Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an oil and gas explorer, or how they think about the world? In a series of articles on Exploring the Explorer I want to put a focus back onto these professionals to give insight about their careers in exploring for oil and gas deep below the land and ocean floor.
Based on initial results of a small survey of exploration professionals I will share insights on topics such as inspiration for geoscience, the explorer personality, motivation, resilience, the rush of discovery, and views on moral issues such as corruption and climate change.
Today’s insight is about the views of experienced explorers on the importance of geological field work during their careers.
Tunisia field visit, August 2015
5) Out in the field
Field work is work done outside in nature and hence the generic reference to a ‘field’, or a place on the surface of the Earth, where ancient rocks are exposed. The act of pursuing field work is to seek ‘ground truth’, which means information provided by direct observation rather than information provided indirectly by inference, or interpretation. Outcrops of exposed ancient rocks provide scientists windows on Earth history; however, they also remind us of what a fragmented and limited record of Earth's history is available to the human eye.
A geological field excursion in Moab, Utah, September 2005
The soul of a geologist is in the field
Geological fieldwork has been critical for learning the science of geology and has enriched the lives of geoscientists with inspiration, perspective, and a fundamental connection to the Earth. For many geologists, being outside in nature to examine ancient rocks has given them life-changing experiences and a life-long passion for Earth science, and the natural world. Their view is that you cannot truly learn geology only from reading a book and that field work provides experiences commonly leading to an epiphany in understanding. There seems to be something activated deep inside a geologist when they observe rocks in the field, leading one respondent to say “The 'Soul' of a geologist is in the field.” As a geologist I can totally relate to that feeling and can say that field work has enriched my own life by providing a more fundamental connection with the Earth.
Enhanced learning and understanding
Field courses have provided explorers with significant learning opportunities during all phases of their careers from school to university and throughout professional roles. Almost without exception explorers say that field work has added greater impact for their learning than having indoor lessons alone and perhaps this is because a field class can create more powerful memories than a formal lecture.
Observing rocks in the field provides a high-resolution perspective on what low resolution seismic data represent and is a tremendous help in translating subsurface geophysics into real, tangible, geology. Field observation builds a powerful mind’s eye helping the explorer to visualise the subsurface and appreciate the physical scales of geological formations. Subsurface geophysical data can often be too abstract without a reality check, and many geologists constantly draw upon real outcrop geology when interpreting subsurface data. At the same time, we can often see that exposed rocks are extremely complex, and this may even sometimes reduce confidence when probing in the subsurface.
Explorers tend to build up a powerful inventory of reference points during their career based on direct observation of rocks in nature. One respondent stated that it is “key to always tie the seismic wiggle, well and reservoir model to the rock face.” This calibration effect is extremely important when peering deep below the surface using seismic data and other geophysical information. Even when a well is drilled to give high resolution information, the well bore is typically only 8 ½ inches (21.6 cm) in diameter at the target level - a very small window!
Field work is clearly regarded as a very important enabler for learning geoscience and establishing a richer understanding of the Earth beneath our feet. However, there is more to field work than science alone and we will now take a closer look at what else is so special about field work.
Field excursion to the Vucanii Noroiosi (mud volcanoes), Buzau, Romania, June 2011
Those were the best days
Geoscientists say that field work has given them some of the best days of their lives. How can rocks give someone such a ‘best day’ experience? Well, it is not just about the rocks. The social aspect of geological learning in the field is also highly important and explorers talk about the joy of shared experiences while learning and the motivational aspect of networking and socialising while together on field excursions around the world. Explorers realise too that they are lucky to be in a profession which encourages them to travel to wonderful parts of the world and have ‘best days’ looking at geology in the field and being part of a scientific and social community. Social time after the day is over often provides the opportunity to relax and debate the day’s proceedings whilst indulging in the best local brews, often leading to elaborate geo-graffiti drawn on the back of beer mats!
Mud volcano vent, Buzau, Romania
“If it weren’t for field work, I would be lawyer or a musician.” This quote gives an idea of how much of an inspirational force lies behind the apparently simple aspect of looking at rocks in nature and interacting with other geoscientists. Field work is a binding force between geologists, and many can also bookmark their careers based on the best days spent in the field looking through windows on Earth history, whether it be in the Coast Mountains of Alaska, the Grand Canyon, Arizona, the Moine Thrust, NW Scotland, or in the Rift Valley of Kenya. These experiences are banked forever in the minds of explorers and visited again and again as founts of knowledge and creativity.
Figure 1 Responses on looking at rocks while on vacation
An Obsession?
Geologists and explorers really seem to like rocks, but is this verging on an obsession? To get an idea of this I solicited responses to the question “Do you always examine rocks while on vacation, or just sometimes?” The responses in Figure 1 show that 70% of explorers will always look at rocks while on holiday, even with the risk of boring others! Is this an obsession? The results show that they can never really leave rocks alone and therefore I leave it to you to judge.
In the next Exploring the Explorer insight article we will investigate the early factors which inspired people to study geoscience and keep motivated during their career.
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