Mitch Covington

Mitch received a BA in Geology from UNC-Wilmington in 1982 before traveling to Tallahassee where he was awarded a MS in Geology from Florida State University (1985). While studying at Dr. Woody Wise’s world class Nannofossil Laboratory at FSU, Mitch sailed on Leg 93 of the Deep Sea Drilling project, which yielded an excellent Lower Cretaceous section offshore from the eastern U.S. coast. Mitch formally described several new nannofossil taxa from this section. For his thesis, Mitch studied nannofossils the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation from the Western Interior. This section yielded exceptionally well preserved nannofossils, of which two were used for the cover photograph in separate issues of Marine Micropaleontology. Several new genera and species were also formally described from this study.

Upon graduation from FSU in 1985, Mitch began his career in the oil industry at Texaco, Inc. in New Orleans. He was the first nannofossil worker at Texaco to ever go offshore to perform wellsite paleo. While at Texaco, he also began development of paleontological software known today as BugWin. His powerful suite of software products is still widely used worldwide today.

Mitch left Texaco in 1989, bound for Tallahassee and the beginnings of BugWare, Inc. He participated in Ocean Drilling Project Leg 129 in the Mariannas Trench area, where sections were drilled from Recent to Jurassic. Mitch has built BugWare to be a leading provider of wellsite biostratigraphy in the Gulf of Mexico. Team BugWare has provided wellsite biostratigraphy for the Gulf ‘s hottest prospects, including Thunderhorse, Baha, Mad Dog, St. Malo, Trident and many, many more. See our map of projects worked. Contact Mitch at BugWare’s voice line, his cell at (850) 591-5087, or email him at mitch.covington@bugware.com.

Publications

Covington, J.M., 1984. Lower Cretaceous deep sea fan complex drilled by DSDP Leg 93 on the lower continental rise of the Atlantic passive margin. The Geological Society America, Southeastern Section, 33rd annual meeting. v. 16, p. 130.

Covington, J.M., 1985. New morphologic information on Cretaceous nannofossils from the Niobrara Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Kansas. Geology. v. 13, p. 683-686.

Covington, J.M., 1985. Morphologic information on Cretaceous nannofossils from Niobrara Formation. AAPG annual convention with divisions SEPM/EMD/DPA. v. 69, p. 246.

Van Hinte, J.E., Wise, S.W., Jr., Biart, B.N.M., Covington, J.M., Dunn, D.A., Haggerty, J.A., Johns, M.W., Meyers, P.A., Moullade, M.R., Muza, J.P., Ogg, J.G., Okamura, M., Sarti, M., and von Rad, U., 1985. DSDP Site 603; first deep (>1000-m) penetration of the continental rise along the passive margin of eastern North America. Geology. v. 13, p. 392-396.

Van Hinte, J.E., Wise, S.W., Jr., Biart, B.N.M., Covington, J.M., Dunn, D.A., Haggerty, J.A., Johns, M.W., Meyers, P.A., Moullade, M.R., Muza, J.P., Ogg, J.G., Okamura, M., Sarti, M., and von Rad, U., 1985. Deep-sea drilling on the upper continental rise off New Jersey, DSDP sites 604 and 605. Geology. v. 13, p. 397-400.

Covington, J.M., and Wise, S.W., Jr., 1987. Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy of a Lower Cretaceous deep-sea fan complex; Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 93 Site 603, lower continental rise off Cape Hatteras. Initial reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project covering Leg. v. 93, p. Ogg.

Muza, J.P., Wise, S.W., Jr., and Covington, J.M., 1987. Neogene calcareous nannofossils from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 603, lower continental rise, western North Atlantic; biostratigraphy and correlations with magnetic and seismic stratigraphy. Initial reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project covering Leg. v. 93, p. Ogg.

Wise, S.W., Applegate, J.L., Bergen, J.A., and Covington, J.M., 1987. Lower Cretaceous calcareous nannofossils from continental margin drill site off North Carolina (DSDP Leg 93) and Portugal (ODP Leg 103); a comparison. Proceedings of the International Nannoplankton Association. v. 9, p. 63-64.

Erba, E., and Covington, J.M., 1990. Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy of Mesozoic sediments recovered from the western Pacific, Leg 129. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program. v. 129, p. 800-802.

Covington, J.M., 1991. Nannofossil biostratigraphy of Neogene sediments in Florida. Abstracts of papers to be presented at the meeting of theNortheastern and Southeastern sections of the GeologicalSociety of America and associated societies. v. 23, p. 19.

Covington, J.M., 1993. Neogene nannofossils of Florida. The Neogene of Florida and adjacent regions. v. 37, p. 43-44.

Covington, M., 1993. Neogene nannofossils of Florida. American Association of Petroleum Geologists. v. 1993, p. 88.

Covington, M., 1994. New taxa from the Niobrara Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Kansas, USA. Journal of Nannoplankton Research. v. 16, p. 121-131.

Missimer, T.M., McNeill, D.F., Ginsburg, R.N., Mueller, P.A., Covington, J.M., and Scott, T.M., 1994. Cenozoic record of global sea level events in the Hawthorn Group and Tamiami Formation on the Florida Platform. Geological Society of America. v. 26, p. 151.

E-mail: mitch.covington@bugware.com