Continuous development of the postgraduate course GEOV360 – Advanced Clastic Sedimentology: Years 2017 to 2021

This is a report in the course UPED620 – Basic module in university pedagogics, where I describe the changes I have done to the course GEOV360 – Advanced Clastic Sedimentology over the last five years. These changes include restructuring of the teaching to include much more student active learning, redefined course goals, an assessment strategy that is strongly aligned with the course goals, and a comprehensive student evaluation program. The goal of these changes has been to improve student learning and knowledge retention of the geological skills taught in the course, and to give the students experience in data interpretation, handling uncertainty, teamwork and giving presentations. The purpose of this report is to share insights with other educators who may be able to benefit from my experiences

Distribution of discontinuous mudstone beds within wave-dominated shallow-marine deposits : Star Point Sandstone and Blackhawk Formation, Eastern Utah

Acknowledgements Funding for this study was provided from the Research Council of Norway through the Petromaks project 193059 and the FORCE Safari Project. The lidar data was collected by Julien Vallet and Samuel Pitiot of Helimap Systems SA. Riegl LMS GmbH is acknowledged for software support. The first author would like to thank Oliver Severin Tynes for assistance in the field. Tore Grane Klausen and Gijs Allard Henstra are thanked for invaluable discussions. The authors would also like to thank Janok Bhattacharya, Cornel Olariu and one anonymous revier for their insightful comments which improved this paper, and Frances Witehurst for his editorial comments.Peer reviewedPostprin

Sedimentology and reservoir properties of tabular and erosive offshore transition deposits in wave-dominated, shallow-marine strata : Book cliffs, USA

Acknowledgements and Funding Funding for this study was provided from the Research Council of Norway (Petromaks project 193059) and the FORCE Safari project. The helicopter-LiDAR data was collected by J. Valet and S. Pitiot of Helimap System SA. Riegl LMS GmbH is acknowledged for software support for the outcrop models, and ROXAR is acknowledged for use of their RMS reservoir modelling package. A. Rittersbacher is acknowledged for processing the heli-LiDAR model. The first author would like to thank O. S. Mulelid-Tynes and G. Henstra for assistance in the field and for valuable discussions. G. Hampson is thanked for insightful comments that significantly improved this manuscriptPeer reviewedPostprin

A conceptual geological model for offshore wind sites in former ice stream settings: The Utsira Nord site, North Sea

Conceptual geological models of the shallow subsurface that integrate geological and geotechnical information are important for more strategic data acquisition and engineering at offshore wind sites. Utsira Nord is an offshore wind site in the Norwegian North Sea suitable for floating turbines, with an average water depth of 267 m. It covers a 23 km x 43 km area within the Norwegian Channel, a trough formed by repeated ice streaming. The goal of this study is to present a preliminary conceptual geological model for the site, which combines an overview of previous knowledge about the ice streaming history of the Norwegian Channel with key observations from bathymetric data, 2D acoustic data, and shallow cores. Despite limited data, four units with different geotechnical properties can be defined: 1) exposed glacimarine to marine sediments, 2) buried to exposed subglacial traction till, 3) buried lodgement till and 4) shallowly buried to exposed crystalline bedrock. The model serves as a basis for planning site surveys at Utsira Nord and as a reference for offshore wind sites on other formerly glaciated coasts where ice streaming has been an important land-forming process, such as the northern coastlines of North America and the United Kingdom.publishedVersio

Seismic expression of shear zones: Insights from 2-D point-spread-function based convolution modelling

Shear zones are common strain localization structures in the middle and lower crust and play a major role during orogeny, transcurrent movements and rifting alike. Our understanding of crustal deformation depends on our ability to recognize and map shear zones in the subsurface, yet the exact signatures of shear zones in seismic reflection data are not well constrained. To advance our understanding, we simulate how three outcrop examples of shear zones (Holsnøy - Norway, Cap de Creus - Spain, Borborema - Brazil) would look in different types of seismic reflection data using 2-D point-spread-function (PSF)-based convolution modelling, where PSF is the elementary response of diffraction points in seismic imaging. We explore how geological properties (e.g. shear zone size and dip) and imaging effects (e.g. frequency, resolution, illumination) control the seismic signatures of shear zones. Our models show three consistent seismic characteristics of shear zones: (1) multiple, inclined reflections, (2) converging reflections, and (3) cross-cutting reflections that can help interpreters recognize these structures with confidence.publishedVersio

Seismic interpretation of sill complexes in sedimentary basins : implications for the sub-sill imaging problem

Acknowledgements: We thank reviewers Craig Magee and Murray Hoggett for considerate and insightful reviews that considerably improved this manuscript. The LIDAR data were acquired by Julien Vallet and Samuel Pitiot of Helimap Systems. We acknowledge NORSAR for an academic licence of the seismic modelling software SeisRoX, which was used to generate synthetic seismograms in this study, and NORSAR-2D, which was used for analysis of seismic propagation through the overburden models. The virtual outcrop was visualized and interpreted using LIME (http://virtualoutcrop.com/lime). We also acknowledge Tore Aadland for writing invaluable scripts used for import of the outcrop models to seismic modelling software, and Gijs A. Henstra and Björn Nyberg for assistance in the field. Funding: Funding for data acquisition was provided from the Research Council of Norway through the PETROMAKS project 193059 and the FORCE Safari project. Funding for data analysis and modelling was provided from PETROMAKS through the Trias North project (234152).Peer reviewedPostprin

