2016 News
December 2016
Mike Hudec visited CGG's office in Houston on December 5-6 to teach a workshop entitled "Distribution of salt structural styles in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico."
Mike Hudec visited the Houston office of TGS on December 7-9 to discuss salt tectonics in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Brazil.
Naiara Fernandez visited Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany from December 11-16 to work on numerical modelling of salt tectonics with the Geophysics and Geodynamics Group. As part of that visit, she gave a seminar titled: "Encasement of salt minibasins and their impact on the evolution of the SE Precaspian Basin: observations from 3D seismic data."
Maria Nikolinakou presented an invited talk at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco, December 12-16, 2016 titled: "Coupling flow and deformation in evolving salt basins". She also presented a second talk: "Stress, deformation and failure associated with salt-sheet emplacement."
Mike Hudec visited the Houston office of Shell on December 1 to discuss salt tectonics in the Gulf of Mexico. The visit was provided as part of Shell's membership in the AGL consortium.
Mike Hudec visited BHP Billiton's Houston office on December 2 to discuss salt tectonics in the Gulf of Mexico. The visit was provided as part of BHP Billiton's membership in the AGL consortium.
November 2016
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Applied Geodynamics Laboratory welcomed 245 registered delegates from 25 companies to the 28th AGL Annual Review Meeting, held in Austin on November 10-11. Attendees listened to 21 presentations on salt tectonics in the Canyonlands, Utah, the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, the Sivas Basin in Turkey and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as physical and numerical models. Presentations by AGL staff members Tim Dooley, Olly Duffy, Maggie Curry, Naiara Fernandez, Mahdi Heidari, Mike Hudec, and Maria Nikolinakou were joined by presentations from AGL collaborators Gillian Apps, Katherine Kravitz, David Mohrig, Frank Peel, Charlotte Ribes, and Jaume Vergés. To view a slideshow of photos from the meeting click here.
Mike Hudec visited Houston on November 16 to attend the TGS Gulf of Mexico Symposium and Imaging Forum.
Mike Hudec visited CGG's Houston office on November 29-30 to discuss salt tectonics in the Gulf of Mexico. The visit was provided as part of CGG's membership in the AGL consortium.
Maggie Curry has accepted a post-doctoral position at the Université Grenobles Alpes. She will be researching the feedbacks between the structural evolution and surface processes in the Pyrenean fold and thrust belt using kinematic reconstructions, thermochronology, and surface-processes models. She will begin her appointment in early 2017.
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New Publication:
Curry, M. A. E., Barnes, J. B., and Colgan, J. P., (2016), Testing fault growth models with low-temperature thermochronology in the northwest Basin and Range, USA, Tectonics, 35, 2467-2492, doi: 10.1002/2016TC004211.
September 2016
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Mike Hudec led a field trip entitled "Salt and extensional tectonics in the Paradox Basin" from September 11-16. The trip was attended by 31 people from AGL, BHP, Cairn Energy, Noble Energy, Saudi Aramco, and Shell.
August 2016
AGL scientists Maggie Curry, Olly Duffy, Naiara Fernandez, and Mike Hudec spent three days in Houston on August 16-18 attending training sponsored by Midland Valley Exploration. The four researchers were learning to use Move software, which they will use in building regional restorations of transects around the Gulf of Mexico.
Mike Hudec visited the Houston offices of Murphy Oil on August 19 to discuss salt tectonics in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The visit was provided as part of Murphy's membership in the AGL consortium.
Mike Hudec taught a short course entitled "Advanced Salt Tectonics—Geologic Principles for Seismic Interpretation in the Northern Gulf of Mexico" to CGG staff in Houston on August 22-23.
Mike Hudec visited Noble Energy in Houston on August 24 to discuss salt tectonics in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
Geologists from BHP Billiton visited AGL on August 31 to discuss ideas for collaborative research in the Gulf of Mexico.
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New publication:
Phillips, T. B., Jackson, C.A-L., Bell, R. E., Duffy, O. B., Fossen, H., 2016, Reactivation of intrabasement structrures during rifting: A case study from offshore southern Norway, Journal of Structural Geology, v 91, p. 54-73, doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2016.08.008
June 2016
Mahdi Heidari attended The American Rock Mechanics Association meeting in Houston, Texas on June 24-29, 2016 and presented a paper titled, "Geomechanical impacts of a welding salt layer on adjacent sediments." Madhi was also inaugurated as a new member of the ARMA Future Leaders.
