Lorena Moscardelli
Mailcode: E0630
Dr. Lorena Moscardelli is a Research Scientist and leader of the State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery (STARR) program at BEG. Her expertise is in seismic geomorphology and interpretation, sedimentology and stratigraphy and geoscience data integration. She received a degree in Geological Engineering from Central University of Venezuela (2000) and a PhD in Geological Sciences from The University of Texas at Austin (2007).
She specializes in the study of deep-water deposits with emphasis on subaqueous landslides, deep-water mixed siliciclastic-carbonate systems and planetary geology. She started her career as an exploration geologist working for PDVSA. Prior to her current position at STARR, Dr. Moscardelli was a Principal Researcher at Equinor where she performed a wide range of activities from research in the Americas to field development in the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Her BEG career includes the co-funding and co-direction of the Quantitative Clastic Laboratory (QCL) and her actual involvement as leader of STARR.
Dr. Moscardelli has taken a strong interest in understanding the role of geoscience research as part of the ongoing energy transition while contributing to STARRÂ’s main mission of conducting geologic research resulting in the increase of production and profitability of energy resources in the State of Texas.
Research Locations
Current Research Programs & Projects
State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery (STARR) Program ( view )Exemplary Publication of Scientific Impact - Bureau of Economic Geology (2010)
Ed Picou Full Fellowship Grant - Gulf Coast Section of SEPM (2007)
AAPG Grant in Aid - American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation (2006)
Graduate Student Research Grant - Geological Society of America (2005)
Thomas R. Banks Memorial Scholarship - San Antonio Area Foundation (2004)
Outstanding Student Paper Award - Hydrology Section AGU (2004)
L. Austin Weeks Grant - American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation (2004)
Exxon-Mobil Student Grant Participation Award - AAPG/SEPM Annual Convention (2001)
Chair, Significance of Modern and Ancient Submarine Slope Landslides (S4SLIDE/IGCP-640), IGCP/UNESCO (2015)
Session Co-Chair, Gulf of Mexico Geology East to West, GCAGS/GCSSEPM 62nd Annual Convention and Exhibition / Austin, Texas (2012)
Session Co-Chair, Mass Wasting Events and Related Sediments, 18th International Sedimentological Congress / Mendoza, Argentina (2010)
Session Chair, Mass Movements and Their Consequences for Deepwater Exploration and Production, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (2010)
Convener, 4th International Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences / Austin, Texas, International Geosciences Programme 511 / UNESCO (2009)
Session Co-Chair, Recent Advances in Deepwater and Shelf Siliciclastic Facies Models: Implications for Reservoir Characterization, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (2006)
Postdocs
Nur Schuba, 2022 - 2023, The University of Texas
Graduate Students
Migdalys B Salazar
, Ph.D., expected 2014
(Supervisor)
My research involves the investigation of processes of sediment transport from the shelf region to the slope and deeper positions of the basin, as well as the relationships between basin fill architectures and ocean processes, sea level fluctuations, and tectonics through seismic geomorphological and clinoform architecture analyses.
.
Maria I Prieto
, Ph.D., expected 2014
(Supervisor)
My research work involves understanding the interaction between gravity-driven and current-controlled sedimentary processes in the lower continental slope to abyssal plain transition in the central Gulf of Mexico (GOM); and how the local structural controls (salt) affecting the bathymetry of the basin can influence these processes. I use near seafloor high resolution geophysical data as my primary dataset.
The outcome...
Kiara Gomez, Ph.D., 2022
(Supervisor)
The University of Texas
Sarika Rammarine, M.S., 2011
(Supervisor)
"Late Cretaceous turbidites, Heidrun Field, Norwegian continental shelf"
Anmar Davila-Chacon, M.S., 2010
(Supervisor)
"Sand distribution along shelf-edge deltaic systems: A case study from eastern offshore Trinidad"
Migdalys Salazar, M.S., 2008
(Supervisor)
"Seismic and stratigraphic interpretation of the Morichito sub-basin, Eastern Venezuelan Basin"
Mass-Transport Deposits and the Advantages of a Real Three Dimensional Perspective (invited), Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists, Jackson Hole, Wyoming (2011)
Mass-transport deposits and the advantages of a real three-dimensional perspective, AGU Invited Talk, San Francisco (2010)
The economics of diversity, competing for and leveraging employee diversity in a global petroleum industry (invited panelist), American Association of Petroleum Geologists, New Orleans, Louisiana (2010)
Processes of Late Tertiary-Age Mass Transport and Associated Deposits along the Eastern Mexico Margin, Southern Gulf of Mexico (invited), West Texas Geological Society, Midland, Texas (2010)
Cultural differences: people who have been successful at leveraging cultural differences (invited panelist), Women s Global Leadership Conference in Energy and Technology, Houston, Texas (2009)
Processes of late Tertiary-age mass transport and associated deposits along the eastern Mexico margin, southern Gulf of Mexico, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, San Antonio, Texas (2008)
Mass transport complexes in offshore Trinidad and their significance as potential tsunamigenic hazards, Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences: Third International Symposium, Santorini, Greece (2007)
Mass transport complexes in offshore Trinidad and world wide analogs (invited), Houston Geological Society International Dinner, Houston, Texas (2006)
Morphometry of mass transport complexes in offshore Trinidad, Geological Society of London, London, England (2006)
High-impact cycle-stratigraphy (HIC): a method applied in a Miocene-Pleistocene subsurface section, Northern Monagas, Eastern Venezuela Basin, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Barcelona, Spain (2003)
Quantitative Clastics Laboratory
Streamlined Islands Could Mean Ancient Oceans on Mars
Planetary Science: From shore to shelf
Mars Polygons Evidence of an Ancient Ocean?
Significance of Modern and Ancient Submarine Slope LandSLIDEs (S4SLIDE/IGCP-640)
IGCP-640 Project S4SLIDE - Significance of Modern and Ancient Subaqueous Slope LandSLIDEs
The S4SLIDE project (IGCP-640) builds upon the extremely successful E-MARSHAL and IGCP-511 proposals also known as the Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences project. As with its predecessors, the IGCP-640 project will focus on facilitating the interaction of scientists, engineers, industry and government representatives, and other parties interested in subaqueous mass movements and their geohazard potential, especially those from historically under-represented countries. This project is part of an initiative by the International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) and Unesco.