GLOMAR - the bremen international graduate school for marine sciences

Ting-Wei Wu (ESR7), Ricarda Gatter (ESR9), Monika Wiebe (ESR11) | 08 October 2018

The life of a PhD student can be tough – it means being in this in-between-state of being a student and a researcher. It means having your own research project while still lacking some of the experience, skills and knowledge of advanced researchers. There are many tasks to balance: working on your project, writing scientific papers, presenting your work to smaller and larger audiences, and acquiring all the hard and soft skills in order to accomplish the above. In addition, you start to think about your future career, you may teach and supervise younger students, while coping with stress, deadlines and failures.

In order to help PhD students through this part of their life and support them, the Bremen International Graduate School for Marine Sciences has been founded in 2006. Originally it focused on ‘Global Change in the Marine Realm’ (where the name GLOMAR comes from). However, since 2012 it is open to PhD students from all fields of marine sciences. This does not refer exclusively to natural sciences. GLOMAR also includes students from social sciences or law, as long as their project revolves around the marine realm. This structure helps the students to handle one of today’s major challenges – thinking interdisciplinary and out of their own little boxes.

Generally, GLOMAR can be described as a support network that helps its members to cope with their struggles in different ways, some of which are described in more detail below. Being part of GLOMAR means being part of a large network. It includes fellow PhD students who share similar experiences and challenges, as well as research associates and alumni who know what it takes to complete a PhD successfully. GLOMAR offers the chance to participate in a wide range of courses and seminars that train the students’ hard and soft skills. It also grants access to receive funding for research stays, conferences, or placements in the industry. Apart from these aspects, one should not underestimate the social activities that bring PhD students together, like the GLOMAR barbeque or regular pub evenings. Overall, GLOMAR provides support, encouragement, and training for young researchers in this early stage of their career.

 

One of GLOMAR’s best traits are its monthly seminars. These seminars set out to guide and train PhD students on their road to becoming great scientists with a broad interdisciplinary understanding. PhDs can attend research and year-group seminars that are alternating every month. Research seminars invite students of the same research theme, while year-group seminars separate the students according to the start of their project.

GLOMAR provides scientific support and training in the framework of four research themes: (A) Ocean and Climate, (B) Ocean and Seafloor, (C) Ocean and Life, and (D) Ocean and Society. Upon entering GLOMAR, new PhD students can join the theme which best represents their PhD topic. We – Ting-Wei (ESR 7), Ricarda (ESR 9) and Monika (ESR 11) – joined GLOMAR in 2017 and are part of the research theme ‘Ocean and Seafloor’.

 

Networking at Conferences (Research Theme B Seminar)

As new members of GLOMAR’s Research Theme B, we (Ting-Wei and Ricarda) gave a short presentation about our academic background and current research. This presentation was a great opportunity for us to introduce our research to a broader scientific community, and practice giving presentations in general. The feedback from the subsequent group discussions also helped us to improve and further develop our research. Although all the PhD students in the Research Theme B Seminar work on the theme ‘Ocean and Seafloor’, this includes a variety of different topics, as well as the application of numerous methods. Therefore, if we are planning to use a new method (e.g., geotechnical experiments to get input data for numerical models), we can find the necessary help and expertise in these seminars.

The following discussion on ‘Networking at Conferences’ was also very beneficial. PhD students who have been to conferences talked about the advantages and disadvantages of large and small conferences, and mentioned upcoming conferences and workshops that could be of interest to us.

 

How to make a good poster? (Group of 2017 Seminar)

As usual, our seminar started with the announcement of upcoming workshops and courses, and the opportunity for us PhD students to ask questions and discuss problems we are currently facing. This exchange with one another has proven to be very useful, because we all started our projects at around the same time. Therefore, especially regarding administrative issues (e.g., application procedures to be accepted as a PhD student by the University of Bremen), we can often help each other and give advice.

Dr. Martin Lukas, the associate scientist of Group 2017, started the main part of the seminar by giving a short presentation about the rules and recommendations of poster preparation and presentation. He illustrated some rules with examples of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ posters. The most helpful aspect of the seminar was that after hearing about the dos and don’ts, we evaluated and discussed our own posters. PhD students who were planning to go to conferences could present their posters and get feedback on the structure and organisation, and the comprehensibility of the poster.

