International

Title: Mis-adventures of a Mathematician in Industry

Presenter: Audrey Addison

Date: Thursday, 5th May 2022

Time: 12:00 PM Canberra (AEST)

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Zuj0cfuZTT6EgoH9QGm3fw

Abstract:

What does a scientist do?  That question was at the top of my mind as I was finishing up my PhD in Mathematics in 2014.  My plans of teaching at the college level were thwarted by the two body problem, so I turned my focus to industry instead.  What followed was a series of positions in three disparate industries: Oil and Gas, Industrial Engineering and Tech where I found that the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.  In this talk, I’ll share my personal experiences in industry and as a military officer, demonstrate how a mathematician or scientist might find a niche in industry and summarize some lessons learned. 

Bio: 

Audrey Addison has held varied responsibilities throughout her career and has a PhD in Mathematics. She was a Rescue Coordination Center Controller with the US 11th Air Force; Intelligence Officer, US 176th Wing; Research Geophysicist, Chevron, and a Numerical Analysis Software Engineer, Siemens. She currently works as a Software Engineer at Google.

Title: ACT AGM + Tech Talk: Airborne Gravity and gravity gradiometry for a high resolution national gravity grid of Australia

Presenter: Dr Mark Dransfield – Airborne Gravity Consultant

Date: Thursday, 28th April (to be followed by the ACT ASEG AGM)

Time: 1500

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YxPHm9hIQR-FZDUx-8JEog

Abstract:

In 2019, for the first time, the National Gravity Grid included gravity observations from ground gravity, airborne gravimetry and gradiometry, and satellite observations. This is a significant step towards my personal dream of a national gravity dataset sampled at a spacing similar to aeromagnetics' 400 m or better.

One of the many questions to be addressed for the next national gravity grid is the subject of this talk.

With data from such disparate sources, how do we best merge the data into one gravity map to preserve the spatial resolution, accuracy, and precision, and to provide a product of maximum value to the communities that will use it?

I will discuss some of the alternatives and attempt to summarise the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Title: The use of machine learning in processing remote sensing data for mineral exploration

Presenter: Dr. Ehsan Farahbakhsh

Date: Wednesday 20th April 2022

Time: 1800-1900

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2iHaItV9Sk201SP4ZFkPpw

Overview:

The decline of the number of newly discovered mineral deposits and increase in demand for critical minerals in recent years has led exploration geologists to look for more efficient and innovative methods for processing different data types at each stage of mineral exploration. As a primary step, various features, such as lithological units, alteration types, structures, and indicator minerals, are mapped to aid decision-making in targeting ore deposits. Different types of remote sensing datasets, such as satellite and airborne data, make it possible to overcome common problems associated with mapping geological features. The rapid increase in the volume of remote sensing data obtained from different platforms has encouraged scientists to develop advanced, innovative, and robust data processing methodologies. Machine learning methods can help process a wide range of remote sensing datasets and determine the relationship between components such as the reflectance continuum and features of interest. These methods are robust in processing spectral and ground truth measurements against noise and uncertainties. In this presentation, I will provide a brief introduction to remote sensing data types and review the implementation and adaptation of some popular and recently established machine learning methods for processing different types of remote sensing data aiming at detecting various ore deposit types. I will also review our recent studies on combining remote sensing data and machine learning methods for mapping different geological features that are critical for providing mineral potential maps.

Bio:

Dr. Ehsan Farahbakhsh is a Research Associate in the EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney. He holds a PhD degree in Mining Engineering - Mineral Exploration from Tehran Polytechnic. He has been involved in several projects as an exploration geologist or spatial data analyst for the exploration industry, primarily for providing prospectivity maps of various ore deposit types from regional to deposit scale. His research interests are multidimensional mineral prospectivity modeling, geological remote sensing, geostatistics, and the application of data science and UAVs in mineral exploration.

Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience & Engineering returns for its 5th edition and the flagship conference on Near Surface APAC is set to be held from 6-9 March 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan. As we concluded the last edition, we  are pleased to welcome all of you to a yet another successful conference in Taipei, Taiwan next year. 

