President’s Message

…You never know where a RECORDER article will take you. Any one of the articles in this issue may lead you on a winding path in which you revisit your past or take an unexpected twist into the future. You just have to follow the trail. In the September 2015…

Executive Message

…Reasons to Renew your CSEG Membership 2015 has been a challenging year for our industry. Everyone is affected at some level by low commodity prices, shrinking cash flows, and shrinking budgets. Since I’ve been a part of the Executive Council, along with my new responsibilities, I have become much more…

CAGC Column

…Change is the key word these days. For my industry we are at the backend of a two year downturn, while most of the rest of the Oil and Gas Industry is finishing one year. It could easily be another year to see recovery – many companies and even their…

Committee Highlight

…Calgary Geoscience Data Managers Network Data brokers, geophysicists, geologists, and managers alike all know how important and crucial the role of data managers are to their business units, teams and companies as a whole. The Calgary Geoscience Data Managers Society grew out of a group of like-minded geophysical data managers…

Science Break: And Now for Something Completely Different... Math and Science Jokes

…There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary numbers and those that don’t. There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data There are 3 kinds of people in the world: 50% understand percentages, and 50% don’t. When…

Volunteer Spotlight

…Value of Integrated Geophysics (VIG) Committee The Value of Integrated Geophysics (VIG) committee helps us add value-oriented ideas to our vocabulary, work, presentations and publications so we all increase our knowledge and understanding of the value of geophysics. We, as a membership, are responsible for the propagation of these concepts…

Tracing the Industry

…Graduate Student Profile Stepan Lavrinenko I was born on the coast of the Black sea, and emigrated to Canada 13 years ago. Seeing the cutting-edge technology that the exploration industry creates and how it advances all related disciplines, I decided to pursue a B.Sc. (Specialization in Geophysics) at the University…

Grapevine

…Save the Date: CSEG Doodlespiel On behalf of the 2016 Doodlespiel Committee, I would like to invite you to the 44th annual CSEG Doodlespiel. As Chairman of this year’s Doodlespiel committee I am excited to promote and participate in the 44th Doodlespiel to be held in Banff, Alberta January 22nd…

David Dolberg

An Interview with David Dolberg

…David, let us begin by asking you about your educational background and your work experience? How did you get into geophysics? I started out taking an Earth Science course in high school. I became interested in earth processes and the concept of scale – geologic time versus my young age.…

Geophysics in a Time of Cheap Oil

Leon Thomsen

…The world is currently producing about a million barrels of oil more than it uses, every day. So, the price of oil has decreased, following a well-known “law of economics” This has put enormous financial pressure on all producers, especially the high-cost producers in the new shale resource plays. So,…

Introduction to October Focus: Conjugate Margins

Deric Cameron and Ian Atkinson

…This October 2015 issue of the RECORDER focuses on the Atlantic conjugate margins. Most of the basins of the margins of Eastern Canada are still under-explored despite ongoing production in some basins since the 1990’s. Exploration activity in Eastern Canada has recently been invigorated by Statoil and Husky’s success in…

Evidence for Hyper-extended Continental Crust in the East Orphan Basin from Seismic Reflection Data

J. Kim Welford, Deric Cameron, James Carter and Richard Wright

…The Eastern Newfoundland offshore region has experienced a resurgence in exploration activity over recent years, spurred on by several significant petroleum discoveries in the Flemish Pass Basin, northeast and along geological trend from the world-class deposits in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin. In 2012 and 2013, PGS, TGS, and Nalcor Energy…

Source Rocks and Petroleum Systems of the Scotian Basin

Ricardo L. Silva, Carlos Wong, and Grant Wach

…Recently, the term petroleum source rock became a buzz word in the geological vocabulary. This is due, in great part, to the development of unconventional gas plays in several locations around North America and Europe. Source rocks are central in hydrocarbon research because they are an essential element of any…

Exploration in Frontier Areas and Deep-Water Settings: Integration of Disciplines and Universality of Rock Properties

Alsing Selnes, Alex Edwards, and Sam Green

…Rock physics describes a reservoir rock using physical properties such as porosity, rigidity and compressibility; these properties affect how seismic waves physically travel through the rocks. The rock physicist seeks to establish relationships between these material properties and the observed seismic response, and to develop a predictive theory so that…

The Regional Alberta Observatory for Earthquake Studies Network (RAVEN)

Ryan Schultz and Virginia Stern

…In light of recent induced seismicity, there is a renewed interest in understanding the seismic setting of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). While the observation of induced seismic events is not new to the WCSB (e.g., Wetmiller et al., 1986; Horner et al., 1994; Baranova et al., 1999; Schultz…

In Memoriam of George D. Hobson

…George D. Hobson January 8, 1923 – April 16, 2015 Director of the Polar Continental Shelf Project 1972 – 1988 George passed away peacefully, in his 93rd year, at home surrounded by family. George attended Delta Collegiate (a high school well known to Hamiltonians) and was Student President in 1940-41.…

President’s Message

…In 1985, Larry Fichtner, CSEG President, wrote I am confident that we will look back to September 1985 and remember that date as a milestone in our efforts to communicate more effectively with our membership. So now, 30 years since the introduction of the new look RECORDER, we are looking…

Executive Message

…The Member Services team hopes that everyone had a relaxing summer, a great Stampede, and are motivated for the final few months of 2015! Summer saw the return of CSEG social events. The T-Wave Golf kicked things off when it returned to Inglewood Golf Club for another spectacular tournament in…

CAGC Column

…As I write this, we have seen twelve (12) months of a downturn caused mostly by the price of oil; however the price of natural gas has languished for more than five (5) years, so with both down, our Canadian industry is very much challenged to survive. Supply of oil…

Science Break: Fear of Music

…To mark the 30th anniversary of the RECORDER magazine, a nostalgic article. Back in the 70’s and 80’s theme albums were all the rage... Thick as a Brick, Dark Side of the Moon, Diamond Dogs, to name a few. Music, lyrics and art work combined into a united theme or…