14 My research focuses on a wide range of topics in sedimentary geology, structural geology, tectonics, energy resources, and energy technology. Our RPSEA-sponsored research project on petrophysics and tight rock characterization in shale is underway. We recently received a large DOE grant to monitor CO2-enhanced oil recovery operations in the Anadarko Basin using land-based and airborne sensors. The airborne sensors will be mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles, otherwise known as drones! I have just completed a major project on produced water and gas from coalbed methane reservoirs that provides new insight on the relationships between water chemistry and late-stage biogenic gas generation, as well as the potential for beneficial use of produced water. In addition, a large-scale CO2 injection pilot I am participating in at Citronelle Field in Alabama is approaching completion, and we have begun using the results of this injection to develop field-wide models simulating commercial CO2 storage in the Cretaceousage Paluxy Formation. Last semester I taught a course on Unconventional Petroleum Reservoirs, and this semester I am teaching Basin Evolution. I suddenly have many graduate students. They are all extremely bright and highly motivated; it is a pleasure mentoring them as they embark on their research projects, which include the sedimentology and reservoir characteristics of shale, tight-rock petrophysics, and geologic carbon storage. I was honored as the keynote lecturer at the International Conference on Coal Science and Technology, which was held last fall at Penn State. Publication highlights include papers on the geochemistry of coalbed methane reservoirs, an exceptional Carboniferous amphibian trackway locality, and an unusual Mississippian spongemicrobial bioherm facies. Feel free to stop by and say hello next time you are in Stillwater, and please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail if I can be of assistance. Dr. Jim Puckette I wish to express my appreciation to the alumni and friends of the Boone Pickens School of Geology whose support for our students, staff and faculty instills a sense of family that helps make our passion an enjoyable and rewarding profession. For me, 2013 was an opportunity to learn from our students and faculty about the cyclic nature of deposition during the Carboniferous that generated the Mississippian carbonates, the complexities of composition and fabric that make the Woodford Shale a reservoir in northern Oklahoma, and the geochemical proxies for paleogeochemistry used to interpret bottom water and sediment geochemistry during deposition. In October, our students participated in the AAPG Midcontinent Section Meeting in Wichita and not only contributed to the science, but volunteered to make the core workshop a success. In 2013, Joe Dixon completed his thesis on the Woodford Shale in northern Oklahoma and demonstrated how the onlapping Woodford Sea flooded the continent and filled the accommodation generated by erosion associated with the pre-Woodford unconformity. Following graduation, Joe started fulltime employment with Devon Energy in Oklahoma City. Mohamed Musa completed his dissertation on the Chattanooga and Woodford shales and demonstrated that paleoredox indicators supported depositional evidence that these stratified seas were subject to high frequency disruptions of stratification that oxygenated bottom water and allowed biota to colonize the ocean floor. Following graduation, Mohamed returned to Libya and a career in academia. The addition of Ms. Sheri Orr to the School as the undergraduate academic advisor has reduced my responsibilities and allowed me to dedicate more time to research. However, I miss interacting on a regular basis with the undergraduates. Our research team, in collaboration with faculty and students who are part of the Mississippian Consortium and the RPSEA shale teams, continues its focus on the Woodford Shale and Mississippian carbonates. Other research topics we are addressing include characterizing the Cleveland Sandstone, Missourian Granite Wash, Marmaton Group, and Caney Shale in specific areas of the southern Midcontinent. Add to that the research on the magnetic susceptibility of petroliferous and nonpetroliferous shale units and undergraduate research on dolomite in the Pearson Limestone, composition of the Woodford Shale and Arkansas Novaculite, and distribution of lead in soils around early Oklahoma homesteads, and the realization sets in that 2014 is shaping up to be one of the busiest ever. Dr. Tracy Quan Happy 2014 from the sediment geochemistry lab in the Boone Pickens School of Geology! It’s always amazing to look back at the past year and see what has been accomplished, both in my lab and in the School of Geology as a whole. Just last year we welcomed four new faculty; this next year we plan to welcome two more! 2013 was a very productive year for research in my lab. We continue to focus on characterizing depositional sedimentary systems through time with respect to water column redox state, nutrient cycling, and the biogeochemical environment. We are making progress in our use of nitrogen isotopes to investigate a wide range of paleoredox changes and nitrogen dynamics. My National Science Foundation-sponsored analysis of the nitrogen cycle and redox changes through the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction is continuing to progress, aided by the assistance of a new graduate student, Brad Beckwith. My paper describing nitrogen dynamics through glacial-interglacial cycles in the Black Sea was published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta this year. We have started to add biomarker temperature proxies to our toolbox in order to improve our ability to characterize past depositional environmental conditions. Collaborations with other researchers also yielded a Geological Society of America presentation, and another paper published in Nature Geoscience, one of the foremost geoscience journals in terms of audience size and impact factor. Interesting results are being generated from our continued investigations into the use of nitrogen isotopes as depositional redox proxies in hydrocarbon reservoirs and unconventional shale units. Thus far, the data indicates that bulk sedimentary δ15N values appear to be reliable proxies for depositional water column redox conditions, as supported by a range of geochemical and lithological proxies. My former student, Ekenemolise Adigewe, and I, along with Jim
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAxMjk=