What is the Slope and Basin Consortium?

The Slope and Basin Consortium (SBC) is a non-profit, proprietary research program dedicated to the study, assimilation, and dissemination of scientific data on deep-marine sedimentary rocks. Since its inception in 1995 at the Colorado School of Mines, this outcrop-based research program has been funded by a consortium of energy companies that support five separate but integrated projects. Under the direction of Dr. Mike Gardner, research began with outcrop studies focusing on the spectacular Permian Brushy Canyon Formation of the Delaware Basin, West Texas. This recently completed, eleven-year project is generally regarded as one of the best outcrop studies ever conducted on deep-water clastic systems. In 2005, the SBC moved to Montana State University where research continues.

Over the last 12 years, more than $6,000,000 has supported research across a range of topics including structural geology, paleontology, geochemistry, petrology, reservoir modeling, geostatistics, basin analysis, and seismic stratigraphy. Funding supports undergraduate through post-graduate doctoral earth science research, producing fourteen MS and three PhD theses to date. In addition to research, the SBC has published numerous papers, field guidebooks, abstracts, posters, and a comprehensive outcrop analog atlas of the unique Brushy Canyon Formation. The project has also developed new software for outcrop data analysis, and constructed 500 sedimentological profiles, 300 subsurface well logs, hundreds of kilometers of photo panels and cross sections, and a geologic map of chronostratigraphic units across the Guadalupe and Delaware Mountains of West Texas.

The Consortium Structure

MSU

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