Paleogeography And Stratigraphy Of The Great American Carbonate Bank Of Laurentia: A Carbonate Rock Unit Including The Arbuckle, Ellenburger, And Knox Groups, And Part Of The Simpson Group: A Review Of Aapg Memoir 98

Short Course 5

Paleogeography And Stratigraphy Of The Great American Carbonate Bank Of Laurentia: A Carbonate Rock Unit Including The Arbuckle, Ellenburger, And Knox Groups, And Part Of The Simpson Group: A Review Of Aapg Memoir 98

Instructor: Jim Derby, Independent Consultant
Date: Sunday, October 4, 8:00 AM to 12:00 NOON
Fee: $90 for professionals or $15 for students
Limit: 60 participants maximum (student spots are limited)
Includes: Refreshments & course notes will be provided

The Great American Carbonate Bank (GACB) comprises the carbonates (and related siliciclastics) of the Sauk megasequence, which were deposited on and around Laurentia (paleo North America) during Cambrian through early Middle Ordovician, forming one of the largest carbonate-dominated platforms in the world. GACB hydrocarbon fields have produced over 4 BBO and 21 TCFG; it has also been a major fresh-water aquifer in some areas, and a major repository for injection of liquid and gaseous waste. The course will provide an overview of the entirety of AAPG Memoir, all 48 chapters, beginning with a discussion of the paleogeography of the entire GACB and a description of regional facies patterns. The Arbuckle Group and its lateral equivalents in the central US will be reviewed both in terms of its potential for liquid and gaseous wastes, and its hydrocarbon potential. Selected chapters will be presented in some detail to provide insight into resources, stratigraphy, and controls on depositional sequences. Geographic coverage includes northern Mexico, part of Argentina, all of the US, (including Alaska) Canada (including the southern Arctic Islands), Greenland, Spitsbergen, and northern Scotland.

James R. “Jim” Derby is a retired geological consultant, having specialized in carbonate rocks, with a keen interest in the sediments of the GACB since 1960, when he began mapping the Damascus Quadrangle in Virginia. From 1964 to 1978 he was the Cambrian & Ordovician Biostratigrapher for Amoco Petroleum Research, responsible for developing a biostratigraphic reference standard based on the Arbuckle and Simpson Groups of Oklahoma. He has conducted or participated in field studies of the GACB in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Utah, Nevada, Tennessee, Virginia, Alaska, and western Canada. He has conducted field studies of Arbuckle reservoirs and also studied the Arbuckle as a suitable site for waste disposal, and testified in Oklahoma DEQ hearings. In addition to the GACB volume, Derby has written or contributed to 14 publications on the GACB. He has been, at times, an Adjunct Professor at University of Tulsa, in 2008 and 2009 was Visiting Professor of Petroleum Geology, continues as a Research Associate, and has served as a thesis advisor at Oklahoma State University. He also taught a course Exploration for Carbonate Reservoirs for Japan National Oil Co, Tulsa Petroleum Institute, and Petroleum Information, and co-taught Carbonate Seismology for the SEG.