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Item Subject: Text_1
DATE: August 28, 1995
FROM: Garry Jones, UNOCAL, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
SUBJECT: MINUTES FROM JULY 25, 1995 MEETING OF THE INDUSTRY
BIOSTRATIGRAPHY COORDINATORS GROUP (IBCG), GULF OF MEXICO REGION,
USA
The Industry Biostratigraphy Coordinators' Group (IBCG) met at the
UNOCAL's Houston, Texas office on July 25, 1995. Attending were:
Amoco: Rich Lane, Dick White
BP: Sheila Barnette
Chevron: Bob Fleisher
Conoco: Bill Clopine
Pennzoil: Denise Butler
Shell: Brian O'Neill
Unocal: Garry Jones, Ginny Waters
Vastar: Steve Truax, Mike Dumont
The main focus of the meeting was compiling a list of recommendations
that the Group felt would help catalyze and guide the Gulf of Mexico
Taxonomic Equivalency Project (under the aegis of an Ad Hoc Committee
of the Gulf Coast Section of the SEPM and chaired by Ed Picou, former
Gulf of Mexico biostratigrapher with Shell, currently an independent
consultant).
There was a strong consensus among IBCG members that the Taxonomic
Equivalency Project must succeed. Gulf of Mexico biostratigraphers
have hurt their utility as geologic problem solvers by not fully
documenting species concepts for the myriad of foraminiferal and
nannofossil names introduced by oil companies and contractors over the
past several decades. It was recognized by the IBCG that this lack of
proper species documentation has led, or could lead to, the following
results:
(1) Difficulty at best, impossibility at worst, in merging
paleontological data from multiple sources into meaningful correlation
diagrams, structure contour and isopachous maps, and paleobathymetric
reconstructions.
(2) Many species not being assigned their proper latin binomial,
thereby hindering or precluding the ability to compare the
stratigraphic range and environmental tolerances of the same species
in different basins.
(3) Non-paleontologists obtaining a tarnished image of the usefulness
of paleontological data (and paleontologists!).
(4) The possibility that species concepts will retire or die with the
paleontologists who defined them.
To rectify this situation, the IBCG recognized the GCS-SEPM Ad Hoc
Committee as the most embracing organization for bringing together the
diversity of professional backgrounds with key knowledge about Gulf of
Mexico taxonomy: oil company, consulting, government (MMS, State
Surveys), academic, and museum paleontologists.
Prior to the July 25 meeting, several IBCG companies (Amoco, Conoco,
BP, Pennzoil, Shell, Unocal) converted their in-house biostratigraphic
zonations for the Gulf of Mexico into a common Excel spreadsheet
format and plotted poster-sized, hard-copy printouts of each. At the
July 25 meeting, the companies posted these zonations side by side and
informally discussed similarities and differences and identified
species (and species groups) needing taxonomic clarification.
The IBCG members then drafted and forwarded to Ed Picou the following
recommendations for successful completion of the Taxonomic Equivalency
Project:
(1) Focus the Ad Hoc Committee's work on calcareous nannofossil and
benthic and planktic foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Oligocene to
Recent section of the Gulf of Mexico.
(2) Identify which species/species group concepts offer the most
confusion requiring microscope examination by Committee members to
resolve the taxonomic problems; at the July 25 meeting, the IBCG
members identified the following candidates for such work (listed in
no particular order and not an all-inclusive list):
Helicosphaera sellii (species concept) Trimosina A (updip and downdip
concepts)
Globorotalia menardii coiling changes (how many specimens needed to be
sure?)
Discoaster berggrenii - quinqueramus lineage (species concepts)
Eponides hannai (strat. position)
Globoquadrina dehiscens (species concept) Pseudoemiliana lacunosa
lineage (species concepts) Buliminella 1 (several calls? different
ages?) Globorotalia fohsi lineage (species concepts) Discoater
brouweri lineage (species concepts) Robulus 54 A,B (species concept(s)
Globigerina nepenthes - G. druryi (species concepts) Sphenolithus
abies (species concepts)
Robulus chambersi (species concept)
Planulina palmerae (species concept) Lenticulina jeffersonensis
(species concept) Textularia X (species concept(s)
Cibicides carstensi (regional vs. climbing and species concepts)
Cristellaria K (species concepts)
(3) To help sort out the taxonomic confusion surrounding species
concepts, the
participating members of the IBCG will loan company type specimens to
the Ad Hoc Committee whenever possible and recommended that Committee
members meet at as many geological functions as possible to discuss
these taxomonic problems "over the microscope" (GCS-SEPM, AAPG, GSA,
NOGS, etc.)
