HR: 1340h
AN: ED33B-1218    [Abstracts]
TI: Teaching marine geology and geophysics: Examples of exercises based around high quality seismic reflection data, well data, and other marine geophysical data from the Woodlark Basin, Papua New Guinea
AU: * Goodliffe, A M
EM: amg@ua.edu
AF: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487,
AU: Robinson, D M
EM: dmr@geo.ua.edu
AF: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487,
AU: Taylor, B
EM: taylorb@hawaii.edu
AF: SOEST, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822,
AB: A common complaint amongst instructors teaching structural geology, sedimentology, and geophysics is the lack of industry seismic reflection data for use as examples in upper level undergraduate and graduate geoscience classes. While a vast quantity of high quality raw and processed academic seismic reflection data are available through National Science Foundation funded databases, these databases are designed largely for researchers who specialize in the field. Instructors still lack packaged examples of data that illustrate the processing of the raw seismic reflection data, interpretation, integration with well data, and interpretation in the context of the regional geology. The Woodlark Basin in Papua New Guinea provides a natural laboratory for the study of the geosciences. It is a continental rift that is in the process of transitioning to seafloor spreading. The area around the rifting-to- spreading transition has been imaged using seismic reflection at many scales from single channel data through 480-channel data collected using a 6-km streamer. The region has also been thoroughly mapped using swath bathymetry, sidescan sonar, and magnetic data. Several ODP drill holes in the region, coincident with the available marine seismic reflection data, provide a detailed picture of the subsidence history of the northern half of the basin. These data are used to build exercises suitable for upper-level geoscience students, including seismic interpretation of high quality reflection data constrained by ties between multiple seismic lines, downhole geophysical data, and well logs. Structural interpretations of the data can be done both along the seismic reflection lines and between them using the detailed swath bathymetry and sidescan data. Timing of events in the basin can be constrained using both the sedimentological and seafloor magnetic data. All data are provided along with detailed exercises. Numerous formats are used, including both raw data and images, making the exercises accessible to instructors that are not familiar with the intricacies of dealing with temperamental geophysical data formats.
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0820 Curriculum and laboratory design
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 3025 Marine seismics (0935, 7294)
DE: 3045 Seafloor morphology, geology, and geophysics
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting