Transcript File - Vagabond Geology

University of Texas, Life Long Learning
SAGE: Winter 2011
Vagabonds tramping geology
in Iberia, France, UK, & Germany
Don Beaumont, Sandi Phillips, & Rocky Romero
Sessions 1 and 2
Iberian Peninsula
Portugal and Spain
Civilization exists by geologic consent, subject to change without notice.
Will Durant
Geology in the News
Humans left Africa earlier than once thought
Austin American Statesman, January 28, 2011
It might have been like this
125,000 years ago to eastern Arabia rather than 100,000 years ago
into Palestine
Suggests new route directly from East Africa to Arabia rather than
up the Nile River and then through the Sinai.
Now to BP and Arctic Russia
BP to spend billions exploring for
oil & gas in the Kara Sea of
Arctic Russia
Kara Sea
Now to Western Europe and Iberia
From last week
North Sea
Senior University Georgetown
Winter 2011
Vagabonds tramping geology
Don Beaumont, Sandi Phillips, & Rocky Romero
Session 2
Geology
in the News
Iberian Peninsula
Portugal and Spain
Geology in the News
Georgetown County parking garage
closed: structurally unsafe
Balcones
Fault
Parking
garage
Geology in the News
Library
Only recent technological advances in horizontal and deep drilling have opened the
Bakken field to economically recoverable production since its first oil extractions in
1951. The estimated recoverable reserves of crude oil from Bakken shale exceed the
proven crude reserves of Ecuador
estimated recoverable reserves of at least 4 billion barrels. Additionally, north of
the border in Canada, there is an estimated 1.3 billion barrels of recoverable
reserves.
http://www.oilshalegas.com/bakkenshale.html
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological
Survey estimated mean undiscovered volumes of 3.65 billion barrels of oil,
1.85 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 148 million
barrels of natural gas liquids in the Bakken Formation of the Williston Basin
Province, Montana and North Dakota. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3021/pdf/FS083021_508.pdf
Geology in the News
The Potential Gas Committee suggested that America's technically
recoverable natural gas resources totaled 1,836 Tcf with fully one-third
accounted for by natural gas resources found in shale
Geology in the News
US Oil & Gas developments may
contaminate drinking water
Fracking of “Tight” Reservoirs
Can Present a Serious Problem
Back to Iberia
Ground surface
Drinking water reservoir
Government study underway
with
Undetected
fracture
results expected in 2012
Well cement
failure
No contamination found yet
Oil or Gas reservoir
Natural lineation of events
Appalachian age mountains
Alpine (“recent”)
age mountains
Why is this important to human history?
Different age mountains contain different ores
Ores for the Bronze Age
Iron for the early Iron Age
“World-class
wheat, iron, &
coal resources!
Coal for the later Iron Age
A quick look at the ages of human history
Mineral Resources
Iberia
The Ages of Human History
Iron, Coal, Oil & Uranium
Iron, Coal, Petroleum, & Uranium Age 1950 to Present
Iron, Coal,
Iron, Coal,
& Oil
& Oil Age
1900 to 1950 AD
Iron & Coal Age 2
1830 to 1900 AD
Iron & Coal: Industrial Age
1700 to 1830 AD
Iron
Iron & Coal: Renaissance
1450 to 1700 AD
&
Iron & Coal: Middle Ages
Coal
470 to 1450 AD
Iron Age 2 Rome
to 470 AD
750 BCE
Iron
Iron Age 1 Greece
1400 to 750 BCE
Bronze Age
3300 to 1400 BCE
Copper, tin,
How does the look in a time line?
