Advocacy Reqd by GeoScientists
This
downturn has taken its toll on the workforce. It appears a whole generation has
been retired or let go. As the environmental movement strengthens in opposition
to Oil and Gas in Canada it makes me think that folks such as GeoScientists
should do more to advocate for the Industry and their profession. John Harper
is one such individual and writes the following:
Climate Change - the buzzword of the decade! Whenever we see anything
anomalous in the experience of an individual, especially those in the urban
world, we hear them invoke the climate change buzz. Interestingly, when asked
about their meaning of climate change, most politicians and the public, cannot
provide a consistent definition. Neither can many scientists and geoscientists because
they tend to be so focussed in their interests that they lack the historical
context within which to analyse the full scope of their data. The Earth’s
climate is recorded in the rocks and geoscientists are those capable of
deciphering the record. Advances in technology are greatly improving these
capabilities. Geoscientific forensic climatology may become a trend for future
scientific research.
The Earth’s climate during the last 600 Million
years has repeatedly oscillated from the extremes of glacial conditions (very
cold) to evaporitization (very hot) and back to glaciation. The geologic record
is very clear in this regard. Glacial conditions occurred at the end of the
Precambrian, end of the Ordovician, earliest Permian, and Tertiary Pleistocene.
These climatic changes are first-order oscillations resulting from drift of
large land masses into polar regions of the time. During intervening times
continental breakup has led to climate warming through temperate to tropical to
evaporite conditions. But oscillation orders do not end there.
Rock data clearly demonstrate second-order warming
and cooling oscillations superimposed on the major first-order occurrences.
Silurian salt/carbonate couplets, Pennsylvanian coal measures, Permian
Rotliegendes salt/carbonate couplets, and Pleistocene interglacials are all
examples of such second-orders. The geologic record suggests there are at least
seven orders of cyclicity and there may be more. Geologic climate change
research is still evolving but current data strengthen the characteristics of
the recognized oscillation orders.
Carbon dioxide concentrations during Pleistocene
glacial/interglacial couplets have been documented for the last 650,000 years
and offer detail not readily available for earlier glaciations. Interglacials
lasted an average of 45,000 years. The present interglacial we are experiencing
has been active for the past 12,800 – 20,000 years. If the future is to result
in a return to glaciation then there may be 25,000 years to go. However if we are
beginning to experience a first-order oscillation to evaporitization then
continuous warming is inevitable. Interestingly, glaciations are characterized
by low carbon dioxide concentrations and warmings by high concentrations. It is
evident from geologic data that carbon dioxide variations are a consequence of
climate changes, not the cause. It is evident as well that the many orders of
oscillations have nothing to do with the existence of humans. It is not
possible for humans to interrupt those orders.
These geologic facts will continue to be bolstered
by increasing geoscientific climatic research. Society would best be served by
addressing controllable issues such as pollution (atmospheric, surface land and
oceans, and subsurface rocks and reservoirs), and the consequences of the
explosive population growth we will be facing in the next 50 years.
Geoscientists need to be active contributors to the solutions.
John has
broad experience in industry, academia and government geoscience. His
background has been as a Petroleum research geoscientist, Consultant advisor to
Domestic, National and International companies, Professor of Petroleum Geology
and Sedimentology, and former Director – Energy, of the Geological Survey of
Canada. John began his career at Shell Development Company, researching
deepwater to fluvial systems in active tectonic margins. Operationally while at Shell Oil, John worked
Silurian –Devonian basins from the Houston-Denver line to the Atlantic Ocean. While at Shell Canada, John was the Biostratigraphy
Group Leader for geostatistical integration of sedimentology and depositional
environments. Upon leaving Shell, John
was Vice President, Special Projects at Trend Exploration Ltd. where he worked
with datasets from Libya, the Philippines, Indonesia, various Pacific regions,
North Africa, Middle East, Europe, North America domestic and Frontier
regions. During his career, he also
served as a Senior Geological Advisor for Conoco Phillips Canada, conducting
frontier exploration for the East Coast, the Labrador Shelf and the Canadian
Arctic. John is known for his academic contributions as Professor of Petroleum
Geology and Sedimentology at Memorial University of Newfoundland where he
taught and mentored many young minds to “take care of the basics”. John has worked within government circles as
the Director of Energy for the Geological Survey of Canada. He championed research into Canadian energy
issues including gas hydrates, carbon capture, Arctic research, Canadian
sovereignty and the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). John has served as a technical witness and
advisor to the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, France during an
arbitration tribunal.
From the
Thursday Files
The most difficult thing
is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.
-
Amelia Earhart
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