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Geophysics

Core Capabilities
People
  • Advanced Geophysical Instrumentation

    Our scientists are developing innovative geophysical hardware and methods for subsurface imaging and monitoring with access to the Geosciences Measurement Facility.

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  • Environmental Geophysics

    Scientists develop new approaches for characterizing shallow subsurface properties and for monitoring complex processes associated with natural or induced subsurface perturbations.

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  • Geomechanics

    Geomechanic research efforts include fluid transport properties, rock-formation fracturing, fault slip resulting from fluid injection or withdrawal, as well as related effects due to thermal loading.

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  • Geophysical Computation for Modeling and Imaging

    Our geophysicists are developing efficient, 3D numerical codes for modeling geophysical attributes, mainly seismic and electromagnetic rock properties through seismic wave propagation and electromagnetic wave propagation and diffusion, respectively.

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  • Rock Physics and Coupled Dynamics

    Research in the laboratory increases our scientists experimental knowledge base for geophysical properties of rocks and sediments that are either not well described by conventional rock physics models or have yet to be fully exploited.

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Overview

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Geophysics has been a core science discipline at Berkeley Lab for over 40 years, predating the 1977 formation of the former Earth Sciences Division (ESD). During the world energy crisis of the mid-1970s, keen interest arose in finding alternative sources of energy. A number of UC Berkeley/Berkeley Lab scientists began exploring the possibility of finding geothermal energy sources using advanced geophysical techniques. This interest led to geothermal field explorations in Northern California, Nevada, and Mexico. Such projects soon expanded into geophysical studies of potential nuclear waste storage sites, and were the beginnings of ESD.

Since then, in addition to continuing and expanding its geothermal studies (in response to the abiding interest in locating and developing alternative energy sources), the Geophysics Department has expanded its mission and now conducts work on a wide variety of geotechnical problems for energy and environment. This work includes remediation projects at contaminated DOE sites, CO2 sequestration studies to mitigate the impacts of global warming, development and testing of new geophysical technologies for fossil energy and mining applications, geological and man-made hazard investigations, and basic research in geophysics. In these endeavors, our geophysicists employ subsurface modeling and imaging, and laboratory and field-scale studies for varied applications, including:

  • Mapping contaminant transport near the surface of polluted areas
  • Identifying geothermal fluids, oil and gas deposits, and CO2 plumes
  • Investigating earthquake and volcanic hazards
  • Locating unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Today, the Geophysics Department resides within the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) where scientists, postdocs, research associates, and graduate students carry out a wide range of advanced research in fundamental and applied geophysics. The Geophysics Department is currently driven by two primary objectives.

  • One is to advance geophysical approaches for quantifying subsurface properties, including fluid properties, saturation, porosity, pore pressure, permeability, and in situ stress, from laboratory studies and field measurements at the earth surface and in boreholes.
  • The other is the development of technologies for subsurface resource access and monitoring, such as seismically enhanced oil recovery, geomechanics-based subsurface-permeability enhancement, and microearthquake-based reservoir monitoring.

Recent Activities

In 2015, the Geophysics Department hosted a series of forums to bring together its members, other invited guests, and other interested individuals to talk about the various seismic modeling software programs and electromagnetic modeling codes used in the Department and their applications. Attendees gained overall knowledge of Department capabilities and shared best practices and latest developments.

Core Capabilities

Environmental Geophysics

Research in environmental geophysics area combines the disciplines of geophysics, hydrogeology, statistics, and biogeochemistry to develop new approaches for characterizing shallow subsurface properties and for monitoring complex processes associated with natural or induced subsurface perturbations.

Advanced Geophysical Instrumentation

The focus of this research area is the development of innovative geophysical hardware and methodologies for subsurface imaging and monitoring, such as high-resolution borehole tomographic tools (radar and seismic), and micro-earthquake monitoring systems.

Geomechanics

Geomechanics is concerned with the elastic and/or poroelastic response of earth materials, typically in a scientific or engineering setting that involves fluids such as water or oil stored in earth reservoir.

Geophysical Computation for Modeling and Imaging

Our subsurface imaging research is now focused on combining multiple types of geophysical data sets to better quantify the subsurface and reduce ambiguity. The degree to which joint images of geophysical attributes can be used successfully to infer rock properties (fracture orientation, fracture density, temperature and fluid saturations) from geophysical attributes is also an active area of research. Complementing this imaging capability is our robust computational capability, the challenge for which is to develop accurate and efficient computer codes capable of modeling the seismic and electromagnetic response in complex geologic media.

