Temple McKinnon, Director at Texas Water Development Board

RSVP to AGS Meetings HERE

Susan D. Hovorka

Principle Investigator, Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Bureau of

Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geoscience, The University of Texas at Austin

RSVP to AGS Meetings HERE

Biography and Research interests

Susan Hovorka is a sedimentologist who works on fluid flow in diverse applications, inlcuding water resource protection, oil production, and waste storage. She has led a team working geologic storage of CO2 since 1998, with a focus on field studies, monitoring, and capacity estimation. Projects include saline injection at the Frio Test site and Cranfield Field and EOR studies at SACROC oil field, Cranfield, Hastings and West Ranch industrial CO2 utilization projects and GoMCARB offshore charaterization study. She specializes in monitoring to document retention. The Gulf Coast Carbon Center is leading efforts to develop offshore storage capacity in the the US and globaly.

She has a long-term commitment to public and educational outreach.

She has a BA from Earlham College and a PhD in Geology from The University of Texas at Austin.

James G. Harcourt, P.G., M.B.A., P.M.P.

RSVP to AGS Meetings HERE

The Austin Geological Society is pleased to present James Harcourt who will give a talk titled "The Groundwater Advisory Unit (GAU) Surface Casing Estimator Site (SCE)". This is a regular Austin Geological Society monthly meeting. James will discuss the roll of the Railroad Commission’s Groundwater Advisory Unit (GAU) in the protection and mapping of groundwater resources of Texas and explain the utility of the Surface Casing Estimator Web Site which is an analytical groundwater mapping and data exchange portal and collaborative effort of the GAU and UT BEG.  The talk will start with a brief explanation of how the Railroad Commission protects and identifies groundwater resources, followed by a brief history of the GAU, and concludes with a demonstration of the Surface Casing Estimator Site.  The goal of the talk is to inform professional geoscientists about available groundwater and energy industry information and to encourage professional information exchange and collaboration with the GAU through the SCE site.

Biographical Info

James Harcourt is currently Manager of the Groundwater Advisory Unit (GAU) at the Railroad Commission of Texas.  He is a Licensed Professional Geoscientist in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

James graduated from Utah State University with a BS in Geology in 1983 and earned an M.B.A. at the University of Phoenix in 1993.  He has worked in the Energy industry for over 38 years where he has been affiliated with Chevron Corporation, Kellogg Brown & Root, XTO, Rice Energy, the Florida DEP, and the Railroad Commission of Texas.

James currently sits on the Texas Groundwater Protection Committee and the Groundwater Protection Council (GWPC).

Mark N. Varhaug, P.G., C.P.G., Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists

RSVP to AGS Meetings HERE

The Austin Geological Society is pleased to present Mark Varhaug who will give a talk titled "Doing the Right Thing: Ethics and Geoscience Practice in Texas". This is Austin Geological Society’s annual ethics meeting, and also kicks off the AGS monthly technical series. Mark will discuss ethics concepts, the Code of Professional Conduct for Texas geoscientists, and some examples of ethical dilemmas. The talk will conclude with some historical ethical dilemmas, and their consequences, which should be especially interesting to professional geoscientists from central Texas.

Biographical Info

Mark Varhaug has served as an appointed member of the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists since 2018. He is a Licensed Professional Geoscientist in Texas and Louisiana and he is an AAPG Certified Geologist.

Mark graduated from SMU with a BS in Geology in 1974 and worked in Houston before returning to Dallas in 1987. He was associated with majors, independents, partnerships, and family companies until 1998, when he joined DeGolyer and MacNaughton in Dallas. With D&M, he made geological and reserves evaluations of fields around the world, evaluating onshore and offshore fields in Mexico, Brazil and South America, Indonesia and the South Pacific, China, India, Russia, East and West Africa, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. He retired from D&M in 2020.

Mark currently chairs the Application Review and Continuing Education Committee of TBPG and is very interested in ethics and geoscience practice in Texas.

