Donald Van Nieuwenhuise - University of Houston
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Donald Van Nieuwenhuise

Donald Van Nieuwenhuise

Donald Van Nieuwenhuise

Curriculum Vitae pdf
Personal Faculty Website

Director, Petroleum Geoscience Programs
Instructional Professor, Petroleum Geology, Sequence Stratigraphy, Biostratigraphy, and Sedimentology

Ph. D., Geology, 1978, University of South Carolina, Columbia
M. S., Geology, 1977, University of Houston
B. S., Geology, 1972, University of South Carolina, Columbia

Office: 227 SR1
Office Hours: M/W 10:00a - 3:00p
Phone: (713) 743-3423
donvann@uh.edu

Research Interests

  • Stratigraphy and Biostratigraphy
  • Petroleum Geology and Reservoir Characterization
  • Terrigenous Clastic Depositional Systems and Sequence Stratigraphy

Biographical Information

Dr. Van Nieuwenhuise is currently Director of the Professional Geoscience Programs in the Department of Geosciences as well as Director of the Applied Sequence and Biostratigraphy Program. He is also a Research Associate Professor in the department as well as an Adjunct Professor in the Petroleum Engineering Program in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston. He frequently teaches Physical Geology, Petroleum Geology, Integrated Reservoir Characterization, Applied Biostratigraphy and other specialized topics is stratigraphy and sedimentology. His previous experience includes 18 years with AMOCO in stratigraphic research, stratigraphic applications, and management. His assignments included fields and prospects within the US and in over 40 other countries. Prior to joining the AMOCO Research Center in Tulsa, he was a geologist for MOBIL in New Orleans where he successfully drilled more than 15 exploration, production, and blow-out kill wells. While in New Orleans, he was also an adjunct professor in Petroleum Engineering at Tulane University where he taught Reservoir Characterization and Subsurface Methods. Prior to his stint in New Orleans he worked on Cretaceous through Recent stratigraphic problems of the US Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains with the USGS at the Smithsonian Institution.

Current and Recent Funded Research Projects

Texas Coastal Plain Biostratigraphy, Sequence Stratigraphy, and Reservoir Characterization

  1. New Biostratigraphic Markers for Onshore Paleogene Reservoir Identification and Characterization - Supplemental Grant, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, ATP, 5/31/05 through 7/26/2005, D.S. Van Nieuwenhuise Principal Investigator. Support of Renee Gjere, Thurogood Marshall High School.
  2. New Biostratigraphic Markers for Onshore Paleogene Reservoir Identification and Characterization - Supplemental Grant, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board ATP, 5/31/04 through 7/16/2004, D.S. Van Nieuwenhuise Principal Investigator. Support of Renee Gjere, Taylor High School.
  3. New Biostratigraphic Markers for Onshore Paleogene Reservoir Identification and Characterization, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, ATP, 1/1/04 through 12/31/2005, D.S. Van Nieuwenhuise Principal Investigator. With Renee Gjere, Sarah Jacobson, and Yomi Oyedele.
  4. Geology, Structure and Fluid Flow in the Vicinity of the South Liberty Salt Dome, Texas. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and other sources, R. Capuana Principal Investigator. Research by Tat Banga, R. Capuana, and D. S. Van Nieuwenhuise.
  5. South Texas Oil Well Paleogene Biostratigraphy, six wells provided 6/04 to present. D. S. Van Nieuwenhuise, biostratigraphy. With Renee Gjere, Sarah Jacobson, and Yomi Oyedele.
  6. Midway and K/T Boundary Core Analysis, Force Petroleum providing core samples, August 2004 to present. D. S. Van Nieuwenhuise, biostratigraphy.
  7. Bridge Foundation Core of Stone City Outcrop. Material provided by Texas A&M and Amoco. Summer 2002 to Present. With Renee Gjere, Sarah Jacobson, and Yomi Oyedele.

Deepwater Gulf of Mexico, High Resolution Sequence and Biostratigraphy

  1. Graphic Correlation and High-Resolution Stratigraphy of the AV153-1, AV63-1/ST1, AV63-1/ST2 Wells, AGIP Petroleum Company, 6/01/02-12/01/03, Principle Investigator: D.S. Van Nieuwenhuise. Foraminiferal evaluation and Graphic Correlation by D. Van Nieuwenhuise. Nannofossil evaluation and analysis by Eric DeKaenel
  2. Graphic Correlation and High-Resolution Stratigraphy of the AV63-3B3 Well, AGIP Petroleum Company, 6/01/02-12/01/03, Principle Investigator: D.S. Van Nieuwenhuise. Foraminiferal evaluation and Graphic Correlation by D. Van Nieuwenhuise. Nannofossil evaluation and analysis by Eric DeKaenel.

Texas Coastal Plain Biostratigraphic Database

  1. Texas Gulf Coast Biostratigraphic Well Database Project, U.S. Geological Survey, 3/31/04 Jerolyn Morrison and Don Van Nieuwenhuise
  2. Texas Gulf Coast Biostratigraphic Well Database Project, U.S. Geological Survey, Supplement 1 3/18/04 through 9/31/04; Jerolyn Morrison and Don Van Nieuwenhuise.
  3. Texas Gulf Coast Biostratigraphic Well Database Project, U.S. Geological Survey, Supplement 2 9/31/04 through 9/31/05; Jerolyn Morrison and Don Van Nieuwenhuise.

Selected Publications

  • Donald S. Van Nieuwenhuise, 2002. Defining High-Resolution Stratigraphy with Graphic Correlation and Composite Standards, Abs. AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas.
  • Banga, T., Regina M. Capuana, and Donald S. Van Nieuwenhuise, 2002. Fluid flow, stratigraphy and structure in the vicinity of South Liberty Salt Dome, Texas. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, Volume 52, p. 25-36.
  • Banga, T., R. M. Capuano, D. Van Nieuwenhuise, 2002, Coupled study on brine chemistry, stratigraphy and spatial analysis in and around capped salt domes in SE Texas: AAPG/SEG Student Expo, 2002. Corporate Sponsor Combined Abstract Volume, p11.
  • D.Nummedal,H.E.Clifton,V.S.Abreu,D.S. van Nieuwenhuise,A.Ortenzi, and others,2000. Sedimentology, stratigraphy, and age of the Lower and Middle Productive Series - Inferred from outcrops on the Apsheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan. Abs. Houston Geol.Soc.Intl
  • B.A. Tocher, D.S. Van Nieuwenhuise, J. A. Bergen, J.H. Gamber, I.Jarvis, I. M. Prince, P. J. Sikora, and J. A. Stein, 1995. The use of graphic correlation and palynology in the recognition of Late Cretaceous chalk events, North Sea; Norsk Petroleums-forening (NPF) Conference on Predictive High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy, p. 65.
  • D. S. Van Nieuwenhuise, 1995. Stratigraphic implications of calibrating Bathonian to Ryazanian maximum flooding surfaces to a regional composite standard in the North Sea;(NPF) Conference on Predictive High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy, p. 30a - 30c.
  • D.S.Van Nieuwenhuise, 1994. Calibration of Jurassic maximum flooding surfaces to a regional composite standard in the North Sea. SEPM Research Conference, Graphic correlation and the Composite standard: the methods and their applications, p. 29.