AAPG Explorer - June 2010 - American Association of Petroleum ...

Vol. 31, No. 6
JUNE 2010
PRESIDENT’SCOLUMN
Critical Thinking
By JOHN C. LORENZ
Students increasingly are learning
via computers, and scientists are
increasingly dependent on them.
Computers allow us to work numerous
problems quickly and accurately.
However, Liz, my wife of many happy
years, tells me the cautionary tale of
her 10-year-old students who have
discovered that they “solve” classroom
problems on a computer by cycling
quickly through all the answers until
they stumble onto the correct one. Give
them credit for superficial smarts, but
they are obtaining answers without
understanding, and circumventing
valuable learning. Unfortunately, some
teachers let the students get away with
this because it’s easier and, after all,
the answers are correct. And before we
get irate about the school systems, the
same problem exists with most of today’s
mandatory corporate training.
One worries that scientists have also
discovered this trick, using computers to
obtain answers instead of understanding.
Although there is plenty of room for
critical thinking when using a computer,
that step is sometimes omitted and no
one seems to notice. Computers can
provide strong support for both learning
and scientific processes, but they can
also be used to replace them. I stumbled
into eminent AAPG member J. Nolan
Wesson on the exhibit floor of NAPE
recently, and amid the amazing array
of booths selling answers we agreed
that modelers still need to know which
numbers to crunch and how to carefully
assess the meaning of those numbers.
Larry Nation, AAPG communications
director, found the accompanying chart
that seems to show a strong correlation
STAFF
AAPG Headquarters:
1-800-364-2274 (U.S. & Canada only),
others 1-918-584-2555
Communications Director
Larry Nation
e-mail: lnation@aapg.org
Managing Editor
Vern Stefanic
e-mail: vstefan@aapg.org
Communications Project Specialist
Susie Moore
e-mail: smoore@aapg.org
Correspondents
David Brown
Louise S. Durham
Susan R. Eaton
Barry Friedman
Graphics/Production
Matt Randolph
e-mail: mrandolph@aapg.org
Advertising Coordinator
Brenda Merideth
P.O. Box 979
Tulsa, Okla. 74101
telephone: (918) 560-2647
(U.S. and Canada only:
1-800-288-7636)
(Note: The above number is
for advertising purposes only.)
fax: (918) 560-2636
e-mail: bmer@aapg.org
Vol. 31, No. 6
TABLEofCONTENTS
8 Looking
10
12
LORENZ
between rock music and oil production.
Technically one could conclude from this
that the way to reverse the production
decline in the United States is to write
more good rock ‘n’ roll music, a solution
to the world’s energy problems with
appeal at many levels. However, a critical
for clues: Conjugate
margins of the Atlantic Ocean return
to the geologic spotlight – in a
dramatically beautiful setting.
What’s the big story in the Rocky
Mountains? Oil shale plays –
and the Cretaceous Niobrara
apparently is a mother lode
waiting to be exploited.
Positive signs of recovery can
be found throughout the Rocky
Mountain region.
The AAPG EXPLORER (ISSN 0195-2986) is published monthly for members. Published at AAPG headquarters, 1444 S. Boulder Ave., P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. 74101, (918) 584-2555.
e-mail address: postmaster@aapg.org. Periodicals postage paid at Tulsa, Okla., and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the U.S.A. Note to members: $6 of annual dues pays for one
year’s subscription to the EXPLORER. Airmail service for members: $55. Subscription rates for non-members: $75 for 12 issues; add $72 for airmail service. Advertising rates: Contact
Brenda Merideth, AAPG headquarters. Subscriptions: Contact Veta McCoy, AAPG headquarters. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs and videos must be accompanied by a stamped,
self-addressed envelope to ensure return. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) does not endorse or recommend any products or services that may be cited, used or
discussed in AAPG publications or in presentations at events associated with AAPG. Copyright 2009 by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to AAPG EXPLORER, P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. 74101. Canada Publication Agreement Number 40063731 Return undeliverable Canadian
address to: Station A, P.O. Box 54 • Windsor, ON N9A 6J5 • E-mail: returnsIL@imex.pb.com
14
18
20
36
AAPG
A critical thinker gets
information from multiple and
diverse sources before taking
sides in an issue.