Alex Bump, Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin

 RSVP to June AGS Meeting HERE

Biography: Alex is a Research Science Associate in the Gulf Coast Carbon Center. His current work focusses on the application of petroleum exploration processes to the problem of finding, de-risking and developing geologic storage sites for CO2. Prior to joining the BEG, he spent 16 years in global exploration with BP, including roles as an Advisor and as Head of Discipline for Structural Geology and Tectonics. In his time with BP, he worked over 50 basins on 5 continents and wrote and delivered over 100 courses in exploration, structural geology and tectonics. He holds a BA in Physics from Williams College and a PhD in Structural Geology and Tectonics from the University of Arizona. Outside of work, he is a triathlete by day, a woodworker by night, a dad always and a caffeine adict by necessity

Abstract:

Driven by growing concerns about climate change, investors, governments and companies around the world are increasingly looking for ways to reduce or eliminate their carbon emissions.  With current global emissions of ~35 billion tons/year, it is an enormous challenge that will require all available solutions, including renewable energy sources, improved efficiency, fuel switching, changes in land use and carbon capture and storage (CCS).  The latter is the practice of capturing CO2 from point sources and sequestering it deep underground, using the same sort of reservoirs and seals that hold naturally-occurring hydrocarbons. CCS is unique in its ability to abate process emissions (such as the manufacture of cement, steel, ethanol and petrochemicals), to decarbonize dispatchable combustion-based power and even to create negative carbon emissions when combined with bio-energy or Direct Air Capture (literally filtering CO2 from ambient air).

At present, the CCS industry is in its infancy but interest is skyrocketing, driven (in the US) largely by the 45Q tax credit, which offers $50/ton for geologic storage of CO2.  A wide range of storage projects are now in development and many more are in negotiation behind closed doors. Many of these repurpose old oil fields, either for storage or for CO2-Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) with incidental storage. Both have merit but the total opportunity set is insufficient to store the volumes of CO2 needed to mitigate climate change.  Large-scale dedicated saline storage is also required and it offers the opportunity for new thinking.  What works well for hydrocarbon production is not necessarily optimal for CO2 sequestration.  This talk will look at the play elements for optimizing CO2 storage, the plays that emerge and the landscape for commercial storage on the Gulf Coast.  With extensive proven hydrocarbon reservoirs, abundant subsurface data and more point-source CO2 emissions than any other state, Texas is well positioned to lead the development of this new industry. 

RSVP to the Poster Session HERE

Peter R. Rose, Ph.D., independent prospector and consultant, and Texas Geologist for over 60 years

Biography: Dr. Pete Rose (Ph. D., Geology, University of Texas, Austin) has been a professional geologist for 62 years, specializing in Carbonate Stratigraphy, Petroleum Geology, E&P Risk Analysis, and Mineral Economics. Before going on his own in 1980 as an independent prospector and consultant, he worked for Shell Oil Company, the United States Geological Survey, and Energy Reserves Group, Inc, a small-cap Independent.

After 10 years as an internationally-recognized authority on economic risking of exploration drilling ventures, he founded Rose & Associates, LLP, in 1998.  Pete retired in 2005; the firm continues as the global standard among consulting companies in that field, providing instruction, software and consulting services on an international scale.

 Pete wrote the definitive geological monograph on the Edwards Limestone of Texas (Rose, 1972). His 2001 book, Risk Analysis and Management of Petroleum Exploration Ventures, now in its 7th printing, is considered by many as the “Bible” on that topic, and has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, and Russian.  He has authored or co-authored more than 80 published articles on an extremely wide variety of geological topics (Micropaleontology to Petroleum Economics). He was a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Geological Society of London.

In 2005 he was the 89th President of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, an international organization that is the largest professional geological society in the world (>37,000 members).

In 2006-07 he was a member of the National Petroleum Council, involved with their summary of the global energy situation, Facing the Hard Truths about Energy, and was also deeply involved in successful efforts to encourage the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission to modernize its rules governing estimation and disclosure of oil and gas reserves, thus facilitating the investment component of the “shale revolution” in the U. S.

In 2013, the Geological Society of London awarded Peter R. Rose its prestigious Petroleum Group Medal for lifetime contributions to Petroleum Geology, the first American to be so recognized, and in 2014 the American Association of Petroleum Geologists honored him with its Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award.

Pete is a 5th-generation Texan.  He and his wife Alice have 5 children and 8 grand-children. They divide their time between Austin and their El Segundo Ranch near Telegraph, Texas.  In retirement, he took up a new career as a historian: in September 2012, Texas Tech University Press published his book, The Reckoning: the Triumph of Order on the Texas Outlaw Frontier, about the coming of Order and Law to the western Hill Country and Edwards Plateau regions of Texas (1873-1883). Since turning 80, he has published four major papers on Lower Cretaceous stratigraphy: Rose (2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, GCAGS Journal) He is also well known for field trips he leads with Dr. Charles Woodruff into the Texas Hill Country that combine the topics of Geology, Wineries, and Frontier History.

