By William R. Berg

Robert Raymond Berg, 82, of Bryan, Texas, died June 13, 2006. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended St. Paul schools, graduating from Central High School in 1942. From 1943 to 1946, Bob was a weather observer for the U.S. Army Air Corps in the western United States, Pacific, and Japan. After World War II, Bob earned his BA degree (1948) and Ph.D. (1951) in geology from the University of Minnesota.

Bob became interested in geology at the age of nine, when he collected fossils from outcrops along the Mississippi River and in old brick-clay quarries. That interest in geology continued after Bob graduated from high school, when he was employed in the mining industry in northern Minnesota in the summer following graduation. In the fall of 1942, he enrolled in the mining engineering program at the University of Minnesota (U of M). He left the university in early l943 to enter military service, and during the war he decided what he really wanted was to become an academic geologist, and to that end enrolled in the geology program at U of M in l946 after honorary discharge from the Army, Air Corps. He was a field assistant for the Minnesota Geological Survey during the summer of l947.

Bob's entry into academic geology was delayed for several years. After finishing his Ph.D., he was lured by an offer of a lucrative salary to take employment in Denver, Colorado, with the California Company (Chevron) in June l951. He was originally hired to conduct a somewhat academic stratigraphic study to establish regional microfossil zones in the Rocky Mountain region. However, he was drawn to oil exploration and was transferred to Casper, Wyoming, in January 1954. During this time, he discovered the Wind River Mountains in west-central Wyoming and became enamored of the area. In 1956, he supervised seismic crews for the California Company in the Wind River Basin and along the southwest flank of the Wind River Mountains in the Green River Basin.

He joined Cosden Petroleum in l957 and convinced its management to shoot several lines along the southwest flank of the mountains. No prospects were deployed, but the seismic surveys led to several field seasons of gravity surveys in the 1960s. The work provided the basis of the fold-thrust structural model that supports the Rocky Mountain foreland subthrust oil and gas play. The last of the gravity surveys was conducted in 1967, but final interpretation of the data was not completed until the early l980s by graduate students at Texas A&M University (TAMU). In l959, Bob became general partner with Edward B. Wasson in Embar Oil Company in Denver. From 1963 to l966, he was a partner in Berg and Wasson Consultants.

In l967, TAMU in College Station, Texas, recruited Bob as professor and head of the Geology Department. Early in his academic career at TAMU, he served as associate dean of the College of Geosciences. Then in 1972, he was appointed the first director of the TAMU Office of University Research, a position he held for 10 years. In addition to his administrative duties, he continued a full teaching schedule, advised graduate students, and conducted research. In 1982, Bob was awarded the Michel T. Halbouty Chair in Geology. He was the author of numerous (move than 70) research papers, journal articles, and a popular textbook, Reservoir Sandstones.

Bob received professional distinction as a scientific researcher, college administrator, and teacher. During his teaching career, he supervised the master's and doctoral research theses of 1l2 graduate students in petroleum geology. His love of teaching and concern for the welfare of his students were always paramount to him throughout his academic career. Although officially retired in l995, he continued as professor emeritus, and his last graduate student received his Ph.D. in December 2004. He continued to work until the summer of 2005, when health problem forced him to stop.

His major goal in teaching was to give students what they needed to know for professional practice. This goal included not only a sound background in geology and exploration geophysics but also some knowledge of engineering principles. He strongly believed that many aspects of reservoir engineering have direct application to understanding subsurface geology. Bob’s teaching philosophy was to combine the theoretical and the applied. He believed that courses should be based in theory as much as possible, and then the theory should be illustrated by real examples. His contention was that if learning is restricted to applications, the student can solve only old problems. By knowing theory, the student is better prepared to solve new problems.

Bob’s interests covered a wide range of topics in geology and included petroleum geology, sedimentology, and structural geology. He is best known for his contributions to petroleum geology. Much of the work was supported by major oil company grants, which in many cases were used to support graduate student research. Many projects involved reservoir characterization of sandstone reservoirs along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, the Permian Basin, and the San Joaquin Basin. Studies were conducted of the depositional environment of fluvial, deltaic, shelf, and basinal sandstones to define differences in reservoir properties for exploration and improved oil and gas recovery. The research resulted in more than 40 field studies.

One of the greatest contributions to come out of these reservoir studies was the turbidite exploration model that proved the existence of sandstone reservoirs in basinal systems that would otherwise be sand-poor, an important model as exploration ventured farther offshore. Hydrodynamic flow and its effects on oil accumulation were also major research subjects. Studies of stratigraphic and structural oil fields were conducted to determine the relative importance of capillary displacement pressures and flow of formation waters on the height of oil columns; areas included Paleozoic and Mesozoic reservoirs in the Rocky Mountain region. Another line of research involved predicting productivity in fractured reservoirs in the Texas Gulf Coast and studies of source rock maturity and its relation to well performance in the Austin Chalk reservoir. Other interests included studies in capillary trapping and fault seals in Tertiary sections of the Gulf of Mexico.

