Best Mountain Geologist Article
Selected from the previous year’s Mountain Geologist papers, a jury comprised of past Mountain Geologist authors and editors, reviews the published papers and recognizes the top peer reviewed paper from the previous year.
Past Recipients
| YEAR | AUTHOR(S) |
TITLE |
| 1976 | Shelby J. Boardman | Geology of the Precambrian metamorphic rocks of the Salida Area, Chaffee County, Colorado |
| 1979 | Steven G. Fryberger | Eolian-fluvatile (continental) origin of ancient stratigraphic trap for petroleum in Weber Sandstone, Rangely Oil Field, Colorado |
| 1981 | Mark A. Sholes and Gary A. Cole | Depositional history and correlation problems of the Anderson-Dietz coal zone, southeastern Montana |
| 1982 | Romeo M. Flores and Stephen M. Tur | Characteristics of deltaic deposits in the Cretaceous Pierre Shale, Trinidad Sandstone, and Vermejo Formation, Raton Basin, Colorado |
| 1983 | W. Richard Moore | The nature of the Minnelusa-Opeche contact in the Halverson Field area, Powder River Basin, Wyoming |
| 1984 | Wallace R. Hansen | Post-Laramide tectonic history of the eastern Uinta Mountains, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming |
| 1985 | Robbie R. Gries | San Juan Sag: Cretaceous rocks in a volcanic-covered basin, south central Colorado |
| 1986 | Donald G. Hurst and James R. Steidtmann | Stratigraphy and tectonic significance of the Tunp Conglomerate in the Fossil Basin, southwest Wyoming |
| 1988 | Vincent Matthews III | Reinterpretations of the relations between the Keystone, Red Spring, Contact, and Cottonwood faults: Eastern Spring Mountains, Clark County, Nevada |
| 1989 | Tad M. Smith and Steven L. Dorobek | Dolomitization of the Devonian Jefferson Formation, south-central Montana |
| 1990 | Edward B. Coalson and Richard F. Inden | Geology and oil production of the Ervay (Phosphoria) reservoirs, eastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming |
| 1991 | Peter B. Flemings and Sheldon N. Nelson | Paleogeographic evolution of the latest Cretaceous and Paleocene Wind River Basin |
| 1992 | Andrew E. Malone and Lee J. Suttner | Deposition of the Morrison Formation (Jurassic), northern Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana with evidence against recurrent movement along the Willow Creek Fault Zone |
| 1993 | John Dolson, Joe Piombino, Mark Franklin, and Robert Harwood | Devonian oil in Mississippian and Mesozoic reservoirs--unconformity controls on migration and accumulation, Sweetgrass Arch, Montana |
| 1994 | Thomas S. Ahlbrandt, Donald L. Gautier, and Talat A. Bader | Low-angle eolian deposits in coastal settings: significant Rocky Mountain exploration targets |
| 1995 | James P. Rogers, Mark W. Longman, and R. Michael Lloyd | Spiculitic chert reservoirs in Glick Field, south-central Kansas |
| 1996 | Peter W. Huntoon | Large-basin ground water circulation and paleo-reconstruction of circulation leading to uranium mineralization in Grand Canyon breccia pipes, Arizona |
| 1997 | Roger Tyler, William R. Kaiser, Andrew R. Scott, and Douglas S. Hamilton | The potential for coalbed gas exploration and production in the greater Green River Basin, southwest Wyoming and northwest Colorado |
| 1998 | Mark W. Longman, Barbara A. Luneau, and Susan M. Landon | Nature and distribution of Niobrara lithologies in the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of the Rocky Mountain Region |
| 1999 | Per Kent Pedersen and Ron Steel | Sequence stratigraphy and alluvial architecture of the Upper Cretaceous Ericson Sandstone, Glades-Clay Basin Area, Wyoming/Utah border |
| 2000 | John C. Osmond | West Willow Creek Field: first productive lacustrine stromatolite mound in the Eocene Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah |
| 2001 | Robert M. Kirkham, Randall K. Streufert, James R. Budahn, Michael J. Kunk, and William J. Perry | Late Cenozoic regional collapse due to evaporite flow and dissolution in the Carbondale collapse center, west-central Colorado |
