October, 1990 BULLETIN 1 HOUSTON GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY t 7 dume 33 rmber 2 CHECK OUT THE CARBONATE FIELD TRIP! Seepage12 GCAGS CONVENTION See pages 8 & 40 HGS SHRIMP PEEL See page 32 IN THIS ISSUEoo. - Deep Oil Prospects in Trinidad .................................. Page 16 - RCRA: A Historical Perspective ................................. Page 22 - Re-evaluating the Potential of Old Plays ........................ Page 25 - Energy and Destiny: We Must Control Both ..................... Page 29 - Chainsaws and Computers ..................................... Page 42 PL US MORE! (For October Events, see page 1 and Geoevents section, page 33) E rom mne-wem to Atlas Wireline Services I Founded in 1932 as Lane-Wells Co., Atlas 0 Wlreline conveyance servioes - br extended- Wiline Services is now a division of Western reach, horizontal, and difficult-to-service Atlas International, offuing comprehensive wells wireline services worldwide. We've continually tl Global services - a single service from one enhanced our capabilities to offer the latest in location in 1932 to over 100 services from digital data acquisition, analysis, and compietion 80 worldwide locations services for every stage in the life of a well: -. -. Openhole senices - pipe recovery to CBILm 7 ATLAB (Circumferential Borehole Imaging Log) WIREUNE Westam Atlam 0 Cased hde services - perforating to pulsed b'iteirnational P.O. Box 1407 neutron logging Houston. Texas 77251-1407 Produdion 0 bgg@ scnices-injection Open Hole Sewices (713) 972-5739 operations to geothermal services Cased Hole Services (7 13) 972-5766 7he Atlas Advmtage HGS OCTOBER EVENTS MEETINGS OCTOBER 8,1990 (Dinner Meeting) "Evaluation of Untested Stratigraphic Traps in a Pleistocene Canyon-Fill Complex, Offshore Louisiana" Jim Geitgey (see page 10) Westin Oaks Hotel, 5011 Westheimer Social Period 5:30 p.m., Dinner and Meeting 6:30 p.m. Reservations made by name only, telephone 785-6402. Must be made or cancelled by noon Friday, October 5. OCTOBER 10, 1990 (Business Meeting) HGS ENVIRONMENTAL/ENGINEERING GEOLOGISTS "The Proposed Commercial Hazardous Waste Incinera- tion Facility Located in Jacintoport Industrial Park in East Harris County Along the Houston Ship Channel" (see page 20) Kay Crouch Charlie's Hamburger Joint, 2222 Ella Blvd., about 1/4 mile south of the 610 Loop. 6:00p.m. (Buyyour own dinner) OCTOBER 16, 1990 (Dinner Meeting) HGS PERMIAN BASIN/MID-CONTINENT EXPLORATIONISTS "Geology of the Cottonwood Creek Field, Carter County, Oklahoma" Michael Roberts (see page 24) Westin Oaks Hotel, 5011 Westheimer Dinner and Meeting 5:30 p.m. HGS Explorers "On Top of Ole Smoky," Clingman's Reservations made by name only, telephone 785-6402. Must Dome (see story on page 35). be made or cancelled by noon Monday, October 15. OCTOBER 17, 1990 (Dinner Meeting) HGS INTERNATIONAL EXPLORATIONISTS "Rift Basins of Chad" Gerard J. Genik (see page 14) Westin Oaks Hotel, 5011 Westheimer Social Period 5:30 p.m., Dinner and Meeting 6:30 p.m. Reservations by name only, telephone 785-6402. Must be made or cancelled by noon Monday, October 15. OCTOBER 31,1990 (Luncheon Meeting) "Eustatic and Salt-Tectonic Controls on Sequence Development, Northern East Texas Basin" . Ken Ehman (see page 10) Houston Club, 811 Rusk Social Period 11:30 a.m., Lunch and Meeting 12:00 noon. Reservations made by name only, telephone 785-6402. Must be made or cancelled by noon Monday, October 29. SEMINARS, COURSES, AND ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 12, 1990 (Entertainment) HGS SHRIMP PEEL Knights of Columbus Hall, 607 East Whitney 5:30 p.m. (see page 32) OCTOBER 22-25, 1990 HGS FIELD TRIP "Holocene Carbonates of The South Florida Keys" (see page 12 for more information) OCTOBER 27,1990 (Education) HGS SHORT COURSE "Trap Analysis of Faults" Urban S. Allen (see page 37 for more information) Shell Oil Training Center, 3837 Bellaire Blvd. 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Explorers break up day hike with a swim in Abrams Creek near Cades Cove, Tenn. Houston Geological Society Bulletin. October 1990 HOUSTON GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN Vol. 33, No. 2 October, 1990 BULLETIN COMMITTEE CONTENTS EDITOR: George E. Kronrnan, 556.4452 Amoco Production Co. MANAGING Jo Ann Locklin. 954-6262 DEPARTMENTS EDITORS: Texaco Sue van Gelder, 466-3348 President's Comments ................................... 7 Consult~ngGeologist Society Meetings ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Evaluation of Untested Stratigraphic Traps in a Business Louis Bertoli, 968-6821 Pacific Enterprises Oil Co. Pleistocene Canyon-Fill Complex, Southwestern Louisiana, Computer Mark W. Hodson, 629-6600 JimGeitgey .............................................. 