About

Art Donovan is a Professor of the Practice at Texas A&M University in the Department of Geology and Geophysics. His primary research focus is applying Sequence stratigraphic concepts to explain and predict the distributions, thickness variations, and sweet spots of unconventional Source Rock and Tight Rock Reservoirs from basin- to field-scale. His work involves defining sequence boundaries and depositional sequences to understand sedimentary strata in terms of original deposition and subsequent preservation. Donovan's PhD research at the Colorado School of Mines in the early 1980s was among the pioneering efforts to apply sequence stratigraphic concepts to outcrops and the shallow subsurface. With over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, Donovan has worked extensively on conventional and unconventional reservoirs worldwide, including roles at ExxonMobil and BP. His contributions include conducting and managing sequence and seismic stratigraphic studies, developing and teaching related courses, and leading discipline efforts in exploration and R&D. Since retiring from BP in 2016 and joining TAMU as a full-time faculty member in 2017, Donovan has focused on studying unconventional plays, integrating stratigraphic and geochemical data from outcrops to better understand subsurface reservoirs, and exploring the Earth's climate change over geologic time, especially during the Cretaceous. He is also interested in utilizing drone imagery to capture large-scale geometries in outcrops, particularly from the Cretaceous of the Western interior of the U.S.

Research topics

• Geology
• Paleontology
• Geography
• Geochemistry
• Archaeology
• Geomorphology

Selected publications

• Far-field effects of Cordilleran deformation on the San Marcos Arch and Sabine area uplifts in the northern Gulf of Mexico Basin

  Geological Society of America eBooks · 2025-12-02

  book-chapterOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT The San Marcos Arch in Texas is a southeast-trending structural high that extends downdip from the Llano Uplift at the edge of the Paleozoic Laurentian continent. The arch was continually high from the Paleozoic to the present, but the greatest uplift and angular truncation occurred during the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Campanian), ca. 96–80 Ma, based on subsurface correlations tied to nannofossil biostratigraphy. Thin sedimentary intervals and shallower-water facies updip indicate that the San Marcos Arch and the Llano Uplift acted as a structural unit that formed an island or promontory in the Western Interior Seaway. The Sabine uplift in Louisiana is a north-south–trending crustal fragment south of the Paleozoic Ouachita suture, which also experienced greatest uplift and angular truncation during the Late Cretaceous, ca. 96–90 Ma. Neither feature is associated with the formation of the Gulf of Mexico, as uplift occurred long after the extensional formation of the Gulf of Mexico and without large sediment loads to cause flexure. Further, both features are at high angles to extensional features in the Gulf of Mexico. Rather, the timing of uplift, ca. 100–80 Ma, is consistent with the initiation of significant contractional deformation in the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt to the west and collision of the Guerrero terrane and Insular superterrane with the southwestern paleomargin of North America. Uplift of the San Marcos and Sabine area arches is interpreted to be the result of lithospheric folding caused by end loading from subduction and terrane collision. The end load transmitted stress from the U.S. and Mexican portions of the North American Cordillera and reactivated pre-existing structures far from the western margin of the Laurentian continent.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Geochemical mudstone study of Late Pennsylvanian to early Permian strata in the southern margin of the Delaware Basin (Wolf Camp Hills, Texas) and its depositional implications

