New faces, new topics, continuation of a new program and new energy.
That’s the word about this year’s AAPG Distinguished Lecture program, the Association’s flagship initiative for spreading the latest in science, technology and professional information.
This year’s DL program, funded in part by the AAPG Foundation, will offer 14 lecturers – nine domestic and five international. It is the largest slate of speakers in the program’s history.
And in addition to those tours, AAPG this year offers an expanded Distinguished Instructor slate, featuring two instructors – one domestic and one international.
It’s all part of a concentrated effort to make information and expertise available to as many geoscience groups as possible, around the world.
AAPG’s DL program was developed to expose students, young geologists, college faculty members and members of geological societies to current information, research and thinking.
Last season’s domestic speakers appeared at 60 universities and societies, reaching about 3,200 people. The international speakers made 44 stops in the Middle East, eastern/central Asia and Asia/Pacific, reaching about 1,850 people.
This year’s program offers speakers from both industry and academia, with topics that range from timely subjects like geologic-based evidence of climate change, to Canadian oil sands, to fractured reservoir characterization.
Among the new topics this year: Hippos in London and “craquelure in masterpieces of the Louvre.” Really.
Something familiar about this year’s lineup is the continuation of the intersociety lecturer effort – a cooperative program that presents an opportunity for cross-discipline lectures.
This year’s AAPG/SEG Intersociety Lecturer, sixth in the series, is on the international roster: AAPG member Don Lawton, holder of the chair in exploration geophysics at the University of Calgary, Canada.
His topic is “Anisotropic Depth Imaging and Interpretation in Thrust-Belt Exploration.”
In keeping with the annually alternating logistical responsibilities for the intersociety lecturer, Lawton ’s tour will be coordinated by AAPG.
And as also in past years, support for several specific tours comes directly from the AAPG Foundation ’s Distinguished Lecture Fund. They are:
⬤ The Allan P. Bennison Distinguished Lecturer – An international lecturer who makes a U.S. tour, funded by contributions from the late Allan Bennison, a long-time Tulsa geologist.
This year’s Bennison lecturer will be Peter Skelton, reader in palaeobiology at the Open University, London, England. He’ll tour the western part of North America in early December and eastern North America in mid-March, offering two topics:
- “Rudist Evolution, Ecology and Environments.”
- “The Episodic History of Cretaceous Carbonate Platforms: An Aptian Case Study.”
⬤ The J. Ben Carsey Distinguished Lecturer – A domestic tour, provided by contributions from J. Ben Carsey Jr. of Houston, to establish a named lecturer in memory of his father, who served as AAPG president in 1967-68.
This year’s Carsey lecturer is Garry Karner, senior research associate, new play concepts, for ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co., Houston. He ’ll tour eastern North America in late November and early December, and western North America in late March and early April, offering two topics:
- “Depth-Dependent Lithospheric Extension: Supporting Evidence, Structural and Depositional Characteristics, and General Applicability.”
- “Accuracy of Eustatic Amplitude Estimates: Challenges in Flexurally Backstripping Continental Margins.”
⬤ The Haas-Pratt Distinguished Lecturer – A domestic tour provided by contributions from the late Merrill W. Haas, in honor of famed geologist (and Haas ’ mentor) Wallace Pratt. The funding is granted for emphasis on a specific case history application of geology in a discovery.
This year’s Haas-Pratt lecture will be given by Mike Peacock, exploration/development geoscience manager, Imperial Oil, Calgary, Canada. He’ll tour western North America in late November and early December, and eastern North America in February.
His lecture is titled “Athabasca Oil Sands: Understanding the Oil Sands from the Regional Scale to the Project Scale – A Case History.”
⬤ The Roy M. Huffington Distinguished Lecturer – An international tour provided by contributions form the Huffington family in honor of the oilman-geologist.
⬤ The Huffington Lecturer – whose current tour of Australia and New Zealand ends in September – is Peter McCabe, with CSIRO in Sydney, Australia. He has offered three topics:
- “Distribution of the World’s Oil and Gas Source Rocks in Space and Time – Perspectives for Exploration in Frontier Basins.”
- “World Oil and Gas Resources – How Much is Left and Where Will It Be Found?”
- “Deltaic Systems and Super-Systems – Controls on Petroleum Accumulation.”
This year’s list of domestic Distinguished Lecturers also includes:
➤ Mike Blum, a professor in the department of geology and geophysics at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. His tour of eastern North America will be Sept. 17-28, and his western North American tour will be in late February and early March.
He offers two talks:
- “Subsidence and Sea-Level Changes Along the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Response of Mississippi River to the Last Glacial Cycle, and the Flexural Ups and Downs of Mississippi Delta.”
- “Signatures of Climate and Sea-Level Change in the Gulf of Mexico River Systems Over the Last Glacial-Interglacial Cycle: A Source-to-Sink View Ups and Downs of Mississippi Delta.”
➤ Terry Engelder, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. He’ll offer two talks:
- “Craquelure in Masterpieces of the Louvre (Paris, France) as Analogue Models for Development of Joints in Fractured Reservoirs.”
- “Acadian-Alleghanian Orogenesis as Revealed by Fracturing Within the Appalachian Foreland.”
➤ Katherine Giles, a professor at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, N.M. She offers two talks:
- “Tracking the Migration of Salt Diapirs Using Halokinetic Sequence Stratigraphy.”
- “Complex Feed Back Loops Controlling Heterozoan Reef Development on Salt Diapirs, La Popa Basin, Mexico.”
➤ Kirk Johnson, vice president of research and collections, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver.
His talk is titled “Crocodiles in Greenland and Hippos in London: A Fossil-Fueled Tour of Past and Future Climates.”
➤ David Johnston, senior geophysical adviser, 4-D seismic applications, ExxonMobil Exploration Co., Houston.
His talk is titled “Four-D Seismic in the Deepwater – Challenges and Rewards.”
➤ Jon Olson, associate professor, department of petroleum and geostystems engineering, the University of Texas at Austin. He offers two talks:
- “Fractured Reservoir Characterization: From Diagenesis and Fracture Mechanics to Reservoir Permeability.”
- “A Geologist’s Guide to Explaining Natural Fracture Phenomena with Fracture Mechanics.”
The other international lecturers are:
➤ Jose Luis Massaferro, exploration adviser, Repsol/YPF Exploration and Production, Madrid (Spain) and Buenos Aires (Argentina) offices.
His talk is titled “Three-Dimensional Seismic Imaging of Carbonate Reservoirs and Systems.”
➤ Larry C. Peterson, associate dean and professor of marine geology and geophysics, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami.
His talk is titled “Past Climate Clues from Anoxic Basin Sediments: Cariaco Basin (Venezuela) as a Tropical Climate Type Section.”
➤ John J. Walsh, lecturer and associate professor, Fault Analysis Group school of geological sciences, University College, Dublin, Ireland. He offers two talks:
- “The Growth of Fault Systems on Different Time Scales: Reconciling the Long-Term Growth and Earthquake Behavior of Normal Faults.”
- “The Structure, Content and Growth of Fault Zones Within Sedimentary Sequences.”
For more information on the tours or the program
contact Karen J. Dotts
in the education department at AAPG headquarters ([email protected]); go to the AAPG Distinguished Lecture Web pages; and watch for monthly updates in the EXPLORER.