The 2005 FRAC Annual Meeting is in the planning stages. The meeting is set for July 21 and 22, 2005 in Austin. This will be an Applications and Research Meeting focused on training and demonstrations as well as reporting on research progress. A post-meeting field trip in Mexico will be held in conjunction with the event.

More information is on the Members Site. 2/11/05

Julia Gale traveled to Rio de Janeiro to present an invited paper on fractures and diagenesis in carbonate rocks to the Society of Petroleum Engineers Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference. Julia also hopes to meet with Petrobras while she is in the south.

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In July FRAC will be joined by a postdoctoral fellow from Brazil,

Several students working in the Fracture Research & Application Consortium are featured in an article by Sylvia Jennette in the Bureau of Economic Geology Mid Year Report. A copy will be provided to Members at the FRAC meeting in July.

Edgar Pinzon

FRAC Ph.D. candidate Leonel Gomez won the best Ph.D. presentation award from the Jackson School for the 2004 fall semester. Upon hearing of his win, Leonel said “As someone from a non-English-speaking country, I take great pride in winning this award.” To the right, Leonel, and his advisor Randy Marrett, during recent field work in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. 5/9/05

Flow of water in fractured granite

At the July meeting we will provide a brief update on our fractured crystalline rocks fracture characterization and prediction work and plans.

Production from fractured igneous and metamorphic rocks is a reality, and FRAC methods can help unravel the role of fractures in these reservoirs.

For more information contact Steve Laubach or Rob Reed. For a high-resolution copy of the image (right) of copious water flow in a granite fracture contact Steve Laubach or Randy Marrett. 5/9/05

Support is available for student thesis projects in the Department of Geological Sciences and Department of Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering. Projects cover a wide range of issues in fractured rock geology and engineering, and include modeling, laboratory and field-based studies.

For more information, contact Randy Marrett, Steve Laubach, or Jon Olson.

Left: recent fracture sampling expedition in the Rockies. Marrett, Gomez, and Laubach.

Barnett Shale and Fold-Related Faults

Student presentations on May 3. Petro Papazis will present A petrographic characterization of the Barnett Shale, Fort Worth basin, Texas and Tim Gibbons will present Spacing and distribution of deformation bands and their effects on porous sandstone, southeastern Utah at 4 p.m. at Department of Geological Sciences. See Calendar or contact Randy Marrett or Kitty Milliken for more information. Slides are posted on the Members side of the site under Reports.

The 2005 Southwest Section AAPG Convention was held April 10–13 in Fredericksburg, Texas . UT student and Fracture Research and Application Consortium research assistant Meghan Ward presented Opening History and Porosity Evolution of Fractures in Sandstone beneath an Evaporite Detachment, Gulf of Mexico Basin. [ Abstract ] 4/20/05

FRAC Research Staff Openings

Structural Diagenesis/Structural Geology Research Associate or Research Scientist, Ph.D. Structural Geology RSA II M.S.-level. Staff positions currently open within the Jackson School of Geosciences research initiative Fracture Opening Processes: Chemical/Mechanical Evolution of Fracture Systems. BEG also has an opening for a sedimentary geochemist. See the BEG web site for application information. [ Research Staff Openings ]

Rijken Successfully Defends Dissertation

Peggy Rijken at the 2004 FRAC field trip in Utah, along with (L to R) Alexis Anastas (Devon Canada), Rob Lander, and Jeff Chen ( Marathon). Peggy departs Austin shortly for her new job at ChevronTexaco. Congratulations Peggy!

On April 5, Peggy Rijken successfully defended her Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering dissertation Modeling Naturally Fractured Reservoirs: From Experimental Rock Mechanics to Flow Simulation. Jon Olson supervised the dissertation research. Committee included Sanjay Srinivasan, Larry Lake, Randy Marrett, Steve Laubach, and Jon Holder. Several aspects of the dissertation research will be presented at the July FRAC meeting. A complete copy of the dissertation and related slide sets are available on the Members site.4/5/05

John Hooker has joined the Bureau as a Research Scientist Associate II, and he will be working on the Jackson School of Geosciences Structural Diagenesis initiative. Fresh from a Graduate Research Assistantship for the Fracture Research and Application Consortium , John received his M.S. in geology from UT Austin in 2004 working on faults and his B.A. in 2000. Research interests

include microfracture scaling in sedimentary rocks and using cathodoluminescence to study provenance and deformation history of quartz grains. A search is under way for a Research Scientist to join the Jackson School Structural Diagenesis initiative. Click here for a detailed job description. 4/11/05

Distinguished Visitor. Chris Scholz, professor of rock mechanics at Columbia University and Lecturer for the UT Department of Geological Sciences Oualline Lectureship in Geological Sciences, lectured in Austin March 7–11. Part of that time, he visited with members of the Fracture Research and Application Consortium (FRAC) on campus and at the Bureau. Because of the many parallels between FRAC's fracture modeling and quantification and Dr. Scholz' work, it was a stimulating visit. 3/15/05

A field seminar to view fracture systems beneath a regional evaporite detachment is in the planning stages. We intend to conduct the field seminar during February 2005. Image to left shows one of the outcrops we will visit. See What's New.

Members having an interest in participating in the seminar or in learning more about this research should contact Steve Laubach or Meghan Ward.1/01/05

The goal of this January 28 meeting is a no-holds-barred discussion of new ideas in dolostone diagenesis and fracture development, including concepts of diagenetic modeling of dolomite cementation and a presentation on plans for our Jackson School of Geosciences Research Seed Grant. Contact Julia Gale for information and agenda. 01/19/05

See calendar notice for schedule.

Members Welcome — Meetings

Steve Laubach and Randy Marrett spent two weeks of December in northwest Argentina conducting field work in fractured rocks in a fold-thrust belt.

The trip was also an opportunity to prepare for the Fracture Research and Application Consortium's South American Meeting, which is currently in the planning stages for Fall 2006.

To the right, views along the prospective field trip route at an elevation of about 4800 m. 1/20/05

In 2005 a new version of Jon Olson's Fracture Modeling software is being made available to members.

A training session on use of the software for various applications such as quantitative fracture permeability prediction is in the planning stage.

Contact Jon Olson for more information.