Basic Earth Science and Society - Basic Research Opportunities in Earth Science - page 6

mergers among the major companies (BP-Amoco, Exxon-Mobil) is leading to
further consolidations of the industry's research activities. Nevertheless, the
petroleum industry remains the largest employer of Earth scientists. 4 The short-
term restrictions in the hiring of new Earth scientists have skewed the
demographics, so that the petroleum companies will face problems in
rejuvenating their professional science staffs. In the United States, this
rejuvenation will depend heavily on graduates from research programs in Earth
science supported by EAR.
Reservoir modeling, at the heart of modern optimization of oil and gas
production, illustrates the link between basic and applied research. It involves the
detailed characterization of hydrocarbon reservoirs and fluid properties at depth,
and the use of large numerical simulations of multiphase fluid-flow to integrate
many types of measurements (e.g., characterization of deep strata by three-
dimensional seismic imaging and in situ well logging as a function of time) into
predictive models of reservoir performance. Basic studies of fluid-rock
interactions within petroleum reservoirs have much in common with
investigations of a wide variety of hydrological, magmatic, and metamorphic
systems in the upper crust. Given the commonality of processes among the
various fluid reservoirs in the Critical Zone, the nation's energy industry has a
major stake in the basic research sponsored by EAR.
Minerals and Other Raw Materials
The worldwide consumption of non-food, non-fuel raw materials was about
10 billion tons in 1995, almost double the amount in 1970. About 62% of these
goods were construction materials such as crushed stone, sand, and gravel; 16%
were industrial minerals; 7% metals; 6% nonrenewable organics; and 9%
agricultural and forestry products. 5 The search for mineral resources is a
geological activity, and the results have been spectacularly successful.
Improvements in the techniques for finding and exploiting these natural resources
have combined with the efficiency of global markets to make shortages in
strategic materials rare. Earth science has been instrumental in transforming
once-scarce raw materials into readily available, low-cost commodities.
A wide range of Earth science research—from the basic chemistry and
physics of mass transfer to the global tectonic framework—has contributed
4 According to the NSF's 1993 National Survey of College Graduates, 25% of all Earth
science professionals and more than 50% of the professionals in the commercial sector
were employed by the petroleum industry. See http://www.agiweb.org/career/geosec.html .
5 USGS Fact Sheet FS-068-98.