Abstract “Adventures, of course, are always associated with exploration. Yet they are the one thing which a real explorer tries to guard against. My favorite quotation is Stefansson’s dicutm: ‘Adventures are a mark of incompetence.’ It says so much in a very few words. It means that if you have an adventurous expedition you did not prepare yourself adequately. Adventures are a nuisance. They interface with work... If the explorer has a clear-cut problem to solve and an honest desire to do something really worthwhile he will prepare against adventures.” Although some degree of risk is inherent in every human activity, a primary goal of all field activities should be the safety and health of participants and staff. Those who sponsor, organize, and participate in these field activities have a responsibility to promote and support safety while achieving their technical, educational, or business objectives. No one goes into the field with the intention of getting injured or killed. Most accidents, at root, result from a loss of perspective, a narrowing of focus, or developing tunnel vision: “I only wanted to get abetter look at the rocks by climbing up the cliff/leaning out of the boat/leaving the trail.” “Yes, people get hurt doing_, but it’s not going to happen to me.” It’s like driving down the road only looking ahead but never left, right, or behind—most of the time we get away with it, but such tunnel vision leaves us vulnerable to accidents. And, unfortunately, when an accident happens, it happens with such suddenness and severity that it breaks a person’s life in two forever, into “before” and “after.”

Abstract Geoscients who believe that a study of history is extremely valuable will enjoy this volume. It contains case histories of both exploration triumphs and breakthrough concepts. Fascinating stories of early discoveries, landmark technologies, and modern innovation are told by authors with privileged glimpses into critical thought processes. The 17 papers in the book include: A history of oil production in California; Subtlety of the east Texas field; Methane from coalbeds; Giant gas fields of Saudi Arabia; and History of a new play–Thunder Horse discovery, deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Abstract In this brief review, the authors discuss the origin and evolutionary pattern of the Mediterranean Sea and its environs. The concept of seafloor spreading, as woven into the earlier proposal of continental drift, provides a scientific basis for the theory of plate tectonics. This theory explains the physiography and geological characteristics of the Mediterranean Basin, which is viewed as a “hollow” caught between the colliding African Plate to the south, the Eurasian Plate to the north, and the Arabian Subplate to the east. Within the basin and around it, interactions of numerous microplates control the shape of the landmasses and their destinies. The perspective from space provides an effective tool with which we can study not only the landmasses that surround the Mediterranean but also its water currents and their sediment dispersal patterns. Use of space data will help in the continuing research to further unravel the plate movements of the past and help us formulate models of future changes. Such predictions are vital to economic development because, although the Mediterranean region has already provided much oil and gas for human needs, the area’s petroleum potential remains vast. Many features such as river-delta deposits, continental-shelf regions, subtle traps (stratigraphic, unconformity, and paleogeomorphic), and buried salt domes have not been adequately explored. We believe that the application of the modern concepts of geology and geophysics will result in the location of additional oil and gas resources in the Mediterranean region.

Abstract A commemorative edition reprint of the classic volume originally published in 1967, this book remains a useful reference resource for working petroleum geologists as well as students. It covers the basics of reservoirs, including reservoir rock, pore space, fluids, traps, and mechanics, as well as describing the origin of petroleum and the migration and accumulation of petroleum.

