Students: $5

Photo courtesy of Chantelle Rose, Director Alaska Challenger Center


Recent DGGS Publications (available at http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs): Koehler, R.D., Reger, R.D., Sicard, K.R., and Spangler, E.R., 2013, Yukon River bridge landslide: Preliminary geologic and geotech-nical evaluation: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Preliminary Interpretive Report 2013-6, 69 p. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/25642

DGGS Staff, 2013, Geologic Map Index of Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Digital Data Series 5, http://maps.dggs.alaska.gov/mapindex/

Schaefer, J.R., Scott, W.E., Evans, W.C., Wang, Bronwen, and McGimsey, R.G., 2013, Summit crater lake observations, and the lo-cation, chemistry, and pH of water samples near Mount Chiginagak volcano, Alaska: 2004-2012: Alaska Division of Geological & Geo-physical Surveys Report of Investigation 2011-6 v. 2, 25 p. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/25602

Blessington, M.J., Reioux, D.A., and Werdon, M.B., 2013, Analyses of historic U.S. Bureau of Mines rock and heavy mineral concen-trate samples for geochemical trace-element and rare-earth element data--Ray Mountains and Kanuti-Hodzana uplands area, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Raw Data File 2013-7, 2 p. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/25581

Loveland, A.M. and PetroTech Associates, 2013, Mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) results from outcrop samples in the Nak-nek Formation, Iniskin Peninsula, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Raw Data File 2013-6, 10 p. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/25494

Bachmann, E.N., Blessington, M.J., Freeman, L.K., Newberry, R.J., Tuzzolino, A.L., Wright, T.C., and Wylie, William, 2013, Geochem-ical major-oxide, minor-oxide, trace-element, and rare-earth-element data from rocks and streams sediments collected in 2012 in the Ray Mountains area, Beaver, Bettles, Livengood, and Tanana quadrangles, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Sur-veys Raw Data File 2013-5, 4 p. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/25386

Loveland, A.M. and PetroTech Associates, 2013, Mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) results from outcrop samples in the Ty-onek, Beluga, and West Foreland Formations, Tyonek and Talkeetna quadrangles, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysi-cal Surveys Raw Data File 2013-4, 5 p. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/25299

Nicolsky, D.J., Suleimani, E.N., Haeussler, P.J., Ryan, H.F., Koehler, R.D., Combellick, R.A., and Hansen, R.A., 2013, Tsunami inun-dation maps of Port Valdez, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Report of Investigation 2013-1, 77 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:12,500. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/25055

Gallagher, P.E., 2013, Creating FGDC-compliant cartographic representations (poster): ESRI International Users Conference, San Diego, California, July 7-12, 2013: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, 15 p., 1 sheet. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/25339

Hubbard, T.D., Wolken, G.J., Stevens, D.S.P., and Combellick, R.A., 2013, High-resolution lidar data for the Whittier area, Passage Canal, and Portage Lake, Alaska, in DGGS Staff, LiDAR Datasets of Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Raw Data File 2013-3, 5 p. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/pubs/id/24976

DGGS Staff, 2013, LiDAR Datasets of Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Digital Data Series 4, http://maps.dggs.alaska.gov/lidar/

My Pet Rock Kenneth P. Helmold

Alaska Division of Oil & Gas

Photomicrograph of Upper Jurassic Naknek sandstone with poor reservoir quality (2.5% ϕ; 0.03 md K). Rock consists largely of albitized plagio-clase (Plg) and minor hornblende. Intergranular pores are lined by chlo-rite (arrows) and filled with laumontite (L). Laumontite is the by-product of extensive regional albitization of calcic plagioclase; it also occurs as a partial replacement of plagioclase grains. Sample is from the Chisik Conglomer-ate Member of the Naknek, Chisik Island, lower Cook Inlet, Alaska.

Send me a photo of your pet rock!


Greg Bernaski (1959 - 2012)

On January 24, 2012, the Alaska geoscience community lost a dear colleague and friend, Greg Bernaski. Greg spent his entire career with Sohio and BP. He started his career in Houston working the Gulf Coast and then moved to Alaska in 1993 where he spent the remainder of his career. Greg was known for his careful and excellent geological analytical skills, and his deep understanding of Alaskan North Slope geology. If you had a question about the depositional models proposed for a reservoir, talk to Greg. If you were interested in the structural controls and influence of faults for a partic-ular area of interest, Greg could walk you through the latest data and help you understand the geologic history of the basin. One of his many skills was his deep knowledge of well testing and analysis.