Honored by both TAMU and numerous professional societies, Bob received TAMU’s Distinguished Faculty Award in both research and teaching as well as the President’s Award of Honor. He was named an Honorary Member in the AAPG, the American Institute of Professional Geologists, the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, and the National Academy of Engineering. Distinguished for teaching, research, and service to his field and professional societies, Bob was awarded the Ben H. Parker Memorial Medal for Outstanding Service to the profession from the American Institute of Professional Geologists, the Sidney Powers Memorial Award from the AAPG, and was twice recognized at the University of Minnesota for Outstanding Achievement, most recently at their past and present awards celebration. He served as president of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (1966) and president of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (1971).

Distinguished Educator
American Association of Petroleum Geologists
November 2006 Bulletin

It is fascinating to observe Bob Berg meeting with a group of former students. The students surround him warmly, they laugh a lot, and they listen attentively when he speaks. They really love Bob, and it appears that they have attempted to emulate him throughout their careers. I believe such was Bob’s destiny when I first became acquainted with him when we were students in college.

My relationship with Bob dates back to 1946, when, after serving in the United States Army Air Corps during WWII, Bob returned to the University of Minnesota, where he proceeded to set the standard for the school’s Geology Department. It seemed as if he had already internalized knowledge that the rest of us were just beginning to acquire. His major advisor, W. C. Charlie Bell, became his role model and his dear friend. Bob was awarded his Ph. D. in 1951.

Bob began his professional career with the California Company, supervising exploration in both structural and stratigraphic plays in the Rocky Mountain area. In 1959, he formed the Embar Oil Company in Denver, Colorado, which both consulted and generated prospects for various oil companies. In 1967, Bob got his chance to fulfill a lifelong dream, placing a smile on his face, apparent to all who are close to him. Texas A&M University needed an enthusiastic scholar grounded in oil industry experience to head the Department of Geology. The resulting relationship could not have been more beneficial for either party. He has contributed abundantly to the common body of geological knowledge, concentrating on sedimentology and petroleum geology. His sedimentology studies have dealt with the origin of reservoir sandstones and reservoir characterization. His petroleum geology research has dealt with capillary trapping and hydrodynamics and its effect on accumulation and volume.

Bob was the first and most vocal proponent describing turbidite depositional environments, which others had defined as fluvial deltaic environments. The definition of such environments has been integral in the studies related to many plays around the world, but especially to the deep-water plays in the Gulf of Mexico and west Africa, which our industry is now enjoying.

Bob served as professor and head of the Department of Geology from 1967 to 1972. In addition to teaching, he served as associate dean of the College of Geosciences in 1972 and director of the Office of University Research from 1972 to l982. From 1982 until his retirement in 1995, Bob occupied the distinguished Michel T. Halbouty Chair in Geology, where he taught graduate-level courses. Since retirement, he has enthusiastically pursued his research and publishing from his A&M office.

Bob guided the research of 112 graduate students and has published, as a result of his research, more than 70 papers as well as a book, Reservoir Sandstones. The academic environment in geology at Texas A&M, for which Bob is largely responsible, has allowed him to flourish.

During Bob’s tenure with Texas A&M University, he taught many continuing education courses for American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and for various oil companies. These courses included presentations throughout the United States and in Canada, South America, Japan, Indonesia, and Kuwait. He also continued limited consulting for independent and major oil companies. Some of the assignments he has capably assumed at Texas A&M University include representative to the university's Corporation for Atmospheric Research, chairman of the Reactor Safety Board, representative to the Oakridge Associated Universities, and representative to the System Patent Committee. He has also served as a member of the Provost’s Long Range Planning Committee and as a counselor for the Texas A&M Research Foundation.

As a recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award, Bob leaves a large legacy. A&M's geology students all proclaim that his lectures and guidance were thoroughly organized, energetic, and presented in a most thought-provoking way - always flavored with his very dry sense of humor. His students point out how he never solved problems for them but always challenged them to solve the problems themselves. The principles learned from him were long-lasting and always applicable to the real world. Appropriately, a symposium was held at Texas A&M in 2000 to honor Bob, during which his former students presented papers based on insights gained from studies under their beloved professor.

Bob’s honors and awards from Texas A&M University and the industry are too lengthy to list, as are his awards and honors from professional organizations. The most significant of these are the Ben H. Parker Medal from the American Institute of Professional Geologists and the prestigious Sidney Powers Memorial Award from AAPG. In 1988, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. The accumulation of Bob’s many honors is unequaled, but his most satisfying awards surely came from the minds and hearts of his students and contemporaries in the form of admiration and appreciation. His accomplished career could not have been possible without the love of his wife, Jo, who always availed her husband of the support necessary to one so totally dedicated to his life’s work as was Bob.

Bob led a very challenging but satisfying life because devotion, excellence, and pragmatism, flavored with compassion and humor, were the hallmarks of his career. Surely he was the quintessential scientist and scholar.

Citation - Robert Berg’s influence as an educator will live on and in the lives and careers of his students, he will be remembered with respect and admiration by all of his contemporaries. Certainly such a mentor affects eternity! One cannot tell where his influence stops.