Geology Team Enlists Industry's Help In Pursuing Earth-Shaking Research

Jack E. Oliver took two major risks 17 years ago when he moved from Columbia University to Cornell University to rebuild the geology program. First he proposed a research project that relied on an untested scientific technique. Then he proposed an unusual strategy for carrying out the fieldwork. In his quest to probe the 25-mile-thick slab of rock that makes up the earth’s crust, Oliver wanted to use sound waves to describe subterranean structures. But he didn’t buy the fleet of 18-ton trucks equipped with mechanical vibrations to shake the earth that he needed for the study. Nor did he buy the thousands of “geophones” needed to listen to the earth’s response to the artificial vibrations. And he didn’t hire a huge team of geologists to gather data in the field, either. So how have he and his 30-member team managed to continually churn out new findings, such as their most recent discovery of huge, geological features buried beneath the flat plains of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio? Oliver and his team found the billion-year-old eroded mountain ranges and volcanoes under the midwestern terrain by contracting the field work to experienced and well-equipped industrial teams, usually from companies associated with the petroleum industry. The recent study is part of a 14-year-old effort of Cornell’s Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling, funded by the National Science Foundation, to map the structure of the earth’s crust throughout the United States. The scientists conducted surveys along six separate survey lines totaling 447 miles in the four midwestern states. Analyses of the data on Cornell’s supercomputer revealed a huge region of stratified rock contained in the earth’s crust about four miles in thickness and at least 106 miles wide. According to Thomas Pratt, a member of Oliver’s team, the discovery “has abruptly transformed the Midwest from a geologically boring place to one of great excitement.” Today, Oliver’s “seismic profiling" technique for mapping the earth’s interior is respected world wide and has been credited with helping to validate the theory of plate tectonics. Results from his lab have spurred important new ideas about the formation of mountains and continents. While enthusiasm runs high in geology circles for the achievements of Oliver and his team, his idea of subcontracting the collection of field data—despite its demonstrated virtues—has not made a big hit so far among scientists in general. Could it be that scientists are afraid that the purity of their endeavors might be sullied by using industrial teams? While Oliver acknowledges that seeking such "outside research support “is not a popular idea,” he attributes apparent resistance to a kind of tradition among researchers. The long and short of it is, says Oliver “The scientific mindset is to have your own equipment and staff.” To the contrary, he notes, “I have often argued that if university researchers contracted out select work to industry there would be advantages to both science and the taxpayer. Indeed, Oliver was eager to pursue a potential science-industry synergy from the time he began putting together his Cornell group, which now includes 30 scientists and support staff. The first person he hired was Sidney Kaufman, who had recently retired as a geophysicist with Shell Petroleum. Together, Oliver and Kaufman planned to modify a highiy developed technique that had been used by the oil industry to profile shallow sediments for deeper probes. They also plotted to use their knowledge of the oil industry to enter into agreements with oil-industry contractors such as Geosource Inc. and Seismograph Services Corp., firms who normally do business with private-sector petroleum companies. This research strategy allows the team to focus on gathering data that will help answer the key questions in geology, not equipment development. “Pushing technique is not our goal; pushing data analysis is,” says Larry D. Brown, who first met Oliver as a student at Cornell and is now codirector of the seismic profiling project. After about 15 years of developing their research strategy, the Cornell team is confident enough to take it into regions where little or no geological research has ever been done. One goal is to study the Himalayan region in India, China, and Tibet. There the Cornell researchers suspect, the process of mountain formation is repeating that which happened eons ago in the Great Plains of the U.S. If that proposal is negotiated and funded, the Cornell team will take U.S. industrial expertise into Asia in the form of equipment and, perhaps, personnel. “Our success,” says Oliver, “has always ridden on the back of industry.” Anne S. Moff at is a freelance writer based in Ithaca, N.Y

Geology Team Enlists Industry's Help In Pursuing Earth-Shaking Research

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of