Kitty L. Milliken received a B.A. in geology (1975) from Vanderbilt University and M.A. (1977) and Ph.D. (1985) degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. She is now Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology. Her research focuses on the diagenesis of siliciclastic sediments and the evolution of rock properties in the subsurface. She has authored and co-authored around 90 peer-reviewed papers, over 100 abstracts, and also digital resources for teaching petrography. She served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Sedimentary Research (1993-2000) and as Co-Editor (2004-2008). She was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America (2008). She has been recognized by the AAPG with the J. Ben Carsey Distinguished Lectureship (2005-2006), the Robert Berg Outstanding Research Award (2015), and the Pratt Award (with co-authors) for best paper in the Bulletin (2015). Her current work is focused on the application of electron microbeam imaging and analysis to interpret chemical and mechanical histories of mudrocks (oil and gas shales).

Statement for DL Tour:

It’s a wonderful opportunity to tour as an AAPG Distinguished Lecturer. In particular, I’m excited to share some good news about the fine-grained rocks we know as shales, mudrocks, and mudstones: With the right tools, mudrocks are knowable. We can see the components of which they are made and we can discriminate one type of fine-grained rock from another. With this knowledge we can begin the task of constructing a framework for making predictions of mudrock properties. There is a realistic expectation that we can employ the same exploration thinking to these rocks as has been applied to good effect in the conventional reservoirs of sandstones and limestones. My talk doesn’t go into economics or environmental impacts, but it’s easy to see that a more refined predictive understanding of mudrock properties can have positive impacts in multiple arenas.