GEOMODELS-Lab - GEOMODELS Analogue Modelling Laboratory (Geomodels
Research Institute, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)
The analogue modelling laboratory of the Geomodels Research Institute
(http://www.ub.edu/geomodels/Obj_en_Lab_mod.html) was stablished in
2009 thanks to a scientific infrastructure (UNBA08-4E-006) co-funded by
the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) of the Ministerio de
Ciencia e Innovación of the Spanish Government and Statoil. It is
integrated in the Geological Simulations Laboratory (SIMGEO) of the
Facultat de Ciències de la Terra (Universitat de Barcelona).
GEOMODELS-Lab was designed to complement the main research lines on
structural geology, tectonics and 3D reconstruction/modelling of
geological bodies carried out at the Geomodels Research Institute. It is
currently supported by different research projects with oil companies
(Consortium ConocoPhilips, Tarim Oil, Repsol, etc…). In terms of
research, the laboratory is open to collaborations with other
institutions, both public or private. It is also used with an
educational purpose in BSc. and MSc. courses taught at the Facultat de
Ciències de la Terra of the UB. In 2017 we edited the special issue
“Analog modelling as an aid to structural interpretation” of the
Interpretation journal and in October 2018 we hosted the GeoMod
conference.
The GEOMODELS-Lab consists of three modular experimental rigs, a slicing
machine and complementary equipment such as a scanner, photography
cameras, a 3D printer and minor devices. The experimental rigs were
designed to emulate a wide variety of tectonic settings as thin- and
thick-skinned extension or compression, tectonic inversion, salt
tectonics and strike-slip deformation. The deformation is applied to the
experiments by servomotors run by a digital controller which is
continuously monitored by a computer. The data capture is carried out by
lateral, oblique and overhead digital time-lapsed photographs that are
complemented by a high-resolution white light scan (SIDIO XP) which
captures micrometric variations on the topography. The experiments are
cut with a slicing machine in homogeneous and equidistant sections of 3
mm-thick. General and detailed photographs are taken for each section,
that are used subsequently to create 3D voxels that can be sliced in any
direction. These photographs can be also converted to virtual seismic
cubes that are interpreted with Petrel, Kingdom Suite or Gocad. The
evolution of the experiments can be also analyzed using PIV techniques
(La Vision).
Please, find further information in
http://www.ub.edu/geomodels/Obj_en_Lab_mod.html
