SEPM activities to round out your trip
SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology), which holds its annual meeting in conjunction with the AAPG Annual Convention & Exhibition, hopes that everyone will enjoy a great meeting in Houston and will take advantage of the excellent technical program, short courses and field trips, as well as the specific activities listed here. If you have any questions about SEPM activities, please contact Theresa Scott at SEPM Headquarters.
Click on titles for more information.
SEPM Business Meeting/Luncheon |
| SEPM President’s Reception and Awards Ceremony Date: Tuesday, 12 April Time: 8:00 p.m.– 9:30 p.m. Location: Hyatt Regency Houston |
| SEPM Research Group Meetings and Reception Date: Monday, 11 April Time: 8:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m. Location: Hyatt Regency Houston |
| AAPG/SEPM Student Reception Date: Monday, 11 April Time: 5:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m. Location: Hilton Americas-Houston |
| SEPM Research Symposium Source to Sink: Evaluating the Significance of Interdependence of Depositional Systems Date: Tuesday, 12 April Time: 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. and 1:15 p.m.–5:05 p.m. Location: Room 342 Chair: C. Paola, O. Martinsen, H. Posamentier and B. Romans |
| SEPM Field Trips, Short Courses and Core Workshop
Dates: Pre- and Post-Convention |
| SEPM Best Presentation Competition (Oral and Poster) |
SEPM Business Meeting/Luncheon
The Search for Source Rocks on Mars
Date: Tuesday, 12 April
Time: 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
Fee: $35
Location: Hyatt Regency Houston
John Grotzinger is a geologist interested in the evolution of surficial environments on Earth and Mars. Field and subsurface exploration-scale mapping studies are the starting point for more topical laboratory-based studies involving geochemical, geologic and geochronological
techniques. Grotzinger has a decade-long involvement with Petroleum Development of Oman focused on production from intra-salt carbonate reservoirs. Currently, he is the Chief Scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory Rover mission due to launch in 2011. He is also a member of the
Mars Exploration Rover Science Team and HiRISE camera imaging team on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as well as being the Fletcher Jones Professor of Geological Sciences
at Caltech.
Recent Rover and Orbiter missions to Mars show that sedimentary rocks are surprisingly
common. Constrained to be billions of years old, these rocks are remarkably well preserved and represent diverse eolian, fluvial, deltaic and evaporitic environments. Combined observations indicate that sulfate-rich sedimentary rocks may be most abundant and are globally widespread over many hundreds of square kilometers at low latitudes, forming thickness in excess of 2000 m. Facies observed by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity are dominated by porous eolian deposits with local fluvial reworking. Incipient evaporite playa facies, dominated by Ca and Mg sulfates, are also present. The success of the MER mission stimulated development of an even-more capable rover: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) due to launch in 2011.
The primary goal of MSL will be to directly assess the present and past habitability of the Martian rock record. MSL will include instruments capable of detecting organic compounds, measuring TOC and determining the isotopic composition of biologically important elements such as C and S. Landing sites will be chosen that optimize the chance to encounter low-energy sedimentary environments that maximize the accumulation of organic matter and preservation of potential biomarkers.
Evaporites are strong candidates because of their known potential to preserve organic matter. A second important target would be clay-rich mudstones deposited in fluviodeltaic or lacustrine settings. The detection of these environments must be based on orbital remote sensing, using spectroscopic data to detect preferred minerals and image data to map depositional sequences and predict where fine-grained rocks and evaporites are likely to occur.
SEPM President’s Reception and Awards Ceremony
Date: Tuesday, 12 April
Time: 8:00 p.m.– 9:30 p.m.
Location: Hyatt Regency Houston
SEPM President Paul “Mitch” Harris invites you to an evening of celebration to honor the 2011 award winners of SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) and the perfect place to network and visit with colleagues, old and new.
The Twenhofel Medal, the highest award of SEPM given in recognition of a career of outstanding contributions to sedimentary geology, will be presented to Walter Dean. SEPM Honorary Membership, given for both scientific contributions and service to the society will be awarded to
Dag Nummedal.
