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GCAGS Sessions

Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies

GCAGS is offering 19 sessions at the meeting.
Note: To present in a GCAGS session you must submit an abstract AND a manuscript or extended abstract.

To submit an abstract:
Go the GCAGS session index page and scroll to the session you're interested in. Double click on the title and follow the instructions for submitting your abstract. Deadline for GCAGS session abstracts: 3 June 2008

To submit your required manuscript or extended abstract:
Follow the instructions on the GCAGS Web site. Deadline for GCAGS manuscripts or extended abstracts: 24 June 2008

List Filters
To help you navigate the list of 19 sessions, use the filters at right by selecting discipline categories or sponsors from the drop-down menus at right; or you can use your browser's 'find' feature to search for keywords or convener names.	Filter list according to the Session Sponsors.

1. GCAGS General Session
American Geological Institute
Arthur D. Donovan: Earth scientists must provide critical information for policy-making on future energy use. This session examines the geologic constraints on the world’s future energy mix and the consequences for the earth system of alternate energy-mix scenarios.
2. Applied Micropaleontology: Tools and Techniques for the 21st Century
Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research; Paleontological Society; Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies; Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM); Paleontological Research Institute
Brian J. O'Neill, Alicia C.M. Kahn, Jere H. Lipps, Andrew Bowman: This session capitalizes on the Houston location in Houston, creating a forum for dialogue between industry biostratigraphers, and their colleagues in universities, government, and resource management, showcasing digital technologies using microfossils to provide the solutions to geologic and environmental problems.
3. Shale Gas
Stanley T. Paxton, Mike Miller: This session will focus on gas shale properties, how these properties relate to regional geology (including stratigraphy and depositional environment) and the tools and techniques employed in their evaluation.
4. Hydrates and Shallow Gas
Michael A. Smith, Bob Hardage: New shallow subsurface gas plays are emerging in both the shallow and deepwater Gulf of Mexico. This session will address the habitat of shallow gas and hydrate and its significance as a resource and hazard.
5. Integrated Pore Pressure Predictions: Case Studies
Marty Albertin, Phil Heppard: Talks in this session will highlight current trends in pore pressure and fracture gradient prediction and detection applied toward improving the design and drilling efficiency of complex wells in difficult geologic environments.
6. The Geology of the GOM Coastal Plain: Insights into Offshore GOM Exploration
Ernest A. Mancini, Dave Cooke: This session is designed to present geological data and interpretations regarding Gulf Coastal Plain strata and demonstrate the application of this information in the formulation of petroleum exploration strategies for the Gulf of Mexico.
7. Faults: Friend and Foe
Peter Hennings, Steve Naruk: This session addresses characterization and modeling of faults in outcrop and in the subsurface with an emphasis on the identification of geologic parameters that influence hydraulic behavior (whether sealing, permeability-enhancing, or both).
8. Allochthonous Salt: Impact from Exploration to Production
Fred Diegel, Bill Hart: Allochthonous salt canopies can not only obscure high value subsalt hydrocarbon targets, but can also present unique drilling and production challenges. This session focuses on current methods of subsalt exploration, drilling, and facilities planning.
9. Visualization of Depositional Systems
Jim Thomson, Kevin Bradford: This session explores advances in visualization techniques that enable geoscientists to identify, interpret, and investigate models of depositional systems in a broad array of environments, from fluvial to deep marine.
10. Predictive Models for Deep-Water Reservoir Distributions: The Subsalt Challenge
Morgan D. Sullivan, Gary, S. Steffens: One of the greatest uncertainties in subsalt exploration is predicting reservoir distribution, continuity and connectivity. This session focuses on predictive deep-water reservoir models and their application to the subsalt challenge.
11. Old Fields-New Life: How New Technologies or New Ideas Have Made a Difference
GSA Structural Geology and Tectonics Division; Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies
Wayne M. Ahr, Bill Hill: As much as 65% of oil in existing fields still remains in place. At $90 per barrel it is now economical and geopolitically safe to find new ways to release and extract oil from old fields and produce gas from unconventional sources such as shales and coal beds.
12. Advances in Seismic Imaging—Impact on Exploration through Production: Case Studies
Jos Terken, Mark Williams: The session aims to bring together geoscientists working throughout the field lifecycle to showcase the impact enhanced seismic imaging has had on the understanding of field complexities and their impact from exploration through production.
13. Depositional Systems: Insights from Outcrops, Shallow Seismic, or Coastal Studies
Antonio B. Rodriguez, Keith Shanley: Constraining the evolution of depositional systems and developing an understanding of their component parts based on process-oriented research is fundamental to sedimentology. We seek contributions that highlight recent advances supported by field-based research.
14. Uncertainty Assessment and its Impact on Decision Making
Gary P. Citron, Katrina Withers: This session addresses how uncertainty in exploration is characterized for more effective bias removal, communication, and, hopefully, more informed decisions. Accordingly, the session addresses uncertainty from the perspective of the prospect generators, available risk team input, and decision makers.
15. Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain Paleontology
Paleontological Society; Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies
Louis G. Zachos, Ann Molineux: The session will cover any aspect of paleontology (stressing Cenozoic marine faunas, both vertebrate and invertebrate) of the deposits exposed in the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain, including the region from Yucatán to Florida.
16. Environmental Geology and Hydrology
Brian Hunt, Brian Smith: This session will cover the hydrogeology of groundwater resources in the circum–Gulf of Mexico region and the application of hydrogeology to the management of those resources.