Cape Town geology: less freaky than the rest of South Africa

Posted on November 3, 2008 by Chris Rowan

Last week was my first visit to Cape Town, a place about which I had heard much, both before and after I moved to South Africa. A lot of this talk revolved about how different the Cape is from the rest of the country. I’ll agree that, as a city, it did seem a bit more relaxed than Johannesburg; I certainly liked the fact that the city centre felt a bit more accessible. However, I can’t really say I got that “more European” vibe that some had told me about. Still, there was one thing that made me feel a bit more at home: old rocks actually look old:

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Categories: geology, outcrops, photos

AAPG Day 3: poster session outcast

Posted on October 31, 2008 by Chris Rowan

Spot the odd one out, and meet me below the fold:

  • Tilt-Depth Method: A Simple Depth Estimation Method using First Order Magnetic Derivatives.
  • The Use of Multi-Level Potential Field Data in Regional, Geophysical Modelling
  • Satellite Gravity and Geoid Studies Reveal the Formations Underlying Large-Scale Basin Structures
  • 3D Gravity Modeling in Deepwater Gulf of Mexico
  • Mapping and Delineating Prospective Geology with FTG Gravity Data
  • Integrated Seismic Structure, Stratigraphy & Magnetic Basement Interpretation: Offshore Louisiana Shelf
  • Gabon Regional Structural Framework, Derived from Gravity
  • A Palaeomagnetic Investigation of the Neoarchean Pongola Supergroup, South Africa

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Categories: academic life, bloggery, conferences

AAPG Day 2: showdown at the Lusi corral

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Chris Rowan

The afternoon of my second day at AAPG was spent at the session debating the origins of the Lusi mud volcano, which has been the subject of a number of blog posts around these parts. The selling point was that this would be the first time that the major proponents for the theory that the eruption was caused by a blow-out in the gas well being drilled nearby, and the competing theory that it was a response to a large regional earthquake that occurred two days before the eruption, had been collected in the same room to argue things out. Whilst this wasn’t entirely true – there was a similar debate in London last week – I was quite happy to catch the rematch.

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Categories: academic life, conferences, earthquakes, geohazards, Lusi, public science, volcanoes

Straw poll: poster or talk?

Posted on October 29, 2008 by Chris Rowan

At the moment this post appears, I’ll be standing in a poster booth desperately hoping that at least some petroleum geologists have (a) stuck it out to the bitter end of the conference, and (b) can feign an interest in Archean paleomagnetism. In the meantime, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the following question:

If you were given the choice, would you prefer your conference presentation to be a poster or a talk?

I’d be interested to hear the reasons for your answer, and what level of the academic ladder (post-grad, post-doc, junior/senior faculty) you’re currently at.

Categories: academic life, bloggery

AAPG Day 2: industrial seismologists get all the cool toys.

Posted on October 28, 2008 by Chris Rowan

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the industrial sector is out in force at AAPG; most of the main exhibition hall is taken up by exploration companies and consultancies showing off their technical and intellectual wares. And some of the stuff on display is enough to cause anyone’s inner geek to explode in paroxysms of techno-joy.
The coolest thing that I’ve seen so far was an entire wall of linked monitors, which could be used to display 3D seismic data sets in stunning detail. Even better, it was interactive: lasers scanning in front of the display could locate a reflective pointer placed anywhere on the screen, movements of which could be used to rotate or zoom in or out of the dataset, or even to trace reflective horizons on-the-fly.
The guy giving the demonstration also showed me and Jeanette how you could use image processing routines to pick out fault planes, or even different packages of rock – such as channels – with specific acoustic characteristics, within a particular 3D volume. The level of discrimination they are now achieving with these processing tools is pretty incredible- it’s a long way from picking out horizons with a colouring pencil – or even a mouse.
Anyway I was pretty much drooling, and I don’t even do seismic interpretation. It makes me wonder – how many geologists went into industry not for the money, but for all the wonderful toys you get to play with?

Categories: academic life, conferences, geology, geophysics