2^nd International Conference on Geology April 21-22, 2016 Dubai, UAE

Petroleum geology is a branch of Geoscience which deals with the study of origin, occurrence, movement, accumulation, and exploration of hydrocarbon fuels. It combines the exact set of geological disciplines that are useful to the search for hydrocarbons (oil exploration). Oil and gas deposits assessed by reservoir engineering and it also play a central role in field development planning, recommending appropriate and cost effective reservoir depletion schemes such as water flooding or gas injection to maximize hydrocarbon recovery.

Petroleum geology refers to the specific set of geological disciplines that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons during oil exploration. Oil and natural gas are produced from the remains of organisms that were deposited in fine-grained sedimentary rocks along with the mineral grains of those rocks. As these source rocks are buried by overlying sediments, the organic matter is converted to oil and natural gas, first through bacterial processes and later by high temperatures associated with burial to several thousands of feet. The oil and gas are then expelled from the source rocks into adjacent porous reservoir rocks. Because the oil and gas are less dense than the water that saturates the pores of the reservoir rocks, they move upward through the pore system until they encounter impermeable rocks. At this point, the oil and gas accumulate and an oil or gas field is formed.

Mineral Resources can be defined as the concentration of material of economic interest in or on the earth’s crust and those are potentially valuable, and for which reasonable prospects exist for eventual economic extraction. These are the natural resources which cannot be renewed. They are present in the organisms as an organic and inorganic molecule and ions. Mineralogy focuses on describing minerals within their geologic context. It presents the important traditional content of mineralogy including crystallography, chemical bonding, controls on mineral structure, mineral stability, and crystal growth to provide a foundation that enables students to understand the nature and occurrence of minerals. Crystal chemistry is a part of mineralogy that deals with how the chemical composition of a mineral relates to its crystal structure.

Like other natural resources, mineral deposits are unevenly distributed around on the earth. Finding and exploiting mineral resources requires the application of the principles of geology. Some minerals are used as they are found in the ground, i.e. they require no further processing or very little processing. For example gemstones, sand, gravel, and salt (halite). Most minerals must be processed before they are used.

Engineering geology is the application of the geological sciences to engineering study for the purpose of assuring that the geological factors regarding the location, design, construction, operation and maintenance of engineering works are recognized and accounted for. It is mainly concerned with the application of geology to civil and mining engineering practice. The purpose is to ensure that geological factors affecting the planning, design, construction and maintenance of engineering works and the development of groundwater resources are recognized, adequately interpreted and presented for use in engineering practice.

Engineering geology is the application of geological knowledge in engineering works. It has wide applications in various engineering fields especially in urban planning and expansion. Site investigation for major structures such as dams, factories, and heavy buildings is one of the main parts of engineering applications. Others include earth material characterization, exploration and assessment of construction materials and assessment of difficult grounds such as sabkha, expansive and collapsible soils. Engineering geology research has focused on stability of highway cuts, mine waste embankment stability and design, landslide hazards, watershed and urban hydrology and geochemistry affected by acid mine drainage, and properties of soil and rock material as related to their engineering behavior. 

Exploration geophysics is an applied branch of geophysics, which deals with the physical methods like seismic, gravitational, magnetic, electrical and electromagnetic at the surface of the Earth to measure the physical properties of the subsurface, along with the differences in those properties. Geophysical methods of exploration are means to collect geophysical data that can be used to prospect directly for economic minerals.

Geophysical methods for oil and gas exploration and mineral prospecting include almost all the major geophysical methods ever invented, oil and gas exploration is dominated by seismic reflection method, in both land and marine settings. Geophysical exploration may be used with advantage to detect margins between different elements of the subsoil as these procedures are based on the fact that the gravitational, magnetic, electrical, radioactive or elastic properties of the different elements of the subsoil may be different. 

Sedimentology is a branch of geoscience that deals with sedimentary process, sediments and sedimentary environments. Sedimentary structures are those structures formed during sediment deposition. Cross-Bedding is a feature that occurs at various scales, and is observed in conglomerates and sandstones.  It reflects the transport of gravel and sand by currents that flow over the sediment surface reservoir sedimentation is a complex process that varies with watershed sediment production, rate of transportation, and mode of deposition.

The seafloor locations reach from inshore shallow sites to offshore coastal, continental shelf and slope and ocean basin deep sea sites. The coastal zone is that part of the land surface influenced by marine processes. It extends from the landward limit of tides, waves, and wind-blown coastal dunes, and seaward to the point at which waves interact significantly with the seabed. The coastal zone is a dynamic part of the Earth's surface where both marine and atmospheric processes produce rocky coasts, as well as beaches and dunes, barriers and tidal inlets, and shape deltas.

Structural Geology is a branch of geology that deals with the form, arrangement, and internal structure of rocks is also called also geotectonic geology. Structural Geology, Tectonics and Geodynamics form a coherent and interdependent group of sub-disciplines which is the study of the physical forms and relations of rocks which result mainly from deformation by earth forces.

Researchers in structural geology have integrated field-based analyses, laboratory work on rock deformation, fluid-rock interactions, metamorphic reactions, continuum and fracture mechanics, geochemistry, geochronology, isotope geochemistry, and a range of other disciplines, across vast ranges of time and space to develop new ways to examine and understand our planet. Plate tectonics developed as a unifying theory of the solid Earth from observations of the ocean floors where deformation, seismicity, and volcanism are localized at boundaries between rigid plates.

