A professor of information science recently sent me information about his participation in a small seminar on mathematical and physical issues in a national laboratory.The conference organizers gave the nature of the seminar a cool "brainstorm," meaning to use the wisdom of relevant experts and scholars to help solve major scientific and technological problems in the country's national economy.Afterwards, the professor sent me a summary of the meeting. Although I couldn't understand the details, my mathematical physics foundation gave me a rough idea of the "mathematical physics problem" that experts at the seminar racked their brains.
On May 18, 2016, I was invited to attend the "Earth Science Frontier Symposium and 2016 Annual Conference of China Geoscience Promotion Association" held at Wuhan University.Through several examples of geophysical interpretations from around the world over the past half century, I have raised "major geological issues in geophysical research" to arouse young geophysical colleagues to focus on basic geological knowledge.The Geophysical Challenges report covers both deep and applied geophysics.For example, the results of the Kola ultra-deep drilling in the former Soviet Union did not reveal (verify) the original geophysical interpretation of the Kola surface, the traditional upper-lower crust density boundary.The interpretation of geophysical stratigraphic structure by scientific drilling (CCSD) results in the East China Sea of Jiangsu Province in China also shows a large deviation.In fact, due to the uncertainties of geophysics, it is not surprising that these deviations are normal. I am writing "How should the public view the results of deep geophysics research?"ScienceNet on May 3, 2013 elaborated on this issue.However, if geophysicists had the geological knowledge (both theoretical and practical), they would minimize the uncertainty (i.e., multiple solutions) of the interpretation results, bringing the results closer to reality.
During the mid-term review, a professor of computational mathematics chaired a project called "Unconventional Oil and Gas Complex Geophysical Modeling" and asked what the geological characteristics of "unconventional oil and gas reservoirs" were.What are the geophysical characteristics of "complex media"?Basis for setting parameters in "Geophysical-Geophysical Model Establishment"?Clearly, it is difficult for the professor of computational mathematics, who lacks knowledge of petroleum geology, to answer these questions accurately.All these cases give geophysicists a cliché, but it has never received enough attention, namely, "geology in geophysical research".Because, as far as I know, there are geophysicists who are only interested in studying computational geophysical methods that seem to be "tall."For this reason, Academician Yin Hongfu once asked the professor of geophysics at the university: "Tell me, what are the bottlenecks that restrict the development of geophysics?”
Inspired by these questions, I sent a WeChat on the subject to one of the most successful professors in geophysics. From this I thought that we could discuss similar issues in geophysics as well as mathematical physics.Some of our former geophysical teachers paid little attention to the geological foundation and practical knowledge for a long time, mainly doing some methodological research, seriously restricting the geophysical achievements.Suggestions for your reference."I also sent this opinion to several geophysical colleagues via WeChat and received enthusiastic responses from them.
Professor Yang Weiran, former vice-chancellor of China University of Geology (Wuhan), tectonic geologist: I think the geophysics of foreign countries is very tight. Mr. Ma Xingyuan has been asking us to strengthen the geophysics.So I recruited DCP graduate students (undergraduate in geophysics, currently living in the United States), and I collaborated with LYY (Paleo-Geomagnetism) for scientific research.But my geophysical foundation is poor and I can't go deep.Dr. Geng, a teacher at the Institute of Geophysics and now living abroad, says that some of the world's most famous geophysicists I've met have a strong geological background. According to our definition, they should be geophysics and geology experts.I went to several schools, and they didn't have a department of geophysics, but only one Earth Sciences Department.During my undergraduate years, I took fewer geology courses, and then I had fewer opportunities to study geology systematically.Dr. Sun, an assistant professor at the University of Houston, USA, is a student of the first geophysics experiment class at the University of Earth and Space: Miss Liu is right! I'm just too short of geological knowledge, and most of the research now is done on methods.(My reply: In my understanding, geophysics is currently very difficult to break through in mathematics and physics!But there is much to be done in combination with geology).Yes, math is just a tool after all, and we're not math majors.Dr. Li, associate professor of Xi'an Jiaotong University, the first geophysical experiment class student of the Institute of Geoscience and Air Sciences: Mr. Liu, thank you for your suggestion. I agree with you.In fact, when I was reading the blog, I began to accept the idea that we were essentially looking for oil.Based on this settlement, we should not limit ourselves to our own specialties, but should take all means and means to achieve this goal (geology, geophysics, geology, rock mechanics, rock physics, logging, earthquakes etc.) to solve the problems and challenges faced by industry.In the process of predicting and developing unconventional reservoirs (shale, dense sandstone, etc.), we are faced with the problem of integration of geology, geophysics and engineering.Dr. Fu, a researcher at the Institute of Earthquake Prediction in China Earthquake Bureau, said: We really lack geology in geophysics. Only when combined with geology can we have a good story and apply for a big project.Professor Cao of Geophysics, Chengdu University of Technology: Thank you, Miss Liu!There are quite a few similar seminars for oil field enterprises, but not many colleges and universities participate.Dr. Zhao, professor of geophysics at Tongji University, University of Earth and Space, 2007: Thank you Mr. Liu for sharing, good advice and ideas.Qiao Qiao, a researcher at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: Yes, Mr. Liu, our foundation in geology is too weak.Dr. Mao, a professor at the School of Geosciences: Mr. Liu's suggestion can make geophysics broader and more fundamental.Dr. Zhang, associate researcher of the Institute of Precision Measurement, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Thank you, Miss Liu.Realistically, geophysics and geo-geology cross-cooperation is too important.Dr. Xu: Thank you for your suggestion!We do have such a problem now, although we have geophysical models, but we don't know how to relate to major geological problems.Dr. Liu: Thank you to Mr. Liu for sharing your suggestions. How to bridge the bridge between physics and geology should be paid special attention to.
Geophysical research is based on the change of geophysical field caused by the composition and structure of the earth's material, so the importance of geophysicists with geological foundation and practical knowledge is self-evident.In geophysical-geophysical research, striving for truth is a common goal of geophysicists forever.As Professor Yang Weiran said, older scientists, such as Mr Ma Xingyuan, attach great importance to geophysical integration.I went to Mr. Ma's house more than 30 years ago and asked him about geotectonic knowledge "Remember 30 years ago with the help of an old scientist, ScienceNet, February 19, 2018."Therefore, our geophysicists should attach importance to geological knowledge, which will make their geophysical research more powerful and contribute to national scientific and technological innovation and national economic development.