Greg developed an appreciation of nature at an early age. Born and raised in Laramie, Wyoming, the colorful Mesozoic outcroppings surrounding town first kindled his interest in geology. Both his undergraduate and graduate degrees were completed at the University of Wyoming and he was well versed in the structure and stratigraphy of the Rockies. His Master’s thesis field area was in Dinosaur National Monument and he also had the opportunity to conduct research in the Grand Canyon by raft from the Colorado River on many occasions.

Greg was also an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed everything that Alaska could offer. Greg and his wife Sally Rothwell were often boating, fishing, and hiking in the summer; then cross-country skiing in the winter. Whether it was skiing Turnagain Pass, Portage Lake, the Arctic to Indian traverse, or the Tour of Anchorage, the trips with Greg were always enjoyable, and Greg’s support of the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage is greatly appreciated.

Greg will always be remembered for his easygoing, quiet personality and his willingness to help a friend or colleague no matter how busy he was. He was always happy to explain his thoughts on a geological issue and very open to other opinions. Greg’s understated, dry sense of humor was appreciated by his co-workers. He was never the loudest voice in the room, but when he spoke, it was always a good idea to listen up. He usually either had something insightful to say on the topic at hand or had a good quip to lighten the mood.

He was a geologist’s geologist, who was often sought after for his deep understanding of the field. Greg’s contributions to the Alaska Geological Society will continue into the future through a donation by Sally Rothwell in memory of Greg. This donation will help students experience Alaska geology in the field and expand their knowledge of the geologic his-tory that Greg was so often helping explain to others.

Contributions by Joe Kirchner, Chris West, John Isby, Patti Phillips, and Eric Cannon; photos courtesy of Sally Rothwell and Bob Sutherland.

THE ALASKA GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Schedule of Remaining Luncheons for 2013 - 2014. Updates on the web at: http://www.alaskageology.org

Thursday, December 12, 2013 Leo Brown, COP & Daniel Yancey, BP, “4D Seismic at Alpine Field & Time-lapse 3D/4D observations at Simpson Lagoon, Milne Pt.”

Thursday, January 16, 2014 Richard O. Lease, USGS; Title to be announced

Thursday, February 20, 2014 David Houseknecht, USGS, “Alaska’s North Slope and the Chukchi Shelf”

Thursday, March 20, 2014 Greg Wilson, ConocoPhillips Alaska, “Devil’s Paw Prospect, Chukchi Sea, Alaska”

Monday, April 14, 2014 John Kaldi, University of Adelaide, “Carbon Capture and Storage”, Main Conference Rooms A, B, C at BP Exploration Alaska

Thursday, April 17, 2014 Gerry Van Kooten, Calvin College, “Exploration of Alaska’s Interior Basins and the Impact of Recent Drilling”

Thursday, May 15, 2014 Keynote Speaker at the AGS Technical Conference, University of Alaska. Anchorage

If you would like to volunteer a talk or would like to suggest a speaker, please contact Monte Mabry at 230-4488.


ALASKA FOSSILS OF THE MONTH

LATE TRIASSIC (EARLY NORIAN) GASTROPODS FROM THE CHITISTONE LIMESTONE (WRANGELLIA TERRANE), WRANGELL MOUNTAINS, ALASKA

by Robert B. Blodgett (Consulting Geologist, Anchorage)

