Geology - Sedimentology

Pollutant transport in soils is directly dependent on the heterogeneity of the media present (topology, structure, etc.), which itself is heavily impacted by certain human activities, such as agriculture, industrial operations and mining. The precise description of this phenomenon, across all time scales, can thus prove complex. Yet it is important when it comes to tackling major challenges, such as efficient waste water treatment, or providing access to high-quality drinking water to as many people as possible. In this context, IFPEN’s researchers have been working on methods to gain a better understanding of how pollutants are transported in the underground environment.

Underground reservoir modeling in essential for many applications: aquifer management, underground compound or energy storage, mineral and energy resource recovery (e.g., geothermal energy). Modeling makes it possible to optimize resource management while minimizing societal and environmental risks. However, in order to be efficient, this modeling must be multiscale, and IFPEN’s research teams are therefore guided by this requirement.

Peatlands only occupy 3% of the earth’s surface but contain more than 25% of the organic carbon stored in the surface layers of the subsoil. Plant matter accumulates slowly there and undergoes a slow decomposition process under the effect of a water-saturated, oxygen-poor environment. Therefore the peat can still decompose and is particularly vulnerable to environmental changes...

Coastal sedimentary basins evolve under the effect of interactions between, on the one hand, hydroclimatic processes taking place in catchment areas, and on the other hand coastal marine processes that remodel the coastline. The evolution of these environments is naturally controlled by the climate, over different time periods (ranging from tens of years to thousands of years), through variations in sedimentary flows and erosion...

Emerging in the 1990s, the notions of geoheritage and geodiversity have been receiving growing attention from academic communities, international organizations and public authorities. (...) It was in this context that, in 2020, IFPEN signed a partnership agreement with UNESCO, one of the objectives of which is to share digital tools facilitating the promotion of geoheritage and geodiversity to the general public...

To address the challenges of the energy transition, the subsurface has an important role to play, both in terms of providing resources and offering storage solutions. (...) Numerical models can help gain a better understanding of the subsurface with a view to its long-term management and optimal use. Developed for a number of years now at IFPEN, initially for the petroleum industry, such models cover scales ranging from the sedimentary basin to the reservoir...

Today, the impact of climate change and human activities on the evolution of landscapes and water resources is a major challenge. Predicting it requires dedicated tools capable of evaluating, 100 years ahead, the consequences of different scenarios on watersheds and groundwater. To this end, IFPEN is developing modeling approaches targeting erosion-transport-deposition phenomena combined with surface and subsurface flows. ...

Over the last decade, deep learning applied to image analysis has rapidly developed in scope to cover numerous fields. However, its potential remains underexploited in geology, despite the fact that it is a discipline that relies to a large extent on visual interpretation. To contribute to the digital transformation of industries related to the underground environment, researchers at IFPEN have implemented deep learning in three “profession-specific contexts”, each involving different types of geological images.