arsenic, & zinc
Flint & Obsidian
Copper Age
3300 to 3000 BCE
Stone Age (end of Ice Age) 70,000 to 3300 BCE
World Empires: last 7000 years
Archeological Ages
4500
3500
3000
2500
1500
Iron Age
Iron & coal Age
Hunters & Gatherers
Families, clans,
& tribes
Sticks and stones
Farming
Flood plain empires Hill country empires
Iron & steel tools &
Bronze tools
weapons
weapons
Iron, coal, oil Age
Copper Age
Now back to the geological processes
Bronze Age: & erosion
Stoneof
Ageweathering
World
Carving Landscapes
The Destruction of the Continental Crust
Geologic Processes
Weathering & Erosion
Weathering: the destruction of rocks
which creates soil & rock debris
WEATHERING;
What are the products of weathering
Rock debris:
Size classification;
Boulders, cobbles, gravel, pebbles, sands, mud
Composition;
Quartz Sand (silica)
Muds (clays: hydrous Al silicates)
Solutions (mostly Ca, C, O)
Weathering produces: sand & mud
WEATHERING: How is it done?
Water!!!
Sun Light
Heating and Cooling
Acids
TIME TIME TIME
WEATHERING: How is it done?
Water!!!
Abrasion by
Falling Rain
Flowing Streams and Rivers
WEATHERING: How is it done?
Water!!!
Sun Light (radiation)
WEATHERING: How is it done?
Water!!!
Sun Light
Heating and Cooling
daily expansion and contraction
WEATHERING: How is it done?
Water!!!
Sun Light
Heating and Cooling
Acids
Acid Rain (natural)
Humic Acid (plant decay)
WEATHERING: How is it done?
Water!!!
Sun Light
Heating and Cooling
Acids
GEOLOGIC TIME
Carving Landscapes
Pyrenees Mountains of Spain
Erosion: the geologic process
of moving weathering debris
to the oceans along the
margins of the continents
The principal function of streams & rivers:
to deliver erosional debris to the ocean
Let’s look at the rivers of Iberia
The Rivers of Iberia
Douro River
drainage area
Ebro River
drainage area
Tagus River
drainage area
What
are the rivers doing?
Guadiana River
drainage area
Let’s use Central Texas as an example
Guadalquivir River
drainage area
An example for our Williamson County
River Erosion in Williamson County
Land surface
65 million years ago
Present day
Land surface
Sedimentary rocks 145 to 65 million years old
on continental crust (metamorphic in igneous rocks)
How does this large scale erosion
affect human history?
How does this large scale erosion
affect human history?
Land surface
65 million years ago
Present day
Land surface
Sedimentary rocks 145 to 65 million years old
on continental crust (metamorphic in igneous rocks)
How does this play out in Iberia?
Deeply buried ore & oil deposits are brought to or near the surface:
Large volumes of the central continent are moved to the continental
margins creating geosyncline deposits.
Mass Transfer by the Rivers of Iberia
Douro River
drainage area
Ebro River
drainage area
Tagus River
drainage area
Guadiana River
drainage area
Guadalquivir
River
Remember
the minerals
that have been
drainage area
exposed by this river erosion in Iberia?
Ores Exposed
by river erosion
In addition to exposing ores, rivers
Ores for the Bronzedebris
Age
carry erosional
to the oceans
Why is that important?
Mineral Resources
Iberia
Minerals for the Bronze Age
Iron for the early Iron Age
Coal for the later Iron Age
Mass Transfer by the Rivers of Iberia
Moving debris from
the center of Iberia
the Med & Atlantic
Ebroto
River
Douro River
drainage area
drainage area
Debris split to the
open Atlantic Tagus River
drainage area
Central
continent
Mass Transfer
beingRiver
moved
Guadiana
drainage area
Debris
the
Gulf of to
Valencia
Gulf
of Valencia
geosyncline
to the sea
What is a geosyncline?
Gulf of to
Debris
Cadiz
the
Gulf of Cadiz
geosyncline
Guadalquivir River
drainage area
Results: center rises,
west and east margins
sink! Warping Iberia.
What is a Geosyncline?
