Geologist to Share Story of Marcellus Shale

03/27/2012 

A noted geologist will explain the origin of the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation in the region that has made headlines lately, on Tuesday, March 27, at SUNY Cortland.

Charles Ver Straeten, a leading authority on the sedimentology and depositional models of Paleozoic strata of the Appalachian Foreland Basin, will speak at 7 p.m. in Sperry Center, Room 104. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The curator of stratigraphy and sedimentology at the New York State Museum in Albany, N.Y., Ver Straeten will present “Marcellus ‘Shale’: Dynamic Deposition in an Oxygen-poor Devonian Sea.”

“Dr. Ver Straeten ... brings a new insight on the geology of the Marcellus shale — the source of one of the largest untapped natural gas reserves known in North America and currently the subject of much debate as New York prepares regulations for its extraction,” said Christopher McRoberts, professor of geology at the College.

“Ver Straeten’s talk will not be addressing natural gas issues, but will focus on the geologic controls on the origin of this important geologic formation.”

The talk is sponsored by the Campus Artist and Lecture Series, the Geology Department and the Geology Club.

For more information, email McRoberts or call him at (607) 753-2925.