Explorer Emphasis Article
By Louise Durham
Who’s got the last laugh now? The Uteland Butte once was a sandstone that operators quickly passed through – and often ignored – on their way to other targets. But things are changing in Utah.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 June, 2013
Bulletin Article
Select lacustrine and marine depositional settings show a spectrum of styles of carbonate deposition and illustrate the types of carbonates, with an emphasis on microbialites and tufa, to be expected in early rift settings. Early rift lake examples examined in this review article are all from East Africa: Lakes Turkana, Bogoria, Natron and Magadi, Manyara, and Tanganyika. Other lake examples include four from the western United States (Great Salt Lake and high lake level Lake Bonneville, Mono Lake and high lake level Russell Lake, Pyramid Lake and high lake level Lake Lahontan, and Searles Lake) and two from Australia (Lakes Clifton and Thetis). Marine basin examples are the Hamelin Pool part of Shark Bay from Australia (marginal marine) and the Red Sea (marine rift).
Landsat images and digital elevation models for each example are used to delineate present and past lake-basin margins based on published lake-level elevations, and for some examples, the shorelines representing different lake levels can be compared to evaluate how changes in size, shape, and lake configuration might have impacted carbonate development. The early rift lakes show a range of characteristics to be expected in lacustrine settings during the earliest stages of continental extension and rifting, whereas the Red Sea shows well advanced rifting with marine incursion and reef–skeletal sand development. Collectively, the lacustrine examples show a wide range of sizes, with several of them being large enough that they could produce carbonate deposits of potential economic interest. Three of the areas—Great Salt Lake and high lake level Lake Bonneville, Pyramid Lake and high lake level Lake Lahontan, and the Red Sea—are exceedingly complex in that they illustrate a large degree of potential depositional facies heterogeneity because of their size, irregular pattern, and connectivity of subbasins within the overall basin outline.
Show more
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 31 December, 2012
Explorer Emphasis Article
By David Brown
Doug Strickland dreamed big when his work led to discovery of the Covenant oil field in central Utah.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 June, 2011
Explorer Article
By David Brown
A crucial shortage in the world’s supply of helium-3 could have a serious impact on an important tool for the oil and gas industry.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 October, 2010
Explorer Article
By Cédric John,Peter Allison,Tara La Force
Just because you study Mother Nature doesn’t mean she can’t play a trick on you.This is what 53 British master’s petroleum geoscience students plus four staff members from Imperial College London (ICL) discovered in April while visiting classical outcrops in the western United States.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 August, 2010
Explorer Emphasis Article
By Barry Friedman
Wyoming has a number of firsts going for it: the first state that gave women the right to vote, for example, and the first to have a national park and monument (Yellowstone and Devil’s Tower respectively).
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 June, 2010
Explorer Article
By Ken Milam
Teacher of the Year Ty Robinson's best teaching tool is the state of Utah itself.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 June, 2009