Charles R. Stelck

Charles Richard Stelck, OC, FRSC (May 20, 1917 – May 14, 2016) was a Canadian award-winning petroleum geologist, paleontologist, stratigrapher, and emeritus professor. His research has yielded many large oil and gas finds in western Canada.

Stelck was born in Edmonton, Alberta.[1] As a teenager he worked on summer geological field parties.

With the help of a Tegler Scholarship, Stelck attended the University of Alberta. He switched into the geology program when his friend, Robert Folinsbee, convinced him that it was an exciting field. He obtained a BSc (1937) and a MSc degree (1941). He moved to California and obtained his PhD degree at Stanford University.

Career

In the early 1940s, he took a position at the University of Alberta. While there he hypothesized that coral reefs had once lived in what is now the Arctic. He further hypothesized that this would mean there would be oil there now. There has been speculation that his hypothesis was not a stretch given the fact that the Norman Wells had been discovered in the early 1920s and oil seeps had been reported along the river for centuries. The explanation was not yet clear, however, since the theory of continental drift had yet to be proposed.

Stelck observed reef material while conducting geological research in a mountainous region near Norman Wells, Northwest Territories with a dog team. The first recorded observation of these materials were made in 1914 by Dr. T.O. Bosworth, whose 69-page report on his expedition along the Mackenzie River led directly to the discovery of the Norman Wells oilfield.[2]

Stelck applied his knowledge to find if reefs had existed in Alberta. He worked with his students to develop an understanding of western Canada’s sedimentary basin and the Leduc oilfields, which demonstrated that Devonian reefs existed in Alberta and could make excellent reservoirs. Many of Stelck's former students were part of the gathering oil boom, including; Doug Layer (Leduc No. 1), and Arne Rudolph Nielsen and Tony Mason (Pembina oil field-the largest pool of oil in Canada).

Asteroid (187680) Stelck is named in his honour. He died on May 14, 2016 at the age of 98.[3]

Accolades

Cited publications

References

  1. ↑ Kieran Simpson (1986). Canadian who's who; Charles R. Stelck. University of Toronto Press. p. 1257. ISBN 0802046320.
  2. ↑ T.O. Bosworth, "Report on the prospect of obtaining oil in the region of the Mackenzie River, Great Slave Lake, Slave River and Athabasca River," 1914; document available at Glenbow Archives, Calgary
  3. ↑ http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/edmontonjournal/obituary.aspx?n=charles-richard-stelck&pid=180016630

External links

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