Abstract The Lower Sego provides an opportunity to study well-exposed, high-frequency sequences and their systems tracts. Criteria for identification of sequence boundaries will presented. Sequences and their boundaries will be contrasted with parasequences and their bounding surfaces. The Upper and Lower Sego contain well-exposed tidal deposits within the lowstand systems tracts of high-frequency sequences. These tidal deposits and their relationship to incised valleys and systems tracts will be examined. The incised valley interpreted to form during relative falls in sea level will be contrasted with distributary channels related to autocyclic mechanisms. 0.0 Leave the parking lot of the Grand Junction Hilton. Grand Junction , Colorado. Turn left onto Horizon Drive. Pass under the 1-70 bridge, Turn left into the entrance ramp for 1-70 west. 0.2 Enter 1-70 heading west toward the Colorado –Utah State line. For the next 20 miles the Interstate will parallel the Colorado River flowing along the west side of the Grand Valley. The Interstate is built on the gray Cretaceous Mancos Shale. To the west of the Colorado River are the red cliffs of the Colorado National Monument. The Monument is operated by the National Park Service. These cliffs are the eastern edge of the Uncomahgre Uplift. As you drive north along the Interstate, the steeply dipping eastern limb of the Uncomahgre is clearly visible. This tight monoclinal fold is the result of horizontal compressional tectonics associated with Laramide deformation (Heyman, 1983). The red rocks in the Mounment include, from stratigraphically oldest to youngest: the Chinle Formation forming the lower, less resistant slops, the Wingate formation forming the massive cliffs up to 400 feet thick , the Kayenta Formation overlain by an unconformity along which the Navajo and Curtis Formations are missing , the Summerville and Entrada Formations, and the Morrison Formation consisting of fluvial sandstones and associated mudstones, within which some of the earliest dinosaur bones in North America were discovered in the late 19th century. The Jurassic Morrison Formation is unconformably overlain by the brown, Cretaceous, coal-bearing Dakota Sandstone. The Dakota caps many of the high mesas within the Mounment and forms well-exposed dip slopes along the Interstate in the vicinity of the exit to Mack, Co..

Abstract Bima Field, offshore northwest Java, is a sizeable reservoir containing reserves of approximately 700 MM bbls OOIP with a 50 BCF gas cap. At present only the northern 1/3 of the field is developed, with 7 platforms and 54 producing wells, of which 20 are horizontal. The field has multiple drive mechanisms and high viscosity oil (21 cp), resulting in rapid GOR and water-cut increase after 3 years of production. The high stakes (both reserves and facility investments) and the reservoir's complexities, make an effective reservoir management scheme critical. For this reason an integrated geological, geophysical and engineering description was carried out to provide a 3-D Reservoir Simulation Model to evaluate development options. Geologically, the Oligo-Miocene age Batu Raja Limestone was deposited on the Seribu Platform, a basement-controlled, fault- bounded structure. The Upper Batu Raja carbonate build-up is thickest on the structurally highest parts of the platform where the rock comprises a series of "cleaning upwards" cycles (muddy deposits overlain by progressively more grain-rich sediments). A Lower Miocene drop in sea-level caused subaerial exposure of much of the platform and leaching by meteoric fluids. This diagenetic event resulted in contrasts in the reservoir quality (porosity, permeability, fluid saturations) at various intervals of the Upper Batu Raja. Based on these dissimilarities, the reservoir was zoned into 6 model layers. Once zonation was established, well logs could be calibrated to whole and sidewall core. A dense grid of seismic data were used to map the Batu Raja structure. From these data, color seismic inversion sections were produced and calibrated to the well logs. The calibrated seismic data were then used to map the top of structure, the carbonate build-up's edges, the total thickness of the Upper Batu Raja (needed to control aquifer size in the model) and the thickness of the main pay zone (layers 1-3). Engineering reservoir description began with a detailed compilation of capillary pressure, relative permeability, production and DST data. The 3-D simulation model required special treatments, including varying the GOC depths to honor separate gas cap closures; making permeability pressure dependent in poorly-consolidated zones; and setting up horizontal well completion treatments. Results suggest that water injection into the oil rim and gas cap is an effective approach toward maximizing recoveries and minimizing gas cap resaturation. However, waterflood reserves are sensitive to injection timing. The synergistic approach of geological, engineering and geophysical input into the Bima reservoir study has had impact by delivering a reservoir management tool that can evaluate future development expansion and possible gas sales. The simulation model can also track fluid migration during the field's producing life. The geological/geophysical model led to an enhanced understanding of Batu Raja depositional and diagenetic processes that has potential in regional exploration strategies.

