Field Trips

Title: The Monterey Petroleum System of the Salinas Basin

Date/Time: Monday- April 11, 2026 / 7:00am-7:00pm (depart and return from/to Double Tree)

Description: This field trip focuses on the essential elements and processes of the Monterey petroleum system in the Salinas Basin through exposures of source rock, reservoir rock, seal rock, overburden rock, fault and fracture migration pathways, and petroleum occurrences in a natural laboratory. The two time-based processes of petroleum systems (trap formation and generation-migration-accumulation) are discussed throughout the field trip with particular emphasis on the critical nature of the relative timing of each. This trip is suitable for geoscientists of all "stripes" and experience levels.

Leader(s): Allegra Hosford Scheirer (others TBD)

Bio(s): Allegra Hosford Scheirer is a geoscientist focused principally on natural hydrogen exploration and petroleum systems. With experience spanning government (USGS), academia (Stanford University), and industry, her work focuses on unraveling the fundamentals of rock-fluid interactions to optimize exploration activities and de-risk energy investments. Allegra brings strategic leadership to petroleum exploration in Alaska as an independent director of Pantheon Resources. Her geophysics degrees are from Brown University (B.S.) and MIT (Ph.D.).

Title: San Joaquin Basin Oil Fields, West and South Sides

Date/Time: Sunday- April 12, 2026 / 8:00am-4:00pm (depart and return from/to Double Tree)

Description: Field trip will focus on the basic petroleum geology of the fields: structure, stratigraphy, reservoirs, and production. Plus exploration possibilities within the fields and outside the fields along the west and south sides of the San Joaquin basin.

Leader(s): Thom Davis, Greg Gordon, Yannick Wirtz, and Geoff Gallant

Bio(s): Thom Davis, CA PG #4171 at Thomas L Davis Geologist, PhD UCSB; Yannick Wirtz, Geologist at Earth Science Consultants, MS CSULB; Greg Gordon, Geologist at CRC, PhD Mines; Geoff Gallant, Geologist at Thomas L  Davis PhD Geologist, MS USC.