Mining is the process in which extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth takes place which forms the mineralized package of economic interest to the miner. Mineral exploration is the exploration and development are investigative activities prior to mining and it focuses on projects which search for concentrations of ore, or minerals, for mining purposes. A near accurate estimation on the volume of mineral deposits is very important because mineral exploration is a capital intensive operation.

Mineral exploration focuses on developments which search for concentrations of ore, or minerals, for mining purposes. Exploration and mining activities provide opportunities for employment, diversification of regional economies, and the development of regional services and infrastructure. Drilling is used to obtain very detailed information about rock types, mineral content, rock fabric and the relationships between rock layers close to the surface and at depth.  Drilling is only used in areas that have been selected as targets from geological, geophysical and/or geochemical methods.

The value of geology in Mining has long been known but its use in Civil Engineering has been recognized only in comparatively recent years. Geology provides a systematic knowledge of construction material, its occurrence, composition, durability and other properties. Example of such construction materials is building stones, road metal, clay, limestone and laterite. The knowledge of the geological work of natural agencies such as water, wind, ice and earthquakes helps in planning and carrying out major civil engineering works. For example the knowledge of erosion, transportation and deposition helps greatly in solving the expensive problems of river control, coastal and harbor work and soil conservation.

Geological investigation in engineering construction is used to build Tunnels, dams and bridges. Geology helps greatly in interpreting the drilling data. In tunneling, constructing roads, canals, docks and in determining the stability of cuts and slopes, the knowledge about the nature and structure of rocks is very necessary. Before staring a major engineering project at a place, a detailed geological report which is accompanied by geological maps and sections, is prepared. Such a report helps in planning and constructing the projects. The stability of civil engineering structure is considerably increased if the geological feature like faults, joints, bedding planes, folding solution channels etc. in the rock beds are properly located and suitably treated. 

Physical geology is the branch of geology concerned with understanding the composition of the earth and the physical changes occurring in it. It is concerned with the internal geologic processes of the earth's crust, such as tectonic activity and volcanism that constructs new landforms, as well as externally driven forces of wind, water, waves, and glacial ice that modify such landforms.

It concerns itself primarily with the origins of the present landscape but in most landscapes there are present forms that date back to previous geologic epochs or periods. It deals with the study of the physical features of the earth and the processes acting on them. It includes on the study of rocks, minerals, and sediments, their structures and formations, and their processes of origin and alteration.

Geologic modeling is the applied science of forming computerized representations of portions of the Earth's crust based on geophysical and geological observations made on and below the Earth surface. Geologic modeling also known as Geomodelling is associated to the concept of Shared Earth Model which is a multidisciplinary, interoperable and updatable knowledge base about the subsurface. Geomodelling is generally used for the management of the natural resources and natural hazards and also for quantifying geological processes, with main applications to oil and gas fields, groundwater aquifers and ore deposits. The Geologic modeling components are Structural framework, type of the rocks, Reservoir quality, Fluid saturation, Geostatistics and Mineral Deposits.

3D visualization of geological structures is a very efficient way to create a good understanding of geological features. The purpose of the geological model is to provide input for the groundwater modeling of the area. Hence, the modeling activity will focus on the uppermost part of the sedimentary sequence containing the groundwater reservoirs. Advanced structural and stratigraphic modeling is used to construct and automate structural frameworks during interpretation. 

Paleontology is the science that deals with the fossils of animals and plants through their fossilized remains. It is the study of what fossils tell us about the ecologies of the past, about evolution, and about our place, as humans, in the world. Paleontology incorporates knowledge from biology, geology, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, and even computer science to understand the processes that have led to the origination and eventual destruction of the different types of organisms since life arose.

Paleontologists study the fossilized remains of life, including vertebrate organisms such as fishes, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and dinosaurs (vertebrate paleontology); invertebrate organisms such as ancient snails, clams, ammonites, foraminifera, and arthropods under invertebrate paleontology and preserved plants such as leaf impressions and petrified wood The field of bimolecular paleontology covers a broad spectrum of subjects, including exceptional preservation, paleodiet and the food web or trophic levels, paleoclimate, physiology and growth.

The global oil and gas field equipment and services market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 6% over 2015-2020. New technology advancement for oil recovery factors and increasing deep water drilling activities because of the huge reserve of shale gas in the US and China are driving the growth of oil and gas field equipment and services market. Rest of the World is expected to remain the leading region because of presence of huge reserves in both onshore and offshore areas in the Middle East. Deep water and exploration activities in East and West Africa and geo-market activities in Nigeria, Angola, and the Gulf of Guinea are expected to drive the demand during the forecast period.

The United Arab Emirates was the world’s seventh ranked producer of crude oil and accounted for 3.7% of world crude oil and condensate production in 2012. The UAE held 97.8 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves, or 5.9% of the world’s total reserves, as well as 6.1 trillion cubic meters of proved natural gas reserves, or 3.3% of the world’s total at the end of 2012. The UAE accounted for 1.5% of the world’s supply of natural gas and was ranked sixth in the world in terms of the volume of its proved crude oil and natural gas reserves. The economy of the UAE is projected to grow modestly in the next 5 years. The Government of Abu Dhabi plans to invest $90 billion in the next 5 years on infrastructure-related projects that would boost the economy and create jobs. Abu Dhabi also plans to continue to invest in renewable energy sources and technologies within the UAE and around the world. The UAE is expected to become a major producer of aluminum because of the merger of Dubai and Emal in one entity named Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) in 2013. EGA would be the world’s fifth ranked aluminum company and would be valued at $15 billion.