The other science award recipients are: Miriam Kastner, who will receive the Francis P. Shepard Medal in recognition of excellence in marine geology; Barun Sen Gupta, the Raymond C. Moore Medal in recognition of excellence in paleontology; David Rubin, the Pettijohn Medal for excellence in sedimentology; and Richard Twitchell, the Wilson Award for excellence in sedimentary geology by a younger scientist.
SEPM will honor the recipients of the Best Paper Awards for 2009 in both of our journals, Journal of Sedimentary Research and PALAIOS.
SEPM will also recognize the Best Presentation Awards from the 2010 Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The Best Oral Presentation Awardees presented “Palynology Across a Sequence Boundary in the Wilcox Group, Central Texas by Regina Dickey and Thomas Yancey. The Best Poster Presentation is a tie, going to “Characterization of Tide-Dominated Heterolithic Reservoir” by Berit Legler, Howard Johnson, Gary Hampson, Matthew Jackson, Christopher Jackson, Ahmed El-Barkooky, Rodmar Ravnas, David Alsop and Xavier Le Varlet and “Faults, Depositional Setting, Sea Level Change and Diagenesis” by Erin M. Young, Robert Goldstein and Evan Franseen.
As always SEPM will also recognize the members of the 2011 Annual Meeting Organizing Committee, without whom the meeting could not take place, and SEPM Foundation Student Grant recipients.
The reception will begin at 8:00 p.m., with cocktails, available at cash bars, and substantial hors d’oeuvres. The awards ceremony will start at 8:30 p.m.
SEPM Research Group Meetings and Reception
Date: Monday, 11 April
Time: 8:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m.
Location: Hyatt Regency Houston
The Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) would like to invite anyone who is interested in research group activities to attend the SEPM Research Group Meetings. Individual Research Groups will meet on Monday, 11 April. Specific locations will be announced later. Check the SEPM website for updates.
AAPG/SEPM Student Reception
Date: Monday, 11 April
Time: 5:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Americas-Houston
The Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) would like to invite all students to attend the combined AAPG/SEPM Student Reception sponsored by ExxonMobil. The reception is held just prior to the SEPM Research Group meetings on Monday, 11 April at the (AAPG Location). Students can enjoy food and drink and then go on to the SEPM Research Group topic of their
choice to network and listen to the latest discussions.
SEPM Research Symposium
Source to Sink: Evaluating the Significance of Interdependence of Depositional Systems
Date: Tuesday, 12 April
Time: 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. and 1:15 p.m.–5:05 p.m.
Location: Room 342
Chair: C. Paola, O. Martinsen, H. Posamentier and B. Romans
SEPM Field Trips, Short Courses and Core Workshop
Dates: Pre- and Post-Convention
Be sure to check out the great array of trips and courses available for this meeting. Students, be sure to check out the Sequence Stratigraphy Course for Graduate Students and the discounted student seats available for each SEPM course and special GOM core workshop.
SEPM Best Presentation Awards
SEPM will again give all the meeting attendees the opportunity to nominate presentations for the SEPM Best Oral and the SEPM Best Poster Presentation given at ACE 2011. This will apply only
to the SEPM sponsored session (those with SEPM listed as the first sponsor). SEPM Session chairs will remind the audience about the process during the session and signage outside the main session door will also indicate which sessions apply.
People will be able to nominate as many presentations as they wish using several methods:
- Online using a special webpage located with a link from www.sepm.org
- Texting using a special phone number +1 918 809 3037
- Printed ballots available during the meeting and returned to the SEPM Exhibit Booth 2249.
To identify the presentation you are nominating please indicate the day/presenter/first several words of the title.
Example: “Tues/Harper/Shale Gas”
So if you see an outstanding SEPM presentation be sure to nominate it right away.
Note that the SEPM Student Awards Poster Session will be judged separately using a small committee of appointed judges.
Note: The SEPM Student Research Session will be judged separately by a special panel of judges.
