AAPG Studies in Geology 65 - Application of Structural Methods to Rocky Mountain Hydrocarbon Exploration and Development - Front Matter

Edited by C. Knight and J. Cuzella

Copyright © 2013 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Acknowledgments

This book resulted from the efforts of many individuals over the course of four years. The initial idea for this volume arose from the efforts of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists Publications Committee. The editors are grateful to the present committee chairman, Paul Lillis, and to past chairmen Ira Pasternak, Dean Dubois, Bill Pearson, and Jerry Cuzella, and also to the diligent efforts of all the committee members.

The editors thank the authors for their hard work in submitting their contributions and for their tenacity and patience during the review, editorial, and production processes. Each submitted manuscript was reviewed by a minimum of two technical experts. We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of those reviewers, who worked with the editors to improve the contributions to this book. Our list of technical reviewers includes Tom Anderson, Scott Cooper, Kevin Corbett, Steve Cumella, Dan Donaho, Marc Hendrix, Peter Hennings, Shari Kelley, Paul Link, John Lorenz, Jim Lowell, Randy Ray, Art Snoke, Jim Steidtmann, Don Stone, Bruce Trudgill, and Doug Waples. The editors realize that these reviewers have very busy and productive careers, and we appreciate their taking time to be involved in these reviews. Thank you!

We gratefully acknowledge the AAPG publications committee and the AAPG publications staff for their detailed follow-through in incorporating the final edits and in producing the fine volume that is presented here. A special thank you is extended to Beverly Molyneux, technical publications managing editor, for her suggestions and guidance through the publication procedures.

About the Editors

Constance N. (Dodge) Knight—(Connie)—has four degrees in geology/geological engineering including a BA degree from Western State College, Colorado; an MS degree from the University of Arizona; a PhD from the Colorado School of Mines; and a professional degree in hydrogeology from the Colorado School of Mines. In 1973 she began her oil and gas career in Denver, Colorado, with Amoco Production Company. Since her first job, Knight's work has involved petroleum exploration and development in the Rocky Mountain and Midcontinent regions of the United States. Connie's background is multifaceted. She enjoys integrating multidisciplinary data to define local stratigraphic and structural controls on reservoir performance; she also particularly enjoys generating and developing large potential exploration plays. During the past 13 years, Knight has been employed as the exploration manager for several small companies. Currently she is working as an independent geologist. As such, she generates exploration prospects; markets and sells oil and gas ventures; and participates in prospect evaluations. Knight has published various papers pertaining to borehole imagery, critical stress, the Mesaverde Group of Wyoming, the Pennsylvanian-aged Eagle Basin in Colorado, and Mesozoic rocks of the Colorado Plateau. She has been a member of the AAPG and the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) since 1974. She served as treasurer elect of the RMAG in 2009 and as treasurer in 2010. She has served on the AAPG House of Delegates for over 15 years, and she is still serving in that capacity. In 2011, Knight was honored by the RMAG with the “Distinguished Public Service to Earth Science Award.” She is a registered professional geologist in Wyoming and Utah.

Jerome J. Cuzella (Jerry) earned a BS degree in geology from St. Joseph's College, an MS degree in geology from Bowling Green State University, and a professional degree in hydrogeology from the Colorado School of Mines. With over 30 years of geological experience in the Rockies, he has worked for large and small independent oil and gas companies. Presently, Cuzella is division geologist for BOPCO, LP (a Bass Enterprises Company) in Denver, Colorado, where he is responsible for exploration and development efforts in the Rocky Mountain region. His interests include mixed siliciclastic and carbonate systems and unconventional reservoirs. He has authored or coauthored publications on the Cherokee Group in West Central Kansas and the Mesaverde Group in Northeastern Utah. He served as president of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) in 2010, first vice president in 2007, and chairman of the RMAG Publications Committee in 2008. Cuzella was honored by the RMAG with the Distinguished Public Service Award in 2005 and as Honorary Member in 2012; he is the recipient of AAPG's Public Service Award for 2013. He is a registered professional geologist in Wyoming, Utah, and Illinois.

