New geophysics exhibit on display

Students interested in the modern oil industry can now view equipment from oil exploration's past at a new exhibit housed in the atrium of the Noble Research Center.

The exhibit is on loan from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and is sponsored by the OSU student chapter of the SEG, said Farag Mewafy, the student chapter president.

The artifacts on display were used to locate oil underground or underwater without using invasive techniques. Visitors to the exhibit will see magnetometers from 1940s Berlin, pictures of oil drilling in Columbia and workers taking seismic readings in Guthrie, Okla., in 1939.

Geology senior Brandy Michael initiated bringing the SEG exhibit to OSU.

"Oklahoma has a lot of oil and natural gas history," Michael said. "Students from states with a history in the oil industry, like Oklahoma, will see surveying equipment that could have been used by their grandparents and great-grandparents. It's probably part of their family history."

The equipment on display is mostly first-generation geology equipment, very bulky and imprecise compared to equipment used today.

"It gives an impression of how previous generations of geophysicists have fought to have a better understanding of the earth's surface," Mewafy said.

Even students not interested in geology or geophysics have something to gain from learning about oil exploration.  

"It is important to understand the history of one of the most important substances in our lives today," Mewafy said.

The exhibit should appeal to students interested in politics or resource conservation because it is important to understand the history behind the oil industry today.

"We're the ones that have to come up with new ideas of how to fix things," she said. "The world is changing and geology is very important," Michael said.

The exhibit is free and the SEG club is offering tours of the exhibit. For more information on SEG, the exhibit, or to schedule a tour, contact Mewafy at farag.mewafy@okstate.edu.