The marked increase in the use of computers by geologists is having a pronounced effect in the fields of both oil and gas exploration and management reporting. The number of geologists who are using new computer techniques effectively is increasing, but unfortunately at a rate slower than is justified by the versatility of these techniques. Some geologists risk falling behind professionally because they are not remaining abreast of the latest technology which can be applied to their chosen field.
One of the problems facing the oil and gas industry is the assimilation of the large quantity of information which is being made available for the very first time through various computer file and retrieval systems. During 1966 the various well data systems, which include most of the United States and parts of Canada, released to their subscribers approximately 1 billion characters of basic well information in machinable form. The continuation of the work of these systems during 1967 will increase this volume of machinable data to approximately 2 billion characters of information. This is not new information; it is information which has been buried in the files of the oil and gas companies and the individual geologists because previously it was in a form which could not be analyzed effectively. A natural partner to this generation of large machine files is the development of programming techniques that offer much more powerful methods for analyzing geological data. In most cases, the publication of these new programs has been limited to special releases by state surveys and universities. There has been too little publication of the results of applying these programs to the analyses of geologic data in oil- and gas-producing basins of economic importance. Through simple illustrations and a few direct examples, it is possible to show how these techniques may lead directly to the finding of oil and gas prospects.
Source: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/aapgbull/article-pdf/51/7/1185/4406758/aapg_1967_0051_0007_1185.pdf
Computer applications in mining geology include the implementation of formal statistical procedures, as well as the editing, display and summarization of typically voluminous data. Besides the standard statistical procedures of estimation of means, variances and other parameters, calculation of confidence intervals, hypotheses tests and analyses of variance, mining geologists use less familiar statistical procedures. In mining exploration and delineation of ore deposits, these include such fields as multivariate analysis, operations research methods and analysis of trace element data (particularly gold assays).
More details / Source: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4615-8633-3_7
Geologists are dependent on support from numerous software applications for their daily work. Besides the classic Office applications, a multitude of specialized applications enable the useful analysis and representation of geological data sets.
Source: https://www.geologieportal.ch/en/knowledge/lookup/overview-of-geological-software.html
Geologists investigate the planet’s structure, composition and changes over time. However, it’s not always practical for scientists to visit a location for field observation. The application of remote sensing in geology means scientists can use electromagnetic radiation to collect detailed information from all over the world. Interpreting and visualizing the data that comes from those remote sensors are among the primary uses of GIS for geologists.