Staff Profiles
Prof Neil Goulty, MA (Oxon), PhD (Cantab)
Contact Prof Neil Goulty (email at n.r.goulty@durham.ac.uk)
Biography
Neil Goulty has industrial experience as a coal geophysicist, supervising seismic reflection surveys for planning new mines and extensions to existing mines. On appointment at Durham in 1980, he continued to work in exploration geophysics and in recent years has developed new research interests in compaction, diagenesis, overpressure and fluid flow in sedimentary basins.
Career Research Highlights
• Deducing the mechanics of creep events on the San Andreas Fault
• Application of surface geophysical surveys in coalfield exploration, including the first time-lapse survey
• Directional deconvolution of marine seismic reflection data
• Development of cross-well seismic surveying techniques, including the first depth-migrated images from field data
• Deducing the mechanics of fault development in layer-bound polygonal networks of faults found in fine-grained sediments
• Method to estimate overpressure from porosity and the stress tensor in mudstones within the mechanical compaction regime
• Deducing the emplacement mechanics of the Whin Sill complex
International and Editorial Roles
2007-present: Publications Officer, European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers
2007-present: Chairman, Editorial Board, First Break
2007-present: Editorial Board, Petroleum Geoscience
2006-2009: Editorial Board, Applied Geophysics (Chinese Geophysical Society)
Recent & Current Grants
2007-11. Total Indonesie: Hydrodynamics of the Kutei Basin
2008-13. DECC, Ikon Science & Maersk Oil: Lateral Drainage and Hydrodynamics: Seismic Response and Implications for the Exploration of Non-Conventional North Sea Traps
Research Interests
- Geomechanics: compaction of sediments, overpressure estimation, development of polygonal fault networks, mechanics of igneous intrusions in sedimentary basins, subsidence due to mineworkings and dissolution of evaporites
- Geophysics: applications of seismic reflection, seismic refraction, gravity and magnetic surveys
Selected Publications
Journal papers: academic
- Ireland, M.T., Goulty, N.R. & Davies, R.J. (2011). Influence of stratigraphic setting and simple shear on layer-bound compaction faults offshore Mauritania. Journal of Structural Geology 33(4): 487-499.
- Ramdhan, A.M. & Goulty, N.R. (2011). Overpressure and mudrock compaction in the Lower Kutai Basin, Indonesia: a radical reappraisal. AAPG Bulletin 95(10): 1725-1744.
- Ireland, M.T., Goulty, N.R. & Davies, R.J. (2010). Influence of pore water chemistry on silica diagenesis: evidence from the interaction of diagenetic reaction zones with polygonal fault systems. Journal of the Geological Society 167(2): 273-279.
- Goulty, N.R. & Schofield, N. (2008). Implications of simple flexure theory for the formation of saucer-shaped sills. Journal of Structural Geology 30(7): 812-817.