 

GLOMAR also offers a range of different courses in order to provide the PhD students with the necessary knowledge and training.

Courses cover the following topics:

(1) Basic knowledge – these courses aim to provide general and basic knowledge that the students need to successfully advance in their research, such as earth system modelling, stratigraphic methods and age models, or coastal dynamics.

(2)    Basic Skills and Methods – next to the basic knowledge, the students also need the right tools to be able to advance in their research. These courses teach basic skills and methods that might be useful for students of different fields, e.g. using R and ArcGIS, or scientific writing.

(3)    Transferable Skills – in addition to these basic skills and methods, students have the chance to take courses on more general and universal competences, like leadership and presentation skills, or project and time management. Taking the course ‘Good Scientific Practice’ is a requirement for every PhD student at MARUM, as it is essential in today’s research.

(4)   Specific Knowledge – these courses build upon the basic knowledge and go deeper to provide some more detailed and expert knowledge, as experienced by the seven SLATE ESRs who attended the ECORD training course in April 2018.

(5)   Public Engagement – this comprises all kinds of courses that aim to train the students in science communication and public outreach, which has become a stronger focus in the last years. This includes using twitter, writing for the public, or making scientific short films.

(6)   Overarching Topics – these courses are not related to a specific field, but are relevant to students from all marine fields. Courses include topics such as marine law or policy-making.

Overall, GLOMAR courses offer great opportunities for PhD students. Not only are they providing deeper insights into different research fields, they also promote multi- and trans-disciplinary thinking, which is an important aspect of education.

 

Good Scientific Practice

GLOMAR offers the course ‘Good Scientific Practice’ once or twice a year. In January, Ting-Wei and Ricarda had the chance to participate. Prof. Dr. Reinhard X. Fischer, the Ombudsperson of natural sciences in the University of Bremen, started the course by presenting a few cases in which people did not conduct good scientific practice. One of the most spectacular ones was the case of J. H. Schön. Evidence of Schön’s misconduct was found in at least 13 of his publications, in which he forged data and experiments. Other examples were the well-known cases of K.-T. zu Guttenberg and A. Schavan, who were both accused of plagiarism in their PhD theses and revoked their doctor titles.

While these are some examples of rather obvious misconduct, there are also many possibilities to commit misconduct unintentionally, as described by Prof. Dr. Dierk Hebbeln and Dr. Christina Klose. Some important aspects to know are as follows:

§  You need the approval of the journal’s publisher, if you want to reuse one of your previously published figures.

§  Reference your own papers the way you reference others.

§  Never ignore outliers in your data just because they do not fit the trend or your expectations.

Apart from this, it is important to talk about authorship as soon as possible. Thing about who made significant contributions to the concept of the study or experiments, the generation, analysis and interpretation of the data, and the preparation of the manuscript. Furthermore, ideas communicated only orally need to be referenced as such.

 

 

In May 2018, GLOMAR organised a ‘Career Paths Day’ along with other graduate programmes. They invited speakers with different professions outside of academia to talk about their work and career path. Within the world of university research, it is sometimes hard to get an idea of the available jobs. The Career Paths Day, which has been organised every second year since 2014, sets out to change this and to show the wide range of possibilities.

19 speakers talked about their present jobs, and about the paths they took to get there. During the symposium, two talk sessions and two round table sessions were held at the same time. Usually the speakers gave a talk first, and then attended a round table meeting with a smaller group of maximum ten students who had signed up beforehand. These meetings, as well as coffee and lunch breaks, allowed students to meet the speakers personally, and ask all the questions for which there was no time during the talk.

The symposium was very well attended and a great success. It was exciting to hear about the different jobs people with the same educational background are carrying out, and about the possibilities outside academia. Apart from that, the speakers gave some valuable input into how to finish a PhD successfully and how to develop a career.

