Events

More News on the FRAC site | SDI Event Details

2025

Fractures, diagenesis, and geothermal resources | Publications

2024

FRAC Annual Meeting & Field Trip | October 7-8, 2024, Austin Texas. Contact Julia Gale or S.E. Laubach

Conference presentation | Fracture history and paleostress trajectories, Cambrian Flathead sandstone, Teton Range, Wyoming USA, GSA 22-25 September, Anaheim CA

AAPG Awards Ceremony | 27 August, Houston TX

Invited lecture | S.E. Laubach & S. Forstner, Scale-dependent fracture patterns & flow in low-enthalpy geothermal targets: the role of diagenesis & contingent nodes, International Geological Congress, Busan, South Korea, August 24-31, 2024

LDE Lecture |  Stephanie Forstner, Lithosphere & Deep Earth Seminar Series, Austin Texas, 24 April

Deford Lecture | Esti Ukar, Austin, Texas, 4 April

Lecture | J. Gale. Characterizing natural and hydraulic fractures in energy projects, Abilene Texas, April

Invited Keynote Lecture | S.E. Laubach, Fracture network & spatial arrangement quantification & the role of chemical/mechanical interaction across scales, International Association for Structural Geology & Tectonics and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India 26-28 February 2024. See Event Details for more information.

2023

Lecture | Stephanie Forstner, Mapping fracture networks in outcrop analogs: length, aperture & connectivity, & the role of contingent nodes, Austin Geological Society, 4 December, 2023, 6:30-8:00 pm, Bureau seminar room | related paper

Lecture | Julia Gale, Natural and hydraulic fractures: relevance for hydrocarbon reservoirs, enhanced oil recovery/carbon storage projects in unconventional reservoirs & for low-enthalpy geothermal projects, Center for Subsurface Energy & the Environment CSEE Webinar Series, 14 November, 2023, 12 pm | related paper

FRAC Annual Meeting & Field Trip | October 22-24, 2023 Burlington VT and Plattsburgh NY. Contact S. Laubach.

Session Chair | Qiqi Wang chaired the session Fault and Natural Fracture Characterization at the 3rd International Meeting for Applied Geosciences & Energy (AAPG), 31 August, Houston, TX

Topical Session GSA | Fracture Patterns & Diagenesis in Low-Enthalpy Geothermal Reservoirs & Outcrop Analogs, S.E. Laubach, Convenor. GSA Connects 2023, Pittsburgh, PA 15-18 October.

Diagenesis School | Rob Lander and Linda Bonnell are among the leaders of the 4th School on Sandstone Diagenesis and S.E. Laubach participated with lectures on structural diagenesis. July 30 – August 3, Iowa City, Iowa.

Keynote | S.E. Laubach, Energy Geoscience Conference 2023, Aberdeen, 16-18 May. See Event Details for more information.

Field seminar | S.E. Laubach, Brittle structure: regional and fault-related fractures, Ullapool, Scotland and vicinity, 19-29 May

Invited lecture | S.E. Laubach, Scale-Dependent Fracture Patterns & Flow in Low-Enthalpy Geothermal Targets: The Role of Diagenesis & Contingent Nodes. Invited. In Stress, strain, deformation mechanisms and fluids in folded and faulted rocks, EGU General Assembly, 2023, Vienna, 23-28 April | related paper

Dissertation lecture | Rodrigo Corrêa, Seminar, Structural Diagenesis of Carbonate Rocks, Austin, 26 April | related paper

Lecture | Qiqi Wang, invited, Seminar, Understanding Fractures & Reservoir Quality in Tight Sandstones – Coupled Effects of Diagenesis & Deformation, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, 24 April | related paper

Lecture | Stephanie Forstner, Seminar, Mapping fracture trace patterns in outcrop analogs for low-enthalpy geothermal targets: The role of contingent nodes, Austin, 12 pm, Hard Rock Seminar, JGB4.102, 19 April | related paper

Lecture for general public | S.E. Laubach, invited, Bizarre Secrets of Fractures in the Flathead Sandstone & Why They Matter for Geothermal Everywhere, Geologists of Jackson Hole, Jackson, 7 March |  see the video

Lecture | J.F.W. Gale, Natural & Engineered Fractures in the Energy Transition: Learnings from Core, Models, & Outcrops. Tectonic Studies Group, 2023, Leeds, 11 January | related paper

Special Issue | Journal of Structural Geology Deep & Ultra-deep Basin Brittle Deformation
Edited by Lianbo Zeng, Ronghu Zhang, Qiqi Wang, Bo Ren, John Hooker, S.E. Laubach | read the papers

2022

FRAC Annual Meeting | Fall 2022, November 14-16, Austin. Contact Julia Gale for information.

Keynote | S.E. Laubach, GSA Penrose Conference, Flatrock NC, 20-24 June | related paper ESurf

Dissertation lecture | Qiqi Wang, BEG Seminar, Austin, November

International lecture | S.E. Laubach & Q. Wang, Structural Diagenesis, China (zoom) April

2021

FRAC Annual Meeting | November 15-17, Austin. Contact Julia Gale or S. Laubach for information.