  Journal of Sedimentary Research · 2025-09-19

  article

  Abstract The Wolf Camp Hills outcrops along the southern margin of the Permian Basin expose mudstone beds coeval with the subsurface Late Pennsylvanian to early Permian reservoirs in the Delaware Basin. This paper uses X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction mineralogy (XRD), principal component analyses (PCAs) of elemental data, and textural variability in mudstone and siltstone strata from a composite stratigraphic section 234 m (768 ft) thick in the Wolf Camp Hills outcrops to characterize and differentiate these mudstone-rich units and infer changes in depositional conditions. Geochemical analyses from these outcrops indicate distinct compositional differences between Late Pennsylvanian (Cisco Group) mudstone beds and lower Permian (lower Wolfcamp) mudstone beds. These variations are controlled by influx and maturity of the siliciclastic sediment, biogenic input, changes in depositional settings, and sea-level variability. Mudstone strata from the Upper Pennsylvanian Cisco Group are mostly quartz-rich, with moderate feldspar content, have high Zr/Al and Zr/Rb ratios, and have low to absent total organic carbon (TOC), and often they are interbedded with sandstone beds. These characteristics indicate that during the Late Pennsylvanian, siliceous mudstone beds at this locality were deposited under oxygenated conditions, during periods of increased weathering and low sea level. Lower Wolfcamp mudstone units are predominantly siliceous and mixed siliceous to carbonate. The source of silica is from extra-basinal siliceous grains and biogenic siliceous grains. Lower Wolfcamp mudstone strata in this area were deposited in slope to basinal settings, with strong siliciclastic input, recorded by its high Rb/Al ratio, moderate mica content, and common silt-size siliciclastic grains. The lower Wolfcamp mudstone beds contain up to 1.1 wt.% TOC, and excess silica is present within the transgressive system. The low to fair TOC, high Rb/Al ratio, textural character, and lack of covariance between trace elements and TOC of the lower Wolfcamp mudstone beds at this locality indicate that they were deposited under oxic to suboxic conditions. We interpret that organic matter (likely mixed terrestrial and marine) was partially diluted by high sediment input during deposition. The results of this study offer a valuable chemostratigraphic record that can be tied to subsurface wells and cores in the southern Permian Basin and improve stratigraphic correlations of the coeval hydrocarbon reservoirs. It also helps to obtain a better understanding of these units to improve paleogeographic reconstructions of this region.

  PublisherDOI

• A Sequence Stratigraphic Perspective of the OAE2 in the Denver Basin

  Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2025-01-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• An integrated chemostratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic analysis of extended (>1000 ft) lower Permian Wolfcamp cores, Reagan County, southern Midland Basin

  AAPG Bulletin · 2023 · 3 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Geology
  • Paleontology

  Abstract Two cores of more than 1000 ft (300 m) of lower Permian (Wolfcampian) strata from Midland Basin, Texas were described bed by bed to establish an integrated lithostratigraphic, chemostratigraphic, and sequence stratigraphic framework. Ten lithofacies, where mudstones were defined as being finer than coarse silt in size, include (1) dolostone, (2) floatstone, (3) graded skeletal grainstone, (4) graded skeletal wackestone and packstone, (5) graded calcisiltstone, (6) siliceous siltstone, (7) carbonate mudstone, (8) mixed siliceous–carbonate mudstone, (9) siliceous mudstone, and (10) argillaceous mudstone. Using this framework, in conjunction with significant stratigraphic surfaces, four depositional sequences were identified and correlated between the two cores. Each sequence transitions up section from carbonate-rich intervals interpreted as lowstand deposits upward into siliceous mudstone beds where the dominant source of silica is biogenic, interpreted as pelagic-transgressive to highstand deposits. This differs from the traditional deep-water reciprocal sedimentation model where quartz-rich strata are interpreted as lowstand deposits, and carbonate-rich strata are interpreted as transgressive to highstand deposits.

  PublisherDOI

• Geochemical Mudstone Analysis of Late Pennsylvanian to Early Permian Strata in the Southern Margin of the Delaware Basin (Wolfcamp Hills, Glass Mountains, Texas) and its Depositional Implications

  2023 · 1 citations

  • Geology
  • Paleontology
  • Archaeology
  PublisherDOI

• FAR FIELD EFFECTS OF CORDILLERAN TECTONICS ON THE SAN MARCOS ARCH IN SOUTH AND CENTRAL TEXAS DURING THE UPPER CRETACEOUS

  Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2023-01-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Facies and architectures of Early Permian slope channel systems in the Glass Mountains of the Southern Delaware Basin, West Texas

  Second International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy · 2022-08-15

  articleSenior author

  Coarse-grained strata of the Early Permian Skinner Ranch Formation (Artinskian and Kungurian) are exposed in outcrop across the Glass Mountains in Brewster County, West Texas. The study area in the Lenox Hills preserves highstand to lowstand carbonate-siliciclastic conglomeratic beds alternating with transgressive mudstone-rich shale intervals. This study determines the architecture of the conglomeratic units using Drone Photogrammetry. These units in outcrop provide a unique window into the evolution of local basin margin depositional environments and their sediment dispersal patterns during the Early Permian.

