Prepare for your near-surface Geophysics Career in the industry

  by Management@detectation.com

Geophysics is a very broad subject. The majority of the students studying geophysics actually concentrate on traditional pure geophysics/global geophysics/solid earth geophysics. What is solid earth geophysics? Well, in the classes you learn all kind of geophysical theories: gravity, magnetics, seismology, geodynamics, and tectonics, etc. The study is generally in a relatively global scope or the impact areas are substantial parts of the earth. On the other hand, applied geophysics, with its applications for economic benefits, concentrates more on shallower parts of the earth, mostly confined in the crust. Considering the money involved, oil and gas exploration occupied probably 80% or more of the applied geophysics; the rest is mainly for the mining industry. Near-surface geophysics, or environmental & engineering geophysics, is only a small fraction of applied geophysics.
After you get a bachelor degree in geophysics, if you want a geophysics related job with big bucks, most likely you'll go for oil & gas exploration. You can be in the field crew or do some simple data processing jobs. You'll be a part of work flow, working like a robot, doing same kind of tasks repeatedly everyday. However, if you want to do something more versatile and challenging, or open your own company and be your own boss in the near future, near-surface geophysics is the best choice.
What does near-surface geophysics do? You can guess from its alternate name: engineering & environmental geophysics - geophysics for engineering and environmental applications, including soil and bedrock strength study, pavement quality control and condition evaluations, concrete inspection, sinkhole detection, contamination delineation, landfill delineation, underground storage tank detection and more recently, underground utility locating, etc. A lot of these applications are not well known by public, and near surface geophysics has a long way to go to gain the popularity. But due to the low cost and its non-intrusive nature, near surface geophysics will surely grow stronger in the future. The industry now desperately needs experienced people with proper backgrounds. Currently in most states, you don't need a license to practice near-surface geophysics; a lot of amateurs are trying to get in and they are hurting people's trusts on geophysics, and slowing down the growth of the industry.
So, if you are studying geophysics in the school, how do you prepare for the near surface geophysics career? Here is a typical job announcement for near surface geophysics:
The candidate will be responsible for planning/implementation of near-surface geophysical surveys to on projects located throughout U.S.A.
Qualified candidates must have
--Knowledge of geophysical data acquisition and processing including seismic, EM, GPR, and electrical resistivity.
--Knowledge of Oasis Montaj and AutoCAD
--Must have the ability and the desire to conduct surveys in difficult field conditions, including transport of heavy geophysical gears.
-- 50% of the travel time is expected.
-- B.S. degree in related field, strong written and oral communication skills and a strong desire to provide outstanding customer service.
From the job announcement, you probably can guess a point or two. Below shows what you need to know if you want to join in the industry:
Long working hours and flexible schedules
This is not a 9am-5pm job. Unlike a lot of office jobs, near surface geophysicists don't have a "typical day". Because of the nature of the geophysical services, your schedule needs to be flexible according to the project needs. Sometimes you need to get up really early or work very late. Be prepared to work in the weekends, too. Are you a safe driver? You need to travel a lot, at least in the beginning of your career before you get to the management level. Imagine besides spending 8 hours doing the geophysical survey, you spend 6 hours on the road in the same day, could you do this kind of things frequently? Or after you spend an exhausting day in the field, can you still come up with some energy doing the data processing and writing reports meeting the deadlines? If you don't like this kind of lift styles, this is not a career for you.
Be physically fit
Near surface geophysicists need to collect data at a lot of sites. The sites can be schools, houses, highways, jails a hospitals, restaurants, warehouses and military bases, etc. They can be anywhere in the urban areas, suburban areas, rural areas, wet lands, landfills, deserts and mountains, etc. Sometime they can be easily accessible by vehicle transportation, sometime they don't. You should be able to carry heavy gears for long time walking and you need to do a lot of heavy lifting, too. You don't need to be a superman, but certainly you need some muscles. Be prepared to work outside in all kinds of weather -- hot, cold, rain or snow. You'd better not have a bladder problem - finding restrooms in the field is always a hassle. It's even harder for women. Men are generally less shy doing it around corners or behind trees.
Geophysical methods
For near surface geophysics, some methods are less commonly used than other methods. Gravity is probably the least used method. Self potential, induced polarization and magnetic methods are the next least used methods, although they are frequently used in the mining industry. The magnetic method is used a lot in archaeology applications, but there is really not much money in it compared to those spent in engineering and environmental applications. In the other hand, budgets for near surface geophysics are mostly used on seismic, electromagnetic, ground penetrating radar and direct current resistivity methods. Good understandings and hands-on experiences on these methods, including survey designs, data collections, data processing and report generating, will give you a very good start for your career in near-surface geophysics.
Computer skills
In school you probably learn computer languages such as Matlab, C and Fortran and you think you don't have problems with computers. When you get into the industry, you will find that you need to learn and get yourself familiar with a lot of commercially available programs. Sometimes you don't have much time to try them to be a master before you need to use them in the field. Many programs are not done by professional programmers. Instead, many of them are composed by scientists who don't know much about platform independence and friendly user interface, etc. Do you still remember DOS operating system? Don't be surprised that sometimes you still need to use it. There could be bugs and you need to know what you are doing to avoid really stupid mistakes. While you are in school, besides learning everything about computer, including hardware interfaces, operating systems, programming and internet, try all geophysical software and hardware you can get your hands on, get to know them like your hands and feet.
Social skills
Every month, week or day you will meet different clients. Some of them are easier to work with, some aren't. They could be individuals, technicians, environmental consultants, engineers, store managers, brokers, realtors and government agencies, etc. Normally they are not the guys wanting to talk about sciences with you, they just want to get the job done -- I paid you, you provide the service and show me the results. Unfortunately, geophysics can not always help them, and you will meet desperate people who can't take the reality -- "It is what it is". Geophysics is science as well as art. Not all people realize its limits, and they often have unrealistic expectations. You provide service to your clients, and frequently you have to deal with them face to face. Sometimes even you tried your best and did nothing wrong, they are still not happy and have no problem expressing their unhappiness in unpleasant ways. Be cool. You need to realize you are providing services to your clients and "they are always right". Bad temper could be a serious problem killing your career.
As with a lot of other careers, the start of the near surface geophysics career is the hardest part. A large percent of people dropped out of it in their first years. They either didn't like the physical challenge, or were frustrated by the data processing and interpretation. This career is a challenge for both your body and you brain. You don't need to be a hard labor or a genius, but you need to be both a little bit. If you really want to get into this career, prepare yourself better for the start, and ultimately for a successful career.
Written by geophix from Environmental and Engineering Geophysics Forum