Look for the inaugural issue of Interpretation in August.
The inaugural issue of ;Interpretation, a new journal jointly published by SEG and AAPG, has been completed and will be mailed free-of-charge to print recipients of the EXPLORER and The Leading Edge in early August.
Interpretation is a peer-reviewed quarterly that comprises papers directly related to the practice of interpretation of the Earth’s subsurface for exploration and extraction of mineral resources, and for environmental and engineering applications.
The journal aims to accelerate innovation in interpretation.
The August issue will include a special section on interpreting stratigraphy from geophysical data (see table of contents ). The issue, in addition to print, also will be available online free of access controls.
The second issue, scheduled for November completion, will include a special section on Interpretation for unconventional resources. It also will be available free both in print and online; those who would like to receive a free print copy of the November issue, however, must sign up online.
After the November issue, members and institutions will be able to subscribe to the journal, which will continue to be available both in printed form and online.
SEG, the world’s largest international society dedicated to applied geophysics, announced the journal’s creation in 2012. AAPG, the world’s largest professional geological society, announced it would join SEG in its publishing in March.
Former SEG Editor Yonghe Sun is the publication’s editor-in-chief; the deputy editor-in-chief is AAPG Honorary member R. Randy Ray, a consulting geophysicist-geologist in Denver and former editor of the EXPLORER’s Geophysical Corner.
Interpretation’s inaugural editorial board includes members of both AAPG and SEG. The organizations will take turns appointing editors-in-chief for three-year terms.
“It is only natural that SEG and AAPG jointly publish the journal with their combined 70,000 members as the primary audience,” Sun noted. “Subsurface Interpretation requires the integration of data and knowledge from multiple geosciences practices and disciplines, and first and foremost among them are geology and geophysics.
“With easy finds gone,” he added, “this is more so than ever.”
An Interpretation article typically will contain an interpretation that helps advance the methods and practice of interpretation, according to the editors. Articles that describe interpretation methods and applications involving integration of multiple data sets to quantify as well as visualize subsurface structure will be strongly encouraged.
Ray observed that once the editors are part of the board “they do not wear AAPG or SEG hats, but all will work to build the journal to be focused on interpretation of interest to geologists, geophysicists and engineers.”
He also called Interpretation’s launch “a historic event” that has been over 10 years in the making through various joint committees.
“There has also been a long-standing joint AAPG and SEG Geophysical Integration Committee that has shared ideas for publications and selected convention technical presentations to be part of both societies’ annual meetings,” Ray said. “The fostering of committee cooperation has combined with the experience of past presidents in SEG and AAPG recognizing the enhanced value of science when our members work together.
“Past SEG President (and AAPG member) Bob Hardage and past AAPG President Ted Beaumont, and their respective executive committees, were instrumental in making this happen now,” Ray said.
“For the first time, SEG and AAPG will join together to hatch a new publication with all the goodwill and technical expertise that each can bring to the venture,” he said.
“Interpretation is a multi-disciplinary melting pot,” Ray added, “where the alchemy of ideas can interact to create new knowledge.”
AAPG-appointed associate editors in addition to Ray who are part of Interpretation’s first team of editors include:
- Stephen A. Sonnenberg, (an AAPG Honorary member), Colorado School of Mines and the Colorado School of Mines’ Bakken Research Consortium, Golden, Colo.
- Linda R. Sternbach, Star Creek Energy, Houston.
- Alistair R. Brown, consultant and past editor of the EXPLORER’s Geophysical Corner, Allen, Texas.
- Karen Sullivan Glaser, Schlumberger PetroTechnical Services, Katy, Texas.
A fifth AAPG member is yet to be announced.
SEG members who are part of Interpretation’s first team of editors include:
- William L. Abriel, Chevron, Orinda, Calif.
- Bruce Hart, Statoil, Katy, Texas.
- Donald A. Herron, Sugar Land, Texas.
- David H. Johnston, ExxonMobil Production Co., Houston.
- Kurt Marfurt, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.
- John O’Brien, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Houston.
- Juan Carlos Soldo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Hongliu H. Zeng, Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin, Texas.
Abriel, Hart, Herron, Johnston, Marfurt, Zeng, Brown, Sternbach and Glaser are members of both SEG and AAPG.
Once the inaugural board is complete with AAPG appointments, future additions to the editorial board will be based on the journal’s editorial needs instead of considerations of the candidates’ professional affiliations.