Exploration Geophysics

Research in exploration geophysics develops and employs seismic and electromagnetic methods used to explore for energy, mineral, and water resources. Examples of projects underway include improved imaging of subsurface structures to support geological interpretation; estimation of subsurface physical properties from conventional and multi-component seismic data, analysis of seismic-attributes, and application of electromagnetic methods to estimate subsurface structure and physical properties.

Faculty

	Sergey Fomel Computational and exploration geophysics; seismic imaging; wave propagation; seismic data analysis; inverse problems; geophysical estimation
	Luc L Lavier Tectonics; the structural and geodynamical evolution of continental and oceanic rifts, as well as collisional environments; numerical techniques to model tectonic processes on crustal and lithospheric scales; deformation; subduction
	Mrinal K Sen Seismic wave propagation including anisotropy, geophysical inverse problems, earthquakes and earth structure, applied seismology, petroleum exploration including 4D seismology
	Kyle T Spikes Exploration Geophysics, in particular rock physics applications and seismic inversion techniques for reservoir characterization.

Affiliated Faculty

Michael Pyrcz geological modeling, geostatistics, spatial statistics, data analytics, machine learning

Emeritus

	Paul L Stoffa Multichannel seismic acquisition, signal processing, acoustic and elastic wave propagation, modeling and inversion of geophysical data
	Clark R Wilson Geophysics, including gravity, space geodesy, and applied seismology

Postdocs

Shuo Zhang

Research Scientists

Shuvajit Bhattacharya Petrophysics, Formation Evaluation, Quantitative Seismic Interpretation, Machine Learning, Integrated Subsurface Characterization, Carbon Sequestration

Research Staff

	Mohsen Ahmadian Program Manager for the Advanced Energy Consortium Managing multidisciplinary nanosensor, miniaturized electronics, and smart materials research for the assessment of subsurface properties in various applications, including energy exploration, geothermal, CCUS, etc. https://www.beg.utexas.edu/aec/
	Robin D Dommisse 3D geological interpretation and modeling - Integrated reservoir characterization - Petroleum Geology - Petroleum Engineering - Carbonate sequence stratigraphy - Conventional and unconventional reservoir exploration and development - Oil field exploration and production reservoir management - Petrophysics - Geostatistics - Reservoir simulation - Software development
	Thomas Hess Geoscience software, anisotropic imaging, seismic processing, seismic geometry, deconvolution, problem solving.
	Ramon Trevino Sequence stratigraphic interpretations (well logs, 3-D seismic), integrated reservoir characterization, subsurface correlation and mapping (using workstation and PC) and subsurface structural interpretation (using 3-D seismic), project management, CO2 sequestration