Petroleum Geology Reference System (PGREF)--A Computerized Bibliographic Reference System for Research and Exploration Applications

R. C. Obuch, K. I. Takahashi, T. S. Dyman, D. L. Gautier, H. Y. Colburn

The Petroleum Geology Reference System (PGREF) is a relational data base that contains more than 3,300 citations representing reports, abstracts, and maps published between 1972 and the present by the Branch of Petroleum Geology, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). (Use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the USGS.) PGREF is very specialized, easy to use, and useful for a wide variety of petroleum research and exploration applications.

PGREF includes three components: Digital Equipment Corporation's DATATRIEVE data base software package, various Digital Command Language (DCL) command procedures (VAX 11-780 environment), and WPS-PLUS word processing software (Microvax-II environment). The data base component consists of bibliographic reference records which include locations of topical information, research project accounting, address of primary author, calendar date, and comment data that aid in tracking each manuscript through the USGS publication approval process. The DCL components are menu-driven command procedures that retrieve data elements from the data base and produce sorted lists of citations. The word-processing component (WPS-PLUS) produces camera-ready bibliographic references in USGS format. WPS-PLUS s ores only the bibliographic reference portion of the data base in a special list-processing format. PGREF is accessed by Branch of Petroleum Geology personnel using online, interactive data base queries. Data base retrievals include data collections by author, year of publication, and a phrase contained in the title or publication field.

The data base represents the scope of research in the branch, including studies about source rocks, reservoir rocks, enhanced oil recovery, and unconventional oil and gas resources; organic geochemistry; stratigraphy; petrology; seismic interpretation of U.S. basins; and resource assessment. System benefits include (1) publication or report-ready references; (2) online tracking of manuscripts during the approval and editing process; (3) ability to search for citations by subject and geographic location of subject; and (4) compilation and maintenance of references by year(s), author(s), and subjects(s).

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91022©1989 AAPG Annual Convention, April 23-26, 1989, San Antonio, Texas.