Charles R. Stelck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Richard Stelck OC, FRSC, PhD (born 1917) is an award-winning Canadian 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. 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 (1941). He moved to California and obtained his PhD at Stanford University.
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[edit] 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. He discovered reef material while conducting geological research in a mountainous region near Norman Wells, Northwest Territories with a dog team. Most geologists were shocked by his findings as the theory of continental drift had yet to be proposed.
The next leap of discovery was to apply his knowledge to find if a reef had existed in Alberta. He worked with his students to develop an understanding of western Canada’s sedimentary basin and the Leduc oilfields. Many of his former students discovered oil, including; Doug Layer (Leduc No. 1), and Arne Rudolph Nielsen and Tony Mason (Pembina oil field-the largest pool of oil in Canada).
[edit] Accolades
- 1960, elected to the Royal Society of Canada
- 1972, awarded the Logan Medal by the Geological Association of Canada
- 1994, awarded the R. J. W. Douglas Medal by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists
- 1997, appointed Officer of the Order of Canada
- 2003, awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree by the University of Alberta
- 2005, inducted into the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame
[edit] Cited publications
- Stelck, C. R., 1950. Cenomanian-Albaian Forminifera of western Canada. Ph.D. School of Mineral Sciences (Geology), Stanford University, 207 pp.
[edit] References
- Biographies & Histories of Palynology
- University of Alberta Tribute
- University of Alberta Honorary degree
- Geology profs helped shape province's fortunes
- Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame
- Oil Industry Honours Pioneering Geologist
- ‘’The Roughneck’’- Inductees to Hall of Fame