 

Impressions from ESR students

“I really love GLOMAR, especially the courses, because they really fill the gaps of my previous knowledge. As a graduate of ‘Marine Physics’, I actually do not have a strong background in geology. Thanks to GLOMAR, I am able to widen my knowledge in different fields, and this facilitates my collaboration with other researchers having different expertise.”
Ting-Wei Wu ESR 7
“GLOMAR gives us the opportunity to meet people from different disciplines, and learn about their work. I really enjoy our seminars and the GLOMAR courses, which allow me to grow as a scientist. In addition, as a member of MARUM I want to know what research is currently carried out within the institute and how this research might relate to my own project. Meeting other PhD students from the University of Bremen at GLOMAR workshops and meetings enables me to have useful scientific discussions and to refine the direction of my own research.”
Ricarda Gatter ESR 9
“At first I was not sure what else GLOMAR could offer us, as we are already part of a structured training network, SLATE. Many of the key features, like thesis committee meetings, hard and soft skill courses, and research funding are also key features of SLATE. But while SLATE is a more global network of people working interdisciplinary on the same research topic, GLOMAR offers a more local network of people from a wider range of research disciplines and fields. I especially enjoy the GLOMAR seminars, which are a good way to discuss different topics in small groups in a short time frame, and to get direct support from the other students and research associates.”
Monika Wiebe ESR 11
Where?
Links
Photo: GLOMAR

Secondment at Ifremer, Brest

Tugdual Gauchery (ESR3) | @ IFREMER Brest, France (OCTOBER 2018)

I made a secondment to IFREMER in Brest (France) from late September to beginning of October. The goal of my visit was to do grain size analysis of soft sediments to study the sortable silt (10-63μm) with a MALVER mastersizer 3000. We are particularly interested in this size fraction as it allows us to better understand the action of present and past bottom-currents (McCave et al, 1995). To do so, I sampled every 5 cm on 2 piston cores (9 m and 11 m) recovered from my study area, acidified the samples to destroy the biocomponents (to have only the sediments) and freeze-dried them to dissociate the grains. After the grain size measurement, I started to analyse the data and made some interpretation with the help of my co-supervisor (Antonio Cattaneo). The first results show a very detailed analysis of the grain size corresponding to abrupt climate change between 10 and 20 kyr BP, but are more difficult to interpret in the most recent time as the cores reaches 10 kyr BP around a depth of 1 m. This work will be complemented with analyses on CHIRP sonar profiles and multi-channel seismic profiles to reconstruct the sedimentary dynamics of the Gela Basin (central Mediterranean Sea).

Impressions

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Ifremer
Where?
  • IFREMER Brest, France
When?
  • October 2018
Supervision

Lake Lucerne Workshop - Expert courses

Jonathan Ford (ESR2), Monika Wiebe (ESR11), William Meservy (ESR12) | @ EAWAG Kastanienbaum, Switzerland (9-16 September 2018)

Aside from doing science, the annual workshops are an opportunity for the group to participate in specific training courses together. During the Lake Lucerne workshop, two members of The Catalyst—an improv comedy and science communication collective—visited to deliver courses focused on better communicating our work to the scientific community and the wider public.

“Established in 2012 in Lausanne, Switzerland, The Catalyst is a group of scientific researchers and professionals that uses entertainment as a means of engagement with the public.”

Presentation Skills for Scientists

Samuel Lagier Scientist / Science Communicator

The presentation skills course started with a simple task: say your name and an object that you like and why you like it. The aim of this was for Samuel Lagier to learn our names, but also to show us how to create connections between a presenter and an audience—in this case through short personal stories. We then went on to discuss what makes a talk bad, and the basics of how to make a talk good. The main message of this course was to help us understand that a presenter is in a lot of ways like a mountain tour guide: they first need to be well prepared so that the whole group can arrive at the goal. In the case of the presenter this means that the audience has received and understood the message, for the success of a talk depends on what the audience gets out of it.

In order to make his own talk successful, Samuel applied various practical methods, such as challenging us to explain our research in less than ten words without technical terms, and to present this in front of the others. We also developed short stories as a group that highlighted how we as human beings tend to be interested in conflict and resolution. We as presenters should consider that a good way to relate our science to the audience is to show them the problem/challenge/question and then the solution.

Science communication

Robbie I'Anson Price Filmmaker / Scientist / Science Communicator

Communicating your work is perhaps one of the most important (and often overlooked) jobs of any scientist. Day 1 of this course challenged us to think about how we can effectively communicate our work to different parts of society: the general public, policy makers, business leaders and journalists. Submarine landslides are a significant geohazard, but much of the public are not even aware that they exist. As geoscientists we have an important role to play in communicating risk and information about natural hazards to the wider public.

