Digital Field Trip to the Central Nevada Thrust Belt

Alan K. Chamberlain, S. C. Hook, and Kenneth R. Frost

Hydrocarbon exploration in the Central Nevada Thrust Belt is still in its infancy. However, this thrust belt contains all the elements necessary for hydrocarbon accumulations: thick, organically-rich shales; reefs, regional unconformities, karst surfaces, porous sandstones, and extensive and pervasive fractures; anticlines tens of miles long by miles wide; thrust faults that juxtapose potential source and reservoir rocks; and oil seeps. Along a fairway from Las Vegas to Elko, for example, thick Mississippian shales contain 4-6% total organic carbon and are oil-prone and thermally mature.

This presentation from a laptop computer and LCD projector is a multimedia version of our October 12-14, 1995 field trip to document the hydrocarbon potential of the thrust belt in Clark, Lincoln, and Nye Counties. Outcrop images were recorded by a digital camera that has a resolution equivalent to a 14^prime computer screen; these images were then downloaded to the computer. All of the images were processed digitally on location to enhance picture quality and color contrast. Many were annotated on location with our observations, measurements, and interpretations. These field annotations are supplemented in this presentation by laboratory analyses. The presentation includes full-color, annotated outcrop images, sounds, and animations. The results show the viability of the new, inexpensive digital cameras to geologic field work in which a multimedia report, ready for presentation to management, can be generated in the field.

AAPG Search and Discover Article #91019©1996 AAPG Convention and Exhibition 19-22 May 1996, San Diego, California