The USGS archives cores from about 60 exploration wells drilled in and near National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) during the past 50 years. This workshop will feature cores selected from that archive to illustrate key attributes of the main petroleum and coal systems of the region. Petroleum systems with principal source rocks in the Triassic (Shublik), Jurassic (Kingak), and Cretaceous (HRZ), and coal systems in the Mississippian (Endicott) and Cretaceous (Nanushuk) will be emphasized. The workshop will focus on sequence stratigraphy and sedimentology of source rocks and coal, as well as closely related reservoir and seal facies. Cores illustrating the emerging Alpine play, which includes a recent 400+ million barrel discovery just outside NPRA, will be featured.

Limit: 30 participants.

Instructor: Dave Houseknecht, +1 (703) 648 6466; dhouse@usgs.gov

David W. Houseknecht works on Alaska North Slope basin analysis and petroleum resource assessment and has organized and led three previous NPRA core workshops.