Like moths to a flame, if rocks are displayed, geologists will swarm. An unprecedented display of core is being prepared for ACE 101 with more than 3,000 feet of rock on display in the Exhibition Hall. The first goal will be to highlight cores from both lacustrine and marine settings representing some of the hottest oil and gas play areas. ACE 101 in Salt Lake will be the first public display of some of these cores. The second goal is to emphasize the importance of regional core centers. State- and federal-run core centers are vital repositories of this priceless material. The work conducted at these facilities is often overlooked, but their collections represent hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of investment. Please stop by the core, explore its wonders, and thank those who work to preserve this important material for future.
1 — Lacustrine Eocene Green River Formation Core, Uinta Basin, Utah
Hosted by the Utah Geological Survey’s Utah Core Research Center
The PR-15C-7 is a one-of-a-kind core that captures nearly the entire Eocene Green River Formation (GRF) in one continuous 1600-foot set of rock. Track the evolution of ancient Lake Uinta as it progresses from a fresh body of water teeming with mollusks to a saline pond similar to modern Great Salt Lake. The GRF is also the largest oil-producing formation in the State of Utah. Drilled in 2015 by TOTAL and donated to the Utah Core Research Center, this special core session will be the public debut of this spectacular core.generations of geoscientists.
2 — Three Lacustrine Cores From the Kwanza Basin Pre-Salt Play, Offshore Angola
Hosted by the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology
These very rare cores (Pitanga #1, Mucua #1, and Maboque #1) from the important South Atlantic “pre‐salt” play will also make their first appearance at the AAPG 2018 meeting. The pre‐salt reservoirs, both off‐shore Angola and off‐shore Brazil, contain lacustrine carbonates (including microbialites) similar to deposits in the Green River Formation and at Great Salt Lake. These cores, drilled in the early 1980s, were donated to the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology in the late 1980s. It is a huge privilege to display these remarkable cores in Salt Lake City and to compare them to local lacustrine rocks.
3 — Lacustrine Elko Formation Core, Elko County, Nevada
Hosted by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
This core allows comparison of the lacustrine Elko Formation of Eocene Lake Elko, which was deposited in the highlands of northeastern Nevada, with the slightly older Green River Formation, deposited in the lower elevations of Utah's Lake Uinta. This display of the Elko core, which penetrated the heart of the formation's organic-rich interval, will be the first time it is unveiled for viewing by the public. Noble Energy cut this 300+ feet of continuous core in 2014 as part of their unconventional exploration program in northeast Nevada.
4 — Lacustrine Microbialite Slab Display
Assembled and displayed by renowned microbialite researcher Dr. Stanley Awramik (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Green River Formation expert Dr. Paul Buchheim (Loma Linda University). Drs. Awramik and Buchheim have spent long careers researching and collecting remarkable microbialites from around the world and spanning the geologic ages. They have generously agreed to share and display many of their most special finds of lacustrine microbialites with the AAPG audience.
5 — Mancos/Niobrara Cores From Colorado
Hosted by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Core Research Center
A series of upper Cretaceous Mancos and Niobrara cores highlighting the facies transitions from the Piceance Basin in western Colorado to the Denver-Julesburg Basin, one of the hottest play areas in the United States. According to the curator at the U.S. Geological Survey Core Research Center, the DJ Basin Niobrara cores are the most requested materials for viewing in their massive collection.
6 — Greater Aneth Field Core Display The Largest Producing Oil Field in Utah
Hosted by the Utah Geological Survey’s Utah Core Research Center
A sampling of the recently donated Aneth core collection, highlighting the largest producing oil field in Utah. This core collection (125 wells) represents the highest resolution sampling of a Pennsylvanian carbonate reef build-up in the world, with implications for similar reservoirs worldwide.
7 — Beyond Bakken, Core From Emerging Plays in the Williston Basin
Hosted by the North Dakota Geological Survey
Core will be displayed from several non-Bakken formations within the Williston Basin that have received recent (<5 years) drilling and exploration activity and have significant future potential. Three formations will be featured: Ordovician marine carbonates of the Red River Formation, Mississippian marine carbonates of the Madison Group, and Pennsylvanian marine-brackish water siliciclastic-carbonate upper Tyler Formation. Both source rock and reservoir facies will be displayed for each unit in order to examine both conventional and unconventional play opportunities.
8 — STACK Play Cores From Oklahoma
Hosted by the Oklahoma Geological Survey’s Oklahoma
Petroleum Information Center The STACK play in west-central Oklahoma is one of the most recent and prolific plays in the United States. Although named for its geography (Sooner-Trend Field, Anadarko Basin, Canadian and Kingfisher Counties), this liquids-rich play does in fact offer several stacked horizons for exploration. This display represents core from some of the play’s impressive producing zones, such as the Mississippian Woodford, Osage, and Meramec.
9 — Mancos Core From San Juan Basin, New Mexico
Hosted by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources
The Cretaceous Mancos Shale play in the San Juan Basin of northwest New Mexico has become much more active within the past five years. Although marginally productive for several decades from vertical wells, horizontal drilling has breathed new life into this play. On display will be a portion of the Amoco No. 14 Jicarilla A118 well, which was cored through the major productive zone within the Mancos.