| 2002 | Philip H. Nelson | A Review of the multiwell experiment in tight gas sandstones of the Mesaverde Group, Piceance Basin, Colorado |
| 2003 | William S. Elliott, Jr., Bruce J. Douglas, and Lee Suttner | Structural control on Quaternary and Tertiary sedimentation in the Harrison Basin, Madison County, Montana |
| 2004 | Laura N.R. Roberts, Michael D. Lewan, and Thomas M. Finn | Timing of oil and gas generation of petroleum systems in the southwestern Wyoming province |
| 2005 | Rex D. Cole and Stephen P. Cumella | Sand-body architecture in the lower Williams Fork Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Coal Canyon, Colorado with comparison to the Piceance Basin subsurface |
| 2006 | Edward J. (Ned) Sterne | Stacked, "evolved" triangle zones along the southeastern flank of the Colorado Front Range |
| 2007 | Russell F. Dubiel | Sequence stratigraphy applied to the oil and gas assessment of the Lewis Shale Total Petroleum System |
| 2008 | Katherine D. Moore, Gerilyn S. Soreghan, and Dustin E. Sweet | Stratigraphic and structural relations in the proximal Cutler Formation of the Paradox Basin: Implications for timing of movement on the Uncompahgre Front |
| 2009 | Mark Kirschbaum, E.A. Merewether, and Steven M. Condon | Stratigraphy and age of the Frontier Formation and associated rocks, central and southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming--surface to subsurface correlation |
| 2010 | Hongjun Luo and Dag Nummedal | Late Cretaceous stratigraphy and tectonics across southwestern Wyoming |
| 2011 | Steven S. Sibray | White River Group paleosols as source rocks for uranium mineralization in western Nebraska |
| 2012 | Darrin Burton, Bobby Sullivan, and Steve D. Adams | Quantifying low net:gross, fluvial-lacustrine reservoirs using proportional tops and zonation: Green River Formation, Monument Butte Field, Utah |
| 2013 | Debra K. Higley | 4D petroleum system model of the Mississippian System in the Anadarko Basin province, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado, U.S.A. |
| 2014 | Craig A. Kaser and Stephen A. Sonnenberg | The Graneros-Greenhorn petroleum system: greater Wattenberg area, Denver Basin, Colorado |
| 2015 | Kurt W. Rudolph, William J. Devlin, and Jeff P. Crabuagh | Upper Cretaceous sequence stratigraphy of the Rock Springs uplift, Wyoming |
| 2016 | Sebastien Blanchard, Tracy D. Frank, and Christopher R. Fielding | Dolomitization of supratidal to shallow-marine carbonates in the Pennsylvanian successions of the Wyoming shelf |
| 2017 | Ronald C. Johnson, Justin E. Birdwell, and Paul G. Lillis | Stratigraphic intervals for oil and tar sands deposits in the Uinta Basin, Utah |
| 2018 | Donna S. Anderson and Mark W. Longman | Subsurface reinterpretation of Ordovician and Devonian strata in southwest Wyoming with implications for upwarping across the Transcontinental Arch |
| 2019 | David Gonzales | New constraints on the timing and history of breccia dikes in the western San Juan Mountains, southwestern Colorado |
| 2020 | Kyle A. Bracken | Mechanical stratigraphy and layer-bound normal faulting in the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation, Wattenberg Field, Colorado |
| 2021 | Mark W. Longman, Virginia A. Gent, and James W. Hagadorn | Sedimentology, petrography, and deposition of the Upper Cretaceous Codell Sandstone in the Denver Basin |
| 2022 | Timothy o. Nesheim and Chioma J. Onwumelu | Preliminary identification and evaluation of petroleum source beds within the Mississippian Madison Group: A step toward redefining the Madison Petroleum System of the Williston Basin |
| 2023 | Charl D. Cilliers, Ryan T. Tucker, William J. Freimuth, Kyla A. Beguesse, Lindsay E. Zanno | Geological assessments of Turonian - Coniacian terrestrial sedimention records during climatic recovery, Moreno Hill Formation, Zuni Basin |