GSTT Newsletter 16

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Newsletter
March 1992 No. 16

Editorial

The executive committee, mindful of the rapid development of new techniques in geology and of the urgent need for our members to keep abreast, and encouraged by the good response of the membership to the programmes run so far for the 1991-92 term, felt that an update on all our involvements would be of use to members at this time. This Newsletter (more of a bulletin really) is a departure from our more substantial publications in which papers on original work by members are published.
This new format will be used periodically at the discretion of the executive committee to provide members with a concise and timely update on technical sessions planned, field trips, conferences (both local and foreign) and other matters of interest to us all. We hope that this medium would have the support of members and all are encouraged to submit tit-bits of relevance to the Editor for inclusion in subsequent Newsletters. Many thanks to AMOCO for a generous contribution which they made towards the printing of the Newsletter.

FIELD TRIPS

Last year we unfortunately had to postpone a scheduled trip to Eastern Venezuela because of the poor response. This year with the cancellation of a totally different joint trip, led by our North American friends, we are once again in a good position to offer a field rip to the Eastern Venezuela Region, which as is generally understood, should provide us with an opportunity to study the history of basin development and source/reservoir formation in this area on macroscopic scale. This trip is being run in conjunction with our Venezuelan counterparts and is scheduled for May 8-10,1992. The estimated cost will be $2100 per person, not including a subsidy for financial GSTT members, which will be made from funds earmarked for the area of membership development. All interested persons are asked to book early with Azad khan.

A field trip to the Central Range of Trinidad is planned for March 29,1992. The trip will examine exposures of Pointe-a-Pierre Grit, among other interesting lithological units which are not well exposed in other parts of the island, but which are of interest to the petroleum geologists in particular. The trip leaders will be Clement Ramroop of Trintoc, assisted by John KeensDumas and Steve Geetan of Trintopec. This is not expected to be a show and tell as we all have some ideas on the potential and the prospectivity of the Northern Basin and the Central Range Formations and this would bethe forum to discuss and exchange ideas. Refreshments will be provided on this trip by corporate members Schlumberger Trinidad; to facilitate this arrangement participanis should contact Azad or Steve so that an approximate head count can be made.

The schedule of field trips for subsequent months is as follows
:June- Western part of the Northern Range
:July- Goudron and S.E.Coast

Circulars will be sent out when the dates are finalized to alert those of you who relish the opportunity for good outcrops, good conversation and good beer stops (and not necessarily in that order).

TECHNICAL SESSIONS
We have had two very infomative meetings so far for for 1992 and look forward to many more. The tentative schedule of presentations foe the next few onths is as follows:

March - LWD Formation Evaluation (by Matthew Carter)
April- Micropaleontology Research (by S. Radford)
May- Computer Oriented Geology; Methodology. (by Anthony Ramlackhan-singh)
June-Computer-Aided Exploration and Production (by Anthony Aming)
July- Local Case Studies in Engineering Geology (by Stanley Wharton)
August-Sub-Andean Basins (by Clement Ramroop)
September- The C-SAT Tool (by Schlumberger)
October- Simulation techniques in Engineering and Research (by Hubert Sukhu)
October- Panel Discussion

The schedule seems tight but last minute cancellations occasionally occur, so that members seeking an audience to present some aspect of their original work can still offer to make presentations, at short notice, to their GSTT friends and colleagues, by contacting Steve Geetan at Trintopec.

CONFERENCES

Thirteenth Caribbean Geological Conference will be held in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, from August 10 th-14th, 1992. This conference will focus on all aspects of Caribbean geology. Field trips are being run in the weeks before and after the conference. A call for papers has gone out, however, the closing date for receipt of abstracts has already past (Feb.28). Members with papers or poster presentations ready for submission should still apply in any of the technical session areas regional geology, stratigraphy, tectonics, structure & metamorphic, seismology and neotectonics, paleontology & biostratigraphy, paleobiology, paleomagnetic studies, geochronological dating, sedimentation, reefs, marine terrains, environmental & engineering geology, hydro-geology, petroleum & other fossil fuels, metallic & industrial minerals, history of geological investigations and geological education.