Lectures | The Role of Core in 21st Century Reservoir Characterization, London: Gale, Laubach

Lecture | Predicting hydraulic fracture geometry in shales: lab experiments and numerical modeling, CSEE Webinar Series

2020

Fluid Inclusions Canada | Andras Fall was slated to participate in GeoConvention Canada, PACROFI, and help teach the MAC Short Course: Fluid Inclusions: Applications, May 15-16. See Event details

Mature Fields in México | The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) planned a workshop on the engineering and geology of mature fields in Mexico. The workshop planned for April 21-22 was postponed. S. E. Laubach is a member of the organizing committee. | Conference web site | The conference was postponed.

Lecture: Fractures in chemically reactive environments | Nathanan Doungkaew, UTIG Seminar, April 7

Lecture: Natural Fractures and Shale | On February 7th J.F.W. Gale presented Natural Fractures in Shale Hydrocarbon Reservoirs at University of Louisiana at Lafayette Petroleum Engineering Department. Invited talk hosted by Mehdi Mokhtari

Short course: Fractured Reservoirs | Wayne Narr & S. Laubach, 2020 Brittle Structure Experience. Austin, TX, February 18-20

Keynote: EAGE | Esti Ukar: Importance and applications of diagenesis in naturally fractured reservoirs. Fourth EAGE Naturally Fractured Reservoir Workshop, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, 11-13 February

Council on Chemical Sciences | S. E. Laubach participated in a meeting of the Council on Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences on January 15 in Maryland. As a member of the Council, Laubach was involved in organizing a workshop on the role of chemistry in fracture pattern development and a workshop on the prospects for machine learning approaches to address brittle structure issues. The former workshop led to a 2019 Reviews of Geophysics paper | view review paper

Geothermal | S. E. Laubach participated in a meeting on geothermal research issues from January 8-10 in Ithaca, NY.

Defense at University of Le Mans | J.F.W. Gale participated as external examiner for Salome Larmier’s Ph.D. defense at University of Le Mans, France in late January, 2020. Larmier’s Ph.D. focus is controls on location of bed-parallel veins in the Vaca Muerta. Her adviser is Dr. Alain Zanella. SDI work on the Vaca Muerta includes Ukar, Lopez, Gale et al. 2017 on new types of kinematic indicators | view

Next-Generation Fracture Research | Andras Fall and Esti Ukar will be organizing a series of Year 2020 workshops & discussion sessions on promising future directions in fracture research. Workshops are anticipated to be held in Austin and Houston. More news will be forthcoming in early 2020. Postponed.

Machine Learning | SDI collaborator Michael Pyrcz will be a 2020 Distinguished Lecturer for AAPG. His lecture will cover subsurface data analytics and machine learning. More information on his tour shortly.

2019

Master Class Idaho | Graduates students of the Structural Diagenesis Initiative will participate in an intensive master class on stress, strain, and brittle structure, from December 7 through 15 in St. Anthony, Idaho.

Visiting Scientist | Junpeng Wang of the Hangzhou Research Institute of Geology arrived in Austin in November to begin a one-year collaborative research internship with the Initiative.

2019 SDI Student Event & FRAC Picnic | The annual structural diagenesis research community picnic was held on Saturday, November 23rd at the Tower of FRAC on Lake Travis. Congratulations to the graduate student organizing committee for providing perfect weather and to ECL for safely setting off the awesome fireworks.

SDI Research Review & 2019 FRAC meeting | At ROC on the UT Research Campus, Austin TX with field trip in the Texas Hill Country. Contact J. Gale or S. Laubach for more information. 4-6 November

China lecture | Natural Fracture Characterization and Prediction, P. Eichhubl, RIPED, Beijing, China, 28 October

Gussow Geoscience–New directions | New Directions in Geosciences for Unconventional Resources, CSPG Gussow Geoscience Conference, Banff, Canada. Contact J. Gale for information.  15-17 October

Best Student Author Award Ceremony | The Journal of Structural Geology recognized Natalie Debenham with an award for the top 2018 paper published in the journal by a student author. The reception was on November 1, from 730-900 pm at the Jenga Tower, Austin. S.E. Laubach, Editor, presiding. The event was ‘by invitation’.

GSA Phoenix | Initiative results were presented at this years Geological Society of America Annual Meeting. See Event Details for more information. 22-25 September

Invited talks | J.F.W. Gale presented Core Fracture Description of the Hydraulic Fracture Test Site (HFTS1) Slant Core, Reagan Co., Midland Basin, Texas to The University of Texas at Austin, Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Graduate Student Seminar Series, September 9, 2019 and to Texas A&M Petroleum Engineering Graduate Student Seminar Series at Texas A&M University, College Station, September 3, 2019 | view related paper
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