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Structural Geology

Our group studies the impact of tectonic deformation on sedimentary basins at the regional and reservoir scale.

  • Figure 1: Synthetic workflow to evaluate the impact of fault related damage on seismic images, and the potential of seismic attributes based interpretation for predicting fault damage. Figure by Charlotte Botter.
    Synthetic workflow to evaluate the impact of fault related damage on seismic images, and the potential of seismic attributes based interpretation for predicting fault damage. Figure by Charlotte Botter.
  • 3D model of the Tabaco Anticline, open-cast Cerrejón Coal mine, Colombia. The model shows the geometry of coal seams which are colored by elevation (sea level to 100 m) on the left, or sliced along vertical cross-sections on the right. This is a collabora
    3D model of the Tabaco Anticline, open-cast Cerrejón Coal mine, Colombia. The model shows the geometry of coal seams which are colored by elevation (sea level to 100 m) on the left, or sliced along vertical cross-sections on the right. This is a collaboration with Camilo Montes (U. Andes, Colombia), Dora Marín and Iván Gutierrez (UiS), and Alejandro Palencia (Vetra Energy, Colombia). We are grateful to Cerrejón LLC for letting us use this dataset.

Our current PhD projects are:

  1. Seismic imaging of fault zones (NFR-210425): Can fault related deformation be extracted from seismic data? To answer this question, PhD candidate Charlotte Botter has implemented a synthetic workflow comprising mechanical modeling of faulting, seismic modeling, and seismic interpretation. Her results show that fault-related seismic disturbance zones contain information (and not just noise) about fault damage. This project is supervised by Nestor Cardozo in collaboration with Stuart Hardy at the University of Barcelona, Isabelle Lecomte at NORSAR, Alejandro Escalona at UiS, and Gaynor Paton at GeoTeric.
  2. From seismic interpretation to reservoir modeling of faults (Norwegian Ministry of Education): PhD candidate Jennifer Cunningham is extending the work of Charlotte to seismic data, and seismically modeled outcrop analogues. In addition, she will look at techniques to transfer the information from seismic interpretation to reservoir models (e.g. non-neighboring grid connections). Jennifer is supervised by Nestor Cardozo and Christopher Townsend.
  3. Impact of salt movement in the Triassic of the Nordkapp basin (Norwegian Ministry of Education): PhD candidate Luis Alberto Rojo Moraleda is studying the impact of salt movement on the Triassic depositional environments, sedimentary facies and petroleum system of the Nordkapp basin, and on the regional Triassic paleogeography of the Barents Sea. Luis is supervised by Nestor Cardozo and Alejandro Escalona.
  4. Effects of magmatic intrusions on temperature history, diagenesis, and petroleum system in sedimentary basins (NFR-Tectonor Industry PhD): PhD Magnhild Sydnes is studying the impact of volcanic intrusions and specifically heat transfer in sedimentary strata, which is determined by the sediments thermal conductivities, the basin’s tectonic development, fault permeability and diagenesis. Seismic data from the Norwegian Continental Shelf together with heat transfer and basin modeling are used. Magnhild is supervised by Nestor Cardozo, Willy Fjeldskaar and Ingrid Fjeldskaar (Tectonor).

Besides these PhD projects, we have smaller projects with Bachelor and Master students, and with other colleagues at other Universities. In general, structural geology requires a combination of geology-geophysics and computing. So if you like geology, geophysics, math and programming, this is a good place to start. You may also want to check the webpage of Nestor Cardozo, which includes a link to his programs, scripts, and the Structural Geology Algorithms book he coauthors with Richard Allmendinger and Donald Fisher.