  PublisherDOI

• Regional sequence stratigraphy and biostratigraphic correlations of the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk in south and central Texas: Insights into the evolution of the San Marcos Arch

  Second International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy · 2022-08-15

  articleSenior author

  Although there is an extensive literature on the Austin Chalk, papers and theses cover portions of the study area or emphasize specific aspects, such as microfacies, paleontology, or geomechanical properties (Cooper et al., 2020; Dravis, 1980; Durham and Hall, 1991; Ewing, 2013; Jiang, 1989; Loucks et al., 2020a; Loucks et al., 2020b; Lundquist, 2015; Young and Woodruff, 1985; Zahm, 2020). The Austin Chalk lacks a regional sequence stratigraphic synthesis that provides a consistent chrono-stratigraphic framework across south and central Texas. The existing stratigraphic nomenclature differs between the outcrop and subsurface, and between the major producing fields on either side of the San Marcos Arch (Cooper et al., 2020; Durham and Hall, 1991; Ewing, 2013; Maranto, 2017; Young and Woodruff, 1985). In this study, detailed sequence stratigraphic correlations of the Austin Chalk indicate the presence of five depositional sequences. Isochore maps of these sequences show the sequential westward movement of the axis of the San Marcos Arch during Austin Chalk deposition. Cretaceous pelagic chalks extend from the Western Interior Seaway, through the Gulf Coast, and across the Atlantic. The Late Turonian-Early Campanian Austin Group in south and central Texas is unique in North America, due to the high proportion of clean carbonate and the wide range of depositional water depths, from shallow water around the Llano Uplift to deep water in the Gulf of Mexico. The Austin Chalk is also of economic importance in that it has produced 1.3 BO and 6 TCF since 1935, mainly as an unconventional fractured chalk play (Enverus_Drillinginfo, 2022).

  PublisherDOI

• Insights into the presence, distribution, thickness, and duration of the CTBE, due to erosion by an Early Turonian sequence boundary across Texas

  Second International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy · 2022-08-15

  article1st authorCorresponding

  At the Bouldin Creek outcrop locality near Austin, Texas, an Early Turonian unconformity was defined, and its associated 2 million year hiatus documented using ID-TIMS U/PB dating of zircons. The hiatus explains why the positive carbon isotope (δC13) excursion, typically associated with the Cenomanian/Turonian Boundary Event (CTBE), is absent at this locality.

  PublisherDOI

• ORGANIC-RICH MUDSTONE DEPOSITED UNDER SHALLOW-WATER ANOXIC AND EUXINIC CONDITIONS ON CONTINENTAL SHELVES AND EPICONTINENTAL SEAWAYS: AN EXAMPLE FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS EAGLE FORD FORMATION, WEST TEXAS, USA

  Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2021-01-01

  article

  The Late Cretaceous Lower Eagle Ford Formation in west Texas is an example of an organic-rich mudstone deposited on a continental shelf and shallow epicontinental seaway. Within the Lower Member of the Lower Eagle Ford Formation are foraminiferal grainstone beds with hummocky and swaley cross-stratification (HCS and SCS, respectively) that are interbedded with organic-rich mudstone containing geochemical evidence of anoxia or euxinia such as: uranium and molybdenum enrichment, Mo/U ratios > seawater, low pristane/phytane (Pr/Ph) ratios, and aryl isoprenoids ratios (AIR). Furthermore, bioturbation within this facies is rare, consisting of mm scale horizontal burrows (Chondrites) and limited to the tops of storm event beds. This combination of geochemical, biological, and sedimentological data suggests that strata within the Lower Eagle Ford Formation, containing this facies, were deposited in relatively shallow waters (10’s of meters depth) on a shallow shelf. In this setting, storms, which mixed the water column, deposited the wave-stratified deposits. Stagnation between major storms resulted in prolonged intervals of shallow water anoxic, and even euxinic deposition, and water stratification, effectively excluding nearly all benthic organisms during deposition of these rocks. It is suggested that muddy, anoxic, shallow-water depositional environments are probaby more widespread, and the sedimentary record less complete due to hiatuses, than commonly thought within shallow epicontinental seas.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Paolo A. Pirazzoli

  133 shared

• William R. Dally

  University of North Florida

  91 shared

• W. Roland Gehrels

  University of York

  46 shared

• Saskia Jelgersma

  46 shared

• Dieter Kelletat

  University of Cologne

  46 shared

• Françoise Laborel-Deguen

  Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée

  46 shared

• Jeffrey H. List

  United States Geological Survey

  46 shared

• Steven L. Krupa

  South Florida Water Management District

  46 shared