Understanding how the Earth was formed is key to the efficient discovery and economic development of both traditional and transition energy resources. These will be fundamental to societies meeting their energy needs and net zero targets.
Globe 2022 is the latest release of our home planet’s Digital Twin: a model of global geologic, climatic and oceanographic systems that can be used to locate, develop and operate petroleum and geothermal sources.
Further, Globe 2022 is able to provide invaluable insights to support the search for critical minerals and suitable carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) sites around the world.
Head of Geocience Information Products for Getech, Andy Quallington explains why there is such excitement around his team’s recent release: “Globe 2022 represents the start of a multi-release program, which will see continued development across a number of themes. We are extremely pleased to announce the start of this process with the inclusion of a new dynamic plate model and our unique sediment supply model.”
The Dynamic Plate Model, which considers a full plate model using the continuously closing plates method, alleviates overlap issues inherent in the alternative rigid plate model, as well as providing a suitable framework for better presenting the deformation at plate boundaries using the detailed tectonics data held within Globe 2022.
Additionally, users will be better able to access the understanding of controls on elements such as beta factors and paleo-heat flow characteristics.
Tying in closely with the Dynamic Plate Model, the Tectonic Events Catalogue has been updated and expanded. This was first added to Globe to convey global structural and tectonic evolution, which in turn provides easy-to-access detail on each tectonic event,.
The additions in Globe 2022 include rift events in the East African Rift System (EARS), the East African Margin, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, India and The Seychelles and NW Australia. These detail the event causes, duration and effects – including those on the structuration of affected basins and the underlying crustal architecture.
Palaeosurfaces – ancient surfaces created by erosion – are a crucial component in the geologic record, as they represent the location of geologic and geomorphological events. In Globe 2022 this library has been expanded to include the Miocene stages of Mexico.
In addition, Globe 2022 users now have information on what lithologies may have been weathered and eroded on the palaeosurface which, when combined with drainage pathways and climate information, can give important indications as to the quality and calibre of the sediment forming potential reservoirs in the depositional basin.
Globe’s Palaeosurface Geology reconstructions also form vital inputs to its unique Sediment Supply Model. Existing sediment supply models do not take into account that the land surface within a drainage basin will not yield sediment at a uniform rate, neither in time or space. Getech’s new model divides the Earth’s surface into geographic segments known as denudation units, which can be considered to have a unique and quantifiable sediment delivery with defined character. For Globe 2022 we identified and began characterising the key components that drive denudation processes over a high-resolution geographic grid. These factors include slope, tectonics, structuration, lithology, climate and the depositional systems.
Andy Quallington again: “The Globe 2022 release marks the start of exciting and innovative programs which have been designed to produce critical outcomes. Developments such as the Dynamic Plate and Sediment Supply Models incorporate carefully constructed workflows that combine and utilise the vast amount of new and existing data in Globe, to put a powerful and unique product in the hands of our clients across the geoenergy and renewables sectors.”
To learn more about Globe, please visit: https://getech.com/getech-locate/products/technology/globe/