Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Michael Gardner

I am a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, Central Energy Resources Science Center (CERSC) in Lakewood, Colorado. 

I am field geologist integrating tectonics and sedimentation in developing predictive geological rules that govern sedimentary systems. Since 1990, I have directed integrated outcrop and subsurface studies, first as a researcher at the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG), at the University of Texas at Austin (1990-1994), and later as tenured faculty at the Colorado School of Mines (1995-2005), and Montana State University, Bozeman (2005-2015). I founded and was the Principal Investigator of joint industry-academic research conducted by the Slope and Basin Consortium and Geological Analogs and Information Archive (GAIA) project. I was a principal in establishing and directing the initial research conducted by the Chevron Center of Research Excellence at the Colorado School of Mines. I have advised nineteen graduate students conducting field-based studies across the western U.S. and in Mexico, New Zealand, France, Italy, and Spain. I have delivered ten invited keynote presentations, received four best paper awards, and was the 2008-2009 AAPG Distinguished Lecturer. I have conducted presentations and short courses in eleven countries and published hundreds of papers, abstracts, reports and field guidebooks.

Honors and Awards

  • Fast-Track Tenure Appointment, Montana State University, September, 2006

  • Early Tenure Appointment, Colorado School of Mines, April, 2004

  • Best of AAPG Presentations, Denver Annual Meeting, 2001

  • PBS-SEPM Noon Luncheon Program, Best Paper Award, 1999-2000

  • AAPG Annual Meeting, SEPM Excellence of Oral Presentation, 1998

  • PBS-SEPM Noon Luncheon Program, Best Paper Award, 1996-1997

  • PBS-SEPM Noon Luncheon Program, Best Paper Award, 1995-1996

  • AAPG Annual Meeting, SEPM Best Paper Award Honorable Mention, 1996

  • West Texas Geological Society, Best Poster Award, 1992

  • AAPG, Grant in Aid of Research

  • SEPM, Donald L. Smith Research Grant

  • Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey, Student Research Grant

  • Sigma XI Grant in Aid of Research

  • Petroleum Research Fund Fellow

  • NAGT/USGS, Geology Field Camp Award

  • NROTC Scholarship

Science and Products

Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the Senegal Basin Province of northwest Africa, 2021

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 13,929 million (13.9 billion) barrels of oil and 193,721 billion (193.7 trillion) cubic feet of gas within the Senegal Basin Province of northwest Africa.
By
Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center

Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the Montana Thrust Belt Province, 2021

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 783 million barrels of conventional oil and 17,606 billion (17.6 trillion) cubic feet of conventional gas in the Montana Thrust Belt Province.
By
Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center

Assessment of undiscovered continuous oil resources in the Bakken and Three Forks Formations of the Williston Basin Province, North Dakota and Montana, 2021

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 4.3 billion barrels of oil and 4.9 trillion cubic feet of gas (associated) in the Bakken and Three Forks Formations of the Williston Basin Province, North Dakota and Montana.
By
Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center

Science and Products