Environmental Geophysics - Fad or Future?

Phillip R. Romig

For ten years the oil industry has suffered cycles of downsizing, outsourcing, and reorganization. As layoffs and early retirement have become widespread, increasing numbers of geophysicists have seen the environmental business as an opportunity to stay in their chosen profession.

There have been predictions that the use of geophysics for environmental mapping and characterization could spawn an industry larger than oil exploration. These predictions have come from serious financial analysts as well as from hopeful geophysicists, so they cannot be ignored. There also are reputable professionals who believe that environmentalism is a fad which will die out as soon as the next oil shortage occurs. They point to recent publicity about excessive expenditures for waste remediation as a signal of the beginning of the end.

These conflicting views raise serious questions about the form and function of, and the future for, environmental geophysics.

1. What are the prospects for growth of environmental geophysics? Global population will force us to be more concerned about our use of, and impact on the earth. If we interpret environmental geophysics to include all near-surface applications, including geotechnical, groundwater and hazardous waste, it seems inescapable that the demand for our expertise will grow.

2. How does site characterization differ from oil exploration? The traditional oil industry was driven by a risk-taking, revenue-generation psychology; but the dominant issues in the environmental industry are cost control and risk minimization. The resulting differences in the practice of geophysics make it difficult for oil-finders to succeed in the environmental business.

3. What are the keys to success in the environmental business? New applications require new technologies, but process is equally important. Geophysicists must adopt engineering concepts such as computer-aided design, structured decision-making and validation in order to work effectively in the environmental business.

4. Who will pay the bills, and how much money will they have? Oil exploration is funded by oil companies, and amount of funding is tied to their success at finding oil. No such simple cause-and-effect relationships exist in the environmental business.

The answers to these questions are neither obvious nor easy, but they are of paramount importance to young (or not so young) geophysicists considering betting several years of his or her life on the. The SEG has established a forum for discussion by creating a Near-Surface Geophysics Section, and we invite all interested geophysicists to become members and participate in the search for the answers.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91020©1995 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, May 5-8, 1995