Analog Database to Expand
Oil Companies Also See the Potential Value
Oil companies also see the potential value of a technique
for producing 3-D outcrop analogs. Several major oil companies are
supporting the Bureau of Economic Geology's research.
The BEG team plans to expand its outcrop analog database
over the next several years to include important outcrops of both
clastic and carbonate systems. This summer David Jennette and his
team will be in Ireland.
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Oil companies also see the potential value of a technique
for producing 3-D outcrop analogs. Several major oil companies are
supporting the Bureau of Economic Geology's research.
The BEG team plans to expand its outcrop analog database
over the next several years to include important outcrops of both
clastic and carbonate systems. This summer David Jennette and his
team will be in Ireland.
"One of the areas we would like to advance to is
very large rock outcrop systems like the Brushy Canyon of West Texas
or Karoo in South Africa," he said. "We can cover tens of square
kilometers in an afternoon with aerial LIDAR tools and implant ground
based, high-resolution surveys into that data."
He views this as an opportunity to bring together
big aerial surveys and highly focused ground based surveys to build
the basis for a much more accurate geologic characterization of
the subsurface.
"Once this data is captured it is captured for good,"
he said. "It isn't a document gathering dust on somebody's bookshelf.
It is something that can constantly be made evergreen through new
analyses and new types of applications, and new company Web-based
learning tools.
"Given the cost associated with studying these far
afield places, once the images are captured there is a continuing
return on the investment."