The subject for this month’s Alaska Fossils of the Month column are some of the highly ornate, tropical gas-tropod species which characterize the uppermost beds of the Chitistone Limestone at Green Butte with the Wrangellia terrane in south-central Alaska (Figs. 1 and 2). The discussed gastropods (see Figs. 3 and 4) belong to the Family Delphinulopsidae established by the author and collaborators (Jiri Frýda and George Stanley) in 2001. The Green Butte locality (Figs. 5 and 6) is situated northeast of the town of McCarthy and can be easily reached by helicopter. The gastropods shown here are part of a broader effort of the author to characterize the distinctive, highly diverse and ornate Late Triassic gastropod fauna which characterize the accreted terranes of western North America (Blodgett and Frýda, 2001a, b; Blodgett et al., 2001, 2003, 2005; Blodgett in McRoberts and Blodgett, 2002; Caruthers et al., 2005; Frýda and Blodgett, 2001 and 2003); Frýda et al., 2003; Nützel et al., 2003). The fossil materials illustrated here from Green Butte were collected by Norman Silberling back in the mid-1960’s and supplemented by collections made later by the author, Andrew Caruthers, and George D. Stanley in 2004. The highly ornate nature of the gastropods clear-ly testify to the tropical character of the Wrangellia terrane fauna during Late Triassic time.

Wrangellia as originally conceived by Jones et al., 1977, included rocks extending from southcentral Alaska to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, and possibly including the Wallowa Mountains and Hells Canyon area of northeastern Oregon and the adjacent portion of Idaho. The Oregon/Idaho region was latter as-signed to separate terrane, termed the Wallowa terrane, although I believe that their gross general stratigra-phy and common molluscan faunas indicate their original continuity (a view also held by the late Norman J. Silberling, father of many of Alaska’s named terranes).

Diverse Up.Triassic Wrangellian gastropod fauna are known only from the Green Butte locality in the Wran-gell Mountains, in earliest Norian (KERRI Zone) strata of the uppermost Chitistone Limestone. Nearly identi-cal in taxonomic content with the coeval Spring Creek locality in the Wallowa terrane of Hells Canyon, OR.

Figure 2. Map showing distribution of the Wrangellia and Wallowa terranes in western North America (from Blodgett and Frýda, 2001). The Wallowa terrane is considered here to the distal terminus of Wrangellia, as originally suggested by Jones et al. (1977).

Figure 1. Generalized map of western North America showing ap-proximate positions of various displaced terranes in their modern-day location. Arrow indicates study location of Green Butte within the Wrangellia terrane. Figure from Stanley et al. (2008).


Spinidelphinulopsis whaleni Blodgett, Frýda, and Stanley, 2001

Distribution of Spinidelphinulopsis whaleni : Wrangellia/Wallowa terranes and Alexander terrane

Figure 4. Spinidelphinulopsis whale-ni Blodgett, Frýda, and Stanley, 2001. This distinctive early Norian delphinulopsid gastropod genus and species was originally established from rocks of the Wallowa terrane (NE Oregon), but also is found in classic Wrangellian strata in the Wrangell Mountains (Green Butte). In addition, it was subsequently described from the Alexander ter-rane of southeast Alaska (Cornwallis Limestone on Kuiu Island).

Distribution of Paradelphinulopsis vallieri: Endemic to the Wrangellia/Wallowa terranes

Figure 3. Paradelphulinopsis vallieri Blodgett, Frýda, and Stanley, 2001. This distinctive early Norian delphi-nulopsid genus and species was originally established from rocks of the Wallowa terrane (northeast Oregon), but also is found in clas-sic Wrangellia terrane strata of the Chitistone Limestone in the Wran-gell Mountains (Green Butte).

Paradelphinulopsis vallieri Blodgett, Frýda, and Stanley, 2001

CHITISTONE LIMESTONE FAUNA (GREEN BUTTE), WRANGELL MOUNTAINS

The Green Butte fauna as noted above is essentially identical in taxonomic content of its gastropods and bi-valves with the fauna from the Spring Creek locality in the Wallowa terrane.

Over 50+ species represented in this richly diverse fauna, which is most readily diagnosed by its distinctive suite of delphinulopsid gastropods, representing new genera and new species.

The combined Wrangellia/Wallowa early Norian gastropod fauna is nearly totally dissimilar with coeval fauna from known from other western North American terranes.


REFERENCES

Blodgett, R. B., and Frýda, J., 2001, On the occurrence of Spinidelphinulopsis whaleni [Late Triassic (early Norian) Gastropoda] in the Cornwallis Limestone, Kuiu Island, southeastern Alaska (Alexander terrane) and its paleobiogeographic significance. Bulletin of the Czech Geological Survey, v. 76(4), p. 267-274.

