Explorer Article

Earthquakes in Oklahoma, a state that isn’t normally associated with them, have increased to staggering numbers in recent years.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Don't get left behind! Drones and drone-derived digital data are the hottest growth areas around. Combine your geoscience knowledge with new technology, both on the data acquisition side (fly that drone!) and in the project design and data interpretation (make high-powered maps and see what no one else has seen!). AAPG is offering two courses and a two-day GTW to equip you with practical knowledge you can leverage into a great new career opportunity. Combining a workshop with two courses is a great way to expand your knowledge and save time in your already hectic schedule.'The New Opportunities with Drones: New Needs, FAA Rule Changes, New Technologies' workshop brings together experts, equipment providers, robotics experts, and others knowledgeable in a wide range of commercial drone usage, which includes monitoring in the oil industry, digital outcrop surveying, safety and security monitoring, utility inspection, real estate, agriculture, construction, environmental protection, and more. 'Working with Drone Data 101' short course, is beneficial to anyone interested in learning more about Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and how they can play a part in mapping and information services. Drones are used in the oil and gas industry from upstream to downstream, and in many other industries. The second course, 'Use of Surface Geochemistry in Petroleum Exploration' is a one day discussion of the use of surface geochemistry in petroleum exploration for conventional production. This course will help utilize an additional tool in the toolbox to find conventional oil and gas in mature to unexploited basins.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

How does diagenesis affect rock physics? What is the relationship of the burial history to the rock physics? Both have a dramatic impact on the rock physics properties of not only the reservoir, but also the source and seals. Welcome to an interview with Per Avseth, who discusses rock physics and quantitative seismic interpretation. He also talks with us about how developing an effective rock physics model requires the integration of geological, geophysical, geochemical, and petrophysical information.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

You may not be aware that there was a super-Greenhouse environment during the Cretaceous, and that there were super-storms associated with it, and that analyzing the sediments deposited during that time can provide insight into the potential warming of climates, and also the cross-shelf transport of sediments. That is just one of many fascinating new areas of research that looks at data through new lenses, and with new analytical techniques. Welcome to an interview with Lesli J. Wood, Weimer Distinguished Chair and Professor in Sedimentary and Petroleum Geology, Colorado School of Mines.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

Using supervised neural networks for mapping reservoir properties can improve resolution as demonstrated by the PNN Zp inversion, or using such networks for classifying variable lithologies can improve clarity as established by the seismic object detection result.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The Gulf of Mexico Basin is a source of seemingly endless hydrocarbon resources, and just one topic to be explored in the Discovery Thinking Forum at this month’s ICE.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas emerged as a leading unconventional prospect even as oil and gas prices crumbled, making it one of the few promising U.S. production prospects in today’s price environment.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

The present is the key to the past. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in depositional systems, where modern depositional systems can provide insight for better geologic models. Welcome to an interview with Zane Jobe, Research Professor and Director of the Chevron Center of Research Excellence (CoRE) at Colorado School of Mines. In this interview, he talks to us about new developments and emerging trends in reservoir modeling.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Fracture modeling has become a vital part of successful drilling, completion, and ongoing stimulation of shale plays, as well as other unconventionals. It is also important in optimizing recovery in mature fields. Welcome to an interview with Ahmed Ouenes, CEO and Founder of FracGeo.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Reservoir modeling has changed dramatically with the ability to incorporate new technologies and imaging techniques. Welcome to an interview with Randal Utech, Geology and Geophysics Advisor for Schlumberger, who discusses new developments in building effective reservoir models that can be used for decision-making and generating new ideas.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Muscat, Oman
Sunday, 5 April 2026, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