This year's conference is Co-Organized with Taiwan Geotechnical Society (TGS) and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan under the overarching theme of: Global Challenges and Regional Experiences. The theme is set as it is important to welcome submissions that focus on the challenges faced by the Near-surface industry; regional centric as well as globally. 

If you are interested to share your work and be part of the speakers' line-up, submit your extended abstract  before 15 November 2022.

Submit abstracts here.

Title: Multi-parameter FWI imaging: high-resolution imaging directly from raw field data

Presenter: Tom Rayment, Chief Geophysicist, DUG Technology

Date: Tuesday 10th May 2022

Time: 7pm AEST

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CN-_WOEpTemeHTx7FF_gtA

Abstract:

Traditional seismic processing workflows can be extremely time-consuming since subsequent stages are only begun after extensive testing and QC of the current process. This linear approach takes the raw field data and passes it through a plethora of conditioning tools (such as designature, deghosting, demultiple and regularisation) to transform the data into a form that can be imaged by legacy migration algorithms, such as Kirchhoff 3D preSDM.

Full waveform inversion (FWI) imaging is a multi-scattering least-squares approach uses the raw field data to estimate many subsurface parameters, including reflectivity, simultaneously ahead of a conventional processing workflow. Since it is using the primaries, multiples and ghosts during imaging, the result is a set of higher resolution subsurface models but in a fraction of the time of a conventional processing workflow due to the fact that little to no pre-processing is required.

In this presentation we demonstrate an 85 Hz comparison between a conventional processing workflow and a novel FWI imaging technique that utilises an augmented wave equation and an advanced optimisation scheme. The FWI imaging approach is simultaneously inverting for velocity and an intercept-reflectivity vector which is fit for structural and amplitude analysis.

Title: Selling Planet Earth: Communicating Geoscience for Society

Presenters: A/Prof Heather Handley and Prof Iain Stewart

Date: Thursday 31st March

Time: 6pm AEDT

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2noRTD4zTSmZvnFBpFoVGQ

Biographies:

Professor Iain Stewart:

Iain Stewart is the El Hassan bin Talal Research Chair in Sustainability at the Royal Scientific Society (Amman, Jordan), co-Director of the Centre for Climate Change & Sustainability at Ashoka University (India), and Professor of Geoscience Communication at the University of Plymouth. The founding director of the University of Plymouth’s ‘Sustainable Earth Institute’, Iain’s long-standing research interests are in natural hazards, sustainable geoscience, and earth science communication. 

His geo-communication work has built on a 15 year partnership with BBC television presenting geoscience programmes (notably ‘Earth: The Power of the Planet’, ‘Earth: The Climate Wars’, ‘How Earth Made Us’, ‘How To Grow A Planet’, ‘The Rise of the Continents’ and ‘Planet Oil) and recently was academic advisor on Sir David Attenborough’s acclaimed BBCseries ‘Severn Worlds, One Planet’. 

Awarded an MBE for his services to geography and geology education, he is President of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and was Communications Lead and Evidence Chair for the Scottish Government’s Climate Citizen’s Assembly. A global champion of Earth science, Iain leads the UNESCO International Geoscience Programme project 685 on Geology and Sustainable Development and holds a UNESCO Chair in Geoscience and Society.

Associate Professor Heather Handley:

Heather Handley is a volcanologist and geochemist and has worked on some of the most active volcanoes on the planet. She uses the chemistry of volcanic rocks and their minerals to better understand how volcanoes work and what triggers volcanic eruptions in order to reduce volcanic risk. 

 Heather holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Geology from The University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Volcano Geochemistry from Durham University in the UK. She was awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship in 2012 to advance our understanding of the timescales of Earth-system processes. Heather is an Associate Professor in Volcanic Hazards and Geoscience Communication at the University of Twente and Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University. She is a member of UNESCO IGCP 685 Project Team and Governing Councillor of the Geological Society of Australia.