Blodgett, R. B., and Frýda, J., 2001, Upper Triassic gastropod biogeography of western North America: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 33, no. 3, p. A-53.

Blodgett, R. B., Frýda, J., and Stanley, G.D., Jr., 2001, Delphinulopsidae, a new neritopsoidean gastropod family from the Upper Triassic (upper Carnian or lower Norian) of the Wallowa terrane, northeastern Oregon: Journal of Czech Geological Society, v. 46(3/4), p. 221-232.

Blodgett, R.B., Frýda, J., and Stanley, G.D., 2003, Late Triassic gastropod biogeography of southern Alaskan accreted terranes: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 35, no. 4, p. 59.

Blodgett, R.B., Frýda, J., and Stanley, G.D., Jr., 2005, Upper Triassic gastropod fauna from southern Alaska and its implications for terrane accretion: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, no. 7, p. 82.

Caruthers, A.H., Stanley, G.D., Blodgett, R.B., and Katvala, E.C., 2005, Upper Triassic shallow-water marine fauna from the Wrangellia and Alexander terranes (southern Alaska) and their paleobiogeographic implications: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, no. 4, p. 42.

Frýda, J., and Blodgett, R. B., 2001, Chulitnacula, a new paleobiogeographically distinctive gastropod genus from Upper Triassic strata in accreted terranes of southern Alaska: In: Frýda, J., Blodgett, R.B., and Mergl, M., eds., Havlíček Volume, Journal of Czech Geological Society, v. 46(3/4), p. 213-220.

Frýda, J., and Blodgett, R. B., 2003, Silberlingiella, a new purpurinid genus (Littorinoidea, Gastropoda) from the late middle Norian (Late Triassic) of the Clan Alpine Range, western Nevada: Mitteilungen des Geologisch-Paläontologischen Instituts der Universität Hamburg, Heft 87, p. 47-54.

Frýda, J., Blodgett, R. B., and Stanley, G. D., Jr., 2003, New neritopsoidean gastropods (Neritimorpha) from the Late Triassic (Late Carnian – Early Norian) of the Wallowa terrane, northeastern Oregon: Mitteilungen des Geologisch-Paläontologischen Instituts der Universität Hamburg, Heft 87, p. 55-72.

Jones, D.L., Silberling, N.J., and Hillhouse, J., 1977, Wrangellia—A displaced terrane in northwestern North America. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 14, p. 2565-2577.

McRoberts, C. A., and Blodgett, R. B., 2002, Upper Triassic (Norian) mollusks from the Taylor Mountains Quadrangle, southwest Alaska, p. 55-75, in Wilson, F.H., and Galloway, J. P., eds., Geologic Studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 2000: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1662.

Nützel, A., Blodgett, R. B., and Stanley, G. D., Jr., 2003, Late Triassic gastropods from the Martin Bridge Formation (Wallowa terrane) of northeastern Oregon and their paleogeographic significance: Neues Jahrbuch fűr Geologie, Paläontologie, Monatshefte, v. 228, p. 83-100.

Stanley, G.D., Jr., Caruthers, A.H., and Blodgett, R.B., 2008, From Hot and Tropical to Cold and Arctic — the Triassic history of the Wrangell Mountains: Alaska Park Sci-ence, v. 7, no. 1, p. 5-15.

Figure 7. Another view of thick Upper Triassic limestones (Chitistone Limestone and overlying Nizina Limestone) spectacularily exposed above volcanic rocks of the Trias-sic age Nikolai Greenstone in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve east of Green Butte.

Figure 6. Photograph showing the east side of Green Butte in the Wrangell Mountains. Three distinct rock formations (Nikolai Greenstone, Chitistone Limestone, and Nizina Limestone, making the up much of the Triassic stra-tigraphy of Wrangellia, are identified. Dashed line indicates formation bound-aries; arrow depicts the location of our 2004 field camp and fossil locality.

Figure 5. Fossiliferous horizon at the boundary between the Chitistone Lime-stone and overlying Nizina Limestone at Green Butte, Wrangell Mountains.


