Arizona Geological Society
2026 Speaker Series
Tuesday, 3 February 2026 | 5:30 - 8:00 PM
Location: Hexagon Mining Division Office
40 East Congress Street, Suite 150, Tucson, Arizona 85701
Parking: On the street or parking garage (Old Pueblo Parking)
Social Hour - Sandwiches from Beyond Bread (5:30-6:20 PM MST), Presentation (6:25 PM MST)
AGS and SEG Publications will be available
for sale at Tuesday's meeting.
Will need cash or check (no credit cards
For those planning to attend the event, please register by 6:00 PM on Sunday, February 1, 2026
Live Stream URL Pending
The Arizona Geological Society thanks Hexagon
for generously providing the venue and drinks
Four Years Working the San Juan Basin & Four Corners Platform - What Analyzing Volatile Subsurface Fluids in Cuttings and Cores Taught Us about the Mesozoic and Paleozoic Plumbing and Seals for Petroleum System Analysis and Carbon Capture and Storage
by Christopher Smith, PhD., Senior Chemist
Advanced Hydrocarbon Stratigraphy
Abstract: Since 2021 Advanced Hydrocarbon Stratigraphy (AHS) in partnership with New Mexico Tech has analyzed legacy cuttings from multiple wells in the San Juan Basin (SJB) and Four Corners Platform (FCP); 4 and 3, respectively at time of writing, in addition to analysis of sealed and unsealed cuttings and core samples from the CarbonSAFE 1 well drilled in in the SJB in late 2022. This work was carried out first as part of NMT’s Department of Energy (DOE) Funded Fault Characterization Project (DE-FE0032064) which gathered data in support of NMT’s San Juan CarbonSAFE Phase III project (DE-FE0031890) and more recently as part of NMT’s Four Corners CarbonSAFE Phase III project (DE-FE0032242). The samples were analyzed using AHS’s Rock Volatiles Stratigraphy (RVS) technology with the goal of helping to assess the seals in SJB that are planned to make up the primary and secondary confining zones for the Jurassic storage complex as well as identify evidence of past subsurface fluid migration that may represent a risk for CO2 loss, including though features like fractures and faults that may not be immediately apparent through other techniques or datasets, especially prior to drilling. To do this RVS analyzes volatile subsurface fluids entrained in legacy/unpreserved rock samples using a specially built cryo-trap mass spectrometry (CT-MS) developed in house that allows for the analysis of 40+ compounds such as the C1-10 HCs, CO2, sulfides, and helium among others. In most of the studied wells the stratigraphic section analyzed was much larger than the Jurassic, frequently analysis would begin in the Cretaceous as high as the Upper Mancos to provide data on the Lower Mancos though Graneros (identified to serve as a secondary confining zone) and carry well below the base of the Jurassic into the lower Pennsylvanian and occasionally into and beyond the Mississippian.
Features like seals and compartments can be identified in the RVS data by events like build ups of helium below the feature, stepwise changes in absolute quantities of compounds like HCs and CO2, and/or changes in HC or sulfide composition. Evidence of past subsurface fluid migration can be observed through different HC ratios, especially the ratios of toluene to benzene (sensitive to oil migration) or by toluene to heptanes (sensitive to gas migration), and/or though low or heightened quantities of compounds, especially CO2 which can be sensitive to changes in reservoir pressure. While not a main goal of these projects, significant findings about the petroleum system in the FCP and SJB, beyond the Jurassic storage complex, were made to which has allowed to a new appreciation of the “plumbing” in portions of the SJB and the FCP and their likely interactions.
Findings from the past four years of work will be shared including those data that have positively contributed to the assessment of the primary confining zones in the Jurassic and the secondary confining zones in the Cretaceous and Triassic (including the ability of these seals to significantly impede CO2 vertically migrating up a fault on the FCP), unexpected findings relating to the lateral migration of HCs in some parts of the SJB that could impact activities in the Jurassic, and potential compartmentalization within the secondary injection zone target of the Bluff/Saltwash Morrison.
The RVS analysis of the HCs and associated compounds from the samples combined with the stratigraphic coverage and geographic dispersion of wells has also allowed for important observations and insights into the petroleum system of the SJB and FCP, beyond the Jurassic section of interest and especially in the lower Cretaceous and Paleozoic gas zones. Findings including the likely gas mediated migration of light condensate from the Ute to the Barker Domes explaining the presence of higher gravity condensate but lower GOR resource and different causes for the presence of HCs in the Jurassic will be discussed including evidence of multiple charges of gas condensate through lateral fractures and self sourcing from the Todilto will be discussed.
Bio: Christopher Smith has been a Senior Chemist with Advanced Hydrocarbon Stratigraphy (AHS) since January 2019 and moved to Midland in 2022 working on data analysis, instrumentation, client engagements, and business development. Most of his analysis work focuses on the Permian, the Anadarko and Arkoma basins in Oklahoma, the North Slope in Alaska, and the Marcellus. Since 2020 a significant portion of Christopher’s work has been geared toward expanding the uses of AHS’s unique patented technologies into non-traditional fields for AHS beyond oil and gas – these include successful engagements and projects with academia, government, and operators on subsurface studies in carbon capture and sequestration, helium exploration, and geothermal power. Additionally, he has pushed AHS to be involved in scientific studies on permafrost in the Artic and the paleo environment before, during, and after the Chicxulub impact. Prior to working for AHS, he received his PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Arizona with focuses on instrumentation, data analysis programing, spectroscopy, electrophysiology, surfactants, and surface modification chemistries. He also completed a MA in history at the University of Tulsa as a Henneke Research Fellow in 2012. He completed his undergraduate work cum laude in 2011 with degrees in chemistry, history, and biochemistry also from the University of Tulsa.
Hexagon Mining Division Office - 40 East Congress Street,
Suite 150, Tucson, Arizona 85701