 Heather is driven to communicate the critical role of geoscience in our sustainable future. She is Co-Founder and Director of the Earth Futures Festival and part of an international team currently creating an atlas to highlight the many contributions of geoscientists to global sustainability challenges. Heather is a Science and Technology Australia 2021-2022 Superstar of STEM and passionate science communicator. She has led and participated in over 70 geoscience outreach events and workshops. She frequently writes for The Conversation and has given more than 90 television, radio and print interviews on volcanoes. Heather has featured in documentaries for National Geographic and Discovery Science and is currently writing a popular science book on Australia’s volcanoes.

 Heather strongly advocates for Women in STEM, diversity and inclusion and is Co-Founder and Inaugural President of the Women in Earth and Environmental Science Australasia (WOMEESA) Network. Heather received an AIPS NSW Young Tall Poppy Award in 2014 and the Geological Society of Australia’s Beryl Nashar Medal in 2021. Heather is also mum to two very curious young girls. 

Title: A Bayesian Re-appraisal of Australian Heat Flow: insights on science questions and inverse modelling

Presenter: Dr Marcus Haynes, Geoscience Australia

Date: 28-July-22

Time: 12:30 (ACT)

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hntBrADWS963cOBcMF81ng

Short abstract: Geothermal data offers a unique perspective from which to image the Earth. However, geothermal data is difficult to collect and this has necessitated a reliance on industrial data collection during the exploration for mineral and petroleum resources. Resulting data quality issues have limited previous studies in their ability map the information contained in the data into robust model inferences. In this presentation, I will reflect on aspects of my PhD research where I employed a Bayesian statistical framework to address the above issues, predominantly through the re-appraisal of Australian crustal heat flow data. A novel inverse model will be discussed and used to infer the surface heat flow field across Australia. Alongside insights into Australia’s heat flow field, I will also reflect on my own personal insights into the nature and application of Bayesian inverse methods in geophysics.

Bio:

Dr Marcus Haynes is the module leader for the Lithospheric Geophysics and Economic Fairways projects under Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program. He holds a Bachelor of Global and Ocean Sciences (Hons) and a PhD in geophysics, both from the Australian National University. He joined Geoscience Australia fifteen years ago, initially as a cadet, and has experience in multidisciplinary geoscience with a focus on geophysical inference and mineral potential assessments.

More details to follow. 

Date: 27/09/2022

Time: 1600 (Canberra)

Speaker: Constanza Manassero

Title: Including 3D Magnetotelluric Data into Joint Probabilistic Inversions for Imaging the Deep Earth

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_h0re9idHQteBaeln9u3-eg

Abstract

Multi-observable inversions are gaining popularity for imaging the structure of the lithosphere (Afonso et al., 2016). Of particular interest is the joint inversion of magnetotelluric (MT) with seismic data as their complementary sensitivity to the thermal structure, hydrogen content and small volumes of fluid or melt offer a powerful means to detect fluid pathways in the lithosphere including the locus of partial melting, ore deposits and hydrated lithologies. This unique potential has given impetus to the acquisition of collocated MT and seismic data over large regions (e.g., AusLAMP/AusArray in Australia).

Probabilistic inversions provide complete information about the unknown parameters and their uncertainties conditioned on the data and modelling assumptions. Joint probabilistic inversions of MT and seismic data have been successfully implemented in the context of 1D MT data only. For the cases of 2D and 3D MT data, however, the large computational cost of the MT forward problem has been the main impediment for pursuing probabilistic inversions. To overcome this limitation, we have presented a novel strategy (Manassero et al., 2020, 2021) that reduces the computational cost of the 3D MT forward solver and allows us to perform full joint probabilistic inversions of MT and other datasets for the 3D imaging of deep thermochemical anomalies and fluid pathways.

In this webinar I will introduce our novel strategy and, as part of the Exploring for the Future program, I will present preliminary results of the first joint probabilistic inversion of 3D MT in southeast Australia using the AusLAMP data and a seismic velocity model derived from teleseismic tomography (Rawlinson et al.,2016). We also make interpretations of our conductivity models using the code MATE (Özaydın and Selway, 2020). These results demonstrate the capabilities of our conceptual and numerical framework for 3D joint probabilistic inversions of MT with other geophysical data sets and open up exciting opportunities for elucidating the Earth’s interior in other regions.