Rock Physics and Coupled Dynamics

The relationships between geophysical attributes (such as seismic velocities and attenuation, electrical conductivity, and dielectric constant) and rock properties (such as porosity, permeability, and fluid saturation) are provided by rock-physics measurements and/or theoretical understanding.

Jonathan Ajo-Franklin

Visiting Faculty

Phone: 510-495-2728
jbajo-franklin@lbl.gov

David Lee Alumbaugh

Carbon Storage Program Lead;

Hydrocarbon Science Program Lead;

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6346
dlalumbaugh@lbl.gov

Robert J. Budnitz portrait. Cr. Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab. Photos.lbl.gov, XBD201408-01063-02.tiff

Robert Jay Budnitz

Guest Physicist Project Scientist/Engineer

Affiliate

Phone: 510-486-7829
rjbudnitz@lbl.gov

Roland Burgmann

Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-643-9545
rburgmann@lbl.gov

Jinsong Chen

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6842
Fax: 510-486-5686
jchen@lbl.gov

Sung Choi

Principal Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 818-425-8823
sungchoi@lbl.gov

Chunwei Chou

Research Scientist

chunweichou@lbl.gov

Julien F. Cohen-Waeber

Graduate Student Research Assistant

Phone: 310-488-8975
jfwaeber@lbl.gov

Michael Commer

Guest Scientist

Affiliate

mcommer@lbl.gov

Paul Cook

Paul Cook

Principal Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-486-6110
Fax: 510-486-6819
pjcook@lbl.gov

Julia Correa

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-693-7011
juliacorrea@lbl.gov

Baptiste Dafflon

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-4735
bdafflon@lbl.gov

Thomas Daley

Staff Scientist (retired)

Affiliate

Phone: 510-508-3038
tmdaley@lbl.gov

Sylvain Fiolleau

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

sfiolleau@lbl.gov

Bill Foxall Portrait

William Foxall

Guest Senior Scientist

Affiliate

Phone: 510-486-5082
bfoxall@lbl.gov

Erika Gasperikova

Erika Gasperikova

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-486-4930
Fax: 510-486-5686
egasperikova@lbl.gov

Stanislav Glubokovskikh

Research Scientist

sglubokovskikh@lbl.gov

Norman E. Goldstein

Guest Senior Scientist

Affiliate

Phone: 510-486-6887
negoldstein@lbl.gov

Yves Guglielmi portrait

Yves Guglielmi

Senior Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7626
Fax: 510-486-5686
yguglielmi@lbl.gov

Chet Hopps profile photo

Chet Hopp

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 734-255-6473
chopp@lbl.gov

Lawrence J. Hutchings

Project Scientist

Affiliate

Phone: 510-486-7446
Fax: 510-486-5686
ljhutchings@lbl.gov

Boris Jeremic

Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7829
bjeremic@lbl.gov

Jack Lamb

Student Assistant

Phone: 925-951-7768
jlamb@lbl.gov

Corinne Elisabeth Layland-Bachmann

Senior Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-486-6743
cebachmann@lbl.gov

Philip E. Long

Guest Scientist
Deputy Lead, Sustainable Systems Science Focus Area

Affiliate

Phone: 509-531-2987
Fax: 510-486-5686
pelong@lbl.gov

Linqing Luo

Research Scientist

Phone: 510-766-8083
linqingluo@lbl.gov

Ernest L. Majer

Guest Scientist

Affiliate

Phone: 510-486-6709
elmajer@lbl.gov

David McCallen

Senior Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7661
dbmccallen@lbl.gov

Mamun Miah

Project Scientist

Phone: 510-486-5647
mmiah@lbl.gov

Alejandro Morales

Mechanical Engineering Technician

Phone: 510-486-5967
armorales@lbl.gov

Seiji Nakagawa

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7894
Fax: 510-486-5686
snakagawa@lbl.gov

Nori Nakata

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-6346
nnakata@lbl.gov

Rie Nakata (Kamei)

Earth Research Scientist

rnakata@lbl.gov

Avinash Nayak

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-6658
anayak7@lbl.gov

Edward Nichols

Senior Scientific Engineering Associate

enichols@lbl.gov

Kurt Toshimi Nihei

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-7945
ktnihei@lbl.gov

John E. Peterson

Principal Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-486-4267
Fax: 510-486-5686
jepeterson@lbl.gov

