Michael Schoenberg
Encyclopedia
Michael Schoenberg was a theoretical geophysicist noted for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of anisotropy
in the real earth and its application to the determination of texture
, fracture
porosity
, and flow
properties of reservoir rocks.
from Columbia University
in 1965, and later taught and performed research in theoretical geophysics
at the City College of New York
, New York University
, Tel-Aviv University, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
.
He joined Schlumberger
Doll Research in Ridgefield, Connecticut
in 1978, where he worked on applications of elastic waves in borehole
acoustic
logging, vertical seismic profiling
, and surface seismic. In 1990, He transferred to the seismic research department of Schlumberger
Cambridge Research in Cambridge
, U.K. where he worked on the application of surface seismic to characterization of the subsurface.
His 1980 paper on "Elastic wave behavior across linear slip interfaces" in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
has found wide application in geophysics
, the seismic characterization of fractures and fractured reservoirs, materials science
and ultrasonic non-destructive testing.
He received the 1997 Conrad Schlumberger Award
of the EAGE (European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers) "In recognition of his important contribution to seismic anisotropy, including the investigation of transversely isotropic media. His work leads to a precise determination of faults and fractures, and to a better discrimination of lithology
." The Conrad Schlumberger Award is presented to a member of the Association who has made an outstanding contribution over a period of time to the scientific and technical advancement of the geosciences, particularly geophysics
. He was the keynote speaker at the 1998 SEGJ International Meeting in Tokyo.
He retired from Schlumberger
in 1999, but remained active in research through an international network of collaborators. In 2000–2003 he visited CSIRO Division of Petroleum Resources and Curtin University of Technology
in Perth, Western Australia
as an advisor to Abnormal Geopressure Prediction Research Program of the Australian Petroleum Cooperative Research Centre (APCRC). During this time he presented a lecture series on "Wave propagation in stratified geomaterials with fractures and anisotropy." Michael Schoenberg died August 29, 2008 after a short illness.
Anisotropy
Anisotropy is the property of being directionally dependent, as opposed to isotropy, which implies identical properties in all directions. It can be defined as a difference, when measured along different axes, in a material's physical or mechanical properties An example of anisotropy is the light...
in the real earth and its application to the determination of texture
Texture (geology)
Texture in geology refers to the physical appearance or character of a rock, such as grain size, shape, arrangement, and pattern at both the megascopic or microscopic surface feature level. This includes the geometric aspects and relations amongst the component particles or crystals which is called...
, fracture
Fracture
A fracture is the separation of an object or material into two, or more, pieces under the action of stress.The word fracture is often applied to bones of living creatures , or to crystals or crystalline materials, such as gemstones or metal...
porosity
Porosity
Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0–1, or as a percentage between 0–100%...
, and flow
Volumetric flow rate
The volumetric flow rate in fluid dynamics and hydrometry, is the volume of fluid which passes through a given surface per unit time...
properties of reservoir rocks.
Career
Schoenberg received a Ph.D. in applied mechanicsApplied mechanics
Applied mechanics is a branch of the physical sciences and the practical application of mechanics. Applied mechanics examines the response of bodies or systems of bodies to external forces...
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1965, and later taught and performed research in theoretical geophysics
Geophysics
Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...
at the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Tel-Aviv University, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine science and engineering and to the education of marine researchers. Established in 1930, it is the largest independent oceanographic research...
.
He joined Schlumberger
Schlumberger
Schlumberger Limited is the world's largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger employs over 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries...
Doll Research in Ridgefield, Connecticut
Ridgefield, Connecticut
Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 24,638 at the 2010 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U.S...
in 1978, where he worked on applications of elastic waves in borehole
Borehole
A borehole is the generalized term for any narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water or other liquid or gases , as part of a geotechnical investigation, environmental site...
acoustic
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
logging, vertical seismic profiling
Vertical seismic profile
In geophysics, Vertical Seismic Profile is a technique of seismic measurements used for correlation with surface seismic data. The defining characteristic of a VSP is that either the energy source, or the detectors are in a borehole...
, and surface seismic. In 1990, He transferred to the seismic research department of Schlumberger
Schlumberger
Schlumberger Limited is the world's largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger employs over 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries...
Cambridge Research in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, U.K. where he worked on the application of surface seismic to characterization of the subsurface.
His 1980 paper on "Elastic wave behavior across linear slip interfaces" in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America is a scientific journal in the field of acoustics, published by the Acoustical Society of America. It contains technical articles on sound, vibration, speech and other topics.Access to articles is by subscription or purchase, though most universities...
has found wide application in geophysics
Geophysics
Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...
, the seismic characterization of fractures and fractured reservoirs, materials science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
and ultrasonic non-destructive testing.
