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The Columbia River Basalt Plateau is an area covered by basalt flows of Miocene age ranging in thickness from a few thousand feet to as much as 18,000 feet. Beneath these surface flows lie unknown thicknesses of sedimentary section and subsurface structures. Seismic exploration techniques are hampered due to the difficulty of seismic energy penetrating the basalt cover. -
The intracontinental High and Middle Atlas mountain belts in Morocco intersect to form the southern and western margins of the Missour basin, an intermontane basin formed as a result of the uplift and inversion of the Mesozoic Atlas paleorifts. These rifts were areas where the crust was greatly attenuated and more subject to deformation in response to nearby plate boundary tectonics.
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The explosion of new technology and the onslaught of information must be sorted, evaluated, and synthesized to be optimally utilized. Nowhere does this hold truer than in geophysical interpretation.
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HOUSTON - Today’s unsurpassed utilization of computers and visualization techniques has been accompanied by an over-reliance on quantitative analysis at the expense of a more thoughtful and intuitive examination of multi-disciplinary issues in our daily lives.
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An earth model, a geophysical/geological three-dimensional (3D) model of the earth, is best described in terms of its exploration objective. At minimum, the earth model is an accumulation of the results of multiple sciences approximating the earth’s lithology.
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Until recently, velocity was perhaps the most misunderstood and maligned geophysical parameter in interpretation. However, the advent of abundant 3-D seismic data, fueled by a decrease in risk tolerance and increase in cost containment, has resulted in velocities being appropriately scrutinized and appreciated.
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Today's unprecedented advances in data collection, hardware, software, and technology in general still do not guarantee success. More than ever, it is human capital that distinguishes companies that succeed and those that fail.
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Most world oil and gas production has been established in regions underlain by continental crust. Now recent exploration has moved into deep water regions considered by some as underlain by oceanic crust.
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Today, 75 years after gravity and magnetics first entered the exploration scene, potential fields input continues to be embraced worldwide, especially where seismic sections are problematic. Gravity and magnetic applications in seismic processing have gained significant respectability. And who would have thought that a new technology option would emerge using magnetics in downhole MWD applications to provide cost-saving measurements at the drill site?
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Deep Gas Play defined as exploration drilling deeper than 15,000 feet below sea floor. The current reserve estimates for this play are 10.5 tcf recoverable natural gas. Industry needs to find and develop sufficient natural gas to meet near- and mid-term energy needs of the Nation. Its interest has been encouraged by the MMS’s deep gas royalty incentives established in March 2001, but ultimate commercial success depends upon establishing technological criteria to reduce the inherent risks of exploring at these great depths.
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The dynamics of the results from a 3D Earth Model are summarized. The integrated interpretation utilizing multiple geophysical sciences was designed to resolve a complex and yet common salt/sediment interface problem observed repeatedly in the exploration efforts in the deep water region of the Gulf of Mexico.
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Subsurface technical studies conducted in the 4-Corners region of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona U.S.A. provide geoscientists a view of the tectonic history of the basins.