The second day of the course Robbie took us out of our comfort zones and asked us to plan some scientific outreach—in the form of a short YouTube-style video. For many of us this was the first time even considering making a video about our work. 

Robbie invited us all to apply to participate in the Exposure Science Film Hackathon, a three-day course designed to bring together scientists and filmmakers. The goal of the course is for each participating group to create a short but engaging film that communicates their science to a non-scientist audience. For further information about this project, application instructions and examples of previous films, please click here.

Related blog posts from the ‘Lake Lucerne Workshop’ blog series


2nd Annual SLATE Workshop
@ EAWAG Kastanienbaum, Switzerland
News, Workshops | 06/09/18

Lake Lucerne Workshop -
why do we actually meet?
ESR 5, ESR 8, News | 25/09/18

Lake Lucerne Field Trip -
Let's get muddy!
ESR 1, ESR 13, ESR 14, News | 09/10/18
Location
  • EAWAG Kastanienbaum

Impressions

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Program Outlines
Downloads
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Rachel Barrett's research stay at vbpr (oslo, norway)

Rachel Barrett, ESR 1 | 27-31 August 2018

My project has significantly changed direction since this time last year; with the availability of new, very high resolution data being responsible for the shift. TGS recently collected a high resolution 3D seismic cube which covers part of the Tampen slide in the Norwegian Sea, and I was invited to work on this dataset with Benjamin Bellwald and Sverre Planke at VBPR in Oslo.

Multiple large-scale submarine landslides have been identified on the North Sea Fan; and the timing of the largest four of these slides is thought to be related to glacial-interglacial cycles, with a large slide occurring a few thousand years after the transition to an interglacial [Bryn et al., 2005; Solheim et al., 2005]. The Storegga Slide (with a volume of 3500 km3) is the most recent of these large-scale landslides on the Norwegian continental margin, having occurred ~8 ka (thousand years ago). Tampen, the penultimate slide, is purported to have occurred ~125 ka [Berg et al., 2005; Nygård et al., 2005; Solheim et al., 2005]; however, cores collected from the Aegir Ridge in 2014 indicate that this age model may need to be revised. If so, then the preconditioning and triggering mechanisms of the Tampen slide may also require further consideration.

The main goals of my week-long visit to VBPR were to familiarize myself with the new 3D seismic cube; ascertain how that cube can be correlated with other data that images the Tampen slide; and devise a work plan for this component of my project. The team at VBPR were very welcoming and supportive, and I really enjoyed being integrated into their office for the week. It was a new experience for me to be working alongside others who were (are) simultaneously studying different aspects of the same dataset, and I look forward to working with them more in the coming months!

I am also pleased to say that I learnt from my mistake earlier this year – when I had a short research stay in Malta but was too busy to explore much during the weekend I was there – and made the most of the opportunity to explore Oslo; even joining an informal city tour led by the NGI Norwegian teacher (who is also a part-time tour guide), thanks to an invite from fellow SLATE ESRs Thomas and Matthias who are based at NGI (the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute).

References

Berg, K., Solheim, A. and Bryn, P. (2005). The Pleistocene to recent geological development of the Ormen Lange area. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 22(1–2 SPEC. ISS.), pp. 45–56.

Bryn, P. et al. (2005). Explaining the Storegga Slide. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 22(1–2), pp. 11–19.

Nygård et al. (2005). The glacial North Sea Fan, southern Norwegian Margin: architecture and evolution from the upper continental slope to the deep-sea basin. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 22(1–2), pp 71-84.

Solheim, A. et al. (2005). The Storegga Slide complex: repetitive large scale sliding with similar cause and development. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 22(1–2), pp. 97–107.

Where?
When?
  • 27-31 August 2018
Working with

Impressions

Hiking at Sognsvann, on the outskirts of Oslo city metro limits
Hiking at Sognsvann, on the outskirts of Oslo city metro limits
Nature, buildings and sculptures are integrated in Oslo
Nature, buildings and sculptures are integrated in Oslo

2nd Annual SLATE Workshop

@ EAWAG, Lake Lucerne, Switzerland | 9-16/9/2018

This year’s annual SLATE workshop took the participants to Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, where the ESRs were introduced to a variety of techniques to map and sample subaqueous landslides. The workshop took off with a 2-day technical workshop on Lake Lucerne and in the laboratories of EAWAG Kastanienbaum to study various aspects of on- and offshore mass movements, earthquake-triggered landslides, mass-movement triggered tsunami and their deposits:

