The Institute for the Study of the Continents at Cornell's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences hosted a symposium on Monday, June 9, to take stock of the university's decades-long history of seismic imaging science, while celebrating the accomplishments of Larry Brown, Ph.D. '76, the Sidney Kaufman Professor in Geophysics Emeritus, whose work helped shape the field.
Professor emeritus Larry Brown helped shape the field of seismic imaging science through the Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling.
The event, "50 Years of Exploring the Continents: COCORP to the Future," examined the history of the Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling (COCORP) program, which was launched by Cornell in 1975 as a new effort that used multichannel seismic reflection profiling to "see" what was under the Earth's surface. Rather than relying on earthquakes to provide vibrations that can be sensed and measured, COCORP created its own vibrations through the use of dynamite, a specialized air gun, or a seismic vibrator device called a vibroseis, a method pioneered by the petroleum industry.
Speakers at the symposium highlighted many of the accomplishments of COCORP, the list of which includes revealing the surprisingly complex fabric of the lower continental crust in many places, gathering evidence of large-scale, low-angle thrust faulting in the Appalachians, confirming that a type of mountain range formation known as the Laramide basement uplifts are a result of thrust faulting across the entire crust, mapping large areas of buried Precambrian layers in the interior of North America, and demonstrating the effectiveness of vibroseis for imaging structures as deep as 40 kilometers below the surface.
Vibroseis trucks create seismic vibrations that can be used to image underground structures as deep as 40 kilometers. Cornell's Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling was an early adopter of the technology for scientific purposes.
The invited speakers also talked about the "alphabet soup" of projects that were inspired by COCORP, including BIRPS in Great Britain, CROP in Italy, DEKORP in Germany, ECORS in France, and LITHOPROBE in Canada.
"This day perfectly captured the impact of Cornell's COCORP project in paving the way for large-scale, collaborative and interdisciplinary observational programs in the geosciences," said Geoff Abers, the William and Katherine Snee Professor in Geological Sciences at Cornell Engineering and organizing committee chair of the event, noting the program has inspired others through the years, including in Great Britain, Italy, Germany, France and Canada. "COCORP showed how using new technologies in unplanned ways, in this case borrowed from industry, could revolutionize our understanding of the planet."
Mixed in with the talk of the past and the future of seismic imaging, speakers also shared memories and tributes to Brown, who retired recently after 48 years on the faculty at Cornell. At times the event took on the flavor of a light-hearted roast, with speakers gently poking fun at the beloved Brown.
Simon Klemperer, Ph.D. '85, a geophysicist and professor at Stanford University, gave the opening talk, "What Should We Learn From Larry's COCORP Mistakes?". Klemperer said that his thesis advisor, Cornell geologist and COCORP co-founder Jack Oliver, taught him to do good science, but "Larry taught me how to have fun while doing good science."
Professor emeritus Larry Brown's research led him around the world with projects like the International Deep Profiling of Tibet and the Himalayas.
The talk "Seismic Exploration of Planetary Crusts" was delivered by Doyeon Kim, Ph.D. '18, assistant professor at Imperial College London, and highlighted the future of seismic imaging, including on the subsurface of Mars. The experience and knowledge gathered on Earth by COCORP and its progeny are now being applied to instrument design, seismic analysis and structural modeling on other planets.
Brown's work with COCORP in the U.S. led him to similar work around the world, including in the Swiss Alps, Siberia, India, Hawaii and Mongolia. The COCORP project wound down in the early 1990s, but its legacy continued at Cornell with projects like the International Deep Profiling of Tibet and the Himalayas.
"I have had the good fortune to have worked in some beautiful and interesting places my entire career," Brown said.
Abers was especially pleased by the number of alumni and postdoctoral researchers who came back to Cornell for the symposium.
"The several decades of students and postdocs that returned for this celebration showed the broad impact on the nation done by training in science at a high level," Abers said. "While some continued on in academia, many others work in energy resource development, natural hazard mitigation, and development of new technologies. Big science, when done well as it was with COCORP, has a deep, long-term and often unforeseen impact."
Chris Dawson is a communications specialist for Cornell Engineering.
