2024 News
Legacy Cuttings and Data Donation from Ron Budros
September 20th, 2024
Ron Budros was a dedicated geologist in the Michigan oil and gas industry. He was an avid data collector and visited MGRRE often to examine cores and cuttings. Unfortunately, Ron died suddenly in May, 2023.
Ron was a generous donor to MGRRE in his lifetime and now through his estate. At his request, his family donated his collection of well data to MGRRE in September, 2024.
That collection includes cuttings, core chips, oil samples, and photographic images of cores. The cuttings collection alone represents 81 wells, largely from the Trenton/Black River formations.
MGRRE will use this collection in it’s current carbon storage research to better characterize the Trenton and Black River formations.
We have always known that data has more than one life. Ron knew this as well—that’s why he left the collection to MGRRE. This data will be used here in our research, education, and outreach, in ways that we cannot even imagine now. We are honored to archive this legacy collection.
Ron Budros Collection.
CCUS Workshop
May 14-15, 2024
We welcomed 40 people from other surveys, universities, governmental agencies and industry to a CCUS core workshop here at MGRRE May 14-15, 2024. More than 3300’ of core was available for examination and the team made several presentations about Michigan’s Carbon Systems. The main focus was on formations that can act as seals (confining systems) for underlying formations that can store CO2. Post-workshop evaluations showed that participants found the workshop to be well presented and useful. We thoroughly enjoyed presenting it.
WMU Students Examine and Describe Cores at MGRRE
March 2024
WMU’s students in Dr. Peter Voice’s structure class examined cores from the Arms 10, Dalrymple, Polarsky 1-12B, US 2 over Sturgeon River, M-35 over Carp River, and the Roe A-2 wells, because they illustrate faults and other structural features.
Michigan State University’s students from Dr. Susan Krans’ sedimentary/stratigraphy class visited MGRRE for a Saturday to examine and describe clastic cores from the American Chem 44 and 45 cores from Mason County. They had previously examined these weathered formations at the Grand Ledge outcrop.
Although these cored wells are within a few hundred feet of each other, they show some variability in sedimentary stacking patterns of facies that may represent lateral variability of depositional environments across this Pennsylvanian fluvial-deltaic plain.
Dr. Krans (fourth from right).
$2.25M AWARDED BY THE DEPT. OF ENERGY TO DR. AUTUMN HAAGSMA AND WMU'S ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
March 9th 2024
The Department of Energy awarded $2.25M to Dr. Autumn Haagsma, Director of MGRRE and Assistant MGS Director, together with WMU’s Engineering Department. This funding will support creating a system of direct air capture of carbon dioxide (CEAS) and then safely storing the captured carbon underground in Michigan’s ideally suited geological formations (CAS).
Opportunities to Learn More:
EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY GEOLOGY CLUB VISITS
Several members of the Geology Club from Eastern Michigan University came to examine cores and talk about subsurface geology with Bill Harrison. Some of our WMU Geology Club students enjoyed getting to know them too. They viewed cores from 3 wells: The deepest well drilled in the state of Michigan A potash core A well containing core from the Marshall Formation.
Geology Club.
SOMAT ENGINEERING DONATED SHALLOW BEDROCK CORES
the Detroit River Group.
INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHERS SAMPLE CORE AT MGRRE
MGRRE HOSTS GREAT LAKES GEOLOGIC MAPPING COALITION
January 24th and 25th, 2024
MGS/MGRRE welcomed 35 members of the Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition to hear each state give an update on their mapping, outreach, and drilling techniques. Members from Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin attended. They also examined examples of cores at MGRRE and in the Upper Peninsula.