Abstract: The Wichita Paleoplain is the regional unconformity between Lower Cretaceous basal transgressive deposits and the Jurassic, Triassic, Paleozoic, and Precambrian rocks that lie immediately beneath them in the southwestern United States. This ancient buried erosion surface is here investigated and mapped in Central Texas at three levels of detail, applying principles derived from each phase to succeeding phases: 1) on the southeast flank of the Llano Uplift in detail (Phase One); 2) across the Llano Uplift and surroundings at intermediate detail (Phase Two); and 3) at regional scale throughout central Texas, synthesizing work from many sources (Phase Three). 

Over most of the area, the Wichita Paleoplain is a notably regular surface with local relief of less than 100 feet. To the south, however, the Llano Uplift, which served as a structural buttress around which curved the Ouachita structural belt, represented uplift and faulting related to the late Pennsylvanian Ouachita Orogeny, followed by a long period of weathering and erosion. Vertical uplift of about 4,500 feet and fault displacements of as much as 3,000 feet characterize the tectonic effects of the Ouachita Orogeny. The Wichita Paleoplain was present over all of that complex terrain. Local paleotopographic relief on the Wichita Paleoplain ranges up to about 400 feet in and around the Llano Uplift, associated with high-standing fault blocks of Paleozoic carbonate formations and juxtaposed lowlands underlain by Precambrian crystalline rocks. Analogous paleotopographic relief was present over faulted Paleozoic highs to the west, such as the Edwards Arch, the Devils River Uplift, the Ozona Arch, and the Brown-Bassett structural complex.

Over most of the Llano Uplift, the transgressive sequence of Hensel Sandstone, Glen Rose Formation and Edwards Limestone successively filled-in paleotopography on the Wichita Paleoplain. Remarkably, present-day topography appears to have been influenced by paleotopography of the Wichita Paleoplain: today’s valleys and ridges commonly overlie corresponding valleys and ridges on the Wichita Paleoplain, even though the thick regional blanket of Edwards Limestone lies (or once lay) between them. Also, outliers of Edwards Limestone around the Llano Uplift tend to overlie buried highs on the Wichita Paleoplain. Differential compaction was probably involved in this concomitance. 

Elsewhere, distribution of some ridges and valleys on the landscape of the Wichita Paleoplain bear little resemblance to today’s stream drainage patterns. For example, the San Saba River may have drained northeastward into the East Texas Embayment, and the Colorado River may not have been a through-flowing stream. Three Wichita Paleoplain valley drainage systems located in the southern Llano Uplift and related western terranes apparently drained southward into the Rio Grande Embayment.

When corrected for 1) regional northwest rise related to Neogene uplift of the Colorado Plateau; 2) the crescentic sedimentary wedge of Glen Rose sediments thickening gulfward from the Llano Uplift; 3) late Cretaceous and Paleogene regional dip into the Gulf Coast Basin; and 4) Neogene Balcones uplift of the Edwards Plateau, the Wichita Paleoplain appears as a vast, remarkably flat lowland broken only by scattered ranges of hills over the Llano and Devils River uplifts, and the Edwards and Ozona arches. 

Raymond M. Slade, Jr., Certified Professional Hydrologist and Adjunct Professor

RSVP TO THE MARCH AGS MEETING HERE

Biography: Raymond served as a Hydrologist for 33 years with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Texas before retiring in 2003. He has authored about 200 reports or presentations on the hydrology and water quality of surface and groundwater in Texas, with emphasis on the Edwards Aquifer, floods, and droughts.

Since his retirement from the USGS he has been an Adjunct Professor and a self-employed Consulting Hydrologist. He is Certified and Registered as a Professional Hydrologist with the American Institute of Hydrology. Raymond is a member of eight water-resource related professional organizations and has served on about 20 committees related to water-resource planning or management.