  • Half-day research cruises in 3 groups on two research vessels
  • Acquisition of single channel 3.5 kHz reflection seismic data
  • Recovery of short gravity cores
  • Cone penetration testing
  • Data and sample processing and analyses in the lab

The technical workshop was followed by an expert course on “Presentation Skills for Scientists” by Samuel Lagier (SamSpeaksScience.com), a member of the Catalyst group (thecatalyst.ch), before the ESRs worked on short group presentations to present their results of the technical workshop at the end of the week. A second expert course by Robbie l’Anson Price (Catalyst group) tackled the important topic of science communication and public outreach projects.

As usual, ESR students presented and discussed their preliminary research in talks and during a poster session and held their semi-annual Personal Training and Career Development Committee (PDPC) meetings with their main and co-supervisors.

Public lectures were given by Alexander Puzrin from the ETH Zurich and Flavio Ansemetti (University of Bern), who provided valuable background information on shear band propagation within submarine landslides as well as the state of tsunami research on Swiss lakes, respectively.

BLOG SERIES – What happens behind the curtain at an annual SLATE workshop?

A blog series on selected aspects of this workshop will provide more comprehensive information on the experiences of our ESR students. The following list will be continuously updated with each new blog post:


Lake Lucerne Workshop -
why do we actually meet?
ESR 5, ESR 8, News | 25/09/18

Lake Lucerne Field Trip -
Let's get muddy!
ESR 1, ESR 13, ESR 14, News | 09/10/18

Lake Lucerne Workshop -
expert courses
Courses, ESR 11, ESR 12, ESR 2, News | 16/10/18
Downloads
Public lectures
  • Wednesday, 12 September, 6 pm
    “Evolution of submarine landslides: unifying shear band propagation approach“
    Alexander Puzrin (ETH Zurich)
  • Friday, 14 September, 4:15 pm
    “Causes, processes, and impacts of tsunamis on Swiss lakes: an interdisciplinary approach“
    Flavio Anselmetti (University of Bern)
Expert courses
  • Presentation skills for scientists
    Samuel Lagier (The Catalyst)
  • Science Communication
    Robbie l’Anson Price (The Catalyst)
Technical workshop
  • 2-day workshop on Lake Lucerne and in the laboratories of EAWAG
    Michael Strasser (Uni Innsbruck)
    Jasper Moernaut (Uni Innsbruck)
    Achim Kopf (Uni Bremen)
    Jannis Kuhlmann (Uni Bremen)
    Katrin Huhn (Uni Bremen)
    Steffen Hammerschmidt (Uni Bremen)
Impressions
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ESRs' experiences of the "International Sedimentological Congress" 2018 (ISC2018)

Shray Badhani (ESR4), Davide Mencaroni (ESR6), Maarten Heijnen (ESR10) | @ Québec, Canada (13-17 August 2018)

The International Sedimentological Congress (ISC) 2018 was held from 13-17 August in Quebec, Canada. The ISC is organised every four years by the International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS). A “regular” IAS meeting takes place somewhere in or around Europe in the other years. The conference consisted of four days of scientific presentations on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and several courses and fieldtrips on the Wednesday, before the conference, and after the conference. The days with scientific presentations started with parallel oral sessions at 8.30, a keynote presentation at 10.40, and more parallel session from 11.45 till 17.00. The day ended with a 2-hour poster session. Besides long days of science, the attendees could also enjoy themselves during the conference dinner on Wednesday, early-career drinks on Tuesday, and the goodbye drinks on Friday. SLATE was represented at the ISC by three ESRs:

Shray Badhani
ESR 4

“As my participation to the ISC 2018 was not finalized until the last week, it came as an adventure in the end and fortunately I made it to the conference. Although I had to do a lot of last minute planning, as putting up a piece of science in front of experts is always challenging. However, I believe that this happens quite often in the world of science. Nevertheless, I ended up having a lot fun during the conference and I can certainly say that it was one of the best conferences I have attended so far.

I presented a poster entitled “Seafloor instabilities in the Rhône turbiditic levee complexes, Western Mediterranean: morphology, timing and emplacement, and potential relationship with active faulting” in the session “Effect of mass movements on the sedimentological environment” on Thursday, 16th and Friday, 17th.

