Explorer Article

The successful Mars InSight mission employed a NASA/European Space Agency robotic lander designed to study the interior of Mars. The mission recently ended with last contact as its dust-choked solar panels failed to deliver enough electricity to keep InSight going. InSight had two science goals: Seek to determine the interior structure and composition of Mars and to reveal how a rocky planet forms, and to study the rate of Martian tectonic activity and meteorite impacts.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

Some aspects of seismic interpretation, such as picking horizons and well-imaged faults, can be easily explained to a new interpreter. Other aspects, such as recognizing carbonate buildups, karst collapse, mass transport processes or volcanic intrusions, require not only an understanding of the underlying geologic processes, but also an understanding of their 3-D seismic data response. Although an experienced interpreter might be adept in using seismic data to map each of these features, they might also be challenged in explaining to the novice interpreter in a quantitative manner how they constructed their map or geobody.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

This year’s International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy, beginning August 28 in Houston, doesn’t have a single, overarching theme. But one concept keeps popping up again and again: Innovation. AAPG and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, in conjunction with SEPM, are hosts for the second annual IMAGE meeting. It’s designed as a broad-interest event, with 30 key topic areas ranging – alphabetically – from acquisition and survey design to structure, tectonics and geomechanics. As an AAPG/SEG-sponsored event, IMAGE will include several sessions related to geological analysis, imaging and interpretation.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

There are two main oil and gas producing sedimentary areas in France: the Paris Basin and the Aquitaine Basin. The presence of oil seeps and bitumen deposits has been known since ancient times in the western part of the Aquitaine basin, a 35,000-square-kilometer triangular polygon bordered to the north by the city of Bordeaux, to the east by Toulouse and to the south by the Pyrenees Mountain chain separating France from Spain. These hydrocarbon shows were observed close to surface anticlinal structures such as the Sainte-Suzanne dome, southwest of Pau or in the caprocks of salt diapirs at Salies de Bearn and Dax to the north.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Foundation Update

An innovative animated series aimed at young children that tells the story of the Indian subcontinent’s epic tectonic history in creative and even entertaining ways is now closer to reality, thanks to the AAPG Foundation. Trustees have approved initial support for “The Ocean on the Top of Our Mountain,” which graphically tells the story of the region’s 5,000-mile migration northward from Gondwana to its collision with Asia.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Asia Pacific Blog

We are delighted to announce that the abstract submissions deadline for the upcoming #AAPG 'Structural Geology and our Future - the Role of Tectonic Geoscience in Energy Transition, Focusing on the Asia-Pacific Region' GTW has been extended! Final abstract submission closing date will be 30 January 2022. Take advantage of these extra days and get involved in this exciting event by sharing your paper with other industry experts. For more information, please follow the link: https://bit.ly/3peplrE

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Asia Pacific Blog

Join us for this one-of-a-kind gathering to learn the best and latest developments in structural and tectonic earth science, discuss with your peers and get feedback on your ideas while taking a front-row seat in the energy transition.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The geologist who helped lead the historical discovery of the Prudhoe Bay oilfield in 1968 and who carved a path for later discoveries that provided invaluable resources for the United States has passed. Charles “Gil” G. Mull, died at age 86 from complications of Parkinson’s Disease in Salt Lake City on Oct. 3.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy, or IMAGE ’21, the integrated annual convention of AAPG and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in conjunction with the Society for Sedimentary Geology, is all set for its inaugural event to be held online and in-person in Denver, Colo., Sept. 26 to Oct. 1. This gathering of the industry’s top thinkers, leaders and innovators boasts an impressive schedule of special sessions, workshops, field trips and other offerings to expand geoscience and professional skills.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

You might not know her name, but you definitely know her work. When you imagine the ocean floor, it is probably the Marie Tharp map that you see. As a major key to understanding plate tectonics, her work led to many important developments in identifying offshore drilling targets. The maps were displayed at the 100th anniversary of the Library of Congress in the Jefferson Building, along with treasures that included a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation and Lewis and Clark’s journals.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 30 June 2020, 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

Visiting Geoscientist Juan Pablo Lovecchio reviews general aspects of rifting, rifts and passive margin formation and evolution through time, as well as elements of petroleum system development.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online Certificate Course
Tuesday, 1 January 2013, 12:00 a.m.–1:00 a.m.

There are approximately 1,000 oil and gas fields in the world that have been classified as 'giant,' containing more than 500 million barrels of recoverable oil and /or 3 trillion cubic feet of gas.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, 2 July 2020, 4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

Presented by Kevin C. Hill, Associate Professor, University of Melbourne Gravity modelling of Australia's southern margin reveals that the initial rift with Antarctica was beneath the current Ceduna Delta. A regional, high-quality seismic traverse from the coast to oceanic crust across the Bight Basin has been assembled and interpreted in detail, then balanced, restored, decompacted, and replaced at paleo-water depths. The Late Cretaceous Ceduna Delta developed above a Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous rift basin in three stages punctuated by significant pulses of uplift and erosion across areas >100 km wide and with up to 1 km of erosion. The Cenomanian White Pointer delta prograded into deepening water and hence underwent gravitational collapse. This was terminated in the Santonian when the Antarctic margin was pulled out from below, thus supplying heat to a remnant thicker outer margin crust, causing doming and erosion. Importantly, this established the saucer-shaped geometry of the Ceduna Delta that persisted throughout its development, so that any hydrocarbons generated in the southern half of the basin would have migrated towards this outer margin high. The Tiger Formation was deposited in shallow water in a full rift basin prior to breakup, which was followed by regional thermal subsidence. The Hammerhead delta developed on the newly formed passive margin but was terminated by another pulse of uplift and erosion, perhaps associated with a change in plate motion at the end of the Cretaceous. The finite element modelling of this proposed tectonic evolution will test its validity and predict hydrocarbon generation and migration through time.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 28 April 2011, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

The Niobrara Petroleum System of the U.S. Rocky Mountain Region is a major tight petroleum resource play.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 3 June 2010, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to describe faults and fractures in carbonates, black shales, and coarser clastics as they occur in the northern Appalachian Basin.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 30 June 2020, 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

El geocientífico visitante Juan Pablo Lovecchio revisa aspectos generales de la ruptura, grietas y formación pasiva de márgenes y evolución a través del tiempo, así como elementos del desarrollo del sistema petrolero.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

For well over a century there have been conflicting indications of the strength of the crust and of faults and what controls them.  Much of our ignorance comes quite naturally from the general inaccessibility of the crust to measurement--in contrast with our understanding of the atmosphere, which is much more accessible to observation as well as more rapidly changing.  Crustal strength is best understood in deforming sedimentary basins where the petroleum industry has made great contributions, particularly in deforming petroleum basins because of the practical need to predict. In this talk we take a broad look at key issues in crustal strength and deformation and what we can learn from boreholes, earthquakes, active fault systems, and toy models.

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Request a visit from John Suppe!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

In comparison with the known boundary conditions that promote salt deformation and flow in sedimentary basins, the processes involved with the mobilization of clay-rich detrital sediments are far less well established. This talk will use seismic examples in different tectonic settings to document the variety of shale geometries that can be formed under brittle and ductile deformations.

Request a visit from Juan I. Soto!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

While there are many habitats that are associated with the deposition of organic-rich marine and lacustrine source rocks, one important pathway is linked to the onset of increased basin subsidence associated with major tectonic events. A key aspect is that this subsidence is spatially variable, with the uplift of basin flanks contemporaneous with the foundering of the basin center, resulting in a steeper basin profile.

Request a visit from Kurt W. Rudolph!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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