Invited Speakers
Dr. William Symes
The Society of Exploration Geophysicists is hosted a lecture series, given by Dr. William Symes. The lecture, titled "Advanced Imaging for Practitioners", was given in Nierman Hall 251, on January 24th, at 3:30 pm. Dr. Symes is a graduate from the University of California at Berkeley, and obtained his doctorate in mathematics from Harvard University in 1975. He has held positions in the most renowned research institutions around the world, including the University of British Columbia and Michigan State University, and is currently in the faculty of Rice University, holding the Noah G. Harding Professor Emeritus and Research Professor in Computational and Applied Mathematics positions.
Dr. Symes lectured on two different variations of pre-stack reverse time migration, a technique used to enhance the significance of image amplitudes in the two-way wave-equation migration for accurate wave modeling. Some of the topics discussed in this lecture included:
- Sharper Imaging, Angle-Dependent Reflectivity
- Accelerated least squares migration
- Fast LSM Angle-dependent Reflectivity
- Irregular Sampling / Missing Data
- Accelerated FWI
- Velocity Estimation
- Things to Come
Dr. Carl Tape
Dr. Carl Tape is an experienced seismologist, who currently holds a position as an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He graduated from Carleton College with a BA in Physics and Geology, he studied his MS at the University of Oxford, and his doctorate at the California Institute of Technology. He is an accomplished researcher, having held an NSF Postdoctoral Position at Harvard University.
His lecture focused on the seismological profile of Alaska. Particularly, he presented the way Alaska fits in with tectonic plates. Then, he went into solving the wave equation with earth structure. He also talked about the tectonic history of Alaska, particularly talking about the 1964 Megathrust Earthquake and the 2002 Strike-slip fault earthquake. He then presented a series of experiments to characterize Alaskan seismology.
Mr. Randy Bissell
Mr. Bissell gave a lecture titled "Evolving Models for Eocene Deepwater Channel Complexes and Fan Systems, Scotland District, Barbados." Here is the abstract corresponding to his lecture.
Abstract:
"A geologic field study of outcrops on the island of Barbados was conducted by an Exxon research team including this author in late 1994 and an interpretation of the depositional setting was subsequently published. Deep-water sandstones were described to compliment the company's worldwide exploration, production, and reservoir modeling portfolio. Easily accessible exposures of Eocene deep marine clastic sediments, oil production on the island, and the complex geologic origin of Barbados distinguish it from the nearby volcanic islands in the southern Caribbean Sea. This 166 sq. mi. island exists because of an emerging accretionary prism of flysch sediments, presumably shed from South America, now positioned in the Atlantic Ocean above the subduction zone of the convergent Atlantic and Caribbean oceanic plates."