Leland D. Cress earned an MS degree in geology from San Jose State University and a PhD in geology from the Colorado School of Mines. His employment history includes working for the U.S. Geological Survey, Veezay Geoservice, Pennzoil, and Gustavson Associates. For the past 11 years, Leland has been an associate with Thomasson Partners Associates in Denver, Colorado. Currently, his work is focused on interpreting the complex structural geology and stratigraphy of the Great Basin located in the western United States. His emphasis has been on the development of structural models. He has applied the principles of overthrust mechanics to the tectonics of various regions including the southern Rockies of the United States; the southern Appalachian Mountains; the Iraqi and Iranian Zagros Mountains; and the sub-Andean region of southern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina. Leland has evaluated the petroleum exploration potential of various areas in east-central Africa, the Middle East, South America, the eastern Caribbean, trans-Caucasian Russia, the Caspian Sea region, and south-central Asia. Cress is an active member of AAPG and the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG); he is an associate editor of RMAG's quarterly publication, the Mountain Geologist.

Dedication

DONALD SHERWOOD STONE

Skilled in the arts and sciences is one way to describe Donald Sherwood Stone, who is truly the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists' (RMAG) “Renaissance Man.” He is an accomplished geologist, artist, painter, sculptor, model shipbuilder, author, and musician. Having furthered advancements and methodologies over the years, he has been a major contributor to the science of geology. Since 1957, Don has contributed over 75 publications to geologic literature. For over 40 years, he has performed musically at various RMAG social functions.

Born in 1928, Don was brought up in Garden City, Long Island, New York. During summer months, Don lived on the shores of Lake Champlain, where he cultivated his interest in geology among the fossils and sedimentary structures of the Paleozoic carbonates there. He attended Garden City High School and then Hamilton College, located in Clinton, New York. At Hamilton, Don exceled in his geology courses under Professor Phil Oxley, such that upon graduation in 1950, he received the Rogers Prize in Geology. He was awarded the Eleanor Tatum Long Graduate Scholarship in structural geology and attended Cornell University. There he earned his master's degree within one year. Upon graduation in 1951, Don accepted a position as an exploration geologist with Standard Oil Company of California (SOCAL). He worked in SOCAL offices in Rio Vista, Salinas, Point Reyes, Sacramento, and Bakersfield, California.

In those young years, Don worked as a well-site geologist and as party geologist on an advanced seismic crew out of Richfield, Utah. He also did field work and made subsurface geologic interpretations. In 1953 Don was transferred to a new offshore group in Los Angeles. He later spent seven years in La Habra, developing the structural interpretations that supported SOCAL's bidding on California state offshore exploratory leases offered in the Santa Barbara Channel in 1958. It was during those early years that he developed his seismic analysis and interpretation skills for which he is well known today. Several oil and gas fields were discovered on the leases won by SOCAL, for which Don was largely responsible. Following the discoveries, he was assigned to the producing department, where he helped develop the new fields.

Don longed to be working in exploration, and in 1961 he joined Franco Western Oil Company in Denver as the company's district geologist. Don, his wife Charity, and their four daughters took up residence in Littleton, Colorado, where Don and Charity reside today. After Franco Western was acquired by Mobil in 1964, he resigned his position to join Chevron (formerly SOCAL) in Denver, only to leave again for an opportunity with Baumgartner Oil Company as geologic manager. It was at Baumgartner that he acquired the skills to develop and sell geologic prospects on his own. There he became adept at data gathering, borehole review and correlation, seismic integration, lease acquisition, presentation, and sales. Baumgartner decided to leave the oil business, which provided a new opportunity for Don. With his newly developed skill set, he became an independent geologist and consultant. In 1972 Don formed Sherwood Exploration Company, where he developed and sold many successful prospects. In 1985, he returned to operating as an independent geologist and consultant.

Don has authored many papers emphasizing the subsurface details of oil and gas-bearing Rocky Mountain structures. Four of his most frequently referenced papers include: “Theory of Paleozoic Oil and Gas Accumulation in the Big Horn Basin, Wyoming” (published in the AAPG Bulletin, 1967); “Wrench Faulting and Rocky Mountain Tectonics,” including a tectonic sketch map of the Central Rocky Mountains, (published simultaneously in the RMAG's Mountain Geologist and WGA's Earth Science Bulletin and reprinted in AAPG's Treatise of Petroleum Geology, 1969); “Basement-involved Thrust-generated Folds as Seismically Imaged in the Subsurface of the Central Rocky Mountain Foreland” (published in GSA's Special Publication 280, 1993); and “Morphology of the Casper Mountain Uplift and Related, Subsidiary Structures, Central Wyoming: Implications for Laramide Kinematics, Dynamics, and Crustal Inheritance” (published in the AAPG Bulletin, 2002). The last paper received the Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award for the best paper in the AAPG Bulletin.

