Vice Rector of KFU Danis Nurgaliev: ‘We search for oil using the method that I came up with when I was a student’
Some children like to throw stones, while others like to collect them. Geologists often grow out of stone collectors. On the first Sunday of April, Russia celebrates the professional holiday of those who study the bowels of the Earth — Geologist's Day. Vice-rector for Oil and Gas Technologies, Environmental Management and Earth Sciences of Kazan Federal University, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan, Doctor of of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Professor Danis Nurgaliev tells not only about the mysteries of our planet, but also about how, from a geological point of view, Mars and the Moon have been explored and when minerals will be mined on other space bodies.
How the magnetic field helps to find oil deposits
Mr Nurgaliev, why did you decide to become a geologist? What attracted you to this profession?
When I was little, in our village Tatyshly in Bashkiria, where I lived, geophysicists conducted seismic research. My friends and I were interested in finding out what they were doing, and we often watched their work. I didn't have any thoughts of becoming a geologist then, although since childhood I have loved collecting and studying rocks, searching for something in the ground. After school, I came to enroll in the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at the Kazan University and accidentally found out that the university has a geological faculty, which trains geophysicists. I asked: “And who are geophysicists?” They explained to me that these are physicists who work outdoors. And I decided that's exactly what I needed. Fifty-two years have passed, and since then I have never regretted choosing geophysics.
You graduated from the Kazan University in 1978 with a degree in geologist and geophysicist. What was the focus of your first scientific research?
As a student, I completed an internship on the Mangashlyk Peninsula in Kazakhstan. We did an aeromagnetic survey to study the structure of the sedimentary cover in order to search for oil. And I was wondering if the magnetic field could be used for direct oil exploration. This thought arose because I saw several wells in which the areas were quite strongly magnetic sedimentary rocks and completely non-magnetic. I started thinking about whether oil could affect magnetic properties. I have read papers on the mineralogy of rocks from uranium deposits formed on the site of destroyed oil deposits. I took collections of bituminous rocks from the petroleum department and measured their magnetic properties. It worked, and I even submitted my research to the competition. In my 4th year, my term paper was devoted to the search for oil using the magnetic method. After that, I spent some time developing this topic and even made an interesting justification for the method. Then I started doing research in the field of paleomagnetism and abandoned work on oil, even handed over all the materials to my friend. At that time, it was prestigious to do basic research.
Indeed, paleomagnetism was global and fantastic. Variations in the magnetic field 250 million years ago. Cool! When I became the vice-rector for research at the university, I returned to the topic of my course work. We went further and began to study the changes in the magnetic field to search for oil deposits, that is, to use the method that I came up with when I was a student.
“It is impossible to imagine geology without computer modelling, artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art devices”
What scientific problems are you dealing with now?
I study variations of the magnetic field in ancient times, cosmic dust, meteorites, the nature of global extinctions in the history of the Earth, bottom sediments of modern lakes, the processes of formation and destruction of oil and gas deposits, geodynamic processes of oil and gas-bearing territories, increased oil recovery, methods of oil extraction and much more.
Now geologists don't go around the taiga with a hammer in search of minerals. What modern technologies are used by representatives of this profession?
It is impossible to imagine geology today without computer modeling, artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art devices that could not have been dreamed of 20-30 years ago. Artificial intelligence replaces humans in routine work, such as analysing borehole, field, geophysical, and seismic data, processing huge amounts of information.
I would like to point out that geology is not only about prospecting, exploration, and mining. This science studies our planet as a whole: its atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and deep layers. The processes taking place in them greatly affect the life of mankind. The simplest example is landslides, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.
Geologists are engaged not only in the present, but also in the distant past of the Earth in order to understand what awaits our planet in the future. For example, there is a lot of talk about global warming, which is caused by the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Of course, warming is difficult to feel today, but we see that the climate has become unstable. There have already been periods of warming in the Earth's past, and if we understand how the planet reacted to sudden climate changes in different geological epochs, we can predict what will happen in the future.
In the history of the Earth, catastrophes have occurred several times that led to the death of all living things. Having studied their scenarios, it is possible to understand whether something similar awaits humanity in the future. Let me remind you that there were five mass extinctions when the Earth's biosphere disappeared almost completely, by 80-90 percent. These processes were caused by various causes — global volcanism, the fall of giant meteorites, global warming, and a host of other things.
“In our century, humanity will be engaged in mining on the planets of the Solar system and their moons”
How soon will humanity extract minerals on other planets?
Geologists have studied Mars well. There is a geological map of it, and there is a fairly detailed stratigraphy of the Red Planet. There are geological and lithological maps of the Moon. In the 21st century, humanity will actively explore the planets of the Solar system and their moons. We will be engaged in the search, exploration and mining of minerals, and our descendants will live on these planets and produce oxygen there. I think it will be possible, at least partially, to restore the atmosphere on Mars. As for minerals, they will mainly be used for the development of the planets on which they will be mined. The rarest ones may begin to be delivered to Earth. We have yet to build such spacecraft that will be able to transport water, materials necessary for life to other planets and deliver useful resources from there.
In March, the British consulting company Quacquarelli Symonds published a subject ranking of universities in the world. The Kazan Federal University occupies the 35th position of the QS rating in the field of “Oil and gas business”. What is the secret of such success?
We have an excellent interdisciplinary team of scientists who work closely with business, the result of such interaction is the rapid implementation of scientific developments in practice. We work with companies in terms of student training, as well as retraining and advanced training of specialists from oil and gas companies. This greatly increases our recognition in Russia and in the world.
