Regions and Sections
Southwest Section
Is anyone doing domestic exploration? DOMESTIC EXPLORATION…..WELL WORTH THE EFFORT is the theme for this year’s Southwest Section annual convention hosted by the Dallas Geological Society. Each year our convention draws as many as half of our 1200 members and members from surrounding geological and geophysical societies. Geologists in the Southwest Section work in diverse geological settings across Texas, North America and the world. Locally, our geologists work a variety of plays including unconventional resources plays which is the topic of a number of our convention speakers. Interesting carbonate and clastic exploration plays will also be discussed along with an unusual evaporate play.
Members of the Southwest Section are known for their scientific curiosity and our convention, which begins Sunday May 16, provides a relaxing and comfortable environment for discussions with colleagues, friends and associates and to meet new friends. John Lorenz, AAPG president, will be the keynote speaker for the All Convention Luncheon. Dick Stoneburner, President Petrohawk Energy Corp., will be the speaker for the All Division Luncheon. Mike Grace and Mark Larsen will lead the pre-convention field trip, Saturday May 15, down the Brazos River to study fluvial depositional systems. Barbara Kearney will be there, she has to, she’s the convention general chairwoman who has done an extraordinary job putting the convention together with the goal of making it the best.
There is too much going on at the convention to mention it all. I invite you to visit the Dallas Geological Society Web site (dgs.org) to get more information and to register. Be aware that the technical short course, pre-convention field trip and Botanical Gardens trip have limited space and you may want to sign up for these early.
When you’re standing in the middle of the Southwest Section, somewhere west of Abilene, you realize how great it is to be able to practice our profession here. But what makes it really great is being able to work with other geologists, the friends and associates and even family of our member geological societies; Abilene, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Graham, North Texas, San Angelo, Roswell, and West Texas.
In addition to our annual convention, the Southwest Section offers its members a technical short course, free to our members and typically held in Abilene and in Fort Worth, scholarships, grants, teacher awards, student awards, occasional field trips, a chance to be involved with AAPG’s Imperial Barrel Competition with local university students and the opportunity to network with members in professional and social settings.
Is domestic exploration worth the effort? We know it is.
See you in Dallas in May, there is no better time of year.