--> Sedimentology in Fifty Years

2019 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition:

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Sedimentology in Fifty Years

Abstract

In fifty years, between 1903 and 1953, we went from zero humans experiencing powered flight to jet-powered tourist travel. As we peer from 2019 towards the distant-seeming 2069, we should consider the role of geoscience and sedimentology in the future, and aim to build a scientific culture and educational programs that are not just relevant, but play an essential role in the shaping of that future. This is no small challenge, and requires considering not just one version of the future, but several scenarios that could potentially play out - in the same way that forward-looking companies plan strategically for the future. We seem to be on the cusp of significant change from many angles. Society has changed how it communicates, meaning that the pace of science is sometimes too slow (or too ineffective) to combat the pace of opinion. Views of the prices and mix of the world’s energy generated just a decade ago are obsolete, and are increasingly viewed through the essential prism of sustainability. Machine learning challenges the way humans are added into the mix of technical decision making. At the same time, these changes open new frontiers in sciences, including how we work, how we communicate and interact, and what scientific problems we must solve for society. A new energy mix changes what resources we need, and therefore changes how we study it. Easier access to space and other planets provides new challenges to understanding sedimentology in the absence of clear analogs, as well as new resource opportunities. Judging by recent history, it seems a mistake to believe the last fifty years will teach us how the next fifty will go; if we would like to lay the groundwork for the role sedimentologists will play in the future, we must examine the present, consider what that future world might look like, and begin discussing where to make changes today.