Abstract Rocks of the Pennsylvanian System are the bed rock of approximately 10 per cent of the land area of continental United States. These rocks yield 17 per cent of the petroleum, most of the coal, and most of the ceramic raw material of the United States. Areas of deposition of Pennsylvanian rocks are naturally discriminated as the New England trough, the Appalachian trough, the Eastern Interior basin, the Michigan basin, the Western Interior basin, the Ardmore basin, the Ft. Worth syncline, the Permian basin, the Rocky Mountain geosyncline, and the Cordilleran trough. These genetic areas and the Ouachita fold belt are the regions described. The Pennsylvanian System in Michigan has been described in detail by W. A. Kelly (Mich. Geol. Survey, Pub. 40, part 2, p. 155-226, 1936). The section is truncated and consists of the Parma sandstone (below), the Saginaw group of cyclical formations, and the Grand River group, which contains red sandstones and gypsum. The Parma and Saginaw are Pottsvillian in age; possibly, Atokan and Desmoinesian. The Grand River, placed by some geologists in the Permian, is probably early Missourian. The project for a special volume was initiated in 1953, at which time it was decided that the Springer Series was tobeconsidered as Pennsylvanian, the Wolfcamp and Admire-Council Grove-Chase, as Permian. Evidence has since accumulated that the Springer is Mississippian, that the Ouachita Jackfork and Stanley are Mississippian, that the Dunkard is, atleast in part, Pennsylvanian, and that the “Lyon series” and Wolfcamp formation might better be classed

Abstract With 7 extensive tables contained in 135 pages, this publication provides in detailed form all of the data collected and compiled by an AAPG committee on Statistics of Exploratory Drilling in the United States 1945-1960. Annual reports previously published did not include, in concise and usable form, the data such as footage drilled and completion results, by states and districts, for each of five classes of exploratory holes. This volume does so in addition to grouping, by states and classes, the wells to which newly discovered oil and gas can be attributed.

Abstract This volume contains the eight papers presented as a symposium of the Research Committee of The American Association of Petroleum Geologists at the 1960 annual meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey. One paper presented in the General Session at that meeting, one reprinted paper, and three other solicited papers are also included. The choice of “Geometry of Sandstone Bodies” as a timely and pertinent subject lor the 1960 symposium was made after an extensive canvass of Research Committee members and about fifty other geologists vitally interested in research in petroleum geology. From a group of about 15 proposed subjects, this one was selected as first choice by almost all those canvassed. Partly because of this high level of interest, the decision was made to attempt publication of the symposium as a special volume of The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. The word geometry in the title probably had several different meanings among the selectors, and for this reason an attempt was made to define the term adequately in order to establish uniformity of communication among symposium participants. The dictionary definition of the word “ geometry ” is the science of magnitudes in space . In applying the term to the symposium theme, some modification and interpretation of its formal meaning were needed, and the following definition was therefore proposed for use in this volume— Geometry of Sandstone Bodies— Spatial relationships of sandstone deposits within the sedimentary framework . As used in this book, the subject is more than just a three-dimensional study in which thickness is added to areal distribution.

Abstract All but one of the papers contained in this volume represent a symposium summarizing the results of work carried on in Project 51 of the American Petroleum Institute. This study of modern sediments along the northwest margin of the Gulf of Mexico contains 14 papers plus a consolidated bibliography. Paper titles are: Geologic framework of Gulf coastal province of United States; Sources and dispersion of Holocene sediments; Mississippi delta; Delta building and the deltaic sequence; Phytoplankton production in the Mississippi delta; Bays of central Texas coast; Sediments of Laguna Madre; Gulf Coast barriers; Sediments and history of Holocene transgression; Sedimentary patterns of microfaunas; Ecology and distributional patterns of marine macro-invertebrates; Rise of see level; Regional aspects of modern sedimentation; and Recent sedimentology.

Abstract This publication is the result of a symposium held in 1959 sponsored by the Ardmore Geological Society. It contains 17 papers, all focused on southern Oklahoma, including: Pennsylvanian sediments and orogenies of Ardmore District; Post-Hunton pre-Woodford Unconformity; Pre-Atokan unconformity; Subdivisions of Sycamore formation; Altus field; Carter-Knox field; History and development of North Madill field, and Geology of Medicine Springs area.