Key Points of talk: Central Texas often leads the nation in drowning deaths and flood-damage costs—more than 300,000 people reside within the 100-year floodplain in the five-county IH-35 corridor from Williamson to Bexar County. The area is characterized by fast-developing intense storms, some of which have produced world-record rainfall depths. Also, geographic characteristics such as thin soils and steep land slopes contribute substantially to the flooding. However, perhaps the most substantial flooding threat is from easterly moving storms which often follow basin orientation—such storms can overlie and move with channel flooding thus causing immense increases in downstream flood peaks.

Additionally, climate change likely is increasing the flooding threat. For example, trend analyses of data for all long-term NOAA rainfall gages in Central Texas indicate temporal increases in annual-maximum 6-hour storm depths and in annual-maximum 2-day depths during the past 60 years. For example, 23 of the 31 two-day storm depths exceeding 10 inches since 1950 in Central Texas occurred during the second half of the period. Additionally, analysis of data for all 15 long-term streamflow gages in the area document annual-peak discharges to have increased by a mean value of 72 percent during the past 60 years--the 16 largest gaged peaks occurred in the second half of the period. Finally, based on the trend analyses, the flooding threat in Central Texas is expected to increase even more in the future.

RSVP to February 1st AGS meeting HERE

Jason Cocklin, PE, BCEE, Freese and Nichols

Biography: Jason is a Board Certified Environmental Engineer and licensed Professional Engineer.  He specializes in treatment plant and process design, alternative water supply development, and managing critical initiatives for clients across South and Central Texas.  Jason holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University and joined Freese and Nichols 12 years ago.  He is leading brackish groundwater desalination and seawater desalination projects in Texas and is currently based in Corpus Christi.

Key points: Seawater desalination is an established process; well understood and implemented across the globe.  The technologies continue to improve in reliability and energy-efficiency making seawater desalination both economically feasible and environmentally sustainable when it is done correctly.  The City of Corpus Christi is developing a seawater desalination program to supplement the water supply for the Coastal Bend.  This will help to diversify the existing supply and reduce the potential impacts of drought conditions on residents, businesses, industries, and economic outlooks.

Assessing Impacts of Water Management Related to Oil and Gas Development on Water Resources

Dr. Bridget R. Scanlon, Senior Research Scientist, Bureau of Economic Geology

RSVP to January, 2021 AGS meeting HERE

Bio

Bridget Scanlon is a Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin. She has worked at the Univ. of Texas since 1987. Her current research emphasizes the interdependence of water and energy, focusing on water quantity aspects. Her group has evaluated water issues related to unconventional oil and gas production in the U.S., including historical and projected water volumes related to water scarcity in semiarid regions, induced seismicity, and disposal capacity. Dr. Scanlon is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and of the Geological Society of America and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. http://www.beg.utexas.edu/people/bridget-scanlon

Key Points of talk

Water management is an integral part of oil and gas development that can adversely impact water resources through water use for hydraulic fracturing and produced water management. We evaluated water demand for hydraulic fracturing and produced water management in all of the major unconventional oil and gas plays in the U.S. with particular emphasis on plays in Texas. Results show that during the past decade an aggregated total lateral length of ~440×106 ft (134,000 km; ~73,000 wells) was drilled in eight major plays in the U.S., equal to ~3× the Earth’s circumference. Total water withdrawal showed a marked increase in water use for hydraulic fracturing, depleting groundwater (GW) in some semiarid regions (e.g., head declines ≤58 ft [18 m]/yr in Eagle Ford play). Water scarcity is projected in some regions within the Eagle Ford and Permian plays, where projected HF water demand exceeds planned GW depletion. Oil plays generated much more produced water than gas plays, with the Permian producing ~50× more water than the Marcellus in 2018. The projected PW volume in the Permian Delaware Basin over the life of the play is equal to ~2× water use in Texas in 2017.

Water issues related to both hydraulic fracturing water demand and produced water supplies may be partially mitigated by closing the loop through reusing produced water for hydraulic fracturing of new wells. However, projected produced water volumes exceed hydraulic fracturing water demand in some plays, particularly the Permian Delaware Basin (3.7×), with the Delaware accounting for ~50 percent of projected U.S. oil production. There is also considerable interest in beneficially using produced water outside of the oil and gas sector, such as irrigation, aquifer recharge, and discharge to surface water. Produced water quality and reliability and economics of treatment are critical factors. The results of these analyses have important implications for future water management in the oil and gas sector to minimize adverse environmental impacts.