I attended several interesting talks related to deep sea environment, submarine mass movements and trending topics in sedimentology. I also had the opportunity to talk to the researchers working on submarine mass movements and share my ideas to them and at times invite them to my session to have an exchange. I was able to get in touch with several researchers including Michele Rebesco from OGS, Italy, Ariane Locat from University of Laval and Marc De Batist from University of Ghent to get some feedback about my interpretations on the submarine landslide on the Eastern levee of the Petit Rhône Canyon. Also, I got pleasantly surprised when I saw “The” David Piper reading my poster and I got an opportunity to discuss my results with him.

Additionally, I attended two workshops: 1) How to write a Research Proposal (by Adrian Immenhauser, University of Bochum and IAS President) and 2) How to write an article for Sedimentology or The Depositional Record (by Nigel Mountney, Chief editor of Sedimentology, University of Leeds and Peter Swart, Chief Editor of The Depositional Record, University of Miami). These workshops were organised by the Early Career Scientists committee of the IAS. The first workshop focused on informing the target audience about how to apply for a range of funding options available at the IAS such as travel grants or post graduate grants etc. As the title suggests, the second workshop was focused on how to write an article for Sedimentology or The Depositional Record, but was not only limited to that. The tutors also answered some practical questions such as: How to select an appropriate journal for the research? How to organise the manuscript? What should be the length of the manuscript? What are the key elements that the editors are going to look for? What to do to increase the visibility of the research? etc.

Overall, the five days of the conference were intensively fruitful and significantly enhanced my knowledge about current topics in sedimentology. The knowledge I gathered during the conference will surely help me move further in my research.”

Davide Mencaroni
ESR 6

“The ISC 2018 is not something I am going to forget, at least because it was my first time in lots of aspects: first time in Quebec. First time in Canada. First conference I attended since my PhD started, first poster presentation ever, and in general first time I presented my project outside my work environment.

The period before the conference has been particularly intense in terms of work, since beside my work I was in charge to present another poster and an oral presentation about other projects I am involved at ICM. Nevertheless, since all my duties were planned for the last two days of the conference, I had plenty of time to enjoy the congress.

One of the most useful things about such a conference, which gathers geologist from all around the world and the most important institutes worldwide, is to have a better understanding on which are the main focuses for the sedimentology community in our times, and what is people working on. Mass transport deposits were definitely one of the key topics on the conference: besides a session specifically dedicated to the topic, presentations about submarine landslides were performed basically in any of the sessions, even in the ones I did not think I would have been interested in joining. This testifies how widespread is the topic in sedimentology, and how a multi-disciplinary approach is a key factor to fully understand them.

In my opinion, such a big event for specialists is first of all a unique opportunity for networking. From old professors who meet once again to remember that campaign they did together many years before, to PhD students who get triggered by listening the talk from a name they saw in many papers, people were at ISC to meet people. From this point of view, my poster presentation was for me a big success: reading from the badge the name of a someone who is a big expert about my study area or a technique I am using, standing in front of my poster and listening to what I am trying to do, was a major satisfaction. And of course a big opportunity to get hints on how to proceed or what to review.

Last but not least, thanks to this conference I discovered the beautiful city of Quebec and the kindness of its people. It was quite a pity that I could not stop by some more days and explore the surrounding nature after the conference, but for sure it will not be the last time I visit that beautiful part of the world.”

Maarten Heijnen
ESR 10

“I was super excited when I received the email that my abstract entitled: “Upstream-migrating knickpoints: The dominant control on submarine channel evolution?” had been accepted as an oral presentation. The ISC is one of the biggest conferences in the world for a sedimentologist, so I was not expecting to get an oral as a first-year PhD student. I was happy yet slightly tense. Fortunately, I gave a presentation on the same topic before, making me slightly less nervous. After making my presentation and practising it one last time, I got in the airplane to Quebec.

I participated in the pre-conference workshop “Supercritical-flow processes and bedforms: state-of-the-art and future directions”, organised by Arnoud Slootman (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Alexandre Normandeau (Natural Resources Canada, Dartmouth), Stephen Hubbard (University of Calgary, Canada), and Matthieu Cartigny (Durham University, UK). I learned a lot about the present ideas on supercritical flow and the bedforms it creates, what methods are used in studying this, and in what settings these bedforms can be found. A lot of the structures and problems addressed during the workshop are also present in my data, so it was good to learn more about them and discuss with other scientists working in similar fields.

