Earth and Environmental Science

For the past several years a student from Acadia has participated on the Petroleum Geoscience Field Methods course, organized by Dr. Grant Wach (Dalhousie University Earth Sciences), and partially sponsored by the Nova Scotia Dept of Energy. This year, Luke Marshall, a third-year Geology major visited Trinidad to learn more about the petroleum industry.

The Petroleum Geoscience Field Methods course led by Dr. Grant Wach of Dalhousie University embarked on an annual field trip to Trinidad during Study Break 2010 to study the petroleum systems of the Trinidad basins fed by the Caroni Delta. The trip was mainly sponsored by Nova Scotia Department of Energy and Shell, with supporting funding from Petrotrin, BP T&T, Imperial Oil, Ten Degrees North, and comprised of ten students from Dalhousie University, and one student from each of Acadia, St. Mary's, and St. Francis Xavier Universities.  Trinidad has been active in oil and gas exploration/production for nearly a century.  Areas of study included: oil seeps, exposed oil reservoirs, the Pitch Lake, mud volcanoes, offshore drill cores, and deltaic depositional outcrops containing linked delta top, delta front and prodelta facies successions.  These outcrops are analogous to the basins offshore Nova Scotia and provide an invaluable resource for students to conduct basin/reservoir research. 

[Click on images for larger versions.]

	The Caroni Delta Tour, depth sounding the channel morphology. Photo credit: Anne Belanger
Cedros Bay Deltaic Outcrop, Photo Credit: Christian Rafuse
	Cedros Bay Group Shot. Photo Credit: Grant Wach (self timer)
Cedros Bay deltaic outcrop, Photo credit: Christian Rafuse.
	Luke poking a mud volcano, Photo: Anne Belanger
Studying outcrop stratigraphy, Mayaro Beach Photo credit: Christian Rafuse.
	Treading carefully on the banks of Pitch Lake Photo credit: Kurtis Ball.
Standing on San Fernando Hill, just above K-T boundary. Photo credit: Anne Belanger
	Sandal burn - British Petroleum guest house, ouch, forgot to apply sunscreen to my feet. Photo credit: Anne Belanger.
Taping at Stollmeyers Oilsands Quarry with natural oil seep/stream running through. Photo credit: Anne Belanger.
	Group Shot at Mayaro Beach (sunrise) with our tremendous driver. Photo: Christian Rafuse