My research interests are focused mainly on clastic sedimentology and stratigraphy applied to energy minerals' characterization and development. My earliest projects (1984 through 1986) were with the Research Planning Institute, involving subsurface mapping of Tertiary formations in the Texas Gulf Coast, where I constructed regional depositional models for exploration. In 1987 I began working at the Bureau of Economic Geology, characterizing a variety of Texas oil and gas reservoirs, as well as evaluating brine-disposal zones from co-production of gas and hot brine from the geopressured Frio Formation in Galveston County. In 1988, my research interests took a new direction when I began evaluating the coalbed methane potential of major Rocky Mountain basins, with emphasis on the San Juan Basin. After 1991 I was involved in several international oil and gas studies, beginning with the LL-652 Area in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. Since then I have been involved in six other oil and gas projects in Venezuela, as well as a study of gas reservoirs in the Cooper Basin, Australia. I was involved in several regional geological framework and play analysis studies of Tertiary basins in the Gulf Coast of Mexico from 2000 to 2005.

Between international oil and gas projects, I have also participated in the State Lands, CO2 sequestration, and AGIWEB projects, contributing to a series of web-based geologic training modules that illustrate fundamental stratigraphic principles by way of mapping and correlation exercises. My most recent projects include FutureGen, unconventional energy resources, and statistical and morphometric studies of Moon craters.

Education

B.S. Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, 1979

M.A. Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, 1983

Professional History

Research Geologist, Research Planning Institute of Texas, 1984–1986

Selected Publications

Ambrose, W. A., 2006, First-order relationships between lunar crater morphology, degree of degradation, and relative age: the crater degradation index (abs.): American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Convention, v. 15, p. 4.

Ambrose, W. A., Wawrzyniec, T. F., Fouad, Khaled, Sakurai, Shinichi, Jennette, D. C., Brown, L. F., Jr., Guevara, E. H., Dunlap, D. B., Talukdar, S. C., Aranda-García, Mario, Hernandez Romano, Ulises, Alvarado Vega, Juan, Macias Zamora, Eduardo, Ruiz-Ruiz, Héctor, and Cárdenas-Hernández, Ramón, 2005, Neogene tectonic, stratigraphic, and play framework of the southern Laguna Madre-Tuxpan continental shelf, Gulf of Mexico: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 89, no. 6, p. 725–751.

Ambrose, W. A., Wawrzyniec, T. F., Fouad, Khaled, Talukdar, S. C., Jones, R. H., Jennette, D. C., Holtz, M. H., Sakurai, Shinichi, Dutton, S. P., Dunlap, D. B., Guevara, E. H., Meneses-Rocha, J., Lugo-Rivera, J. E., Aguilera, L., Berlanga, J., Miranda, L., Ruiz Morales, José, Rojas, R., and Solís, H., 2003, Geologic framework of upper Miocene and Pliocene gas plays of the Macuspana Basin, southeastern Mexico: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 87, no. 9, p. 1411–1435.

Ambrose, W. A., Mendez, Milton, Akhter, M. S., Fisher, R. S., Alvarez, Regulo, Wang, F. P., Skolnakorn, Jirapa, and Baghai, Nina, 1998, Geologic controls on reservoir architecture and hydrocarbon distribution in Miocene shoreface, fluvial, and deltaic deposits in the Mioceno Norte Area, Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Report of Investigations No. 252, 61 p.

Ambrose, W. A., and Ayers, W. B., Jr., 1991, Geologic controls on coalbed methane occurrence and producibility in the Fruitland Formation, Cedar Hill Field and COAL site, San Juan Basin, Colorado and New Mexico, in Schwochow, S. D., ed., Coalbed methane of western North America: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists Guidebook, p. 227–240.

Ambrose, W. A., and Tyler, Noel, 1991, Facies heterogeneity, pay continuity, and infill potential in barrier-island, fluvial, and submarine-fan reservoirs: examples from the Texas Gulf Coast and Midland basins, in Miall, A. D., and Tyler, Noel, eds., The three-dimensional facies architecture of terrigenous clastic sediments and its implications for hydrocarbon discovery and recovery: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists and Society for Sedimentary Geology, Concepts in Sedimentology and Paleontology, v. 3, p. 13–21.

Selected Committees

 President, Energy Minerals Division, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 2006–2007.

Vice Chair, Astrogeology Committee, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 2006-2007.

Gulf Coast Councilor, Energy Minerals Division, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 2003–2005.

Awards

First Place Best Paper and A. I. Levorsen Memorial Awards, Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, “Miocene valley-fill, slope, and submarine-canyon systems in the Laguna Madre-Tuxpan area, Mexico”, 2004

Best Presentation, Houston Geological Society International Series, “Upper Miocene and Pliocene Gas and Oil Plays in the Macuspana Basin, Southeastern Mexico”, 2004

Best paper, Energy Minerals Division, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, “Face-cleat patterns in Rocky Mountain foreland basins; permeability indicators for coalbed methane”, Tyler, R., Ambrose, W. A., and others, 1992.

Best paper, Energy Minerals Division, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, “Geologic and hydrologic characterization of coalbed methane reservoirs, Fruitland Formation, San Juan Basin, Colorado and New Mexico”, Ayers, Jr., W. B., Ambrose, W. A., and others, 1991.

Contact

William A. Ambrose
Research Associate
Bureau of Economic Geology
The University of Texas at Austin
University Station, Box X
Austin, Texas 78713-8924
E-mail:
Telephone: 512-471-0258

Professional Summary (Word format)

December 2006