This one-day advanced course delivers a focused and highly practical framework for interpreting structural styles in the Middle East, combined with the unique advantage of applying Generative AI (GenAI) to elevate geological understanding and decision-making. Built for geoscientists working in exploration, development, or basin modeling, the course emphasizes practical techniques, hands-on interpretation, and modern tools that increase accuracy, speed, and confidence in structural workflows. We begin with a foundational module designed to unify all participants, regardless of background, around the principles of fault mechanics and structural style recognition. Participants will revisit faulting fundamentals, mechanical stratigraphy, and structural style classification. The goal is to align interpretation techniques with geological processes, and to establish a shared vocabulary for the day. An introduction to GenAI highlights its role in managing structural ambiguity and enhancing workflows, helping geoscientists clarify options when data is incomplete or conflicting. Normal Faulting Through a sequence of focused exercises, participants explore fault segmentation, growth history, and interpretation in extensional domains. This segment reinforces practical skills in identifying and validating fault geometries in map and section views. GenAI is introduced as a scenario-building tool: participants will use it to explore structural uncertainty, generate alternative models, and compare extensional interpretations, all using fragmented or incomplete datasets, not as a seismic interpreter but as a powerful thought partner. Strike-Slip and Transtension This module targets the complexity of strike-slip and transtensional systems. Participants learn to distinguish pure strike-slip geometries from transtensional overprints, assess compartmentalization, and model realistic deformation patterns. Interpretation exercises develop structural reasoning in map and cross-sectional views. GenAI is applied here to integrate multi-source inputs, such as field data, analogs, and internal reports, to support rapid synthesis and generate testable structural concepts. Salt Tectonics The final segment introduces key diagnostic features of salt-related deformation: welds, reactive and passive diapirs, and halokinetic sequences. Exercises train participants to recognize salt-influenced geometries and link them to broader structural evolution. GenAI then supports pattern recognition and memory mining, leveraging archived knowledge from prior studies, case histories, and analog reports to help geoscientists build and validate interpretations faster and with more confidence. What makes this course different? This is not a theoretical seminar. It’s a learning accelerator, where foundational concepts are applied in realistic interpretation settings, then extended with state-of-the-art GenAI capabilities. You’ll not only sharpen your structural reasoning, but learn how to delegate time-consuming tasks, like synthesizing legacy reports, generating alternative scenarios, or exploring interpretation options, to an intelligent AI partner. By the end of the day, participants will: Recognize and differentiate key fault styles with confidence Improve fault interpretation quality and geological risk assessment Use GenAI to test structural scenarios and extract insight from fragmented or incomplete datasets Accelerate their ability to interpret, communicate, and make decisions in structurally complex plays This course equips you with what matters most today: deep geological understanding, elevated by the best of modern AI. Who Should Attend and Why This course is ideal for both new hires and experienced geoscientists working across exploration, development, and reservoir modeling. Its exercise-driven format ensures that participants with diverse backgrounds, geologists, geophysicists, geomodelers, can engage, learn, and apply. While some familiarity with geosciences is beneficial, prior structural geology training is not required. What makes this course indispensable is its ability to bridge theory and practice: participants will gain a clear understanding of how rocks deform over time, how fault geometries evolve, and how these structures influence seismic interpretation, mapping, and static/dynamic modeling. By integrating real case studies and GenAI-enhanced workflows, the course delivers practical tools to improve subsurface outcomes and build models that match project maturity and business objectives. Main Objective This course delivers the structural geology foundations every geoscientist needs to confidently interpret faults and build or validate static models. Derived from decades of project reviews, interpretation support, and applied field experience, these “must-know” concepts include fault mechanics, growth, segmentation, and structural style recognition, relevant to both exploration and production settings. Participants will strengthen their ability to recognize deformation styles, interpret fault geometries in map and section view, assess mechanical stratigraphy and reactivation risk, and QC interpretations with confidence. Throughout the course, GenAI is introduced not as a software tool, but as a workflow enhancer, used to reduce ambiguity, test structural hypotheses, and extract insight from fragmented datasets or legacy documentation. This empowers geoscientists to think more clearly, work more efficiently, and improve the geological soundness of their models. Key Points Date: 5th April,2026 Venue: Crowne Plaza Hotel, OCEC Registration Fee: $590 Registration Deadline: 22nd February,2026 *Registration will be opening shortly Instructors Pascal Richard PRgeology Jan Witte Falcon-Geoconsulting

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Muscat, Oman
Thursday, 9 April Friday, 10 April 2026, 7:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m.

