COURSEs
Course 1
Broder J. Merkel
Associate Editor
Arabian Journal of Geosciences
TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany
Modeling of water-rock interaction with PHREEQC
15 November 2018
Water-rock interactions are important for many processes on Earth. Some of them are fast while others are rather slow in view of reaction kinetics. Sorption, for example is normally rather fast (from minutes to hours until equilibrium is reached) while precipitation or solution of minerals occurs over a huge range of timescales (from hours to geological timeof thousands of years). Models based on kinetics are costly in terms of CPU time and need site-specific reaction rates for all processes. On the contrary, models based on thermodynamics are less costly and utilize commonly available log-K values for chemical reactions. Thus, combining thermodynamics and kinetics is often an attractive approach to simulate actual situations and problems. PHREEQC is used in this short course to demonstrate how certain problems can be solved.
Course 2
Dorrik Stow
Guest of Editorial Board
Arabian Journal of Geosciences
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland
Deepwater Sedimentary Systems: Facies, Architecture and Petroleum Significance
15 November 2018
Scientific understanding of the processes, sediments and architecture of the deep sea is advancing rapidly. Turbidite reservoirs are currently the principal focus for oil and gas exploration, with over 1600 existing fields, whereas contourites are the petroleum play of the future. Improved geohazard mapping in deepwater is vital, especially as over 90% of internet communication is via submarine cables. This course will provide a state-of-the-art overview of the very complex deep marine system. It will outline the processes and facies and how they evolve on the ridge and in the open ocean; discuss how these facies build into distinctive architectural elements and how they can be recognized in the subsurface, using seismic records, wireline logs and borehole cores. Both modern seafloor and ancient outcrop analogues provide quantifiable attributes for the component elements of deepwater systems. Examples from deepwater hydrocarbon plays around the world will be used as case studies. Participants may bring their own datasets and questions for a final discussion session.
Course 3
Maurizio Barbieri
Associate Editor
Arabian Journal of Geosciences
Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Italy
Application of stable isotopes in environmental tracer studies
15 November 2018
Stable isotopes are being increasingly applied to the study of environmental processes in earth sciences. This course provides an introduction to the theory and application of stable isotopes in earth and environmental sciences. In particular, isotope-based methodologies have become well established within the hydrological community for water resource assessment, development and management, and are now an integral part of many water quality and environmental studies. These methodologies usually rely on "tracing" either isotope species naturally occurring in water (environmental isotopes) or on isotope tracers intentionally introduced into them. The list of stable isotopes with important implications for water resource management has grown in recent years. In this context, the course will provide an opportunity to explore some of stable isotope techniques with examples and applications.
Course 4
Hesham M. El-Askary
Guest of Editorial Board
Arabian Journal of Geosciences
Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling and Observations,
Schmid College of Science and Technology at Chapman University, USA
Observations of the Earth’s Spheres and the Changing Climate
15 November 2018
It is impossible to deny the reality of climate change. We live in a dynamic interactive system made up by a series of spheres, namely; the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, and the biosphere. We tend to focus only on global warming, rising temperature and CO2 emissions! What about the domino effect in our fragile Earth system? This course will briefly discuss the different effects of the abovementioned spheres of the Earth system, how they interact to shape the environment in which we live and how they are affected by our changing climate? Remote Sensing and Earth observation concepts will be employed and discussed to show how we can benefit from them.
Course 5: Role of the Raman & IR Spectroscopy in Mineralogy (cancelled)
Workshops
Workshop 1
François Roure
Scientific Committee Chair
Guest of Editorial Board
Arabian Journal of Geosciences
IFP – Energies Nouvelles, France
Sami Khomsi
Guest of Editorial Board
Arabian Journal of Geosciences
King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia
From basin-scale to the crustal and lithospheric architecture of the Maghrebides and their Atlasic-Saharan foreland: The need for coupled deep seismic soundings and tomography
15 November 2018
Since the mid 80s, national and international deep seismic reflection profiles have provided unique surveillance of the Moho and crustal architecture beneath sedimentary basins, tectonic wedges and adjacent forelands, mostly in North America and Europe. More recently, ongoing 3D mantle and crustal tomography programs based on 3D passive seismic recordings have also documented lateral seismic anisotropies and vertical seismic reversals in tectonic wedges and adjacent forelands. They provide accurate velocity models which can also be used for depth conversion and the processing of more conventional reflection profiles. Mantle tomography has been successful in documenting the vertical and lateral extent of lithospheric slabs and crustal delamination. The lack of such deep surveillance of North African tectonic wedges and adjacent forelands precludes any prospection of deep plays. For instance, profiles of deep seismic soundings would be of immense benefit to better monitor the geodynamic and thermal evolution of North African sedimentary basins, to identify new exploration objectives, and to better document the deep architecture of active fault systems. Therefore, the aim of this roundtable is to stimulate interest by both national and international research teams, agencies and companies in these topics, and to investigate the possibility of launching ambitious North African crustal imagery projects.
This workshop is supported by The International Lithosphere Program (ILP).
Workshop 2: Late Jurassic-Cretaceous Rudist palaeobiology and applications: Progress and prospects (cancelled)
Workshop 3
Nabil Khélifi
Senior Publishing Editor, MENA program
Journal Publishing Manager
Arabian Journal of Geosciences
Springer, a part of Springer Nature, Germany
How to prepare a successful scientific paper
15 November 2018
Publication must be seen as an important, if not the most important, part of the research process. However, writing research papers for academic journals is not easy and is also very competitive. After producing data and generating ideas from your research, how do you write a clear and concise paper that attracts the attention of journal editors? How should you prepare a cover letter? How should you respond to reviewer reports? A Senior Publishing Editor from Springer Nature in Heidelberg, Germany shares his advice during three hours on how to effectively write and structure your paper, prepare a cover page and respond to reviewers’ comments.
Workshop 4
Amjad Kallel
Assistant Editor
Arabian Journal of Geosciences
ENIS, University of Sfax, Tunisia
Step-by-step process for the submission and handling of manuscripts in the Editorial Manager system
15 November 2018
Research papers submitted for publication in academic journals require fastidious tasks through a long pathway until the day of publication. Journal editors are the hub of the process and have to handle many submissions without sacrificing quality and the integrity of the journal. In addition, editors have to carefully check whether the research being reported was conducted in an ethical and responsible manner. Submission/evaluating systems such as Editorial Manager (EM) are used by many journal editors to allow them to handle several hundred submissions each year. How to efficiently use and manipulate the various features of EM from initial submission until a final decision is rendered (technical check and similarity report, targeting/inviting relevant reviewers, responding to authors queries, following up with associate editors and reviewers, etc.)? This short course presents the main steps in a successful editing process: What needs to be done and how?