Committee for the Preservation of Samples & Cores

Reports, Minutes

Committee for the Preservation of Samples & Cores Meeting Minutes (click on date to see the minutes):

AAPG Committee for the Preservation of Cores and Samples
February 2001 Report

Contents:

1. AAPG and AAPG Foundation Contribute to National Research Council Study
2. AGI National Geoscience Data Repository System Update
3. Project Linking Donors and Archives
4. Fact Sheets on the Costs and Regulations for Core Disposal and Tax Benefits of Core Donation
5. Core Preservation Display
6. Technical Session at AAPG 2002 National Meeting
7. Committee Meeting at Denver AAPG Meeting, Monday June 4, 2001 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.


1. AAPG and AAPG Foundation Contribute to National Research Council (NRC) Study

On October 26, 2000, the AAPG Executive Committee voted to provide $5000 for the NRC study on Preservation of Geoscience Data and Collections. On December 5, 2000, the AAPG Foundation voted to provide also provide a $5000 grant. The membership for the NRC study is set and the first meeting should be soon.

2. AGI National Geoscience Data Repository System Update
 

H. Richard Lane represented the AAPG Committee for Preservation of Cores and Samples at the November 30, 2000 meeting in Houston, Texas.


Highlights of the meeting:
* There have been several major data acquisitions in 2000:

1. Phillips donated approximately 1000 miles of Santa Barbara Channel seismic data that has been transcribed from Analog to modern high-density tapes.
2. Altura transferred 85,000 boxes of Permian Basin Core to the Bureau of Economic Geology's core facility in Midland, Texas. This included funds to endow the maintenance of the core and construction of an additional building to house the new data.
3. Unocal contributed metadata for its onshore United States cores and samples stored at C&M storage in Schulenburg. After quality control, 1200 of the 2082 records have been integrated into Geotrek.
4. Chevron contributed metadata for 180,447 core records for US wells.

* Another major achievement for 2000 was the development of Geotrek 2. This accomplished two things. It provided an improved interface and it returned to a fully distributed database system. The Chevron and Unocal data were the first sets of metadata integrated remotely. Currently the Bureau of Economic Geology's (BEG) database and the Kansas Geological Survey database are being tested for remote integration. 

* Emily Stoudt reported that Texaco is looking for options for its Permian Basin core. Currently, Texaco stores its Midland core in five
different facilities, with storage costs ranging from $0.90 to $2.15 per box per year. Texaco is trying to establish momentum within the industry to consolidate all Permian Basin cores into a single facility in Midland, which would be accessible to the NGDRS for cores the companies deem non-proprietary. This would yield substantial cost benefits for all Midland operators. 

* Marathon announced that it will be consolidating all of its core storage to C & M Storage in Schulenburg, Texas as they close their
Littleton, CO facility.
 
* Ongoing issues identified were as follows:

1. Schulenburg storage facility continues to be a possibility for core and sample storage. 
2. Most existing core storage facilities are near or at capacity.
3. The continuing issue of what to do and how to pay for material for which companies are not willing to pay. 
4. What is the means to develop the support to ensure ongoing maintenance of data storage?
5. Increase advertising of the NGDRS project is needed to expand its visibility.
6. A subcommittee of Bob Merrill, Jean Hamilton and Marcus Milling will explore management solutions to present to the NGDRS Steering Committee at the next meeting.

3. Project - Linking Donors and Archives

The group coordinated by Marvin Carlson is identifying responsible parties within individual companies and determining if assistance is needed in properly transferring and archiving material that is in danger of destruction due to company mergers or downsizing. The report should be available at the Denver meeting. We will distribute this information at our exhibit at the National and section meetings, mail it to relevant parties and use the material as the basis for an Explorer article.

4. Fact Sheets on the Costs and Regulations for Core Disposal and Tax

Benefits of Core Donation

Edie Allison is compiling information on the costs and requirements for core disposal (sending it to the dump) from curators of many of the state geological surveys' core repositories. It appears that the facts will show that proper disposal is about the same cost as donating the core to a public repository and providing an endowment for the core's maintenance. I will be separately emailing several of you to ask for information or help. Expected completion of the sheets is before the Denver meeting. We will distribute this information at our exhibit at the National and section meetings, mail it to relevant parties and use the material as the basis for an Explorer article.
 

5. Project - Core Preservation Display

The display material developed by Marv Carlson has been shown at recent AAPG section meetings and Marv is seeking a prime location for our display at the Denver AAPG National Meeting, near the poster sessions as it was last year. This year we will try to staff the exhibit at least some of the time. 


6. Technical Session at AAPG 2002 National Meeting

I have contacted Jeff Lund about chairing a poster session that highlights the applications of archived core and samples. If we get approval, I will need suggestions of authors to invite.
 

7. Committee meeting at AAPG National Meeting in Denver, June 4, 2001 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., location to be announced. Please provide suggestions for speakers or agenda topics to Edie by return email.