This is a Hybrid Event

Meeting Location:
Apache Corporation
2000 Post Oak Blvd, Room 108
Houston, TX 77056-4400

Meeting Time: 11:00 to 1:00
Registration Begins at 11:00
Lunch Served at 11:30
Presentation starts at Noon

NOTE: You Must Be Logged In to Register.

Speakers: Dale Bird, Bird Geophysical and Ed Biegert, Gentleman Scientist  
Co-Authors: Naila Dowla, Dowla Analytics and Bill Cathey, Earthfield Technology

This presentation is the second of two complimentary GSH technical meeting presentations, scheduled for January and February 2023:
1. Potential Fields SIG (January 19th): The Magnetic Layer: thermal properties in sedimentary basins controlled by basement and Curie point temperature horizons, Bird, D. E., Biegert, Ed. K., Cathey, W. E., and Dowla, N.
2. Technical Luncheon (February 15th): The Magnetic Layer: applying Supervised Learning to predict thermal properties in sedimentary basins, Bird, D. E., Biegert, Ed. K., Cathey, W. E., and Dowla, N.

We present two closely related studies that make use of crustal magnetic anomalies produced between the top of crystalline basement and Curie point isotherm depths, which we call The Magnetic Layer (TML). Our study area includes two foreland basins, Powder River and Denver-Julesburg, that formed along the eastern perimeter of the Laramide deformation front. We demonstrate that magnetic data analyses integrated with thermal property station data (heat flow, thermal conductivity, heat production) and basement terrane maps provide bases for calculating 1D sedimentary basin layer and TML thermal properties. We further demonstrate that these results are improved by Supervised Learning analyses.

In our Potential Fields SIG presentation, we briefly review the physics of thermal properties in the crust and discuss some of their many applications to geophysical exploration (hydrocarbon, minerals, geothermal) and in basin modeling. We also review magnetic interpretation methods used in the study, such as depth-to-source estimation, modeling, and inversion. We follow-up by outlining a method that integrates thermal properties (temperature, thermal conductivity, heat flow, thermal gradient, and heat production) with basement terranes interpreted, in part, from magnetic susceptibilities derived from 3D modeling. A comparison of measured gradients with those we derived for the sedimentary basin layer (surface to basement) establishes the effectiveness of our method.

In our Technical Luncheon presentation, we refine our thermal property estimates using a suite of Python-based Supervised Learning algorithms.  We compared Supervised Learning predictions of heat flow, derived from basin layer thermal properties, with those derived from the basin layer + TML. Including TML thermal properties improved heat flow prediction in all cases. We conclude with examples that connect derived thermal properties with geological elements in the study area.

Speaker Biographies:
Ed Biegert, Gentleman Scientist
Having been a nuclear and particle physicist at Rice University with experiments at two National Laboratories, a rocket scientist in the Space Shuttle Program, and geoscientist (40 years with Shell), Ed Biegert is enjoying being a Gentleman Scientist developing and using new geophysical techniques in novel applications. He is interested in applications of sensor platforms orbiting the earth, flying in the sky, swimming in the ocean, crawling on the surface, and burrowing underground. 

Dale Bird, Bird Geophysical
Dale Bird is a consultant specializing in tectonophysics and interpretation of potential fields. He has 30+ years of world-wide experience. Dale earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Houston, where he is a Research Associate Professor. He has been an active member of several professional organizations including: AAPG, AGU, EAGE, HGS, GSA, GSH and SEG.

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