To view this newsletter in your browser, click here

ASEG news - Issue 18, 30th September 2019

Dear Members,

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

The 2019 ASEG SA/NT Branch Wine Offer is now open!
News from the states
Upcoming events (National and International)
The latest in Exploration Geophysics
What's new in Preview?
Member Spotlight: Dr Philip Heath
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.

The 2019 ASEG SA/NT Branch Wine Offer is now open!

By popular demand we've kept the sparkling wine category again this year, while also adding a muscat selected from our friends in the ASEG Vic Branch.

For details please login to the ASEG website and follow the link under Events to the wine offer.

You can order and pay online via credit card or you can download the attached PDF order form and post your payment with your order. You can also place an order over the phone with the details on the attached PDF.

Please be aware that the wine offer closes on Friday the 25th of October 2019.

We hope you take up this member only offer and please contact us if you have any questions.

Please note that as in previous years, wines will be delivered to a single delivery point in each state. The address on the forms are primarily for credit card processing. Please indicate your capital city for collection in the appropriate field.

Ben Kay

ASEG SA/NT Branch


Branch upcoming events

Details about ASEG events can be found on the ASEG website.

Branch Date Presenter Title Venue
WA 9-10-19 Mark Lindsay, UWA Tech Night: TBC UWA
WA 31-10-19 Mentoring Workshop TBA
WA 6-12-19 ASEG-PESA 32nd Annual Golf Classic Joondalup Resort Golf Course
NSW 16-10-19
5:30 for 6pm start
TBA TBA Club York, 99 York Street Sydney
NSW 20-11-19
5:30 for 6pm start
TBA TBA Club York, 99 York Street Sydney
NSW 11-12-19
5:30 for 6pm start
Quiz Night Club York, 99 York Street Sydney
SA 8-10-19,
12:15 pm
Laz Katona Which anomaly should I drill? Using spatial statistics to inform exploration in covered IOCG terranes. Rm 4.06, L4, 11 Waymouth St, Adelaide
SA 22-10-19,
6 pm
ASEG-PESA-SPE-YPP Spring Fling - networking evening and 2020 mentor program launch Havelock Hotel, Hutt St, Adelaide
SA 5-11-19 ASEG Melbourne Cup Luncheon The Gallery, Waymouth St, Adelaide
NT 17-10-19,
4pm-5pm
Professor Michael Asten Synchronous natural climate cycles of the Common Era, for Europe, China and globally - existence and implications for future temperature trends 3rd Floor, Paspalis Centrepoint Building & streamed to Arid Zone Research Institute, Stuart Hwy Alice Springs
VIC 1-10-19
6 pm
Tickets here
Dr Mark McLean, Geological Survey of Victoria A new Full Spectrum FALCONⓇ airborne gravity and aeromagnetic survey over the Otway Basin, Victoria Kelvin Club

For a more complete calendar of events see Preview

Date Event
6-9 October 2019 16th SAGA Biennial Conference & Exhibition, Durban, South Africa
29-30 October 2019 Asia Petroleum Geoscience Conference & Exhibition (APGCE 2019), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
5-8 November, 2019 ProGREss '19: Exploration as a Business, Sochi, Russia
14-15 November 2019 Dorothy Hill Women in Earth Sciences Symposium, Brisbane, QLD
18-22 November 2019 SGTSG: Convergence on the Coast, Port Lincoln, SA
9-13 December 2019 American Geophysical Union Fall Workshop, San Francisco, USA
10-12 February 2020 Fifth EAGE Workshop on Rock Physics, Milan, Italy
6-9 April 2020 Saint Petersburg 2020 - Geosciences: Converting Knowledge into Resources, St Petersburg, Russia
8-11 June 2020 82nd EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.


Hi all,

Issue five of Exploration Geophysics is now out and full of interesting articles. If you have not yet had a look at the new issue, then the article by Cooper on wavelet analysis of magnetic anomalies is well worth reading, as is the article by Yin et al on EM forward modelling.