10 Marathon Editorial Mary Jo Klosterman, 973-3112 Eustatic and Salt-Tectonic Controls on Sequence Exxon lnternatlonal Development, Northern East Texas Basin, Ken Ehman ............lo Mindy Kronman, 531.7424 Rice University Rift Basins of Chad, Gerard J. Genik ...........................14 Donna Davis, 961-0141X374 P.I. Exploration Systems Proposed Commercial Hazardous Waste Incineration Larry Levy, 728-0008 Facility Located in Jacintoport Industrial Park in LSL Resources J. Todd Stephenson, 556-2929 East Harris County Along the Houston Ship Channel Amoco Product~onCo. KayCrouch ..............................................20 Janet B. Thornburg, 589-2640 Geologist Geology of the Cottonwood Creek Field, Environmental Glenn R. Lowenstein, 460-4015 Carter County, Oklahoma, Michael Roberts .....................24 Geologist Events David C. Callaway, 584-3445 Arco Oil & Gas International Explorationists. ............................ .14 Sandi Barber, 623-8000 XI545 Unocal On The Move ........................................... .15 Donna Fouch.Flores, 531-5135 Lou~s~anaLand & Explor. Co Environmental/Engineering Geologists ................... .20 Exploration B~llElsenhardt, 774-6669 Permian BasinIMid-Continent Explorationists ............ .24 Review Consulting Geologist International Hugh Hay-Roe. 358.5871 Geo-Events and Calendar ............................... .33 Consultant Committee News. ....................................... .34 Planning Bruce L. Grethen, 940-4053 Sonat Exploration Co. AAPG Delegate Corner ................................. .38 John Hefner, 468-9495 Consulting Geolog~st GCAGS News .......................................... .40 Technical William H. Roberts, 465-2228 Trader's Column ........................................ .45 Articles Hydrexco Company Nelson C. Steenland, 666-0266 Houston Geological Auxiliary. ........................... .46 Geophys~cist Manuscripts, inquiries, or suggestions should be New Members .......................................... .49 directed to Editor, c/o HGS Bulletin, 7171 Harwin, Suite 314, Houston, TX 77036. Deadline for copy is six weeks Exploration Activity Review ............................. .50 prior to publication. All copy must be typewritten and double-spaced on standard white paper. Line drawings and other illustrations must be photo-ready. If prepared PRICE SCHEDULE- RESERVATIONS POLICY on a word processor, please send a copy of the computer Reservations are made by calling the HGS office disc, preferably in e~therPagemaker or Ventura format. OCTOBER MEETINGS (785-6402). At the meeting, names are checked against Photographs submitted for publication are welcome, (Non-members: $2.00 to meal price) the reservation list. Those with reservations will be sold but cannot be returned. add the HGS Dinner Meeting tlckets ~mmed~ately.Those without reservations will be asked to wait for available seats, and a $2 ADVERTISING COMMITTEE Westin Oaks Hotel, Oct. 8.. ....... $20.00 surcharge will be added to the price of the ticket. All Please call Permian BasinIMid-Continent who do not honor their reservations will be billed 785-2885 Explorationists for the price of the meal. If a reservation cannot be for information about advertising. Dinner Meeting kept, please cancel or send someone in your place. Westin Oaks Hotel, Oct. 16.. ...... $20.00 International Explorationists Dinner Meeting Westin Oaks Hotel, Oct. 17.. ...... $20.00 located at 7171 Harwin, Suite 314, Houston, HGS Luncheon Meeting Texas 77036. The telephone number is (713) 785-6402. Houston Club, Oct. 31 ............ $15.00 Houston Geolog~calSoclety Bullet~n,October 1990 Page 16 International Brief Deep Oil Prospects in Trinidad, Suhas C. Talukdar, Wallace G. Dow, and Krishna M. Persad 22 Environmental Review RCRA: A Historical Perspective, U.S. Ojfice of Solid Waste 25 Business of Geology Re-evaluating the Potential of Old Plays, Richard Nehring 29 Opinion Energy and Destiny: We Must Control Both, Michel T. Halbouty 42 Digital Digest Chainsaws and Computers: Parables on the Appropriate Use of Tools, Mark W. Hodson 44 Feature Article "Holographic" Science To Meet Energy Needs, Richard F. Tucker COVER PHOTO Pleistocene coral from a quarry in San Salvador is shown in the photograph. Similar fossils will be viewed on the "Holocene Carbonates of South Florida" HGS field trip on October 22-25. See page 12 for more information. - CORRECTIONS In the September Bulletin, the caption on page 1 should have read: Underwater photograph of the reef crest at Grecian Rocks, one of the outer platform-margin reefs which will be visited during the HGS Carbonate Field Trip to Florida this month. The reef crest is dominated by the large massive branching moosehorn coral, Acropora palmata. The water level over this layer is only one foot. On page 13, Gene Trowbridge's name was inadvertently left off the bottom left photo. I FUTURE HGS MEETINGS AND EVENTS (November) NOVEMBER 10, 1990 (HGS Field