ASEG news - Issue 6, 27th Sept 2018

Dear Members,

In today's news you'll find information on:

AGCC 2018 - Program now available
ASEG Photo competition
News from the states
Upcoming events (National and International)
The latest in Exploration Geophysics
What's new in Preview?
Member Spotlight: Danny Burns
Follow us on social media
Thanks to our corporate members

Don't forget to follow our social media accounts, for more regular updates on upcoming events and geoscience articles of interest.

AGCC 2018 - Program now available

Don't forget to check the Australian Geoscience Council Convention website and social media regularly for updates on the convention in Adelaide, October 14-18 2018. The detailed program can now be found here.

ASEG 2018 Photo competition

Are you tired of the stock images served as you stay up to date with the ASEG’s latest? Have you been anywhere spectacular in your fieldwork? Have you produced a particularly colourful, insightful plot during data analysis? The ASEG is once again seeking photographs taken during fieldwork and images of data to use on their website, newsletter and other promotional materials. Each ASEG member can vote once with more details to follow once voting opens. Entrants are required to be current members of the ASEG, and entries must be suitable for public display and will be uploaded to the ASEG website here. If you qualify, and have a suitable image, please send it to webmaster@aseg.org.au together with a small caption describing the submission by midnight AEST, September 30th 2018. 1st prize is a $100 gift card and 2nd and 3rd prize are $50 gift cards.

Photo credit: Andrew Long, submission from 2016 ASEG Photo competition. Ramform vessel operations continuing into the night.

Branch upcoming events

For a more complete calendar of events see Preview

Volume 49 Number 4 2018 issue was released in August and can be found online here and has 15 articles to browse or study in-depth.

A reminder that the latest (August) issue of Preview can be found online at https://www.publish.csiro.au/pv. In addition to the usual news and commentary, this issue features the trial of a new and experimental extractive technology for unconventional resources in the Cooper Basin, as well as an article by Roger Henderson that asks the question; was Edgar H Booth the father of Australian exploration seismology?

The next (October) issue of Preview will be available online in early October. This issue will feature an article by Tim Dean and his colleagues on the use of geophysics in the search for Perth's lost World War 2 gun emplacements.

Proposed contributions for future issues can be submitted by email to the editor at previeweditor@aseg.org.au.

This issue we get to know Danny Burns, an Executive in Exploration at Vintage Energy Ltd. He is also a valued ASEG volunteer with his roles as the Treasurer on the ASEG Federal Executive, and the Chair of the Publications committee.

If you would like to nominate someone for the Member Spotlight, please contact communications@aseg.org.au

1. What do you like most about being a geophysicist?

I love exploration, starting with an idea from little data then acquiring more data and working through to a discovery (sometimes)

2. If you weren't a geophysicist what would you be?

I was nearly an engineer but I recovered in time

3. What is your best interview tip?

Know something about the company that is interviewing you and explain how you could/intend to help them. Too many interviewees just talk about themselves.

4. What's one thing that we wouldn't know about you?

I once won a bottle of Grange at a PESA golf day (proving that it’s better to be lucky than good)

5. Tell us about your best field meal?

Seismic crews were pretty good but the best meals were always at the drilling rigs.

6. Where was your best sunrise location?

In the Eromanga Basin, just west of the Jackson oilfield. Sunrise is about the only time that the red dust looks beautiful

7. What are you reading at the moment?

Red Storm Rising, an old Tom Clancy book

8. What's one thing you wish someone had told you when you were at university?

Out in the wide world, if you ask a question and don't understand the answer the problem may not be at your end

9. What is your favourite textbook?

It would be a toss-up between Bob Sherriff's Encyclopedic Dictionary of Exploration Geophysics and Telford et als' Applied Geophysics

10. Your funniest or worst field memory?

After a number of days of impassable wet roads we managed to get through to the Noccundra Hotel to find our line clearing crew with beers in hand at 9.00am. They were really happy to hear that the roads were finally open so that they could stop drinking and drive back to their camp.

11. Who is your geophysical idol?

No idol but a number of geophysicists who generated a lot of respect. Early in my career Bruce Beer in the field, Andy McGee and Errol Johnstone in an exploration team and Jim Fraser as a geophysical manager who would give anything a try. Later in my career I enjoyed working with geophysicists who pushed the science but kept in mind the limitations when applied to specific problems. They all found a lot of oil and gas.