Floriana Petrone

Visiting Faculty

Visitin

Phone: 510-486-7961
Fax: 510-486-5686
florianapetrone@lbl.gov

Youzheng Qi

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-4793
youzhengqi@lbl.gov

James W. Rector

Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-643-7820
jwrector@lbl.gov

Michelle Robertson

Program Manager

Phone: 510-486-5096
mcrobertson@lbl.gov

Nicholas Sitar

Faculty Scientist

Phone: 510-486-5206
nsitar@lbl.gov

Jeremy T. Smith

Senior Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-486-5761
jtsmith@lbl.gov

Kenichi Soga

Faculty Scientist

soga@berkeley.edu

Florian A. Soom

Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-486-4788
flosoom@lbl.gov

Maryam Tabbakhha

Project Scientist

mtabbakhha@lbl.gov

Craig Ulrich

Principal Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-495-8891
Fax: 510-486-5686
culrich@lbl.gov

Evan S. Um

Project Scientist

Phone: 510-495-2172
Fax: 510-486-5686
esum@lbl.gov

Donald W. Vasco

Hydrogeophysicist

Senior Scientist

Phone: 510-486-5206
Fax: 510-486-5686
dwvasco@lbl.gov

Chen Wang

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

cwang4@lbl.gov

Jiannan Wang

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-6673
jiannanwang@lbl.gov

Stijn Wielandt

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Phone: 510-486-4274
stijnwielandt@lbl.gov

Michael Wilt

Staff Scientist (retired)

Affiliate

Phone: 510-486-5430
mwilt@lbl.gov

Todd J. Wood

Principal Scientific Engineering Associate

Phone: 510-332-9473
tjwood@lbl.gov

Yuxin Wu

Geophysics Department Head,

Staff Scientist

Phone: 510-486-4793
Fax: 510-486-5686
ywu3@lbl.gov

Department Contacts

Yuxin Wu
Geophysics Department Head,
Staff Scientist

Shelby Bemiss
Administrative Assistant

News & Events

Geosciences Measurement Facility Celebrates Its 45th Summer Field Season

August 21, 2018

Within the Department of Energy complex of national laboratories, the Geosciences Measurement Facility (GMF) at Berkeley Lab is distinguished by its ability to build, test, and deploy customized instrumentation and innovative data acquisition and telemetry solutions, which are enabling scientists to address some of the most critical Earth, energy and environmental challenges that we face.…

EESA Scientists Leverage Machine Learning to Connect Measurements of Shale Across Scales

May 2, 2018

  EESA Scientists were able to use the new synchrotron Infrared Nano Spectroscopy (SINS) capability at Advanced Light Source. Above: Diagrams of the setup of (a) the Germanium-hemisphere enhanced attenuated total reflection (Ge micro-ATR) and (b) the resonance enhanced SINS.   Berkeley Lab scientists have identified a way to use machine learning to connect fine-…

Two Papers by EESA Geophysicists Honored by Society of Exploration Geophysicists

April 26, 2018

Two papers published in 2017 by geophysics researchers within the Energy Geosciences Division have been honored by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. Geophysics Department Head Jonathan Ajo-Franklin was notified that the studies received Honorable Mention in the category of Best Paper in Geophysics in April.  The papers published by the society are: An effective-medium model for P-wave…

EESA Mentoring Program Underway

January 25, 2018

The EESA Mentoring Pilot Program for FY2018 kicked off with two training sessions on January 11 for individuals grouped in pairs of 43 mentors and mentees from our Area who will meet over the next nine months. Mentors learned effective mentoring skills in a morning training with breakout sessions. Mentees gathered in an afternoon training…

Susan Hubbard and Margaret Torn Honored as #AGU17 Fellows

December 14, 2017

About 80 EESA scientists are representing Berkeley Lab at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union this week in New Orleans. AGU’s annual fall meeting is the largest Earth and space science meeting in the world, with more than 24,000 attendees. For the first time in several years, the meeting is being held away…

Dark Fiber: Using Sensors Beneath Our Feet to Tell Us About Earthquakes, Water, and Other Geophysical Phenomenon

December 5, 2017

  Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown for the first time that dark fiber – the vast network of unused fiber-optic cables installed throughout the country and the world – can be used as sensors for detecting earthquakes, the presence of groundwater, changes in permafrost conditions, and…

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