Field Seminars are also arranged so as to be customized to meet the specific needs of the client. The Ferron Sandstone field seminar may be scheduled from 2 to 4 days in length, with the longer version providing a more in-depth look at fluvial-deltaic systems. The Siliciclastic Depositional Systems field seminar is arranged as a series of modules to allow clients the option of requesting a customized field seminar matched to their needs. Field modules may be combined with Short Course modules. Our experience has shown that the most effective training involves classroom lectures followed by hands-on field experience.

For all field seminars, participants must arrive in Salt Lake the day before the seminar starts and will fly out of Salt Lake the day after the seminar ends. Round-trip surface transportation between Salt Lake City and the field area will be arranged.

The Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale is a classic fluvial-dominated deltaic depositional complex providing an excellent analog for exploration and production of hydrocarbon-containing deltaic systems worldwide. The Ferron Sandstone also exhibits classic examples of the interaction of tectonics and eustasy on sequence-stratigraphic geometries of sandstone and shale in a deltaic depositional system. This complex influence can be recognized at regional (exploration) and local (production and reservoir characterization) scales.

A 2- to 4-day field seminar provides hands-on experience in describing, identifying, interpreting and analyzing data from marine and non-marine facies in this depositional system. Well log and core data are combined with measured sections and photomosaics of outcrop to allow participants to integrate and relate the outstanding outcrop data with typical petroleum subsurface data. Equal emphasis is placed on the local and regional aspects of the Ferron Sandstone and participants are shown how to integrate local data into a regional interpretation. Several competing sequence stratigraphic interpretations of the Ferron currently exist and evidence for and against each are presented. Field work will be supplemented by evening lectures.

Longer versions of the field trip provide greater opportunities for hands-on learning by participants and present more information and more detailed information.

The field seminar may be scheduled in April, May, September, or October. Adverse weather generally precludes productive field instruction in other months.

Each of the following field seminar modules may be run alone or in various combinations to suit the needs of the client. Each module (depositional system) is 1 to 2 days in length and emphasizes: processes inherent in the depositional system; recognition in well log and core of depositional facies; vertical and lateral continuity, relationships and changes within and between depositional facies; potential reservoir, source and seal; importance in petroleum exploration and exploitation; and integration with sequence stratigraphy. Participants will describe, identify, interpret, and analyze data from each depositional system. Subsurface data and examples will be integrated with outcrop data where possible.