New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The synergy between the Fossil Fuel Industry and academia is not a static or linear exchange process.  The starts and stops in oil and gas exploration and the spurts of academic geologic knowledge form curves through time that are often intertwined and convoluted.  The interconnection between the two activities is undeniable and often manifests in unusual ways.  Academia searches for truth through knowledge gained primarily by research that is often spurred and aided by the accumulation of industry-generated data.  Oil and gas exploration is a search for commercial hydrocarbons by the application of truth through both its proprietary research and by availing itself of the knowledge gained from academia.  Both are invaluable assets to human knowledge and experience, and both would wither without the support, cooperation and access to the other’s scientific contributions.  An excellent example of these interactions is illustrated by the history of the search for commercial oil and gas in the Cretaceous rocks in the Rio Grande Rift in central New Mexico between 1952 and the present.  An example of industries contribution to the geologic database is the present exploration effort on the Zia Pueblo where new valuable structural and stratigraphic information has added to the geologic history of New Mexico and to the understanding of the tectonics involved in the Rio Grande Rift in this area.