It was time for the ice-breaker straight after the workshop. It was nice to see familiar faces, including Shray and Davide of course, and meet some new people in a casual setting before the conference started. Then, on Monday, the conference really started. It was great to see so many other sedimentologists and I enjoyed the presentations, posters, and discussions. The IAS initiated several activities for early career scientists this year, including a special lounge in the poster hall and an early career scientists’ night on Tuesday. Scientist could present their work in this lounge in a slightly more informal setting. I volunteered to give my talk here on Monday afternoon, to practise my talk, and to advertise for my talk on Friday a little. I received positive reactions and useful to the point feedback on my talk from several people. This really helped improving my talk on Friday and made me feel a bit more confident about it.

I enjoyed some exciting science and learned a lot from it, had a great time during the early career scientists’ night, and felt a little posh during the beautiful conference dinner during the next few days. And then it was Friday. My talk was scheduled for 9.10AM. I practised my talk before going to bed early the night before, but I was still nervous. I think my presentation went well and got some good reactions on it afterwards.

Overall, I really enjoyed the conference a lot. The combination of cool science, nice people, fun activities, and a beautiful city and congress venue made ISC2018 for me a great success!”

Location
  • Québec, Canada
Venue
Conference Schedule

SLATE participants

  • S. Badhani, ESR4 [Poster]
  • D. Mencaroni, ESR6 [Poster]
  • M. Heijnen, ESR10 [Talk]

Impressions

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Research Stay at Christian-Albrechts-Universität (CAU), Kiel, Germany

Monika Wiebe, ESR 11 | 17-20/07/2018

Half a year has passed since my last stay at Christian-Albrechts-Universität (CAU) in Kiel (LINK) and during this time I have mainly followed two tasks: Getting to know the software for modelling gas flow in a porous medium (see Trondheim report, LINK), and working on the seismic, core and heat flow data from the Tuaheni Landslide Complex. I recently returned to CAU in order to present, discuss and get input on my past work.

With this input I was able to improve the seismic horizons and create grids that I need in order to set up my gas flow model. I could also discuss and learn about recent developments in research into this particular landslide, which helps me as I work on my own project. To my delight I had the chance to enjoy Kiel in sunny weather and explore the city more than I did during my last stay.

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Where?
When?
  • 17-20/07/2018
Supervision

Impressions from the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT18)

Stefano Collico (ESR8) | @ Delft, the Netherlands (21-22 June 2018)

The 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing at Delft University (Holland), was mostly focused on the interpretation of cone penetration tests (i.e. CPT, CPTu) in the frame of geotechnical site characterization. New methods concerning the importance of the quality of CPTu measurements, soil delineation interpretation and evaluation of geotechnical design parameters from CPT measurements, were proposed and discussed during the conference. During the open discussions, several opinions come up for further interpretation of these tests.

In this context my work was based on the statistical interpretation of the CPT measurements for the evaluation of the characteristic value of the friction angle in a sand layer. In the specific a Bayesian analysis was conducted to reduce unavoidable uncertainties which intervene in the definition of geotechnical design parameters for a specific site.

Furthermore, several geotechnical companies (i.e. Fugro, Pagani, Geomil equipment) attended the conference aiming to show new equipment developed to optimize the collection of cone penetration measurements.

Paper Abstract:

Evaluation of geotechnical parameters on a project site is a necessary step in geotechnical engineering. However, due to the inherent variability of soil properties and the lack of data, many unavoidable uncertainties arise during a site-specific geotechnical characterization. This challenging task can be addressed under the Bayesian framework.

The aim of this paper is to apply the Bayesian approach to a reference example of friction angle evaluation in sand, using the Bayesian Equivalent Sample Toolkit (BEST). BEST is an Excel VBA program for probabilistic characterization of geotechnical properties. In particular, in this study the statistical analysis has been performed using CPT tests from reference field studies. The results obtained for one case study involving CPT are discussed.