Dr Mark Lackie

Exploration Geophysics Editor

Mark.Lackie@mq.edu.au


A reminder that the latest (August) issue of Preview can be found online at https://www.aseg.org.au/publications/PVCurrent As well as a guide to AEGC 2019, this issue of Preview features the latest news from all the geological surveys in Australia and contributions from our usual commentators.

The next (October) issue of Preview is the AEGC 2019 post-conference issue. It will be available online in mid-October.

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

Enjoy!!

Lisa Worrall

Preview Editor

PreviewEditor@aseg.org.au


This month we get to know Dr Philip Heath from the Geological Survey of South Australia.

 

  1. What is your current role?
  2. My current title is "Senior Geophysicist - Data Processing." I've worked for the South Australian Government (specifically the Geological Survey of South Australia) since 2008. At the core of my job is preparing and uploading geophysical data onto SARIG. I mostly deal with magnetics and gravity (both ground and air), as well as Airborne EM. Occasionally I head out into the field and acquire some new geophysics - usually gravity - but mostly I'm office based.

  3. 2. For how long have you been a geophysicist?
  4. I finished honours geophysics in 2002... So let's say 17 years.

  5. 3. What are you reading at the moment?
  6. I have just finished reading Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. It was arguably less about gravity and more about bombs during World War II. It did contain some mathematical formulae though so I forgive it. A great book.

  7. What made you decide to be a geophysicist?
  8. I hadn't even heard of geophysics when I started my Science degree at University! I originally wanted to be a physicist, but after the first year of University physics I fell in love with all the mathematics subjects - vector calculus became my passion - but I couldn't see myself getting a job in that. Fortunately my backup subject (geology) introduced something called geophysics which had the best of all worlds. The physics, the maths, the beer, the social aspect, and of course the field equipment. It was love at first gravity meter.

  9. What's your most treasured textbook
  10. I love them all, but Blakely's "Potential Theory in Gravity & Magnetic Applications" is perhaps my most well flipped through, alongside Telford, Geldart and Sheriff's "Applied Geophysics second edition." Kreyszig's "Advanced Engineering Mathematics" is another well-used personal favourite. And speaking of Sheriff... his Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Geophysics is another treasured resource.

  11. What do you do in your spare time?
  12. When I'm not parenting I'm a member of a public speaking club (shout-out to SA Rostrum club 32), I practice Aikido along with my kid (no I'm not a black belt), I'm a painter and pianist and am currently trying my hand at writing some fiction. I expect I should stick to the geophysics.

  13. When you are asked "What's a geophysicist??" or "What does a geophysicist do?" what is your stock answer?
  14. My stock answer is usually "It's my job to work out what's underground but without using a shovel." I then try and describe geophysical images as "x-rays of the earth" and if they're still paying attention I hit them with the 3D vector calculus with obligatory arm waving to simulate harmonic functions and fingers pointing in all directions to demonstrate a 3D vector field. If that doesn't scare them off I look for the nearest broom so I can gently usher them away†

    †That was a joke I totally have never done that.

  15. Do you think AI will take over your job or will the human element remain vital to exploration successes?
  16. I can visualise AI taking over numerous aspects of my job, especially the data QA/QC process, but I feel there's a long road before we all have our own geophysics QC-bots. And things will move on. Data standards and formats change, new technology is constantly evolving. I don't know how effective futureproofing any AI we create now would be. We simply don't know what the future holds. However even if we reach full automated QC, an experienced person or persons would still be needed to oversee the process.

    On the processing side, I see there will likely be some consolidation of software and greater use of open source platforms. For a long time hard rocks geophysicists have relied on a large number of different software products, many reliant on one or two key people to develop it. I don't see this as being sustainable longer term and new generations of students are tending towards open source, more collaborative approaches.



Corporate Plus

Corporate

 

Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists
PO Box 576, Crows Nest NSW 1585
+61 (02) 9431 8622 | +61 (02) 9431 8677
www.aseg.org.au
© ASEG All Rights Reserved.