Book Out Soon! – 2nd Edition of Coal and Coalbed Gas

The 2nd edition of “Coal and Coalbed Gas: Future Directions and Opportunities” is in production and should be out in September of 2023 – this year!  As many of you know the first edition was published in 2014 by Dr Romeo Flores and the second edition is authored by Romeo again as well as Tim […]

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Wildfires in the Cretaceous!

Wildfires are in the news lately, but if you were in the Hailar Basin, Inner Mongolia during the Early Cretaceous (~100 million years ago) you’d find yourself in a lot of smoke! Even though it was tough times for vegetation, the palaeomires were able to accumulate incredible thicknesses of peat – enough to make 70 […]

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Carbon Accumulation and Loss in the Cretaceous

On the 7th of June, 9pm Brisbane, Australia time I’ll be giving an invited lecture on some of the palaeoclimate, palaeovegetation and palaeotectonic studies we’ve been doing in the Hailar Basin, Inner Mongolia, China. This is for The Society for Organic Petrology. Read the abstract for the talk below. It’s ONLINE and Open to All! […]

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The Passing of a Splendid Geologist: Chairul Nas

Dr Chairul Nas, one of the most well known geologists in Indonesia, passed away on the 18th of December 2022. Not only was Chairul a treasure trove of geological knowledge but he was also a stellar teacher, researcher and mentor. Those of you that attended the 2015 Annual Meeting of The Society for Organic Petrology […]

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Its ON! – – The 38th Annual Conference of The Society for Organic Petrology (TSOP) – ORGANICS IN THE GEOLOGICAL CYCLE

Abstracts have been submitted, short course arranged and we are ready to roll! It’s VIRTUAL and virtually free. Come join us: its only the price of TSOP membership for one year (that is, $US25 for professionals and $US15 for students). For more information check out the meeting website at: https://tsop.org/TSOP2022/index.html Between the 12th and 16th […]

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Coalbed Gas Resources of Mongolia – Cipher/AMEP/MRPAM/NGS finish assessment and hold workshops in Ulaanbaatar

Over the last seven months Cipher’s Experts have been working with Mongolian colleagues to assess the coalbed gas resources of Mongolia. The report was signed off just before the 30th of June, on time and to budget. The Australian Mongolian Extractives Program (AMEP – phase 2)/Australian Aid funded the work and our Mongolian team consisted […]

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MONGOLIA: DEEPLY GEOLOGICAL AND CULTURALLY INSPIRING

Culturally, it’s not Asia. And it’s not Europe. Although they were under the influence of Russia for decades, its definitely not that either.  Mongolia is quite simply unique.  I’ve been here for the last two weeks giving some workshops and taking some trips into the countryside; most notably west of Ulaanbaatar, into the center of […]

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UNDERSTANDING THE LATE CRETACEOUS GUADUAS FORMATION, COLOMBIA

Colombia is an utterly magical place and the geology is awe-inspiring. If you haven’t visited yet, make a booking. Today. Especially if you are a geologist. We’ve recently published a paper* on the Late Cretaceous (possibly Paleocene) Guaduas Formation in the Eastern Cordillera Basin. The formation is consistently organic–rich and coal beds are common and […]

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ANGIOSPERMS NOT YET MIRE PLANTS: NEW PAPER OUT

Excellent paper* just out by Alex Wheeler reconstructing palaeoclimate and palaeoecology in the Early Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia. Amazing what studying organics can tell you!!! I was lucky enough to work on this paper with him and co-authors Prof Jian Shen, Dr Marvin Moroeng,and Dr Jingjing Liu. We did the sampling of this back in […]

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ENERGY TRANSITION AND COAL BED METHANE IN MONGOLIA

Cipher Consulting has a few projects in Mongolia and because of this took part in the first annual donor coordination meeting, held virtually and hosted by the Australian Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The event took place on March 29, 2022, featuring two key presentations on the subject matter by the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority […]

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