October 2005 ISSUE
THE GEOSCIENCES
Calgary Hosts Biggest AAPG Convention Since 1981
The American Association of Petroleum Geologists met in Calgary in June, with a huge attendance of 7,799. It’s the largest AAPG convention since 1981 in San Francisco.
Said John Hogg, P.Geol., general chair of the convention: “The 2005 AAPG conference in Calgary — the largest petroleum geological convention in the world this year — was a team effort between the organizing committee, and AAPG and CSPG members and staff. We knew that if we had a strong technical program, good social events and luck with great weather during the week we would have everyone talking about the great time they had in Calgary.
“Everyone pitched in to do a great job. It was great to see APEGGA and other sponsors involved with the conference through their exhibit and sponsorship support.
“I think everyone had a great time; the best part for me personally was seeing so many geologists in Calgary and knowing that everyone was enjoying our city and the province of Alberta.”
Committees
Mr. Hogg P.Geol., served as general chair, with Marty Hewitt, P.Geol., as general
vice-chair. Co-chairs on the coordinating committee were Susan Eaton, P.Geol.,
P.Geoph., for the Division of Environmental Geoscience; Rick Richardson, P.Geol.,
Economic Minerals Division; Brian Zaitlin, P.Geol., and Bob Dalrymple, P.Geo.,
for the SEPM; and George Eynon for the Division of Professional Affairs.
Ashton Embry was the technical program coordinator. The technical program had eight simultaneous sessions over three days, and 100 posters for each half day.
AAPG – DEG Award
Ms. Eaton received the Public Outreach Award from the Division of Environmental
Geosciences of AAPG. The award is in recognition of “her tireless efforts
to investigate and present environmental and geoscience issues to the public
in a thoughtful way.”
The AAPG’s George C. Matson Award was presented to Marian Warren of Calgary (with co-authors A. Love and M. Gilhooly) for the best oral presentation given at the 2004 AAPG Annual Convention in Dallas. The topic was A High-Impact Gas Discovery in a Maturing Basin (Western Canada).
CSPG Core Conference
The 2005 CSPG Core Conference, chaired by Gerry Reinson, P.Geol., was at the
AEUB Core Research Centre, following the AAPG Convention. It included 22 core
displays and several international and coal-bed methane presentations.
The CSPG awards were presented at the Core Meltdown on the final afternoon. Best overall core award went to John Melvin, R. Sprague, and C.J. Heine, for Climatic Change Seen in Subsurface Cores, Saudi Arabia.
Two core displays were given honourable mentions. One was to John Visser, P.Geol., and Doug Scott for An Early Tertiary Meteorite Impact Structure at Eagle Butte, Alta. The other was to Chris Forster for a core display of Deep-water Reservoir Facies of the Jurassic Buzzard Field, North Sea, U.K.
CSPG Student Awards were also presented. The Andrew D. Bailie Awards for best student oral presentation and for best student poster were both presented to Stephen M. Hubbard, a PhD student at Stanford. Stephen is a University of Alberta graduate, and he also completed a M.Sc. under George Pemberton at the U of A.