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Professor John Howell

Professor John Howell
PhD (Geology), BSc(Hons), FGS

Chair in Virtual Geosciences

Overview
Professor John Howell
Professor John Howell

Contact Details

Telephone
work +44 (0)1224 272606
Email
Address
The University of Aberdeen School of Geosciences
Meston Building,
Kings College,
Aberdeen
AB24 3UE UK
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Biography

Originally from Wales, John did a degree at the University of Cardiff, followed by a PhD at the University of Birmingham. He then spent 10 years in the University of Liverpool as a researcher and junior faculty member working with the StratGroup. He moved to Norway in 2002 and lived in Bergen until 2012. During that time he worked in the Department of Earth Sciences and UniCIPR where he founded the Virtual Outcrop Geology Group. He was also one of the founders of Rocksource ASA an independent Norwegian E&P Company, where he worked in senior managment for 6 years.

Since 2012 he has been a Professor at the University of Aberdeen. His current research focuses on virtual geosciences, including the improved use of analogues for understanding reservoirs. In the past 25 years he has worked on outcrops from all over the World with special focus on the western USA. He has supervised over 50 PhD students, published more than a 150 papers and edited 7 books. He currently runs the SAFARI project, a collaboration between University of Aberdeen and Uni Bergen supported by 13 companies. Over the past 15 years he has pioneered the use of Virtual Outcrops, collected using lidar and more recently UAVs (drones), in the geosciences. 

He is passionate about outreach in the geosciences. He was a co-host on "The Big Monster Dig", a TV series on geology and palaeontology for C4 and Discovery. He also has numerous other TV and radio credits as a scientific expert.     

Qualifications

PhD, Geology University of Birmingham 1992
Sedimentology of the Rotliegend of the UK Southern North Sea
BSc, Geology Cardiff University 1988

External Memberships and Affiliations

Fellow of the Geological Society of London

International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS) 

Society of Economic Petrologists and Mineralogists (SEPM)

American Association of Petreoleum Geologists (AAPG)

Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain (PESGB)

Prizes and Awards

Perce Allen Award (highest award of BSRG, 2018)

ExxonMobil Young Researcher Award (2000)

Alaister Pilkinton Award for Excellence in Teaching (2000) 

Research

Research Areas

Research Overview

Current research areas include:

  • The developement of digital field methods in the geosciences; especially terrestrial LiDAR, UAVs (drones) and photogrammetry
  • The collection of analogue data for better subsurface models
  • Large scale studies of modern depositional systems as a key to understanding the subsurface
  • Reservoir modelling of geological outcrops
  • The geology of the Colorado Plateau, especially central and southern Utah
  • Sequence stratigraphy.   

Current Research

Safari Project - Large industry JIP in collaboration with UniCIPR in Bergen. 4 PhD students and several post-doc researchers supported by 14 comapnies and the Research Council of Norway

Aeolian reservoir analogues - JIP with DEA (Germany) working on various aeolian systems in the USA inlcuding the Page Sst in southern Utah/Arizona

Triassic Mudstones - Large JIP looking at the Central North Sea, 3 PhDs 

Supervision

My current supervision areas are: Geology and Petroleum Geology.

Teaching

Courses

Publications

Publications 

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  • Evolution of foreland basin fluvial systems in the mid-Cretaceous of Utah, USA (upper Cedar Mountain and Naturita formations)

    Phillips, S. P., Howell, J. A., Hartley, A. J., Chmielewska, M., Hudson, S. M.

    Sedimentology

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12845
    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Progradation of a mid-Cretaceous distributive fluvial system: The upper member of the Bima Formation, Northern Benue Trough, Nigeria

    Aliyuda, K., Howell, J.

    Sedimentology

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12831
    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Characterizing the nature and importance of lava-sediment interactions with the aid of field outcrop analogues

    Famelli, N., Millett, J. M., Hole, M. J., Lima, E. F., Carmo, I. d. O., Jerram, D. A., Jolley, D. W., Pugsley, J. H., Howell, J. A.

    Journal of South American Earth Sciences, vol. 108, 103108

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2020.103108
    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Impact of geological variables in controlling oil-reservoir performance: An insight from a machine-learning technique

    Aliyuda, K., Howell, J., Humphrey, E.

    SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 1314-1327

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.2118/201196-PA
    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Fault-controlled dolostone geometries in a transgressive–regressive sequence stratigraphic framework

    Yao, S., Gomez-Rivas, E., Martín-Martín, J. D., Gómez-Gras, D., Travé, A., Griera, A., Howell, J. A.

    Sedimentology, vol. 67, no. 6, pp. 3290-3316

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12739
    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Predictable patterns in stacking and distribution of channelized fluvial sand bodies linked to channel mobility and avulsion processes

    Sahoo, H., Gani, M. R., Gani, N. D., Hampson, G. J., Howell, J. A., Storms, J. E., Martinius, A. W., Buckley, S. J.

    Geology, vol. 48, no. 9, pp. 903-907

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1130/G47236.1
    Open Access
    http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/15160/1/Sahoo_etal_Geol_Predictable_patterns_VOR.pdf
    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Tidal estuarine deposits of the transgressive Naturita Formation (Dakota Sandstone): San Rafael Swell, Utah, U.S.A.

    Phillips, S. P., Howell, J. A., Hartley, A. J., Chmielewska, M.

    Journal of Sedimentary Research, vol. 90, no. 8, pp. 777-795

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.2110/JSR.2020.51
    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • Discussion of Yang et al. (2017, Acta Geologica Sinica 91:749–750) A new discovery of the Early Cretaceous supercritical hyperpycnal flow deposits on Lingshan Island, East China

    Shao, Z., Zhao, B., Howell, J., Luan, X., Maxwell, G., Ran, W., Liu, Z., Zhang, W.

    Geological Journal, vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 5508-5513

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1002/gj.3755
    Additional Links
    View publication in Scopus

  • UK Rockall prospectivity: re-awakening exploration in a frontier basin

    Broadley, L., Schofield, N., Jolley, D., Howell, J., Underhill, J. R.

    Petroleum Geoscience, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 247-271

    Contributions to Journals: Articles

    Digital Object Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2019-098
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