Location
  • Delft, the Netherlands
Venue
Conference Schedule

Monika's Research stay at Migris AS in Trondheim, Norway

Monika Wiebe, ESR 11 | 04-15/06/2018

One of the key tasks of my project is to simulate the migration and accumulation of free gas inside a submarine slope. The goal is to set up a model that considers seismic, core and heat flow data and calculates pore pressures. These can then be used as input for a geomechanical model that simulates failure. In order to accomplish this first step, a modelling software is needed that can simulate the movement of free gas. Such modelling software is used by the petroleum industry to simulate the migration of oil and gas.

Migris AS is a small company located in Trondheim, Norway, that has developed such a software. In June, I was able to visit this company for two weeks in order to learn how to use the software and how to apply it to my case. “My case” means the simulation of free gas migration inside the Tuaheni Landslide Complex offshore New Zealand. Seismic data and sediment cores from this area have been acquired during three recent cruises. These data serve as the basis for setting up my model.

In Trondheim I was welcomed warmly by Dr. Matthias Daszinnies who mainly took care of me during my stay. He supported me a lot in understanding how the software works and setting up a functioning model. During this process we had to make some adjustments to the usual setting-up of a model, as my case is different to the typical petroleum cases. Key differences are that my time scales are much smaller, and I do not need to include processes such as compaction.

Overall my research stay was very successful and helped me to progress in my project. I was able to leave with a simple model for the Tuaheni landslide case which I can improve and extend from here on. In addition to my work at Migris, I had the opportunity to spend two weeks in a charming city and enjoyed hiking in the beautiful nature of Norway.

Where? When?
  • 04-15/06/2018
Supervision
  • Matthias Daszinnies
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Report on the first part of my secondment at MARUM, Bremen

Maddalena Sammartini, ESR 15 | 24-29/06/2018

In the investigation of a landslide, the geotechnical characterization of sediments upslope the slide scar is a common and fundamental study, providing information about pre-conditioning and trigger mechanisms, and failure evolution. Furthermore, core and geotechnical data of an unfailed slope are widely used for the stability assessment, and geohazard evaluation of the area.

The same cannot be said for basin sediments, which are generally not taken into consideration for the characterization of the instability. One question we want to address is whether the geotechnical properties of sediments at the base of the slope can play an important role in the failure initiation and in the frontal style of the deposit (frontally emergent or frontally confined). To do so, we chose as natural laboratory Lake Lucerne, in which a huge dataset of geophysical and core data is already available from previous surveys. Furthermore, Lake Lucerne is one of the focus sites of the ongoing SNF Sinergia Project, which aim is to understand better “fresh water” tsunami.

In March I had the opportunity to join the SNF Sinergia Project CPT campaign and I acquired several CPT measurements in four different sites (see previous report). For each site we acquired transects of CPTs in order to study the variability in geotechnical properties along and outside a slide deposit, and to understand the role of frontal buttress.

At the end of June (24th-29th) I visited MARUM in Bremen for a week-long meeting on CPT data processing and interpretation. Under the supervision of Dr. Sylvia Stegmann, I started to deal with the different parameters that are involved in CPT measurements and with the different steps in the CPT processing routine using the FFCPTuPro Software. The main steps are conversion of the files, from raw data to ascii file, calibration of the instrument sensors, depth calculation and penetration rate correction. The depth calculation is without doubts the trickiest step. In here, you have to pick the moment in which the instrument started the penetration and the moment in which it stopped. Based on this time interval, the software is calculating the penetration depth. In case of soft sediments, common in the lake basins, the transition from water column to sediments is not distinct and therefore it is necessary to do some assumptions based on field observations (i.e. if and until where the instrument was dirty after the measure). The result of the processing are different graphs showing the local variability with depth of geotechnical parameters, such as cone resistance, sleeve friction, undrained shear strength and pore pressure. All of them are used for the characterization of the sediments. The week at MARUM was intense and at the end I finished the processing of all the CPTs we acquired in March, and started with the interpretation of the data.

Further steps ahead are some laboratory tests in cores and the organization of the new campaign in Lake Lucerne, which will take place right before the SLATE annual meeting in September. We aim to acquire new seismic lines, new CPTs, especially in the Zinnen landslide area, and new cores, useful for our geotechnical study.

My stay in Bremen, which is part of one of my secondments, has been fundamental for my introduction to the “CPT world”. Furthermore, it gave me many useful ideas for the upcoming campaign.

Where? When?
  • 24-29/06/2018
Supervision

View on the historic Bremen market square

Example of CPT data