Particularly noteworthy is Don's detailed “Wyoming Transect,” a regional structural cross section that depicts 410 miles of Wyoming geology. The original transect was constructed at a scale of 1:24,000 and was 95 feet long. Paper copies and digital images of this transect have been offered for sale through the RMAG and AAPG. The net proceeds from the sales support the Stone-Hollberg Graduate Scholarship in Structural Geology administered by the RMAG Foundation.

Don has worked tirelessly in his service to the AAPG and the RMAG, and he has been awarded numerous honors. He has delivered many talks at AAPG, RMAG, WGA, and other venues. In 2009, Don presented an all-day RMAG sponsored seminar entitled: “Review and Interpretation of Rocky Mountain Foreland Structures: Exploring Descriptive, Kinematic, and Dynamic Analysis with Simple Tools, Models, and Methodologies, and Avoiding Pitfalls.” One of his recent contributions has been to AAPG's Search and Discovery Web site in the form of a multimedia presentation entitled “Kinematic Analysis Using Profile and Time-slice Animations of 3-D Seismic Volumes with Three Examples from the Rocky Mountain Foreland Province.” At the 2012 Prospect Fair in Denver, Don delivered a talk entitled “So You Want to Be an Independent Geologist.”

Prior to earning the Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award in 2004, Don distinguished himself as a first-class author and editor when in 1986 he was the sole editor of an RMAG guidebook entitled New Interpretations of Northwest Colorado Geology. In addition to editing the volume, he included three of his own papers. In the late 1970s, Don initiated the “Rocky Mountain Structures” series for The Mountain Geologist. He remains the current editor of that series and has contributed many articles himself. Don has served as RMAG second vice president, president (1987), and managing editor for The Mountain Geologist. He was honored as RMAG's “Scientist of the Year” in 1985 and granted RMAG honorary membership in 1988.

Within AAPG Don has served on the research and geophysics committees, on the visiting geoscientist program, as a member of the House of Delegates, and as an associate editor of the AAPG Bulletin. He was awarded AAPG Honorary Membership in 1994, and became an honorary member of the Wyoming Geological Society in 2011. Don is a past member of the SEG, SEPM, and AIG, an emeritus member of the American Geophysical Union, and a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.

As a passionate structural geologist and explorationist, Don used his experience and knowledge of rock physics and structural concepts to create models and interpretations that have withstood the test of time. Decades ago, he interpreted thrust-generated folds and strike-slip faults that had not previously been identified.

Now, decades later, geologists of all ages continue to refer to Don's work when they want fact-based and well-researched studies to abet and advance their investigation into areas unfamiliar to them. In addition to his contributions to the professional societies, he has given generously of his time and talents to students attending local universities, where working with faculty and staff, he has presented lectures and is ready to assist young geologists looking for advice.

Don is always available to anyone desiring a stimulating conversation about geology or the arts. His search for vibrant, if not controversial, geologic discussion is endless. Don remains a solid role model as a dedicated scientist and artist, whose accomplishments are to be acknowledged and celebrated. The editors of this book are privileged to dedicate this volume to Donald Sherwood Stone, in recognition of his contributions to furthering our understanding of Rocky Mountain structural geology. The geologic community is grateful for his devotion and service to the science.

Don has had a fulfilling career; however, he is most proud of his children. Don and Charity, his wife of 61 years, have four daughters, all with fulfilling careers. Kathy is employed as a senior risk analyst by Markwest Energy Partners in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Sue, with a PhD in botany, is working as the registrar and as a science teacher for a private school in Wilmington, Delaware; Donna, with a PhD in pharmacology, is working as a senior principal scientist for Pfizer in San Francisco, California; and Jenny is an engineer for Boeing in Los Angeles, California. Don and Charity have six grandchildren.

Introduction
Application of Structural Methods to Rocky Mountain Hydrocarbon Exploration and Development