UW Students Complete Geologic Systems Field Course in Moab for Energy Interpretation

Students at the University of Wyoming recently completed a one-credit field course in Moab, Utah, to study rock formations that are direct analogs to those being explored for carbon management in Wyoming.

Open to all UW students and led by Autumn Eakin, assistant director of the Center for Economic Geology Research (CEGR) in the School of Energy Resources (SER), the course focused on understanding the geological properties of sedimentary rock layers that could potentially store vast amounts of captured carbon dioxide.

The Moab region offers exceptional exposures of rock units that share similar age and depositional settings with key formations found deep in the subsurface across Wyoming. UW researchers and industry partners are investigating these formations for their suitability as storage reservoirs.

“Field geology provides the foundation for observational and applied learning, helping us connect what we can directly observe with what we must infer in the subsurface,” Eakin says. “Outcrop scale and continuity give us a unique window into natural systems and processes.”

Over the course of five days, students in the energy resources management and development (ERMD) degree program in SER, as well as graduate students from the Department of Geology and Geophysics, were challenged to consider how fluids move through the subsurface and what happens when they encounter a barrier.

In addition to the practical ability to visualize precisely how fluids move in connected or compartmentalized hydraulic systems, students in the course learned to identify and evaluate different barriers to fluid flow, whether these are structural discontinuities, such as a fault, or features related to the stratigraphic architecture, such as depositional facies changes or a change in rock type.

The course offered distinct and significant benefits for both demographics of students.

For the aspiring land students, the field experience provided a vital, practical understanding of subsurface reservoir geology, which is essential for determining mineral rights, assessing lease viability, and negotiating surface and subsurface access for carbon sequestration projects.

Geology students, on the other hand, benefited from applying advanced theoretical knowledge to real-world, accessible analog outcrops, allowing them to better assess subsurface uncertainties in geologic modeling.

“I had a great time on SER’s recent field course,” says Austin Quillinan, a junior from Laramie in the ERMD program with a concentration in professional land management as well as environment and natural resources through Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. “As a landman student, getting a dedicated education in physical rock and structural geology was a huge benefit. Professor Eakin did an excellent job of taking us to places that significantly aided our understanding of hydrocarbon reservoirs and fault systems above the surface.”

Jack McKinley, a senior from Oxford, Ohio, in the ERMD program with a concentration in energy and environmental systems, shares a similar experience.

“I had a fantastic time during the field course in Moab,” McKinley says. “Professor Eakin provided a great introduction to fault seal analysis and showed how studying surface geology can help us understand subsurface geology in other regions. It was the perfect balance of learning, exploration and fun.”

The practical field study significantly enhanced the students’ ability to assess and mitigate geological risk associated with carbon management, as well as in oil and gas exploration and mineral development.

“It’s so exciting and rewarding to teach about natural systems in natural settings,” Eakin adds. “Exploring these systems ‘in the wild’ gives students a chance to think big picture, to make connections between what we can see at outcrop scale versus what we cannot see in the subsurface, and, hopefully, will inspire them to continue learning and exploring.”