AAPG
EXPLORER
HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHT: Quietly going strong
In the Beginning: The Legends of Venezuela
By extension and through mentorship and writing, their impacts continue today.
Gustavo Coronel, one of the pioneer explorationists in Venezuela, wanted to make sure that their names, while now largely confined to the history books, are not forgotten by today’s oil finders.
Arriving in Venezuela in the early 1900s, a group of young geologists coordinated by Ralph Arnold made a remarkable regional survey of its petroleum prospects, delineating most of the oil regions in the country.
A second wave of geologists followed the Arnold Group, hired by the oil companies to conduct oil prospecting in the Maracaibo basin – among them, P. Christ, E. Kündig and H. Kugler.
Alfred Senn explored the state of Falcon, contributing to the zonation of Tertiary sediments with the use of foraminifera. Ralph Liddle produced the first geological map and stratigraphic chart of the country and in 1927 wrote his “Geology of Venezuela and Trinidad.”
In the 1930s the first Venezuelan geologists became active. First, Guillermo Zuloaga and Santiago E. Aguerrevere studied the stratigraphy of the Venezuelan northern mountain range.
In the mid-1930s Clemente Gonzalez de Juana arrived in Venezuela to work in the Quiriquire oilfield – but his major contribution was as a teacher. For three decades he became a beloved professor and mentor of dozens of Venezuelan geologists who studied at the Caracas Universidad Central de Venezuela, and with former students Juana M. Iturralde de Arozena and Xavier Piccard he wrote the “Geologia de Venezuela y de sus cuencas petrolíferas,” a most comprehensive work on the geology of Venezuela.
At that time Venezuela also was host to three exceptional micro-paleontologists:
- Pedro Bermudez was a Cuban scientist who built up a most complete collection of Caribbean microfossils, now in the hands of the Venezuelan government.
- Hans Bolli excelled in the study of microforaminifera and fossil pollen.
- R.M. Stainforth was a pioneer in the study of planktonic foraminifera as a tool for worldwide stratigraphic correlation.
Salvador was Spanish-born but received his geological degree in Caracas, while Rod was a Swiss geologist who did valuable work on the structural patterns of Western Venezuela (“Strike-slip faults of Western Venezuela”, AAPG BULLETIN, Vol. 40, March 1956).
I hold wonderful memories of Karl Dallmus, Konrad Habicht and Otto Renz, the first with Exxon and the other two with Shell.
I remember Dallmus as a great admirer of simple solutions to complex geological problems, always quoting Ocam’s razor. Otto Renz was an exceptional stratigrapher, notable for his knowledge of Cretaceous ammonites.
And Konrad Habicht was my dearest friend and mentor, an exceptional geologist and human being. He and his wife once traveled eight hours to my camp, in the middle of nowhere, to bring me a birthday cake.
I also admired the work of Venezuelan geologist Alirio Bellizia at the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons. Bellizia was not only a very prolific author but a superb organizer of geological and mining associations in the country.
During the 1950s and the 1960s I worked next to several excellent Venezuelan geologists: Jose Mendez, Gustavo Feo Codecido, Erimar Von der Osten, Jose Antonio Galavis and Hugo Velarde.
Geologist Anibal Martinez wrote his “Chronology of Venezuelan Oil” in 1969 and developed into an international expert on the terminology of petroleum reserves. Feo Codecido and I worked in the geology of the Gulf of Venezuela and Galavis and Velarde in the geology of the Orinoco belt.
During these years J. Myles Bowen (recipient of the AAPG Pioneer Award in 2011) arrived in Venezuela, doing work in the Perija region, near the Colombian border.
They are now relative old timers, from the “Pleistocene,” teaching to the new what they learned from the old.
That is good, because in Venezuela, the story of geology and exploration is far from finished.
CORONEL
KRAUSE
Tell us what you think
schoolsHi Gustavo,
ResponderEliminarWhile looking through your summary, I did not see the names of any MGO geologists, so I'd like to add the names of Hollis Hedberg and Gordon Young.
Thank You
John Reistroffer
Certainly two illustrious names,. I knew Gordon personally and shared with him the editing of the geological bulletin. I knew the work of the legendary Hollis D. Hedberg. I should not have missed them!
ResponderEliminarHi Gustavo,
ResponderEliminarJuan Chacin was certainly an outstanding geologist and executive for Mene Grande and later Meneven before and after nationalization.
Dr. Alcala Sucre was the first Venezuelan president for a major integrated oil company in Venezuela at a difficult time Just before nationalization.
John Reistroffer
Certainly, John. I never knew Juan as a geologist but already as an oil Executive. I have not found any geological work published by Juan, although I don't doubt he did geological work for Mene Grande.
ResponderEliminarLui Alcalá Sucre, was he a geologist? I thought he was a lawyer but I could be wrong.
I confess it is not easy to produce a summary of geologists working in Venezuela, as geologists, in less than 900 words.
I hope someone picks up the baton and runs with it! There re many more distinguished m=names I have not included.
Honrado de ver a mi abuelo en tan ilustre lista. Gracias!
ResponderEliminar