Linking an Early Triassic delta to antecedent topography: Source-to-sink study of the southwestern Barents Sea margin

Present-day catchments adjacent to sedimentary basins may preserve geomorphic elements that have been active through long intervals of time. Relicts of ancient catchments in present-day landscapes may be investigated using mass-balance models and can give important information about upland landscape evolution and reservoir distribution in adjacent basins. However, such methods are in their infancy and are often difficult to apply in deep-time settings due to later landscape modification. The southern Barents Sea margin of N Norway and NW Russia is ideal for investigating source-to-sink models, because it has been subject to minor tectonic activity since the Carboniferous, and large parts have eluded significant Quaternary glacial erosion. A zone close to the present-day coast has likely acted as the boundary between basin and catchments since the Carboniferous. Around the Permian-Triassic transition, a large delta system started to prograde from the same area as the present-day largest river in the area, the Tana River, which has long been interpreted to show features indicating that it was developed prior to present-day topography. We performed a source-to-sink study of this ancient system in order to investigate potential linkages between present-day geomorphology and ancient deposits. We investigated the sediment load of the ancient delta using well, core, two-dimensional and three-dimensional seismic data, and digital elevation models to investigate the geomorphology of the onshore catchment and surrounding areas. Our results imply that the present-day Tana catchment was formed close to the Permian-Triassic transition, and that the Triassic delta system has much better reservoir properties compared to the rest of Triassic basin infill. This implies that landscapes may indeed preserve catchment geometries for extended periods of time, and it demonstrates that source-to-sink techniques can be instrumental in predicting the extent and quality of subsurface reservoirs.publishedVersio

Lithological influence on sill geometry in sedimentary basins : Controls and recognition in reflection seismic data

Peer reviewe

Insights into past tectonism from authigenic quartz

Authigenic quartz grains carry information that is diagnostic for the thermal history and thereby the burial depth and uplift of sediments. Recycled quartz grains with embayed or rounded authigenic remnants have been observed globally, but the value of these grains in unravelling past tectonism is presently underexplored. In this study, we launch a new method to demonstrate that cathodoluminescence (CL) in combination with fluid inclusion data and textural characteristics of authigenic quartz can provide important information about past tectonic activity. Vital in the method is the realisation that recycled quartz grains can be distinguished from other quartz grains by their geochemical CL fingerprint, allowing tracking of uplifted source terrains in a direction towards higher fractions of the recycled grains. Furthermore, regional mapping can reveal both intra-basinal recycling as well as recycled grains transported into the basin from external sources. The new proposed method is simple and does not require more than a standard Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with a CL detector, available at many geoscientific institutions worldwide. This innovative approach applies to a wide section of geoscientific disciplines, and complement and supplement other conventional methods used for unravelling past tectonism.publishedVersio

Power and Narrative in Project Management: Lessons Learned in Recognising the Importance of Phronesis

A component part of modern project management practice is the ‘lessons learned’ activity that is designed to transfer experience and best practice from one project to another, thus improving the practice of project management. The departure point for this thesis is: If we are learning lessons from our experiences in project management, then why are we not better at managing projects? It is widely cited in most project management literature that 50–70% of all projects fail for one reason or another, a figure that has steadfastly refused to improve over many years. My contention is that the current rational approach to understanding lessons learned in project management, one entrenched in the if–then causality of first-order systems thinking where the nature of movement is a ‘corrective repetition of the past in order to realise an optimal future state’ (Stacey 2011: 301), does not reflect the actual everyday experience of organisational life. I see this as an experience of changing priorities, competing initiatives, unrealistic timescales, evaporation of resources, non-rational decisions based on power relations between actors in the organisations we find ourselves in; and every other manner of challenge that presents itself in modern large commercial organisations. I propose a move away from what I see as the current reductionist view of lessons learned, with its emphasis on objective observation, to one of involved subjective understanding. This is an understanding rooted in the particular experience of the individual acting into the social, an act that necessarily changes both the individual and the social. My contention is that a narrative approach to sense making as first-order abstractions in the activity of lessons learned within project management is what is required if we are to better learn from our experiences. This narrative approach that I have termed ‘thick simplification’ supports learning by enabling the reader of the lessons learned account to situate the ‘lesson learned’ within their own experience through treating the lessons learned as a potential future understanding .This requires a different view of what is going on between people in organisations – one that challenges the current reliance on detached process and recognises the importance of embedded phronesis, the Aristotelian virtue of practical judgement. It is an approach that necessarily ‘focuses attention directly on patterns of human relating, and asks what kind of power relations, ideology and communication they reflect’ (Stacey 2007: 266)