instructors
Lluís Ardèvol i Oró is a geologist and director of Geoplay Pyrenees Ltd, Tremp, Catalonia, the locality where Lluís was born and which is famous worldwide among the geological community. He holds a MSc degree in sedimentology and stratigraphy from the University Autònoma of Barcelona, where he was Assistant Professor before working 10 years for mining and civil engineering companies.
Since 1990, Lluís has focussed on field research in the south-central Pyrenees with the aim of training oil staff, first with Geoprep in collaboration with the German geologist Sabine Krauss, a company which became Geoplay in 1998. His research was in clastic facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy (see AAPG Bulletin 84, Depositional Sequence Response to Foreland Deformation in the Upper Cretaceous of the Southern Pyrenees, by Ardèvol et al.). At present, Lluís is working on the detailed stratigraphy, structure and geologic history (salt tectonics) of the Cretaceous.
(Photo courtesy of Peter Mey)
Jon Gutmanis is structural geologist with GeoScience Ltd, England. Jon got hooked on geology as a teenage mineral explorer in Cornwall and then went on to specialise in structural geology and rock mechanics at Imperial College London (MSc). He has worked on the investigation and characterisation of faults, fractures, in-situ stress and fluid flow in the context of hydrocarbon exploration and development, underground radwaste disposal projects, geothermal developments, and seismic hazard studies for sensitive installations.
Jon has been with GeoScience since it started in the 1980’s and is currently Chief Geologist and Manager of the companys’ consultancy service in Fractured Reservoir Characterisation for the hydrocarbons and geothermal industry. He leads a team which uses well, reservoir, and analog information to identify, characterise and predict fracture properties and their effect on reservoir quality. He has published on the subject and also developed training courses and field trips for industry staff, including this fractured reservoir analogs course in Catalonia alongside Lluís.