Abstract As a result of field work carried on in 1947 a sequence of foraminiferal samples were collected in 2,300 feet of Lower Tertiary mudstones, siltstones, and interbedded shales and sandstones in the vicinity of Media Agua Creek, in the Temblor Range on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Foraminiferal samples from another less comprehensive sequence of Lower Tertiary strata were collected during the years 1947, 1948, and 1949 in the region of Devils Den. The prepared samples were studied during the years 1947–1952 in the Department of Paleontology at the University of California under the direction of Dr. Robert M. Kleinpell. Subsequent work both in the field and laboratory has been directed toward obtaining as complete and chronologically diagnostic a faunal sequence throughout the Lower Tertiary in the California province as possible. Preliminary results of certain phases of the investigation have been presented from time to time at meetings of the Pacific Section of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, San Joaquin Valley Geological Society, Cordilleran Section of the Geological Society of America, and the Northwest Geological Society (Mallory and Boyd, 1949; Mallory, 1953a, 1953b, 1954a, 1954b). This paper attempts a synthesis and revision of these reports and their conclusions, and the incorporation of many new data. The majority of species known to be important in the Paleogene foraminiferal faunas are figured and their stratigraphic distribution in the California province is noted. In addition, an attempt has been made to draw any inferences from all kinds of fossil

Abstract As a result of the intensive search for oil and gas in western Canada, a regional meeting was held in 1955. This volume was the result of that meeting, and contains 23 papers divided between a discussion of the Jurassic and a discussion of the Carboniferous. Stratigraphy, subsurface, boundaries, formations, sedimentation and geology of western Canada and adjacent areas are thoroughly covered.

Abstract The history of oil exploration in a large basin is very much like the history of research in most fields of investigation. In the history of research into the subject of oil occurrence, however, the rate of increase of knowledge has fluctuated greatly. Sourced from the 1955 AAPG Annual Meeting, this publication contains many of the papers presented at that meeting, which discuss the habitat of most of the oil found in the world prior to 1955.

Abstract Because of the excellent pioneer work done by Eldridge in mapping occurrences of oil seeps, asphaltic sandstones, and showings in water wells, in southern Oklahoma, and by Taff and Gould on the structure and stratigraphy of the Arbuckle and Wichita mountain areas, there was ample evidence of the presence of petroleum to lure the prospector when Oklahoma and Indian Territories were opened for leasing just after the turn of the century. About one-fourth the area covered by the oil fields of southern Oklahoma has Pennsylvanian rocks on the surface. This portion has been very well described in the literature. The remaining three-fourths is covered with Permian rocks, the oldest being the upper Pontotoc massive cherty brown sandstones. These are overlain by the Wichita formation consisting of 700 feet of alternating gray sandstones and interbedded purplish-maroon shales and barite beds, and bone beds with the remains of Permian reptiles, sharks, and amphibians. Next above is the basal asphaltic gray sandstone of the Garber formation resting unconformably on whatever may be below it, and carrying the huge “flying saucer” concretions; above which is the remaining 300-foot section of maroon conglomeratic sandstones and shales. The Garber crops out around and over more oil fields than any other formation in southern Oklahoma—like the Mesaverde of the Rockies. Next above is the 400-foot greenish-gray sandy shale section of the Hennessey, followed in turn by the 200-foot maroon sandstone section of the Duncan, the 4oo-foot “purple” shale of the Chickasha, and the 400-foot Whitehorse group. At the top are the Cloud Chief gypsum and the Quartermaster formation. The conspicuous surface folds along the old lines of weakness prove that the folding at the close of Permian time and again after Cretaceous time was pronounced, supporting ideas of Bullard (1928) and Freie (1930). From the discovery of the Granite field in 1901, Wheeler in 1905, Cruce in 1906, through Loco and Healdton in 1913, Fox in 1915, Wildcat Jim in 1916, and Velma in 1917, to Robberson in 1920, Sholom Alechem in 1923, and Apache in 1941, most of the fields of southern Oklahoma have been discovered by adhering strictly to common sense rules of oil finding by testing areas of favorable structure close to oil seeps, showings of oil and gas, and asphaltic sandstone occurrences.