assessment of the graph should suggest
that there is probably no relationship
between factual production data and
subjective opinions on songs. If the
correlation itself is merely serendipitous,
then conclusions derived from it are
spurious. Similar scenarios occur in real
Officers Announced for 2010-11
Paul Weimer, of the University of
Colorado, has been voted presidentelect
by the AAPG membership for the
2010-11 term and will serve as AAPG
president in 2011-12. Also elected were:
Vice President-Sections
p Marvin D. Brittenham, EnCana Oil
& Gas (USA), Denver.
Treasurer
p James S. McGhay, Mid-Con
Energy, Tulsa.
Editor
p Stephen E. Laubach, Bureau of
Economic Geology, University of Texas
at Austin.
Both the vice president-Sections
and treasurer will serve for two years
and the elected editor serves for three
years.
The newly elected officers will
begin their duties on July 1, serving
on an Executive Committee headed
by David G. Rensink, of Houston;
vice president-Regions, Alfredo
E. Guzmán, consultant, Veracruz,
Mexico; and secretary William S.
Houston, with PTTEP, Bangkok,
Thailand.
Also new on the committee is David
H. Hawk, a consultant in Boise, Idaho,
who will assume the chairmanship of
the House of Delegates.
Utah update: First there was
Covenant. Then there was
Providence. So what’s next?
Cyber tools: Wyoming boasts
a website that, like many in the
Rocky Mountains, is a “must click”
stop for oil and gas explorationists.
ACE’s high: New Orleans
provided a great setting for the
dissemination of science.
The bottom line: An international
panel of industry representatives
agree that diversity in the work
place is a profitable strategy.
The Mancos Shale: You
can always count on
Utah for spectacular
geology and interesting
exploration potential. See
related story, page 14.
EXPLORER
science, but they tend to be more subtle.
Critical thinking is difficult to teach
and probably more difficult to learn,
especially when answers that don’t
require it are easily available. Once
learned, critical thinking takes constant
effort. David Starr Jordan, writing well
before gender-neutral styles were in
fashion, noted that, “The world stands
aside to let anyone pass who knows
where he is going.” Jordan should have
added the unfortunate corollary that
the world also often stands aside for
someone who merely acts that way.
People who talk loudly and frequently
often achieve notoriety, which is easy
to mistake for expertise. They can
appear even more credible if they have
the platform of a prestigious institution
behind them, and a false aura of
expertise becomes almost invincible as
they gain public recognition.
The ability to make the distinction
between expertise and loud talk is
especially important for geologists
given our realm of incomplete data
sets and non-unique solutions, and
because we often have our own
money riding on a decision. So what
makes an expert? Word of mouth and
professional reputation count for a lot
in our industry, and the AAPG Division
of Professional Affairs works hard to
maintain ethical standards that define
professionalism. Professionals with
established reputations in other fields
have exploited their reputations in order
to push less than professional geologic
theories: consider Immanuel Velikovsky,
a respected psychiatrist, who wrote the
See President, next page
REGULARDEPARTMENTS
Washington Watch................................32
Geophysical Corner .............................34
Regions and Sections ..........................36
In Memory ............................................37
Foundation Update...............................40
Professional News Briefs......................46
Membership and Certification..............48
wwwUpdate..........................................49
Readers’ Forum....................................50
Classified Ads ......................................50
Director’s Corner ..................................51
Divisions Report (DEG) ........................51
ON THE COVER:
Portugal’s scenic coastline will be
the subject of scientific scrutiny when
the second Central and North Atlantic
Conjugate Margins Conference is held
Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Lisbon. The photo’s
limestones are calciclastic submarine
fan packages, fed by the uplift of a
carbonate platform developed on
rift-shoulder (at the horizon, to the
left). The Late Cretaceous and Tertiary
inversion brought these Loer Jurassic
layers to the surface, with intense
carsification. See story, page 8.
Photo by Nuno Pimentel.
WWW.AAPG.ORG JUNE 2010
3