Geodynamics and Basin Studies - Seismic and virtual outcrop lab

In the seismic and digital outcrop lab we have a number of high spec computers dedicated to seismic interpretation and virtual outcrop work (LIDAR, etc.). These are located in the 3D Seismic lab (2B12d) and in Grotten (2E15b) within the department of Earth Science. Virtual outcrop research is largely performed in collaboration with the Virtual Outcrop Geology Group in NORCE (Norwegian Research Centre). Further hardware and software facilities are available for 3D acquisition (LIDAR, photogrammetry) and material mapping (hyperspectral imaging), as well as for data processing and interpretation of virtual outcrop models. Access to the lab is restricted to people with large or proprietary datasets or requiring high performance computing, in particular fast graphics cards and large local storage. On a day to day basis the labs are managed by Leo Zijerveld. Please contact him if you have any queries about access and the available hardware and software.

Information for lab users

Any questions about access should to the labs and assignment of machines should be addressed in the first instance to Leo Zijerveld.

Access

Access to the labs has to be restricted, because most of the seismic data we use is confidential and we need to be able to show the data owners that we keep their data secure. Another reason is that these machines are high specification and not meant to be used for day-to-day use (e.g. wordprocessing etc.), thus people doing seismic interpretation and digital outcrop work on large data sets will be prioritised. As a rule PhD students have access to "their own" machine, whereas master students may have to share.

Access for staff members, students and visitors can be arranged by contacting Leo Zijerveld. Both the person needing access and their supervisor are required to sign the  the Terms of use (see below) before access can be arranged. Depending on the ‘level’ of the project (i.e. Masters, PhD, postdoc) and the source of funding, there is an access charge for using the facility.

Terms of use for the seismic interpretation labs at UiB

Access to the labs has to be restricted, mainly because a substantial part of our seismic data is confidential and we need to be able to demonstrate that we keep these data secure. Another reason to restrict access is that our equipment is of a very high standard intended for people doing seismic interpretation, digital outcrop work etc, and not meant to be used for more basic, day-to-day computing tasks.

Obviously, we expect our users to be respectful of the hardware but also to be aware of the issues related to online security and to behave accordingly. The labs are shared between many users and you are expected to tidy up regularly, it is not fair on others to have to deal with your mess. Food is not allowed in the labs and drinks should be kept in closed cups/bottles.

Please read and make sure you understand all the rules below:

  • The computers and software in our labs should only be used for work related purposes.
  • Do not give others access to the labs or the equipment in the labs without consulting the lab manager.
  • Do not copy any data without having been given permission.
  • Do not install or run any additional software without consulting the lab manager.
  • You will be assigned to a specific machine, do not use any others without consulting the lab manager
  • Label any data that you have on the hard drives (by including your name in the directory name) and remove temporary data when you have finished with it.
  • Any problems with the hardware should be reported to the lab manager asap.
  • Log off when finished for the day and clear up after yourself. Food, drinks and other personal stuff should not be stored in the labs.
  • No food, all drinks brought into the labs should have a lid.
  • Users of the lab are required to attend a briefing about the lab at the first opportunity available to them.

These terms of use apply in addition to those described in the UiB IKT reglement. Not adhering to these rules may lead to sanctions and can lead to exclusion from the use of our labs.

List of available software

We have an extensive collection of specialist software for seismic interpretation, modelling and digital outcrop work in the lab. Please contact Leo Zijerveld if you are thinking of acquiring additional software. Many of the software licenses have been donated to us under academic licensing terms. Please make sure to acknowledge these donations in any report or publication that u produce using these packages. In some case (e.g. Move and Geoteric) we are required to send copies of such work to the vendors as well. 

Apart from the standard Microsoft Office and ArcGIS software we have the following software installed in lab:

Seismic interpretation

  • Petrel (external link) (Schlumberger) Seismic interpretation, mapping and much else, installed on all machines in the lab. 52 floating licences.
  • Blueback toolbox (external link) (Cegal) Plugins providing additional geological and geophysical functionality from within Petrel
  • Kingdom Suite (external link) (IHS)Seismic interpretation, mainly used for retrieving data in Kingdom format. 1 license, latest version available on GEO055206.
  • OpendTect (external link) (dGB)Seismic interpretation platform, 3 floating licenses
  • PaleoScan (external link) (Eliis) Volume based seismic interpretation and model building, 5 floating licenses
  • GeoTeric (external link) (ffA) Advanced seismic interpretation and attribute analysis, 3 floating licenses, can be installed on any machine but requires a high spec graphic card.

Seismic modelling

Stuctural modelling 

  • Move  (external link)(MVE) 2D & 3D kinematic structural modelling (site license)
  • Traptester (external link) (Badley Geoscience Ltd) Fault displacement and fault seal analysis, requires OpenText Exceed to run under windows. We currently only have 2 licences for Exceed, one is installed on GEO055230.
  • FlexDecomp (external link) (Badley Geoscience Ltd) Flexural decompaction and backstripping

Mapping

Petrophysics, well log analysis

 

 

Virtual outcrop modelling

  • LIME (external link) (NORCE) for visualisation, interpretation and communication of lidar/photogrammetric models.
  • Photoscan Pro (external link) (Agisoft) Photogrammetric processing of digital images to generate 3D spatial data.
  • Riscan Pro (external link) (RIEGL) for processing of lidar point clouds.
  • Innovmetric PolyWorks: for processing of 3D meshes from point cloud data. A network licence is available through Uni Research CIPR.
  • ENVI: for processing of hyperspectral imagery.
  • Various photogrammetric software: for generating 3D point clouds from image data.
  • Various in-house programs for out-of-core processing of large photorealistic models and integrating lidar and hyperspectral datasets.

Drawing

  • Adobe Creative Suite: Advanced drawing package, installed on all machines

Other software

Last updated: 16.06.2025