Memorial to Harold Alvin Gorrell 1924-1985 C
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Memorial to Harold Alvin Gorrell 1924-1985 C. A. S. BULMER Sproule Associates Limited, P.O. Box 181, Calgary, Alberta T2P3N3 Canada H. A. (Al) Gorrell died in a fire which swept through the Regent Hotel in Manila. Philippines, on February 12. 1985. On a consulting assignment with the Asian Development Bank for Sproule Associates Limited, he had stopped off in Manila to visit bank officers on his return from a visit to a gas field in Pakistan. Al Gorrell was born January 30, 1924, in Crystal City, Manitoba, where he attended primary school and his first two years of high school. After completing senior matriculation at the high school in Geraldton. Ontario, Al enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942 and served as an aircrew Flying Officer with Bomber Command in England. At the end of World War 11, he returned to Ontario and entered the Univer sity of Toronto where he received a B.A. (honours geology) in 1950 and an M.A. (stratigraphy) in 1952. During 1951 and 1952, Al worked as a petroleum geologist for Imperial Oil Limited in Chatham, Ontario, then headed west to Regina in August 1952 to join Tidewater Oil Company as a senior stratigrapher. During that time he began his early research into subsurface waters and their chemistry and studies of evaporite deposits. These studies were his continuing specialty, for which he attained a well-deserved reputation as a most knowledgeable expert. In January 1957, Al came to Calgary where he joined Sproule Associates Limited. During his long career with Sproule, he worked in all phases of petroleum geology and also continued his research and studies in evaporite and industrial minerals and subsurface waters, including studies of geothermal potential. His work took him to all areas of North America, Africa. Australia. South America, the Middle East, and the Orient. He had been a senior staff member of Sproule for many years and served as a director and corporate secretary since 1970. Al was a member of the following technical societies and associations: American Association of Petroleum Geologists (Certified Petroleum Geologist), Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta (Professional Geologist), Canadian Geothermal Resources Association, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metal lurgy, Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. Canadian Well Logging Society, Geological Association of Canada (Fellow), Geological Society of America (Fellow), Society of Economic Geologists, and Society of Economic Paleontologists and Miner alogists. Al was the author of many technical papers in various journals during the past 20 years. Most of the publications dealt with subsurface waters and their association with oil and gas accumulations, evaporite deposits, waste disposal, and geothermal applications. Al is survived by his wife, Jean, and his mother, Margaret, both of Calgary. 2 THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF H. A. GORRELL 1953 The Dundas Formation as exposed in the excavations for the Toronto Transportation Commission Subway: Proceedings of the Geological Association of Canada, v. 5. 1958 Classification of formation waters based on sodium chloride content: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 42, p. 2513. ____ The importance of subsurface water data in petroleum geology: Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin, v. 51. 1964 (with Bulmer, C.A.S.) Subsurface mapping of oil and gas reservoirs: Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Petroleum and Natural Gas Division, 15th Annual Technical Meeting. 1967 (with Harding, S.R.L.) Distribution of the Saskatchewan potash beds: Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin Transactions, v. 70, p. 174-179. 1968 (with Alderman, G. R.) The Elk Point Group saline basins of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba: Geological Society of America Saline Basins Symposium, Geological Society of America Special Paper 88, p. 291-317. 1972 (with Bulmer, C.A.S., and Brusset, M. J.) Monetary evaluation of coal properties, in Mellon, G. B., Kramers, J. W., and Seagel, E. J., eds., Proceedings, First Geological Conference on Western Canadian Coal: Research Council of Alberta Information Series no. 60, p. 61-71. 1976 Regional hydrogeological study, McMurray Oil Sands area, Alberta: Syncrude Canada Ltd., co-ordinator, Environmental Research Monograph 1976-5. 1978 Hot water under the Plains: GEOS Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Canada. 1979 Geothermal studies in the Plains Region of Western Canada: Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin, v. 72, p. 66-69. 1984 Application of existing data to low temperature geothermal exploration, in Curtis, F. A., ed., Energy development: New forms, renewables and conservation: Pergamon Press. Printed in U.S.A. 6/85.