Petroleum Seeps:​
A Natural Phenomenon with Significant Influence on History and Paleontology

Steve Mulqueen

March 13​
March 13, 10am - noon
Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center, 401 Tilting T Drive
Lecture is Free, Open to the Public

Petroleum seeps consist of the natural migration of crude oil, bitumen, asphaltum, gas, vapors and groundwater. They are truly one of nature’s great mysteries. In California there are several hundred general localities of petroleum seeps known to occur in at least 29 counties. Crude oil and gas are formed deep within the Earth’s crust from the alteration of organic-rich sediment by the action of heat, pressure and anaerobic bacteria. Petroleum becomes trapped in geologic structures or within porous rock units and is forced to the surface through a complex permeable pathway.


Steve will be discussing how petroleum forms, its complex journey to the surface and petroleum seeps’ unusual surface occurrences. Seeps can contain a paleontological bonanza, the most famous being those at Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles. Over 55 oil fields in California have been discovered by drilling alongside the natural surface occurrence of petroleum.


This lecture will dwell deep into the mysteries associated with natural petroleum seeps.


Steve Mulqueen:

Stephen Mulqueen is a geologist and active member of the MSSC and Ventura Gem & Mineral Society. In
1978, Steve earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology at Cal Poly Pomona. He began his career while
employed by American Borate Company at their Billie Borate Mine in Death Valley, CA.
From 1979 – 1982, Steve worked as a geologist at Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation’s solution mining
operations at Searles Lake near Trona, CA. Much of his career involved over 27 years with the State of
California, including employment with the Dept. of Conservation (Division of Oil & Gas) and later with the
California State Lands Commission.

One of his hobbies includes rockhounding, in search of unusual and rare rocks, minerals and fossils. Some of
his discoveries have been donated to college geology labs or used as grade school educational material.

He volunteers his free time conducting field trips, writing professional articles and presenting lectures. Steve

says his efforts at community outreach gives him the opportunity to share what he knows and enables him to
learn from other in the exchange of information. Steve is retired and currently resides in St. George, Utah.


​Thanks to our 2019-2020 Speakers

David M. Miller, Ph.D.
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Jack Horner
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Building a Dinosaur

Tom Demèrè
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William Stout
Dinosaurs, Penguins and Whales: Wildlife of Antarctica

Greg McDonald
Smilodon: The Iconic Sabre-Tooth

Jessie Atterholt
The Mysterious World of Vertebral Canals in Birds and Other Archosaurs

Geof Spaulding
The Pleistocene Ecosystems of the Desert West



​​Thanks to our 2018-2019 Speakers
​
Eric Ekdale 
Whales in the Digital Age: Using CT Imaging to unravel the mysteries of Baleen Whales

Lyndon Murray 
Introduction to ABDSP

Jenny Ross 
The Island of California: Is there a scientific explanation for the 17th century myth?

Ron Blakey, Jorge Ledesma, Monte Marshall and Pat Abbott
Geologic Change in Western North America Since the Age of Dinosaurs

Pat Abbott
Sturzstroms: Large Volume, High Velocity Killer Debris Flows
​

PLANTS

The presence of petrified wood scattered across the desert floor tells a vivid story of pre-historic woodlands in the distant past.

PALEOCLIMATE

The climatic and environmental story told by the rocks and fossils of the Park begins about 7 million years ago in the Miocene.

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VERTEBRATES

Discoveries from the fossil beds of the Anza-Borrego Desert have contributed to our understanding of the evolutionary history of  many vertebrate lineages.


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ROCKS

A look inside the rocks of Borrego. Bright colors identify the components of this plutonic rock.


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MAMMOTHS

The climatic and environmental story told by the rocks and fossils of the Park begins about 7 million years ago in the Miocene.

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INVERTEBRATES

Many of the species live today in the Gulf of California and a surprising number survive only in the Caribbean Sea.

STRATIGRAPHY

Forces originating in the relative motion between the Pacific and North American plates are tearing the southwestern edge of  North America apart.

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RECENT DISCOVERIES

A fossil bird beak found in the 1960s has recently been re-identified as belonging to a “terror bird" - family Phorusrhacidae.

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EVENTS


Plan to join us in October for our annual Open House, November for the start of our Certification Program, and at our monthly lectures from December to April.

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