Bio

Dr. Manassero has graduated with a PhD in Geophysics at Macquarie University, Australia, in December 2019. Her project consisted of the development of new methodologies to help study the lithospheric structure and mapping the location of mineral deposits and energy sources within Australia. In particular, she has developed a new methodology for probabilistic inversion of 3D magnetotelluric (MT) data as part of an ARC-funded research program. She is currently working as a Post-doctoral Research fellow at Macquarie University in the same research field as part of an ARC Linkage Grant with UNSW, Geoscience Australia and several Australian Geological Surveys.

The 2022 AGM of the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (ASEG) will be held on Thursday, 7 April 2022

Join Zoom Meeting at: 17:30 AEST, 18:00 ACST & 15:30 AWST.

Face to Face:  XXXX Brewery, Level 1, Cnr Black &, Paten Street, Milton QLD 4064, 5pm arrival for 5.30pm start

In order to participate in the Zoom AGM 2022, please register no later Friday, 1 April 2022. 

Online - https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtde-gpzsuE9Zyv6QoglSQ5TQqbyAVmnmI

In person - https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/aseg-agm-and-talk-role-of-the-oil-and-gas-industry-towards-net-zero-tickets-304470859537

The business of the Annual General Meeting will be:

• To confirm the minutes of the last preceding general meeting.
• To receive from the Federal Executive reports on the activities of the Society during the last preceding financial year.
• To receive and consider the financial accounts and audit reports that are required to be submitted to Members pursuant to the Constitution and to law.
• To report the ballot results for the election of the new office holders for the Federal Executive.
• To consider and if agreed approve changes and adopt the ASEG Constitution.
• To confirm the appointment of financial auditors for 2022.

The AGM will commence with a scientific presentation from Dr. Taku Ide, Head of Carbon at Cleanaway Waste.

Title: The Role of the oil and gas industry towards a net zero future

Reducing, and ultimately reaching net-zero CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are critical to solving the climate challenge. 

Science shows that if we do not achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, many of the climate events we are witnessing – severe weather events, rising sea levels, ocean acidification and rising temperatures – will continue and likely accelerate, and negatively impact many of the world's key infrastructure, farming practices, and ecosystems that support the modern day economy. Worst impacts will tend to fall on those least responsible for the problem (IPCC 2018) who may not have the means to adapt to the changing world. These implications are motivating companies to reduce their emissions and position their portfolio of goods and services to a 1.5C aligned world. 

There are exciting roles that geophysicists can play in this transition, ranging from developing cost-effective methods to monitor efficacy of carbon capture and storage (CCS), identifying ideal sites for underground hydrogen (H2) storage, reducing uncertainties around rate of sea level rising, and studying other planetary bodies for habitability. 

The talk will share latest findings from climate science that are driving the shift towards decarbonisation, and explore emerging areas where geophysics expertise are critical.

Bio: Dr. Taku Ide holds a BS in Chemical Engineering, and a Masters and Ph.D in Petroleum Engineering, all from Stanford University. Upon graduating, he founded and ran a consulting firm specialised in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and associated risks for global firms, states, and Native American Tribes in the United States. He currently serves as the Head of Carbon at Cleanaway Waste Management to develop its carbon management strategy. 

Invitation for candidates for the Federal Executive  

Members of the Federal Executive serve in an honorary capacity. They are all volunteers and ASEG Members are encouraged to consider volunteering for a position on the Executive or on one of its committees. Current members are listed in Preview; please contact one of them if you wish to know more about volunteering for your Society. Self- nominations are encouraged.  

Thank you for your continued support.

Documents:

• Agenda
• Proxy form
• Proxy form (corporate members)
• ASEG Constitution and By Laws April 2022
• ASEG Accounts 2021
• 2021.04.06 ASEG AGM 2021 Minutes