The Jabal Akhdar in the Central Oman Mountains forms a ~90 km × 60 km dome. The core of this dome consists of Cryogenian to Ediacaran siliciclastics and carbonates, including source rocks. These rocks are separated from the overlying rocks by a spectacularly exposed angular unconformity. The rocks above this unconformity are Permo-Mesozoic shelf carbonates of the Arabian passive margin. The rocks below the unconformity are folded twice, while those above show no such folding. During the Late Cretaceous, Arabia was overthrust by the Samail Ophiolite and Hawasina deep-sea sedimentary rocks. Final doming occurred during the late Eocene to early Miocene. The Jabal Akhdar Dome is a textbook example of stratigraphy and structural geology development from the Cryogenian to the present. Furthermore, findings from the dome can be used as a natural laboratory and serve as an analogue for the hydrocarbon-bearing sequences in interior Oman. The two-day field trip will start at the Saiq Plateau where we will examine Cryogenian Snowball-Earth diamictites with cap carbonates, blended within the scenic landscape of Jabal Akhdar. The second day will start at a breath-taking vista point at Wadi Bani Awf. From there we will descend into the core of the Jabal Akhdar and explore the structural style of the Cryogenian and younger succession. Field Trip Information: Date: 9th – 10th April 2026 Time: 7:30am – 7pm Field Trip fee: $550 Registration Deadline: 5th March 2026 (*registration will be opening shortly) Fees Include: 1 night accommodation in a hotel Guided hiking tour through rose farms and ancient villages in Jebel Akhdar (2–3 hours) Traditional Omani lunch hosted at a local home BBQ dinner in a scenic open area at Jebel Akhdar All transportation (4x4s) Field Trip Leaders Andreas Scharf GUtech Oman Ivan Callegari GUtech Oman Wilfried Bauer GUtech Oman

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Muscat, Oman
Monday, 6 April Wednesday, 8 April 2026, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

The AAPG Structural Styles of the Middle East is back! This exciting and highly anticipated Geoscience Technology Workshop will take place from 6 – 8 April 2026, in Muscat, Oman. This workshop aims to explore the diverse structural styles resulting from the different deformation phases on the tectonostratigraphic framework of the Arabian Plate and adjacent regions.  

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

Around 170 million years ago, the Gulf of Mexico basin flooded catastrophically, and the pre-existing landscape, which had been a very rugged, arid, semi-desert world, was drowned beneath an inland sea of salt water. The drowned landscape was then buried under kilometers of salt, perfectly preserving the older topography. Now, with high-quality 3D seismic data, the salt appears as a transparent layer, and the details of the drowned world can be seen in exquisite detail, providing a unique snapshot of the world on the eve of the flooding event. We can map out hills and valleys, and a system of river gullies and a large, meandering river system. These rivers in turn fed into a deep central lake, whose surface was about 750m below global sea level. This new knowledge also reveals how the Louann Salt was deposited. In contrast to published models, the salt was deposited in a deep water, hypersaline sea. We can estimate the rate of deposition, and it was very fast; we believe that the entire thickness of several kilometers of salt was laid down in a few tens of thousands of years, making it possibly the fastest sustained deposition seen so far in the geological record.

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Request a visit from Frank Peel!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) seismic-reflection surveys provide one of the most important data types for understanding subsurface depositional systems. Quantitative analysis is commonly restricted to geophysical interpretation of elastic properties of rocks in the subsurface. Wide availability of 3D seismic-reflection data and integration provide opportunities for quantitative analysis of subsurface stratigraphic sequences. Here, we integrate traditional seismic-stratigraphic interpretation with quantitative geomorphologic analysis and numerical modeling to explore new insights into submarine-channel evolution.

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Request a visit from Jacob Covault!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Physics is an essential component of geophysics but there is much that physics cannot know or address. 

Request a visit from John Castagna!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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