GEOL 2001, 3001, 4001—Geology Seminar—Fall 2003

Some Suggestions Regarding Your Reports

 Remember, your first presentation will be shorter and more basic, simple, “broad brush”. The second will be more detailed and longer. Your written report will cover all that you presented. 

Suggestions for first report:

            You can cover in a general way such things as (note you may not cover everything listed here, and you may include some other things; this is meant to give you some ideas):

• Location of the oil-bearing region (to show a map or two would be good)
• How many separate oil fields in the area, or some of the important fields—or your region may have several separate sedimentary basins
• Discovery history (briefly) if you run across it. How much oil or gas is there.
• Type of sediments involved. Are they carbonates? Sandstones and shales?
• Age of the sediments involved--Devonian through Mississippian? Mesozoic? Tertiary?
• Type of depositional system--Deltaic? Carbonate platform?
• General structural style—Undeformed? Mildly warped? Thrust faulted? Normal faults from a major rift? Growth faults in a thick sedimentary basin? Salt domes?

Suggestions for second report:

            Your second presentation should cover many of the same topics, but in much more detail. Especially focus on the relationships between the topics and the occurrence of oil/gas specifically. For example:

• Regarding structural geology, perhaps in first presentation you said that the petroleum is in folded and thrust faulted sediments. In the second you might point out that the thrust faults produce certain kinds of traps and describe them, or the anticlines might be traps, and describe them. Or relate how structures make complications in finding or extracting petroleum.
• Regarding depositional environments of the sediments, in the first presentation you were very general, but in the second point out how depositional history and facies relate to making source rocks and reservoir rocks.
• Regarding stratigraphy, in second report you can cover what are the key formations and more details about the nature of the source rocks and reservoir rocks (this may relate much to depositional environment).

You can discuss any special features in specific oil fields or discuss interesting ways in which application of geologic reasoning helped find new oil/gas fields or will be applied to exploration in the future. 

Suggestions for written report: 

            Before you start to write, consider the articles you have read to get your information. Try to make your report like them, with the kinds of headings they use, the way they refer to figures, etc. There are also a good number of AAPG Bulletins with good articles to follow as for format in the hallway leading to Dr. Kline’s office. Of course each of the articles you look at will be different, but you can get a feeling for how you can structure your report. Also pay close attention to the way things are written (wording style). I have often read student reports that read like a magazine or newspaper article. That is the wrong style. Try to make yours sound like the reports you are reading, not the magazines you are reading.