Mitch Harris is 'The Godfather of Carbonates'

摘要

On a field trip to the Bahamas in 1974, Paul M. "Mitch" Harris sat alongside his thesis adviser on a beach of the Joulters Cays, gazing at the white sand -the landscape lush with colors "not unlike an impressionist painting," Harris recalled. In that moment, his adviser, the world-class carbonate geologist Robert Ginsburg, changed the course of Harris' career when he suggested Harris scrap his plans for a doctorate on the recent geologic history of Florida Bay. "Florida Bay has been looked at already," Ginsburg said. "Look at this place. It's beautiful. Nobody has ever worked here, and it's a reservoir in the making." And so began a research career in carbonate rocks, which contain roughly half of the world's oil in limestone and dolomite. Harris' research - which started with the study of the sedimentology of the Joulters Cays ooid sand shoal on the Great Bahama Bank - has taken him to other exotic places like Kazakhstan, Russia, India, China and Brazil, as well as the Middle East and Europe, to sharpen the industry's understanding of carbonates. His extensive research on carbonates coupled with his globally renowned carbonate training programs for scientists of all ages and skill sets, have earned Harris this year's AAPG Sidney Powers Memorial Award.