Event Category: ERL Events

Title: High resolution, near-surface seismic investigations using surface and well deployed DAS Abstract: This presentation will cover near-surface seismic properties and several geophysical methods mainly including surface wave dispersion inversion (SWDI) and full waveform inversion (FWI), focusing on the capabilities of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology. The study is underpinned by data collected from Newell…

Title: Accessing Geothermal Energy with Millimeter-Wave Beams Abstract: Earth has a huge heat content equal to 20 billon years of current global energy consumption. This energy could be accessed almost anywhere for efficient electricity generation by penetrating deep into the crust >16 km and establishing a high temperature gradient >50 Co/m for high-power, supercritical extraction…

This event has been canceled for 3/22 and will be rescheduled for later in the spring term. Title: Data Integration across Scales: Bayesian Methods and Zonation Approaches Abstract: Subsurface research has been pioneering statistical and machine learning methods to characterize spatiotemporal variability across scales, particularly focused on uncertainty quantification and the use of correlated/proxy variables.…

This talk has been canceled for 5/17 and will be rescheduled.Title: Singular perturbation methods in fracture mechanics Abstract: Fractures are regularly treated with a so-called small-scale-yielding approximation, which assumes the inelastic deformation of crack propagation is effectively unresolvable from the perspective of an observer of the entire crack. However, one may also zoom into the…

Title: From Magma to Energy: Integrative Studies of Volcanic Degassing and Geothermal Potential in IcelandAbstract: The recent volcanic eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwest Iceland likely signal the start of a prolonged period of episodic volcanism, potentially extending over decades to centuries. This seminar will explore recent findings from Open-path Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy…

This week’s talk is being held virtually. “Fluid Flow in the Geocritical Crust – Observations and Theory” The crust is in a state of critical stress caused by a variety of forces – tectonic, flexure, tides, fluids, earthquakes, etc. This state can be quantitatively described by ideas based in critical state physics. In the brittle…

“Capillary Pressure-Saturation relation derived from the Percolation Theory” Invasion percolation is the movement of one fluid displacing another in a porous media. Describing invasion percolation is relevant in various fields such as physics, geology, hydrology, and material science. Our productivity each day depends on whether the hot water can pass through the coffee grounds in…

Solid Earth Science for the Energy Transition May 20-22, 2025, MIT Campus For over thirty years, the Earth Resources Laboratory has been MIT’s home for earth science and engineering relevant to the energy industry. Each spring, we invite representatives of our Founding Member companies to MIT to hear about our latest research. This year, we…

Titles and abstracts will be posted here when available. For more info or Zoom password please contact erl-info@mit.edu.