- #1
AryaKimiaghalam
- 82
- 6
Hi everyone,
In the past when I was doing my undergrad in physics, I sometimes looked at this page for inspiration in research. However, I was unable to find a similar one for applied geophysics.
Currently, my area of research is exploration non-seismic geophysics, where the focus is on near surface phenomena. I know that in the past century, physics-based methods such as gravimetry, magnetics, time and frequency domain electromagnetics, self potential (SP) and Induced Polarization (IP) have been developed and successfully used for mineral exploration.However when I speak to people in the field, they argue that there is "no juice to be squeezed" and that the probability of a new method emerging is next to none. Apparently the current focus is rather on data integration from the existing methods, with most using AI for that purpose. It is hard to agree with this, since it could imply that applied geophysics is a dead-end subfield of physics.
My question to the community, particularly those who worked with or studied geophysics is the following: What are some unsolved problems in applied geophysics in your opinion? Is there potential for the emergence of a new physics-based method (e.g., IP and SP)? Or rather, is there potential for applying new physics to develop novel geophysical measurement techniques ?(e.g., building better magnetometers).
Very curious to know your thoughts!
Thanks.
In the past when I was doing my undergrad in physics, I sometimes looked at this page for inspiration in research. However, I was unable to find a similar one for applied geophysics.
Currently, my area of research is exploration non-seismic geophysics, where the focus is on near surface phenomena. I know that in the past century, physics-based methods such as gravimetry, magnetics, time and frequency domain electromagnetics, self potential (SP) and Induced Polarization (IP) have been developed and successfully used for mineral exploration.However when I speak to people in the field, they argue that there is "no juice to be squeezed" and that the probability of a new method emerging is next to none. Apparently the current focus is rather on data integration from the existing methods, with most using AI for that purpose. It is hard to agree with this, since it could imply that applied geophysics is a dead-end subfield of physics.
My question to the community, particularly those who worked with or studied geophysics is the following: What are some unsolved problems in applied geophysics in your opinion? Is there potential for the emergence of a new physics-based method (e.g., IP and SP)? Or rather, is there potential for applying new physics to develop novel geophysical measurement techniques ?(e.g., building better magnetometers).
Very curious to know your thoughts!
Thanks.
