Student Groups Sponsor Geophysical Outreach at Earth Science Week Energy Festival
Activities Included a Demonstration of Seismic Methods

For the third consecutive year, University of Houston geophysics students from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) participated in the Earth Science Week Family Energy Festival at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences.

Three EAS Ph.D. students in geophysics, Eray Kocel, Joan Blanco and Genine Wang, coordinated student volunteers to organize educational outreach activities for children attending the festival. The EAS volunteers were from the AAPG Wildcatters, SEG Wavelets and GeoSociety student groups.

Children attending the festival enjoyed a demonstration of seismic methods ranging from acquisition to interpretation. The demonstration started with a “jump test,” where the jumping of the kids was instantly recorded on geophones and displayed on a seismograph where the vibrations from their jumping were displayed as wiggles on the seismograph. This was followed by a “scream test” where the screams of the kids were recorded by a Blast Mate sound recorder.

To explain the science behind these devices, the kids were informed about seismic images, interpretation and some of the elements and processes of the petroleum system, illustrated using a homemade colored sand model.

The EAS student volunteers would like to thank Professor Robert Stewart and UH’s Allied Geophysical Laboratories for providing the geophysical instruments used in the activities.