Applications of Isotope Geochemistry for Resource Plays. Presented by Christopher Laughrey at AAPG/DPA Playmaker Forum in Midland, Texas on 14 January, 2015.
The purpose of this presentation is to acquaint forum participants with the tools, methods, terminology, and interpretive techniques of stable
isotope and noble gas geochemistry used to understand the origin and fate of hydrocarbons and associated compounds in the earth’s subsurface.
Since, in practice, stable isotope geochemical data must be constrained by equally important geological, hydrological, and engineering data,
most of the presentation shows how the geochemical data are interpreted in conjunction with other earth science information. The talk provides
a brief overview of first principals concerning isotope geochemistry in the earth sciences, followed by selected examples of how natural gas
and liquid hydrocarbon geochemistry can be applied to addressing specific problems encountered in resource plays.