(4) Publish a composite biostratigraphic zonation for the Gulf of
Mexico generic yet accurate enough that everyone will want to use it,
including: (a) the best species name to represent each species
concept;
(b) the various species synonyms (equivalencies) used by different
companies and organizations over the years;
(c) the accepted, official binomial name of the species (if one
exists); (d) comments on updip and downdip utility of the species;
(e) the "mappability" of each species; i.e., how well a species' event
(extinction, evolutinary first appearance, acme, or coiling change)
approximates a synchronous time line;
(f) notes on species geographic utility: local, regional, or Gulf wide
in scope;
(g) a numerical age estimate for each species event based on a tie to
the standard geochronologic time scale of W. A. Berggren, D. V. Kent,
and J. Hardenbol, 1995, SEPM Special Publication 54: Geochronology,
Time Scales, and Global Stratigraphic Correlation; the IBCG members
recognized this time scale and format as the best means for
calibrating each zonation to numerical time and thereby facilitating
easy comparison of different zonations and effective communication
among Committee members;
(h) making the zonation available in Excel spreadsheet format.
(5) Each species on the chart should be either:
(a) referred to a readily-accessible, published figure that the
Committee decides is representative of the species concept; or,
(b) captured via type specimens and images (SEM, light, and/or
paleovision) and properly curated in a repository in the Gulf region;
the IBCG will consider absorbing the cost of SEM and other imaging
work, and will look into the role of the British Museum (c/o Norm
MacLeod) for providing digital images using the latest Paleovision
technology.
(6) Solicit the services of James Ogg, Professor of Geology, Purdue
University, to place the various biostratigraphic zonations for the
Gulf of Mexico against the Cenozoic geochronologic framework of
Berggren et al., 1995 in Excel spreadsheet format; the IBCG will
donate to the Committee the Excel spreadsheets containing the various
company zonations.
(7) Inform the general paleontological community in the Houston area
about the recommendations of the IBCG to Ed Picou for successful
completion of the Taxonomic Equivalency Project.
(NOTE: On behalf of the IBCG and Ed Picou of the SEPM Ad Hoc
Committee on Taxonomic Equivalency, Garry Jones of UNOCAL on August
10, 1995 made a presentation to the Houston area "Paleo Lunch Bunch"
hosted by Chevron. In attendance were about 40 oil company,
contractor, and university paleontologists. Garry reviewed the
recommendations of the IBCG to the SEPM Ad Hoc Committee. Strong
support for the Project was voiced among the attendees and several
suggestions for the final published product were noted and forwarded
to Ed Picou. A hard copy of the overheads used in the Lunch Bunch are
available by contacting Garry Jones at 318-295-6438 (USA) or via
internet at olxegdj@region.unocal.com).
(8) Use the next IBCG meeting, currently scheduled for September 19,
1995 at Chevron Towers in Houston, as the official kickoff meeting of
the SEPM Ad Hoc Committee, to include Ed Picou and his Committee
members and invited consulting, government, academic, and museum
paleontologists; the purpose of the meeting willbe to outline the
Committee's goals, solicit the participation of key consultants and
other organizations, and create a specific action plan for achieving
those goals.
Other topics covered at the July 25 IBCG meeting included:
(1) Rich Lane reviewed 1995 goals of the IBCG; one goal set aside for
more discussion at the next meeting is the creation of an
international paleontological contractor registry, perhaps following
UNOCAL's existing spreadsheet format.
(2) General discussion on IBCG participation in upcoming society
meetings: GSA, AAPG, NAPC.
(3) Bob Fleisher updated progress on the Applied Paleontology Chapter
for the forthcoming AAPG Handbook of Oil and Gas Exploration:
individual sections have gone to the editor for final rewriting and
illustrations are being drafted.
Partial index: