November, 2002

The VR demonstration presented by John Andrews was a big hit with the students. The 3rd grade gifted and talented class from Lake Travis Elementary School met Bureau researchers on November 26th. Rebecca Jones gave a presentation on using core in a research project, John Andrews gave a demonstration of the Virtual Reality Lab, Tiffany Hepner talked about Texas beaches, and Sue Hovorka presented water resources using the Aquifer in a Tank activity. [Additional pictures] 11/27/02

Bureau Research Associate David C. Jennette gave a series of presentations to geology departments at the Energy and Minerals Applied Research Center (EMARC) at the University of Colorado Boulder on Friday, November 22, and at the University of Wyoming in Laramie on Monday, November 26. Dave's presentations included "A Revolution on the Outcrop: New Laser Technologies for the 3-D Digital Capture and Analysis of Field Geology," "The Interaction of Shelf Accommodation, Sediment Supply, and Sea Level in Controlling the Facies, Architecture, and Sequence Stacking Patterns of the Forties and Tay Basin-Floor Fans, Central North Sea," and "New Insights into Mexico's Tertiary Turbidite Reservoirs, Southwestern Gulf of Mexico: Deepwater Deposition in an Evolving Foreland-type Basin." 11/21/02

Dr. Alan L. Brown, of Landmark Graphics Corporation, was the presenter at the week's seminar on Friday, November 22, 2002 at 8:30 a.m. in the Bureau's Main Conference Room. The title of his talk was "Outcrop to Subsurface Stratigraphy of the Pennsylvanian Hermosa Group, Southern Paradox Basin, U.S.A." [Abstract] 11/20/02

Thursday, November 21, 2002, a major public lecture was given by Ing. Raúl Múñoz Leos, Director General of Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). This presentation, "PEMEX in the Decade Ahead," (scheduled from 6:00 to 7:15 p.m. in the Bass Lecture Hall, Lower Ground Floor of the LBJ School of Public Affairs) is one in the Mexican Center's "Distinguished Mexicans in Texas" lecture series. [More information] 11/20/02

(left to right) Luis Ramírez Corzo y Hernandez, Raúl Múñoz Leos, and Director Scott Tinker. Delegates from Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), including PEMEX Director General Ing. Raúl Múñoz Leos, visited Bureau headquarters on November 21, 2002. Bureau researchers David Jennette and William Ambrose, together with Director Scott Tinker and Associate Director Eric Potter, gave briefings and presentations about joint Bureau-PEMEX research. 11/21/02

Delegates from Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), including PEMEX Director General Ing. Raúl Múñoz Leos, were official guests of The University of Texas at Austin during November 2002. Their welcome included an official visit to the Bureau headquarters as well as UT-hosted receptions, dinners, and a public lecture at the Bass Lecture Hall. 01/03/03   PEMEX Director General Ing. Raúl Múñoz Leos and BEG Director Scott W. Tinker.   Left to right: Consulado General de Mexico Javier Alejo Lopez, Ing. Raúl Múñoz Leos, and UT President Larry R. Faulkner. Seated, left to right: Larry R. Faulkner and Ing. Raúl Muñoz Leos. Standing, left to right: Scott W. Tinker, Executive V.P. and Provost Sheldon Ekland-Olson, UT Business School professor Ehud Ronn, UT Vice Provost Victoria Rodriguez, Dept. of Petroleum Engineering Mukul Sharma, Consul General de Mexico Javier Alejo Lopez, Dept. of Geology professor Jay Banner, and Director of the Mexican Center of LLILAS Peter Ward.

On November 18, Senior Research Scientist Martin P.A. Jackson gave the Fourth Annual Robert E. Sheriff lecture to a dinner meeting jointly sponsored by the University of Houston Geosciences Alumni Association and the Houston Geological Society Division of International Explorationists. Dr. Sheriff, a renowned geophysicist, attended the event alongwith 200+ other geoscientists. Martin's talk, coauthored by Bureau researcher Mike Hudec, is titled "Kwanza Arcana: A New Look at Angolan Salt Tectonics, Tectonostratigraphy, and Differential Uplift." The talk summarized the most arresting results from the Applied Geodynamics Laboratory's three-year research program on the Kwanza Basin. The abstract was published in the November issue of the Houston Geological Society Bulletin. [Abstract] 11/21/02

