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Explorer Article By Heather Saucier

Solar Geoengineering Offers Hope for Cooling the Planet

As the United States and other countries continue to pledge to reduce emissions, a growing number of researchers are studying courses of action to ward off the worst effects of warming, should mitigation and adaptation prove insufficient. Solar geoengineering – an umbrella term for different approaches to increase the Earth’s reflectivity to offset the effects of accumulated gases in the atmosphere – was an obscure field 20 years ago. Now, it is a subject of growing interest and study among scientists and governments around the world.

Added on 01 October, 2021

Explorer Article By Heather Saucier

Carbon Capture, Geothermal Offer New Opportunities for Reservoir Characterization Expertise

For decades, reservoir characterization has played a crucial role in oil and gas projects – in identifying and extracting hydrocarbons from the subsurface. Now, some geologists and geophysicists are applying their industry expertise to the emerging fields of carbon storage and geothermal energy.

Added on 01 October, 2021

Explorer Article By David Brown

Geophysical Industry Shows Signs of Gradual Recovery

Facing a challenging situation and low demand, geophysical companies found themselves in a hole after the energy industry’s latest, coronavirus-related downturn. They’ve been trying to dig themselves out for the past year. The good news is, that effort now appears to be working, as higher oil prices begin to have an effect and more positive signs emerge in the second half of 2021.

Added on 01 October, 2021

wwwUpdate Blog By Barry Friedman

A Champion of Arabia’s Oil Promise

“I really do not know a lot about leadership models.” That might seem a strange sentiment coming from a Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award winner, but Mahmoud Abdulbaqi, this year’s honored recipient – who has spent his career in leadership positions in the oil and gas industry, its corporations and associations – is not your typical Halbouty medalist. Through his career, he found opportunities to lead, as all good leaders do, but equally important, opportunities needing leadership found him.

Added on 19 September, 2021

Explorer Article By Geoff Camphire

Earth Science Week Dips Into Water

Water plays important roles in the ways people source, produce, transport, use and dispose of a wide range of products, including those that come from petroleum, such as fuels, solvents, petrochemicals and plastics. To help the public better understand these important processes, petroleum geologists are called on to participate in Earth Science Week 2021, which celebrates the theme of “Water Today and for the Future.”

Added on 01 September, 2021

Explorer President’s Column By Gretchen Gillis

Achieving Harmony Amid Change and Uncertainty

Listening to “Togetherness (K’a jo se)” as I write prompted me to think about community. AAPG has been a pillar of the scientific community for more than 100 years, with a lengthy history of collaboration and rewarding relationships that extend beyond the Association. Like the rise to international success of Nigerian musician King Sunny Adé, AAPG has grown beyond its American roots to serve a global community of energy geoscientists as well as professionals working in adjacent functions like data science, carbon capture, use and sequestration, and various engineering disciplines.

Added on 01 September, 2021

Explorer Division Column DEG By Miriam Winsten

What Role Can AAPG Play in Sustainability?

A few years ago, our work team was tasked to create the company’s very first annual Sustainability Report. At that moment in time, we were not sure what that meant, what it would include and what its impact would be. Of course, the first questions we asked ourselves were: “What is sustainability?”, “What is ESG?”, “What are the United Nations Sustainable Development goals?” and “How does this pertain to the company, our industry, our technologies?”

Added on 01 September, 2021

Explorer Director’s Corner By David Curtiss

At Long Last, IMAGE ’21 is Upon Us

The moment is almost here – the time for all applied geoscientists to converge on Denver for the inaugural International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy. More about this great new event in a minute. Yes, we’re still in the age of COVID and the delta variant is giving all of us pause as we consider how best to interact personally and professionally. But I’m pleased to share that I’m writing this column having just returned from my third in-person industry event in a four-week time period.

Added on 01 September, 2021

Explorer Foundation Update By Vern Stefanic

Spreading the Word: New DLs Announced for 2021-22

An historic book is being reopened, and the next chapter in AAPG’s ongoing efforts to recognize, offer and promote geoscience excellence around the world is about to be written. Six diverse and internationally acclaimed geoscientists have been announced for the 2021-22 AAPG-AAPG Foundation Distinguished Lecture season – speaking on a spectacular range of subjects that vary from understanding integrated hydrocarbon systems to utilizing machine learning to recognizing the importance of choices in today’s energy transition.'

