September 2012

DennisTaylorBioThe CCGS is already rolling with a full head of steam this year and has been through most of the Summer of 2012. One of our most important functions of the summer was the annual CCGS Saltwater Fishing Tournament which was held on Saturday, July 28th. We had a great turnout and this year we were able to have both divisions for Offshore and Inshore with what was better weather and seas than what we had last year with a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico. We had tight lines and reasonably calm seas and the fishing was very good and most importantly our Tournament was a financial success. The CCGS Fishing Tournament raised a whopping $10,000 for our Owen Hopkins Educational Fund! Thank you Ryan Egger, Leighton Devine, David Kirk, and Pat McCullough and everyone that helped in setting up and running the Fishing Tournament. Special thanks go to all of the companies that provided their support. Watch for the supporting Companies’ Logo Page and the Winning Results further into our September Bulletin.

Also in July the CCGS Board of Directors had their 1st official meeting at the new Head Quarters at One Agnes Plaza. This Board meeting was full of discussion and decisions relative to the operations and goals of our excellent Society. We discussed many topics including the upcoming CCGS Kicko! Barbecue, the History Video progress, the upcoming Conference for the Advancement of Science Teachers to be held in November in Corpus Christi, the nomination and approval of some special memberships to be announced and bestowed later in the Fall, the reformation of the Scholarship Committee, the Bones In Schools Program, the Boulders in Schools Program, the lease arrangements of the new Head Quarters, the booking of the Town Club for our noon luncheons, Mike Lucent’s Bone Inventory, the Ice Age Video security and Licensing Agreement, the distribution of the Ice Age Video to the TAMU G- Camp, future luncheon speakers being lined up by Milan Swikert, our new Vice President-Program Chairman, and Lonnie Blake, Vice President-Program Chairman of the CBGS, and the Bones In Schools Custodial Agreement. This was a very busy and involved business meeting. Thank you Board Members for your time and discussion and decisions.

Also in July the CCGS Scholarship Committee met to welcome new members Patrick Nye, Jason Downing, and Dennis Taylor. Past members include Bill Maxwell, Frank Cornish, Sebastian Wiedmann, and Dawn Bissell. New offcers were elected. The head Chair is Dawn Bissell and Co-Chair is Jason Downing and Patrick Nye is the new Secretary-Treasurer. This Committee has many very important decisions to be made that will greatly help many of our local students. Students it is time to start applying for these CCGS Scholarships. Look for information concerning Scholarship application forms and requirements in this Bulletin. We would like to thank Dan Pedrotti for his excellent service as Chairman of the Scholarship Committee over the last several years.

Please welcome our new President Elect, Bob Critchlow, who is getting ready for operational year 2013-2014. Also Krista Burke is our new Education coordinator, Allison Corcoran is our new arrangements chair, and Mary Vance is our new University Liaison. Thank you ladies for your excellent work thus far in your very important CCGS endeavors. Also welcome our new Councilor II, Rick Paige, who is very adept in writing proposals, program descriptions, and coming up with special ideas. Lastly thanks to all who served and helped this last operational year to make CCGS a huge success.

This will be a special operational year, 2012-2013, in that we are witnessing unprecedented Global Changes in the way that we are going to be doing our business here in South Texas as well as world-wide. First of all I would like to thank all of you who have volunteered as Offcers, Editors, Committee Chairs, Committee Members, and AAPG Delegates. CCGS knows how valuable your time is and we thank you for your volunteerism that makes our Society and all of its special programs a success!

“EMBRACE GEOLOGY”

Geology is simply a complex multidisciplinarian science that involves the study of the Earth. Geology can be purely a science or a profession but it can also be something that can be passion filled and even artistic. Geology can be literally embraced; it can be touched; it can be seen and appreciated; it can generate smells and can make tremendous sounds and you can feel it move under your feet. All of your senses and awareness are incorporated in fully understanding Geology. You must be a master of many disciplines and because of this you, the Geologist, have the pleasure of understanding how everything fits gloriously together in a never ending circle in a circle. Geology is a fantastic world of textures and classifications. Students learn well and you are welcome any where on this planet to an astounding array of professional and scientific jobs. The world is at your feet; explore it and understand! Below is a special example of what I am trying to communicate to all of you. This is a scanning electron micro-photograph of something found right here in South Texas right under your feet. What are you looking at?? This is the beauty of Geology inside the earth. This is a Scanning Electron Microscope photograph that I took of a rock core taken in a Sun E&P Well in TCB Field in Jim Wells-Kleberg Counties in South Texas. There is a Volcanic Rock Fragment on the left with Iron Chlorite Rosettes growing all over it and on the right is a dissolved Sodium Feldspar with authigenic Albite Feldspars growing into the secondary porosity. WOW!! Welcome to South Texas Geology and clay mineralogy. Embrace Geology!

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The whole core from the Vicksburg Formation was taken from a well that was over 10000′ deep. What you are looking at are authigenic clay minerals, Iron-Chlorite rosettes that grew on a volcanic rock fragment grain in a gas/condensate reservoir sand. This well made millions and millions of dollars from this sand in TCB Field in the Jim Wells- Kleberg county area. If you had acidized this sand with hydrochloric acid, it would have cease to flow and would have been damaged severely because of the presence of this clay mineral.

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The crystallized Iron Chlorites, if you could see them in color would probably be green. Geologic Nature is amazing in its beautiful complexity. An adventure can be had at any scale even exploring the spaces between sand grains in an Oil & Gas Well. EMBRACE GEOLOGY! SEE YOU AT THE BARBCUE on Thursday, September 13th at the Bar-B-Q Man Patio Cantina

Dennis A. Taylor
CCGS President, 2012-13

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