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New publication:
Heidari, M., Nikolinakou, M. A., Hudec, M. R., and Flemings, P. B., 2016, Geomechanical analysis of a welding salt layer and its effects on adjacent sediments, Tectonophysics, v 683, p. 172-181, doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2016.06.027
May 2016
Maria Nikolinakou and Peter Flemings visited Shell in Houston on May 23, 2016 and presented AGL and UT GeoFluids work on salt modeling, thrust-belt modeling, and our new workflow to predict pressures based on geomechanical modeling coupled with velocities.
Maria Nikolinakou and Peter Flemings visited ExxonMobil on May 25, 2016 in the Woodlands and presented AGL and UT GeoFluids work on salt modeling, thrust-belt modeling, and our new workflow to predict pressures based on geomechanical modeling coupled with velocities.
April 2016
Mike Hudec visited PGS' Houston office on April 4 to discuss salt tectonics in the Gulf of Mexico. The visit was provided as part of PGS' membership in the AGL consortium.
AGL scientists Mike Hudec, Maggie Ellis, Oliver Duffy, Naiara Fernandez, Maria Nikolinakou and Mahdi Heidari visited Statoil's research center in Austin on April 8 to discuss regional geology of the Gulf of Mexico. The visit was provided as part of Statoil's membership in the AGL consortium.
Mike Hudec and Maria Nikolinakou presented AGL research to the Jackson School of Geosciences (JSG) Visiting Committee on April 26. The Visiting Committee is tasked with evaluating all research and academic offerings in the JSG. AGL was one of three research groups in the BEG selected to present before this committee.
March 2016
On March 3-4, 2016, Maria Nikolinakou and Mahdi Heidari presented the following salt-related talks at the UT GeoFluids meeting held in Austin, Texas: "Pore pressures below an advancing salt sheet: Incorporating mean and shear stress" by Nikolinakou; "Velocity—pore pressure prediction enhanced with geomechanical modeling" by Nikolinakou and Heidari; "Salt-base geometry: Predicting exiting stress" by Nikolinakou; and "Impacts of a highly permeable sand layer on pore pressure near a rising salt wall" by Heidari
February 2016
AGL welcomed Chris Jackson from Imperial College, London for a two-week visit on February 1-12. Chris is working on causes and effects of minibasin tilting with AGL scientists Tim Dooley, Oliver Duffy and Naiara Fernandez.
Mike Hudec visited Marathon's Houston office on February 8 to discuss salt tectonics in the Gulf of Mexico, US Gulf Coast, and West Africa. This visit was provided as part of Marathon's membership in the AGL consortium.
Mike Hudec visited the offices of Woodside Petroleum in Perth, Western Australia on February 15-19. While there Mike taught a short course on salt tectonics, and discussed salt tectonics in West Africa and offshore Nova Scotia. Portions of the visit were provided as part of Woodside's membership in the AGL consortium.
January 2016
Oliver Duffy presented a poster entitled: 'The topology of evolving single phase and multiphase rift fault networks' at the Tectonic Studies Group Annual Meeting 2016, University College London, UK, January 6-8, 2016.
Mike Hudec visited Noble Energy in Houston on January 18-19, discussing salt tectonics in the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa. The visit was provided as part of Noble's membership in the AGL consortium.
Mike Hudec visited Nexen's Houston office on January 20, where he discussed salt tectonics in the Gulf of Mexico. The visit was provided as part of Nexen's membership in the AGL consortium.
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New publication:
Norton, I. O., Carruthers, D. T., and Hudec, M. R., 2016, Rift to drift transition in the South Atlantic salt basins: a new flavor of oceanic crust: Geology, v. 44, no. 1, p. 55-58, doi: 10.1130/G37265.1
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New publication:
Heidari, M., Nikolinakou, M. A., Flemings, P. B., and Hudec, M. R. (2016), A Simplified Stress Analysis of Rising Salt Domes. Basin Research. doi:10.1111/bre.12181