Richard Gutiérrez         Marcos Hafford The Bureau has added employees at its recently acquired Houston Research Center (HRC). Randy McDonald has been on the job as the Bureau's storage supervisor since June 2002. He oversees two new employees at the HRC, Richard Gutiérrez, who joined the Bureau on September 23, and our newest employee, Marcus Hafford, who began working on November 18. 11/26/02

November 13–15, the Bureau hosted the 2002 annual Cluster Meeting of the central states’ State Geologists [American Association of State Geologists, AASG and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS delegation was led by Pat Leahy. Bureau staff assisted with logistics and presentations, and all staff efforts were much appreciated. It was an opportunity for the USGS and the State Geologists to see the depth and breadth of the Bureau’s programs. This meeting may contribute to developing additional interactions with the USGS and other states. 11/15/02

Dr. Martin Jackson welcomes participants to AGL Annual Meeting. The 13th annual meeting of the Applied Geodynamics Laboratory (AGL) Industrial Associates program kicked off Wednesday morning, November 13. More than 75 delegates from the AGL's 14 member companies attended the two-day meeting that featured 20 technical presentations of results from physical modeling, mathematical modeling, and geologic studies from basins all around the world. [More photographs] 11/11/02

Teachers from El Paso ISD sing a song that they composed about the water cycle during the Water for Texas short course. Sue Hovorka and Sigrid Clift attended the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) conference on November 7–9 in El Paso, Texas. The theme of the conference was Science without Borders and 4,000 teachers from Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico attended. The UT Geoscience Alliance booth, a collaboration between Jackson School partners, was exhibited by Bureau staff and UTIG's Kathy Ellins. Bureau staff taught 4 short courses that included GIS in the classroom and Texas water resources. 11/12/02

(left to right) Frank Harris, ChevronTexaco; Scott W. Tinker; and Mitch Harris, ChevronTexaco. Bureau Director Scott Tinker recently gave a Keynote address to a ChevronTexaco in-house geology forum. Two hundred and fifty ChevronTexaco folks attended Scott's presentation, titled "A Decade of 3-D Modeling…and a Brief Glimpse at the Future." 11/08/02

Research Scientist Dr. Hongliu Zeng presented "Neural Networks and Seismic Reservoir Characterization" at Friday's seminar on November 8, in the Bureau's Main Conference room. [Abstract] 11/05/02

New Administrative Assistant Katrina Wells has been providing support for 2nd floor researchers since November 5. She recently graduated from UT with a B.S. Degree in Sport Management and a minor in business. 11/22/02

The BEG hosted the monthly Austin Geological Society meeting on Monday, November 4. Media Technologies Program Manager Scott Rodgers and Programmer John Andrews presented a talk on virtual reality titled "Virtual Imaging as an Integrated Tool in Earth Science Research" to a group of 30 souls who braved the weather and the roads. [Abstract] 11/05/02

Research Associate and Texas Public Information Geologist Sigrid Clift, together with GLF Manager Daniel Ortuño, are currently featured in the November 4th issue of UT's new electronic newsletter, @Texas. Their article, "University Logs Hold Key to Oil and Gas Production in Texas," highlights the Bureau's Geophysical Log Facility. Click here to see the article. 11/05/02

Tuwaiq Escarpment (Left to right) Jerry Bellian with Rami Kamal and Aus Al Tawil of Saudi Aramco. Bureau scientists Jerry Bellian and Dr. Charlie Kerans spent several days in November collecting high-resolution laser data along the Tuwaiq Escarpment near Riyad, Saudi Arabia. Data will be used to help construct 3-D analog models of this world-class outcrop. The Tuwaiq Escarpment, part of which is shown at the top, is approximately 600 m high and includes a complete Middle Jurassic section. 11/18/02

In conjunction with the 2002 GCAGS Convention, the Bureau hosted seventeen geologists from the AMGP, on a field trip to well-known turbidite exposures of the Brushy Canyon Formation in West Texas. This trip was generously sponsored by ChevronTexaco, with coordination by Anselmo Jacobo of the BEG and Carl Atallah of ChevronTexaco. Dave Jennette led the field excursion with assistance from Eric Potter, Luis Barreda, Bill Ambrose, and Khaled Fouad. [Additional photographs] 11/18/02