All correspondence should be sent to;
Dr. Jose A. Diaz Duque
General Chairman,
1 31h Carib. Geological Conf.
Comercial Mercadu S.A.
Calle 13 No.951, esq. 8,
Ciudad de La Habana, CH-12300
Cuba.
Telex: 512130 Mercadu CU
Fax:303582
Tel:300775 or 303582

The AAPG/SVG will be holding a joint International congress from March 14-17, 1993, in Caracas, Venezuela. We have a lot to say on the geology of the region and this is an excellent opportunity to get some of this data presented and published in an international periodical. A financial GSTT members who has a paper accepted for this conference will be selected to receive sponsorship of the cost of his attendance at the conference.

REPORT ON GSTT SHORT COURSE

The short course "Geology for Non-Geologists" was held at Trintoc Beaumont Hill Training Centre on February 11-13,1992. From our original goal of 20 participants, the course registration unexpectedly swelled to 38 persons, from 11 companies. Of interest is the fact that seven
(7) of the participating companies were or are currently corporate members of the GSTT and one additional company has since joined.

A brief opening ceremony on the first day featured short talks by Senator Dr. H. B. Kuarsingh, Elliston Welsh, representing the Ministry at Energy, and our President, Azad Khan.

The lecturers were Ed Sealy and H. Troy Rambarran, who undaunted by the unexpectedly large class size and cramped quarters were able to inject just the right amount of theory and practical knowledge and experience to keep the group involved and eager to learn more on this fascinating field.

The course notes will be reviewed by the Education Subcommittee with a view to tailoring them to form a workbook for future courses of this kind. Thanks are also due to Carol Telemaque whose notes were used extensively for shaping this short course.

SOCIAL EVENTS

The GSTT and the SPE will once again do battle on the sporting field come Saturday March 28,1992. We will be competing for one-day windball cricket supremacy, at the Trintoc field, in front of Human Resources, Pointe-a-Pierre.

Friends our honour is at stake. We have been defeated on the squash court by the SPE on several occasions. This is an opportunity for all able-bodied, stout hearted geologists and associates to come forward and secure a victory which will give the SPE nightmares for months to come.

All players can contact H. Billy Sukhu, at Trintoc Production Research Lab, Penal, or Azad khan, at Trintoc Geological Dept, Pointe-aPierre.

Our Annual Dinner/Dance and Installation Ceremony for the 1992-93 executive, will be held on Saturday, November 14, 1992, at the Hilton Hotel, PoS, so pencil-in that date on your calender.

FEATURE:MEMBERSHIP GROWTH AND SPREAD 1976-1991

From an initial meeting of twenty-two friends and colleagues, held on July 7,1976, at the Royal Hotel in San Fernando, the GSTT has grown to an organization of 273 recorded members. Six of the founding members have been elected to fill the Presidents seat over the years and, at a glance, nine of them have held or still hold top managerial positions in their respective companies and organizations. The chart shows our membership growth from that inauspicious beginning and the split among our various classes of membership. Our membership growth appears to have been steady over the years. However, a check on financial and "active" members does not paint such a rosy picture. Each new executive committee has as one of its goals to reach out and reactivate the "dormant" members, and this years committee is as keen as ever to see some old, familiar faces once again. Tell our membership subcommittee chairman, Clive Deokie Trintopec), what you would like to see happen in your GSTTand join us in making things happen.

The executive committee wishes to announce that the following persons and organizations have been accepted as members of the GSTT since the last Newsletter was published:
Associate Members
Tyrone Kalpee, Roopnarine Mungal, Oswald Seerattan, Robin Gopaulsingh and Vernon Dookie.
Student Members Camille Renwick.
Corporate Members
K. Persad & Associates, Exxon Trinidad Inc. and Quad Consulting Ltd.
Ordinary Members
Francis Inniss, Azad Baksh, Rosemary Ramkhelawan and Jeawan Bhagan.

PUBLICATIONS

The Transactions of the 2nd. Geological Conference of the Geological Society of Trinidad and Tobago, which contains nineteen papers and four field trip guides, is now available and can be purchased from the Treasurer, Kim Gillezeau, at Trintoc, Pointe-aPierre, for $75.00TT (add $5.00TT per copy for local mailing). All cheques should be made payable to The Geological Society of Trinidad & Tobago.

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