Added on 01 September, 2021

Explorer Historical Highlights By Simon Lunn

Overcoming the Odds in the Peruvian Amazon

The discovery of oil in the Peruvian Amazon is an extraordinary story of perseverance, courage and resolve. The immense challenges of terrain, weather, finance and bureaucracy might never have been overcome had it not been for the vision of pioneering geologist Robert Moran. '

Added on 01 September, 2021

DL Abstract By Kurt W. Rudolph

The Assembly of Pangea, a View from Laurentia: Paleozoic Orogenies and their Impact on Basin Evolution and Petroleum Systems

Paleozoic North America has experienced multiple mountain building events, from Ordovician to Permian, on all margins of the continent. These have had a profound effect on the resulting complex basins and their associated petroleum systems. Subsequent uplift, erosion and overprinting of these ancient systems impedes the direct observation of their tectonic history. However, the basin sedimentary records are more complete, and provide additional insights into the timing and style of the mountain building events. In this study, we employ ~90 1D basin models, ~30 inverse flexural models, isopachs, and paleogeographic maps to better understand the Paleozoic history of North America.

Request a visit from Kurt W. Rudolph!

Added on 14 September, 2023

VG Abstract By Juan I. Soto

Salt versus Shales in Continental Margins and Orogens

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!

Added on 26 June, 2019

DL Abstract By Shane Prochnow

Subsurface Machine Learning Approaches at Hydrocarbon Recovery and Resource Forecasting for Unconventional Reservoir Systems

This presentation is a survey of subsurface machine learning concepts that have been formulated for unconventional asset development, described in the literature, and subsequently patented. Operators that utilize similar subsurface machine learning workflows and other data modelling techniques enjoy a competitive advantage at optimizing the development of unconventional plays.

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Added on 14 September, 2023

DL Abstract By John Castagna

Beyond Physics in Geophysics

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

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Added on 14 September, 2023

DL Abstract By Jennifer Wilcox

The Role of Carbon Capture in Meeting Net-Zero Carbon Goals

President Biden has laid out a bold and ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2050. The pathway to that target includes cutting total greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them entirely from the nation’s electricity sector by 2035. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management will play an important role in the transition to net-zero carbon emissions by reducing the environmental impacts of fossil energy production and use – and helping decarbonize other hard-to abate sectors.

Request a visit from Jennifer Wilcox!

Added on 20 July, 2022

DL Abstract By Sherilyn Williams-Stroud

Atmospheric and Social Climate Change: Implications for the Future Geoscience Workforce

Climate change is not only happening in the atmosphere but also in the anthroposphere; in some ways the former could drive or exacerbate the latter, with extreme weather excursions and extreme excursions from societal norms occurring all over the earth. Accomplishing geoscience for a common goal – whether that is for successful business activities, resource assessment for public planning, mitigating the impacts of geological hazards, or for the sheer love of furthering knowledge and understanding – can and should be done by a workforce that is equitably developed and supported. Difficulty arises when the value of institutional programs to increase equity and diversity is not realized.

Request a visit from Sherilyn Williams-Stroud!

Added on 14 September, 2023

VG Abstract By Juan I. Soto

How Orogens Could Collapse Forming Sedimentary Basins: The Case of the Betic-Rif Orogen

The Betic hinterland, in the westernmost Mediterranean, constitutes a unique example of a stack of metamorphic units. Using a three-dimensional model for the crustal structure of the Betics-Rif area this talk will address the role of crustal flow simultaneously to upper-crustal low-angle faulting in the origin and evolution of the topography.

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Added on 26 June, 2019

DL Abstract By Alex Simms

Interactions Between Ice Sheets and Relative Sea Levels: Lessons From Antarctica and NW Scotland

Local sea-level changes are not simply a function of global ocean volumes but also the interactions between the solid Earth, the Earth’s gravitational field and the loading and unloading of ice sheets. Contrasting behaviors between Antarctica and Scotland highlight how important the geologic structure beneath the former ice sheets is in determining the interactions between ice sheets and relative sea levels.

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Added on 21 July, 2022

DL Abstract By Jacob Covault

Submarine-Channel Evolution From Seismic Stratigraphy & Numerical Models: Patterns and Predictions Revisited

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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Added on 20 July, 2022

DL Abstract By John Suppe

Probing What Makes the Crust Strong (or Weak): Insight from Boreholes, Earthquakes, Active Fault Systems, and Toy Models

For well over a century there have been conflicting indications of the strength of the crust and of faults and what controls them. Much of our ignorance comes quite naturally from the general inaccessibility of the crust to measurement--in contrast with our understanding of the atmosphere, which is much more accessible to observation as well as more rapidly changing. Crustal strength is best understood in deforming sedimentary basins where the petroleum industry has made great contributions, particularly in deforming petroleum basins because of the practical need to predict. In this talk we take a broad look at key issues in crustal strength and deformation and what we can learn from boreholes, earthquakes, active fault systems, and toy models.

Request a visit from John Suppe!

Added on 14 September, 2023

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