Calendar of Upcoming Events Date Time Organization Event Location 10/24/13 – 10/26/13

Alaska Federation of Natives

2013 AFN Conference http://www.nativefederation.org/annual-convention/

Fairbanks

11/4/13 – 11/10/13

Alaska Miners Association

2013 Annual Convention. Mining in Alaska: Build it – Keep it – Grow it. www.alaskaminers.org

Sheraton Hotel Anchorage

11/5/2013 9:00 – 5:00pm

The Seminar Group

Cameron Leonard & Bob Loeffler -“Mining in Alaska: Law, Permitting Issues, and Current Trends. One day seminar.

Hotel Captain Cook Anchorage

11/14/13 9:00 – 12:00pm

ESRI Sharpen your GIS skill seminar ArcGIS Alyeska Hotel & Resort, Girdwood

11/19/14 11:30 – 1:00pm

American Society of Civil Engineers

ASCE Anchorage section branch meeting Anchorage Moose Lodge

11/20/13 11/21/13

Alaska Resource Development Council

34th Annual Conference http://www.akrdc.org/membership/events/conference/2013/

Dena'ina Civic & Convention Center

11/21/13 11:30 – 1:00pm

Alaska Geological Society

John Decker, NIKO “Seabed mapping and the search for oil and gas seeps offshore”

BP Energy Center, Anchorage

12/12/13 11:30 – 1:00pm


Joint meeting with Alaska Geophysical Society - Greg Wilson, ConocoPhillips Alaska “Devil’s Paw Prospect, Chukchi Sea Alaska”


11/14/13 11:30 – 1:00pm

Geophysical Society of Alaska

James Brooks will speak on the 1964 earthquake in Kodiak, Alaska

ConocoPhillips, ANO-259

12/11/13 11:30 – 1:00pm

AMA/SME Lunchtime seminar. Speaker - Kurt Parkan, Donlin Gold.

Sourdough Mining Company Anchorage

1/20/14 – 1/24/14

Alaska Marine Science

Alaska Marine Science Symposium http://www.alaskamarinescience.org/

Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage

1/8/14 11:30 – 1:00pm

AMA/SME Lunchtime seminar Speaker – Cecil Ulrich, URS Corporation

Sourdough Mining Company Anchorage

2/3/14 – 2/7/14

Alaska Forum Alaska Forum on the Environment www.akforum

Dena'ina Civic & Convention Center

2/20/14 11:30 – 1:00pm


David Houseknecht -USGS, Geologist - “Alaska’s North Slope and the Chukchi Shelf”


3/20/14 11:30 – 1:00pm


To be announced BP Energy Center, Anchorage

4/10/14 11:30 – 1:00pm


John Kaldi University of Adelaide; Distinguished Lecturer “Carbon Capture and Storage” (Joint meeting with Society of Petroleum Engineers Alaska Section)

Main Conference rooms A,B,C at BP Exploration Alaska

4/17/14 11:30 – 1:00pm


Gerry Van Kooten Professor of Geology-Calvin College, Consulting Geologist “Exploration of Alaska’s interior basins and the impact of recent drilling”


AGS Technical Conference Cook Inlet - Gateway to Alaska

Thursday, May 15, 2014 at University of Alaska, Anchorage Conference Field Trip on Friday, May 16, 2014

If you would like to help organize the conference contact Chad Hults: [email protected]


Enhanced Alaska Digital Well Log Data Since 1989

OCS, 95 out of 100 Alaska OCS wells. Mud logs for some. North Aleutian Basin wells, onshore and offshore. North Slope, 556 wildcats and key field wells. Kuparuk River Field, first 567 wells drilled (pre-1985). Southern Alaska, 1063 wells including all wildcats and many field wells. Directional surveys for most.

All digital log files Are depth shifted to match resistivity curves. Have core data rendered as a depth-shifted well log curve. Have SP both in original form and as a straightened curve. Have standardized mnemonics. Have Volume of Shale curves, derived from gamma ray for North Slope, derived from SP for Cook Inlet. Allow you to specify your own choice of mnemonics before delivery. Are updated periodically with new wildcat wells. Are delivered in LAS 2.0 format.

