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Field Trips and Workshops Pre-Meeting FIELD TRIP - The Natural Gas Potential of the Sanford sub-basin, North Carolina The purpose of this one-day field trip is to provide an overview of the natural gas potential in Triassic strata of the Sanford sub-basin of the Deep River Basin, located in Lee, Chatham and Moore counties of North Carolina, with a focus on the Cumnock Formation. The Cumnock Formation includes a ~800 foot thick interval of Upper Triassic (Carnian) organic-rich black shale and extends across ~59,000 acres, at depths of less than 3,000 feet in the sub-basin. These Triassic strata were deposited in freshwater, shallow lakes in a paleo-equatorial geographic location similar to modern African rift valley lakes. Organic geochemistry and thermal maturation analyses indicate that the black shale in the Cumnock Formation is gas-prone, and that values of total organic carbon (TOC) exceed 1.4 percent in places. The Cumnock Formation contains systematic fracture sets that are observable in outcrop, on 1:24,000-scale geologic maps superimposed on LiDAR data, and possibly in drill cores. The primary fractures trend northwest, while a conjugate fracture set trends northeast. In some places along the west side of the basin, the primary fractures are filled with diabase dikes that locally heated the formation, although mapping in underground coal mines (now closed) has shown that the diabase dikes do not extend far into the basin. We interpret the Sanford sub-basin as a total petroleum system containing a source rock (the Cumnock Formation), seal (the Sanford Formation), and having both structural and depositional traps. This is a relatively untested exploration area that has about 8,765 acres under lease since January 2010. Details WORKSHOP - More! Rocks in Your Head FOR EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS ONLY. Teachers will learn to teach with confidence guided in each section by: 1) background information; 2) vocabulary; 3) project information; 4) projects; 5) advanced thinking topics; and 6) cross-curricular ideas with language arts, social and other sciences, and math. All projects are hands-on, making earth science a fun and memorable learning experience. Interactive overview and review games such as Geo-Bingo and Geopardy lead to understanding and retention for all. For more information on MRIYH visit the website. Note: Registration will be handled separately through MRIYH. Contact the instructor, Janie Schuelke During the Meeting WORKSHOP - Microseismic Monitoring of Hydraulic Fractures The course is designed for petroleum professionals who have a basic understanding of petroleum geology and well completions and stimulation. The attendees will gain an understanding of the mechanisms that induce microseismicity, the important characteristics of microseisms that are used in processing and interpretation, and geologic and engineering applications of the results relative to the reservoir and the fracturing. WORKSHOP - Understanding the Reservoir - Characterization, Modeling, and Monitoring for CSS Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), whether associated with enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or storage in deep saline formations, involves distinct but interrelated stages: capture, transportation, injection and storage, monitoring and (if applicable) CO2 flood surveillance. The geoscientist, working alongside engineers, plays a key role in defining the reservoir through characterization, modeling and selection of monitoring methods. This workshop includes sessions on reservoir screening and characterization, plume modeling and management, and hybrid (saline formations with residual oil) projects. Attendees will be exposed to the breath of experience from the large number of injection projects active in the Permian Basin region of the southwest United States. They will learn how to screen and model candidate reservoirs for carbon storage and EOR, required data and models for reservoir characterization, injection and production, reservoir monitoring (surveillance) and the theory behind storage and EOR operations in hybrid projects. Post-Meeting WORKSHOP - PTTC/DOE/RSPEA Gas Shales The Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL-DOE) have an active, ongoing research program targeting development of unconventional gas in the U.S. Multiple research projects are being performed in the areas of resource characterization, well stimulation and optimization, and environmental issues associated with the development of unconventional gas (shales, tight sands, coal beds) resources. This workshop offers an ideal opportunity to hear the latest perspectives and exchange ideas with industry experts on many of these topics. The one-day workshop is designed to provide the latest results from the research efforts with a focus on the large and rapidly-developing Marcellus Shale resource. See the agenda for the full line-up of topics to be discussed. FIELD TRIP - The Marcellus Shale in Virginia and West Virginia This two-day field trip will visit outcrops in Virginia and West Virginia that illustrate the lithologic character of the Marcellus Shale and its structural complexities in the Broadtop Synclinorium of the Valley and Ridge province. Discussions of the thermal stress and geochemical and mineralogical analyses, with correlations to subsurface data, will allow participants to understand that the Marcellus Shale has an organic content sufficiently high, and a thermal maturity sufficiently moderate, to be considered for a possible shale gas play in the Broadtop Synclinorium. Field trip participation will require short walks along mountain roadways, and limited climbing up to or down to the outcrops. Hiking boots are recommended. Details FIELD TRIP - The early Mesozoic Culpeper basin, Virginia and Maryland The Culpeper basin deposits occur in one of a series of rift-basins along the eastern margin of North America that comprise the Newark Supergroup. The basins formed during the initial extensional period that ultimately led to opening of the Atlantic Ocean. This one-day field trip will visit a series of outcrops that illustrate the stratigraphic succession of fluvial and lacustrine facies and their lateral relationships. Topics to be addressed include: 1) The geometry of sedimentary facies and the processes controlling the transition from fluvial to lacustrine sedimentation in a rift basin. 2) Paleoclimatic variability and cyclicity of lacustrine facies. 3) Biostratigraphic evidence for sedimentary onlap and regional unconformities within the Culpeper basin. 4) The southernmost extrusive basalts of the Newark Supergroup and their relationship to the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. Details |