Answer: A thick (1000’s of feet)
accumulation of debris
in the ocean
at the continental margin
Debris brought to the ocean by rivers
and spread along the coast by
ocean currents
Geosyncline Example:
Gulf of Valencia
Mediterranean Sea
river debris
More about geosynclines in general
Gulf of Valencia geosyncline
Example of a Geosyncline:
Gulf of Mexico
1. Integration of the debris of several rivers
2. Accumulation of thick layers of debris
Subsurface Cross Sections
Gulf of Mexico Geosyncline
Source
Now, Expulsion
&
Up-dip
Migration
of
Reservoir
Rocks
Rocks
gas first,
then oil, & finally gas
Gulf of Mexico
Geosyncline
Mature
Source
Rocks
2. Accumulation of thick layers of debris
3. Burial & Maturation of Source Rocks
Subsurface Cross Sections
Gulf of Mexico Geosyncline
Source
Rocks
Finally, Trapping of Migrating Oil & Gas
Gulf of Mexico
Geosyncline
Mature
Source
Rocks
4. Expulsion & Up-dip Migration of
gas first, then oil, & finally gas
Subsurface Cross Sections
Gulf of Mexico Geosyncline
of Mexico
NowGulf
aThe
cross
section
of
these
sediments
Initial, Soft Sediments
Geosyncline
converted into Rocks
5. Trapping of Migrating Oil & Gas
Subsurface Cross Sections
Gulf of Mexico Geosyncline
Star=TrapGulf of Mexico
Geosyncline
Now a map of these sediments
4. Trapping of Migrating Oil & Gas
converted into Rocks
5. Trapping of Migrating Oil & Gas
Conclusion: Geosynclines are primary
sites for the accumulation of oil & gas
Back to Iberia and oil & gas there
Spain: Oil & Gas Drilling
Drilling in the
Gulf of Cadiz
geosyncline
Drilling in the
Gulf of Valencia
geosyncline
Spain: Oil & Gas Drilling
How do geosynclines fit in the overall
scheme
of geological processes?
Drilling in the
Gulf of Cadiz
geosyncline
Drilling in the
Gulf of Valencia
geosyncline
Remember how erosion is destroying
theWhat
continents
and transporting
is the geological
process
the
oceans!
thatdebris
moves to
thethe
geosynclinal
debris back onto the continents?
Let’s look at North America as an example
Reduce all the continents
If another process did not intervene,
to
below
sea
level
erosion would do this!!
University of Texas, Life Long Learning
SAGE: Winter 2011
Vagabonds tramping geology
in Iberia, France, UK, & Germany
Don Beaumont, Sandi Phillips, & Rocky Romero
Session 3
Iberian Peninsula
Portugal and Spain
Geology in the News
Only recent technological advances in horizontal and deep drilling have opened the
Bakken field to economically recoverable production since its first oil extractions in
1951. The estimated recoverable reserves of crude oil from Bakken shale exceed the
proven crude reserves of Ecuador
estimated recoverable reserves of at least 4 billion barrels. Additionally, north of
the border in Canada, there is an estimated 1.3 billion barrels of recoverable
reserves.
http://www.oilshalegas.com/bakkenshale.html
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological
Survey estimated mean undiscovered volumes of 3.65 billion barrels of oil,
1.85 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 148 million
barrels of natural gas liquids in the Bakken Formation of the Williston Basin
Province, Montana and North Dakota. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3021/pdf/FS083021_508.pdf
The Potential Gas Committee suggested that America's technically
recoverable natural gas resources totaled 1,836 Tcf with fully one-third
accounted for by natural gas resources found in shale
Geology in the News
US Oil & Gas developments may
contaminate drinking water
Fracking of “Tight” Reservoirs
can Present a Serious Problem
with contamination of shallow
water reservoirs used for drinking
Fracking
Back
to
Iberia:
a
Brief
Review
Ground surface
Fluids
Drinking water reservoir
Government study underway
with
Undetected
fracture
results expected in 2012
Well cement
failure
No contamination found yet
Oil or Gas reservoir
Natural lineation of events