He received the 1997 Conrad Schlumberger Award
Conrad Schlumberger Award
The Conrad Schlumberger Award is an award given to one of the members of European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers. The award is given each year to one that has made an outstanding contribution over a period of time to the scientific and technical advancement of the geosciences,...
of the EAGE (European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers) "In recognition of his important contribution to seismic anisotropy, including the investigation of transversely isotropic media. His work leads to a precise determination of faults and fractures, and to a better discrimination of lithology
Lithology
The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples or with low magnification microscopy, such as colour, texture, grain size, or composition. It may be either a detailed description of these characteristics or be a summary of...
." The Conrad Schlumberger Award is presented to a member of the Association who has made an outstanding contribution over a period of time to the scientific and technical advancement of the geosciences, particularly geophysics
Geophysics
Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...
. He was the keynote speaker at the 1998 SEGJ International Meeting in Tokyo.
He retired from Schlumberger
Schlumberger
Schlumberger Limited is the world's largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger employs over 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries...
in 1999, but remained active in research through an international network of collaborators. In 2000–2003 he visited CSIRO Division of Petroleum Resources and Curtin University of Technology
Curtin University of Technology
Curtin University is an Australian university based in Perth, Western Australia, with additional campuses in regional Western Australia and at Miri , Sydney and Singapore...
in Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
as an advisor to Abnormal Geopressure Prediction Research Program of the Australian Petroleum Cooperative Research Centre (APCRC). During this time he presented a lecture series on "Wave propagation in stratified geomaterials with fractures and anisotropy." Michael Schoenberg died August 29, 2008 after a short illness.
Selected publications
- Schoenberg, M.; 1980, Elastic wave behavior across linear slip interfaces, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 68, 1516-1521.
- Schoenberg, M., 1983, Reflection of elastic waves from periodically stratified media with interfacial slip: Geophysical Prospecting, 31, 265–292.
- Schoenberg, M.; and Douma, J.; 1988, Elastic wave propagation in media with parallel fractures and aligned cracks, Geophysical Prospecting, 36, 571-590.
- Schoenberg, M.; and Muir, F.; 1989, A calculus for finely layered anisotropic media, Geophysics, 54, 581–589.
- Hood and Schoenberg, 1989; Estimation of vertical fracturing from measured elastic moduli: Journal of Geophysical Research, 94, 15,611–15,618.
- Nichols, D.; Muir, F.; and Schoenberg, M.; 1989, Elastic Properties of rocks with multiple sets of fractures: 63rd Ann. Internat. Mtg., Soc. Expl. Geophys., Expanded Abstracts, 471–474.
- Schoenberg, M.; and J. Protazio; 1992, "Zoeppritz" rationalized and generalized to anisotropy: Journal of Seismic Exploration, 1, 125–144.
- Folstad, P. G. and M. Schoenberg, 1992, Low-frequency propagation through fine layering: SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts, 11, 1279–1281.
- Hsu, C.-J., and Schoenberg, M., 1993, Elastic waves through a simulated fractured medium: Geophysics, 58, 964–977.
- Schoenberg, M.; and Sayers, C.M.; 1995, Seismic anisotropy of fractured rock, Geophysics, 60, 204-211.
- Coates, R.T.; and Schoenberg, M.; 1995, "Finite-difference modeling of faults and fractures", Geophysics, 60, 1514-1526.
- Schoenberg, M.; Muir, F.; and Sayers, C.; 1996, "Introducing ANNIE: A simple three-parameter anisotropic velocity model for shales", J. Seis. Expl. vol. 5, 35–49.
- Schoenberg, M.; and Helbig, K.; 1997, Orthorhombic media: Modeling elastic wave behavior in a vertically fractured earth, Geophysics, 62, 1954-1974.
- Haugen, G. U.; and M. A. Schoenberg; 2000, The echo of a fault or fracture: Geophysics, 65, 176–189.
- Liu, E., Vlastos, S., Li, X.-Y., Main, I.G. and Schoenberg, M., 2004, Modelling seismic wave propagation during fluid injection in a fractured network: Effects of changes in pore pressure on seismic waves, The Leading Edge, 23, No. 8, 778-783.
- Vlastos, S., Liu, E., Main, I.G., Schoenberg, M., Maillot, B. and X.Y. Li, 2006, Dual simulation of fluid flow and seismic wave propagation in a fractured network: Effects of changes in pore pressure on seismic signature, Geophysical Journal International, 166, 825-838.
- Daley, T. M., M. A. Schoenberg, J. Rutqvist, and K. T. Nihei, 2006, Fractured reservoirs: An analysis of coupled elastodynamic and permeability changes from pore pressure variation: Geophysics, 71, O33–O41.
- Nakagawa, S. and Schoenberg, M., 2007, Poroelastic modeling of seismic boundary conditions across a fracture: J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 122, 831-847.