Abstract An enormous asymmetric structural and sedimentary basin with the deepest part along the eastern margin of the highly disturbed foothills belt of the Rocky Mountains, the Western Canada sedimentary basin is detailed in this volume. It consists of 30 papers dealing with the petroleum geology of the basin, with most of the papers deal with the area south of the Northwest Territories. The geological history of the area is covered, as well as topics such as: regional stratigraphic analysis, paleontological correlations, structural interpretations, folded faults, and the tar sands of Athabaska River.

Abstract Building upon a 1941 symposium and publication titled Possible Future Oil Provinces of the United States and Canada , this volume contains descriptions of nearly twice as many possible provinces, and discusses additional possibilities in some of the provinces considered in the 1941 publication. The inclusion and exclusion of provinces in this publication were done with the purpose of discussing possible, rather than probably or proved, provinces. The provinces of Alaska, western Canada, Pacific Coast states and Nevada, Rocky Mountain Region, Mid-Continent region, west Texas and eastern New Mexico, Fort Worth Basin, south Texas, Mexico, western Gulf Coast, continental shelf of Gulf of Mexico, southeastern United States, northeastern United States, Appalachian region, eastern Canada, and the eastern Interior Basin are presented here.

Abstract Modern petroleum geology in the United States had its beginning in the first decade of the 20th Century when the U.S. Geological Survey began mapping the structure of the rocks in and near old fields in order to discover the various types of structural conditions under which oil and gas are trapped. Structural geology has evolved as a branch of the broader science far more rapidly than have methods of mapping the attitude of rocks at the surface. This volume, published in the late 1920s, was designed to afford authoritative and modern descriptions of the structure of typical oil fields in the United States. Each of the 39 fields contained here is described by an author who is intimately familiar with the available data. The relationship of structure at the surface and at depth for different terranes is clearly set forth wherever the strata are not parallel. The volume concludes with a summary paper on the role of geologic structure in the accumulation of petroleum. Fields include: Florence, Colorado; Stephens, Arkansas; Kevin-Sunburst, Montana; Bradford Pennsylvania; and Salt Creek, Wyoming.

Abstract Criteria for recognizing rocks that generate oil would help materially in prospecting for petroleum. Petroleum geologists in their search for oil ordinarily lay emphasis, first, upon the location of proper structure, and second, upon suitable reservoir conditions; but unless source beds of petroleum, that is, rocks that have generated oil, are present, drilling wellson anticlines or other favorable traps is likely to be futile. In areas that are known to be generally productive, such as the Los Angeles Basin in California, or in regions in which oil seeps are found, the question of adequate source beds is of little concern to the geologist, because the probabilities are great that suitable oil-making rocks are present. However, in regions in which no oil has been found, particularly in foreign countries, where drilling costs are apt to be high, the question of whether or not adequate source beds underlie the areas that are being prospected is of vital concern. For example, petroleum geologists at present are interested in the oil possibilities of the northern San Joaquin Valley in California, the entire great plains area in Nebraska and the Dakotas, northeastern Missouri, Mississippi, and the Gulf Coast east of the Mississippi River. A considerable number of wells have been drilled in these regions without finding oil in commercial quantity. The question may be asked, “Is the apparent absence of oil due to lack of source beds or to improper places of drilling on the structures?” If geologists were able to ascertain by means of the well cuttings from these wells or from outcrops that adequate source beds were absent in any one of these many areas, they would be able to advise their companies against additional drilling in those are as and thus materially lessen the cost of the exploration.

Abstract The Edison oil field, 12 miles southeast of Bakersfield, Kern County, California, was discovered in 1934. Oil is produced from several sands, the lower of which have been grouped together and designated as the “Lower Duff” zone. The lower sands are oil reservoirs of the stratigraphic trap type.