--> Dave Roberts, the French Connection and the Alpine Passive Margin

International Conference & Exhibition

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Dave Roberts, the French Connection and the Alpine Passive Margin

Abstract

Dave Roberts is remembered by many as the man who brought ‘seismic stratigraphy’ to BP in the mid 1980's. Perhaps less well remembered is that during his time in oceanographic science, Dave had been involved with a number of very significant international scientific cruises investigating the nature of the transition between continent and ocean. During these he developed a close relationship with French geologists - Montadert, Graciansky, Lemoine, and many others - who were also experts on the geology of the Alps and saw clear parallels between the geology of their mountains and the geology that was beginning to be discerned at the continental margins. Dave Roberts the oceanographer himself became an alpine geologist, a synergy which led eventually to an important company training course, a book, and a source of that most important element of hydrocarbon exploration – analogue. In recent years there has been an explosion of ideas and activity on the structure of the continental margins and the continent- ocean transition, and, largely thanks to the work of Manatschal and his colleagues and students, the Alps has become even better known as the outcrop analogue for continental rifting and separation. This talk reviews some of the older Alpine work, explores passive margin geometry as we are now able to see it with the aid of modern seismic imagery, and examines the French Alps in that context.