"The Who, What, Where, When, and Why? The Rare Earth Elements within the Mid-Continent US" 

Lunch 11:30

Presentation 12:00

Abstract:

Rare Earth Elements are the Superheroes of the elemental realm.  They all have special powers and when they combined with other materials can impart special enhancing qualities to these new compounds like super-magnetism, super-strength, super-heat resistance and energy absorption.   But, because of their large atomic diameters, they do not chemically play well with other smaller common atoms; meaning the “rare earths” do not concentrate to form big crystals and they are not good rock forming minerals and deposits.  We will explore where and why these elements are found; their general chemical attributes and global occurrences; hot versus cold generated REE accumulations; which compounds do react and combine to the REEs.  And lastly, why are there Rare Earth Elements found in the Midcontinent?  ANSWER: Concentration through geologic digestion. 

            Curtis Faulkner grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, spending most of his undergraduate and graduate college years studying and collecting Pennsylvanian age marine shale fossils, phosphate nodules, and mineral samples for university research.  In return for his fieldwork and sharing parts of his fossil collection with several university institutions, these professors would often share their knowledge and research results with Curtis, as well as providing him with some of the extra hands-on training to improve upon the overall research field collections and data.  Over the years, some of these professors as they retire from their work, would gift Curtis with parts of their personal equipment, data sets, literature and field notes to be preserved and passed on to the next generation of geoscientists.  Much time and effort has been spent going through these work notes and libraries; recording and checking the data for its accuracy, updating their data, merging and applying this information to make a comprehensive and standardized digital database that can be sorted by subject and location.  This data set includes well over 500+ fossil sites, analytical geochemistry results and 150 phosphate nodule locations that are currently being used as control points for the Heartland Rare Earth Exploration Mapping Project. 

Over the years, his personal, academic and corporate petroleum research subjects have involved, stratigraphy, biostratigraphy, hydrocarbon source rocks, black phosphatic shales, fossil preservations and fine-grained petroleum reservoirs.  Also, he has been involved in multiple publications and professional presentations on the above topics, as well as multiple geologic and professional fieldtrips in both the Lower Cretaceous of Texas and Oklahoma and the Pennsylvanian cyclothems of the Southern Mid-Continent.

            In 2016, his interests shifted back to studying the critical, strategic and Rare Earth Elements found within the Southern Mid-Continental US marine shales.  He has also provided insights into the redesigning of both handheld XRF and Laser Induced devices, suggesting tool modifications for improvements in measuring the Rare Earth Elements in the field.  Curtis has also spent time with the chemical engineers on the analytical testing for REEs, strategic and critical elements on fluorapatites and marine shales to help maximize reliable ppm measurements and extraction methods in the laboratory.  In late 2022, Curtis moved back to Tulsa, leaving the oil and gas industry exploration, and starting a new career in the mining and limestone aggregate industry with APAC (A CRH COMPANY) as a mining engineer.  Now, Curtis is living in the dream of digging big holes and collecting lots of rocks.