Contact Dan Shier: 303-278-1261 [email protected] www.rockypine.com


PRA

3601 C Street, Suite 822

Anchorage, AK 99503

The Alaska Geological Society, Inc. P.O. Box 101288

Anchorage AK 99510 On the web at: h p://www.alaskageology.org

The Alaska Geological Society is an organiza on which seeks to promote inter-est in and understanding of Geology and the related Earth Sciences, and to provide a common organiza on for those individuals interested in geology and the related Earth Sciences.

This newsle er is the monthly (September-May) publica on of the Alaska Geological Society, Inc. Number of newsle ers/month: ~300

EDITOR Ken Helmold

Alaska Geological Society, Inc. P. O. Box 101288

Anchorage, AK 99510 e-mail: ken.helmold at alaska.gov

(907) 269-8673 (office)

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

AGS annual memberships expire November 1. The annual membership fee is $20/year. You may download a membership applica on from the AGS website and return it at a luncheon mee ng, or mail it to the address above.

Contact membership coordinator Ken Helmold with changes or updates (e-mail: ken.helmold at alaska.gov; phone: 907-269-8673)

All AGS publica ons are now available for on-line purchase on our website. Check to see the complete catalogue:

h p://www.alaskageology.org/publica ons

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1/4 Page--$375/9mo, $95/1mo; size=4.5 x 3.5 or 2.2 x 7.5 inch 1/3 Page- $470/9mo, $105/1mo; size=7.0 x 3.5 or 3.0 x 7.5 inch 1/2 Page--$655/9mo, $125/1mo; size=9.0 x 3.5 or 4.5 x 7.5 inch

Full Page--$1000/9mo, $165/1mo; size=7.5 x 9.0 inch 1mo rate=(9mo rate/9)+$50 (rounded up).

Contact Keith Torrance (614) 264-4506 for adver sing informa on.


Alaska Geological Society, Inc. P. O. Box 101288 Anchorage, AK 99510

2012 ‐ 2013 Alaska Geological Society Board

Commi ees and Delegates

Phone e-mail Workplace President Matt Frankforter 777-8376 mfrankforter at hilcorp.com Hilcorp Alaska, LLC Past-President Art Banet banetak at gci.net BLM emeritus President-Elect Keith Torrance 677-9451 ktorrance at apcservicesllc.com APC Services LLC Vice-President Monte Mabry 564-4028 monte.mabry at bp.com BP Treasurer Al Hunter 947-9010 paleoman at mac.com Secretary Eric Cannon 344-6001 eccannon at gmail.com Golder Associate Inc. Director 12-2014 Chad Hults 786-7417 chults at usgs.gov USGS Director 12-2014 Trystan Herriott 451-5011 trystan.herriott at alaska.gov DGGS Director 12-2014 Kirk Sherwood 334-5337 kirk.sherwood at boem.gov BOEM Director 13-2015 Richard Lease 786-7169 rlease at usgs.gov USGS Director 13-2015 Tom Morahan 230-1672 tmorahan at petroak.com ConocoPhillips (PRA) Director 13-2015 Jim Brown 276-2675 jbrown at alaskapacific.edu Alaska Pacific University

AAPG Delegate & Marwan Wartes 451-5056 marwan.wartes at alaska.gov DGGS Advertising Keith Torrance 677-9451 ktorrance at apcservicesllc.com APC Services LLC Com. Ed./Science Fair Jana DaSilva Lage 677-7883 jldasilva5 at hotmail.com AeroMetric Field Trips Chad Hults 786-7417 chults at usgs.gov USGS Bylaws Sue Karl 786-7428 skarl at usgs.gov USGS Memberships Ken Helmold 269-8673 ken.helmold at alaska.gov AK DOG Newsletter Editor Ken Helmold 269-8673 ken.helmold at alaska.gov AK DOG Publications Peter Johnson 334-5329 peter.johnson at boem.gov BOEM Scholarship Sue Karl 786-7428 skarl at usgs.gov USGS Website Jan Hazen jan at homestead-graphics.com Consultant Fundraising Sunny Foster 269-8707 sunny.remmy at alaska.gov DNR / DOG

Phone e-mail Workplace

Documents

Seabed Mapping and the Search for Oil and Gas Seeps …Seabed Mapping and the Search for Oil and Gas Seeps Offshore ... the Gulf of Mexico, and Brazil. Deep water drilling results