News Release, Kansas Geological Survey, May 11, 2006
LAWRENCE--Mike Dealy, long-time head of a groundwater management district in south-central Kansas, has been named to manage the Kansas Geological Survey's Wichita Well Sample Library.
The Survey is a division of the University of Kansas, with headquarters in Lawrence. The Well Sample Library is a branch office on Wichita's west side that stores and loans rock samples from oil and gas wells drilled in the state.
Dealy has been the manager of the Equus Beds Groundwater Management District, located in Halstead, since 1984. Before that he was the assistant manager of the southwest Kansas groundwater management district in Garden City. He has degrees from Ft. Hays State University and Wichita State University.
The Wichita Well Sample Library houses rock samples from approximately 125,000 wells that have been drilled in the state. Those samples are useful in guiding new oil and gas drilling, minerals exploration, and other uses. The Library's current manager is Larry Skelton, who will step down in July.
"Mike Dealy brings both geologic expertise and management experience to this position," said Survey director William Harrison. "The Wichita Library has long been an important component of energy exploration in Kansas. Mike's appointment will allow us to continue that role with the energy industry and to increase our presence in groundwater issues in the south-central part of the state."
The Kansas Geological Survey was founded in 1889 as a non-teaching research and service division of KU. The Wichita Well Sample Library was established as a part of the Survey in the 1930s.