Seismic Interpretation Workshop

Rick Jowett and students during the workshop.

Rick Jowett, BA ‘84, explaining the workflow of seismic interpretation to students during the workshop.

Interpretation of seismic data to gain insights into subterranean structures is one of the most critical skills of a geologist and the core duty of most geologists in the petroleum industry. To provide students with an opportunity to develop such an invaluable skill, the department organized a one-day seismic interpretation workshop during the spring of 2019. The workshop was led by UB alumnus Rick Jowett MA ‘84 of BHP Billiton Petroleum Inc., Houston, in collaboration with Erasmus Oware, assistant professor. The goal of the workshop was to provide students with hands-on training on the fundamentals of seismic interpretation and expose them to real-world seismic data. The training helped the students to develop the skill of seismic interpretation and prepared them for potential future careers in the petroleum industry.

The workshop provided a unique experiential learning opportunity to three graduate and 13 undergraduate students of the department. Topics covered in the workshop included principles of 3D seismic interpretation, faults interpretation, tying wells (biostratigraphy) with synthetic seismogram, horizon interpretation, post depths and fault cuts on map-drawing of fault polygons and contour maps. 

The department would like to thank Jowett for his unrelenting effort in securing the real-world seismic data and leading the workshop. We will also like to thank all the supporting staff of the department who helped to make the inaugural workshop a success.