Center for Geophysics, Energy, and Minerals

Colorado School of Mines

Welcome

Welcome to the Center for Geophysics, Energy, and Minerals (CGEM)

(formerly the Center for Gravity, Electrical, and Magnetic Studies)

Colorado School of Mines

The Center for Geophysics, Energy, and Minerals (CGEM) is an academic research hub dedicated to advancing the science and application of geophysics in subsurface resources and sustainable development of energy and critical minerals.

 

What We Do

· Innovative Geophysical Exploration & Production: We apply a broad range of geophysical techniques—including electrical and induced polarization, electromagnetic, gravity, magnetic, radiometric, and seismic methods—to investigate the Earth’s subsurface and support energy and mineral resource discovery.

· Computational and Data-Driven Approaches: Our researchers integrate modern applied mathematics, operations research, optimization theory, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to develop next-generation tools and workflows for geophysical application for Earth subsurface resources. .

· Collaborative, Cross-Disciplinary Research: CGEM brings together faculty, researchers, and students with diverse expertise to advance state-of-the-art geophysical data interpretation and tackle pressing challenges in resource exploration & production and environmental monitoring.

 

Research Focus Areas

CGEM’s research spans several key domains:

· Geologic hydrogen exploration & production

· Critical minerals exploration & production

· Natural gas exploration & production

· Carbon storage monitoring

GEOLOGIC HYDROGEN (H2)

Geologic H2 is a primary energy source that will contribute to lower energy cost and long-term energy security. We carry out federally and industry funded research in pursuit of this new energy source.

  • Natural geologic hydrogen exploration
  • Stimulated geologic hydrogen monitoring
  • H2 source rock characterization
  • H2 reservoir imaging and evaluation

Natural geologic hydrogen exploration using geophysics

Airborne geophysics image

Stimulated geologic hydrogen-real time monitoring using geophysics

Stimulated geologic hydrogen

MINERAL EXPLORATION

Mineral resources are fundamental to modern society and technology, and critical to energy security. We carry out industry and federally funded mineral exploration research.

  • Potential-field, EM, and seismic methods
  • Airborne gamma-ray spectrometry (AGRS)
  • Joint inversion
  • Machine learning integration
Mineral exploration image

Natural gas exploration

Natural gas will continue to be a key component of energy supply and geophysics plays an important role in the exploration and production.

  • Determine natural gas drilling locations using integrated geophysics
  • Reserve estimation by geophysics, geology, and well logs
  • Post-drilling analyses for optimizing exploration and production
natural gas exploration image

Ergodic geophysical acquisition

Efficient and information-rich data acquisition is essential to geophysical exploration for energy and minerals. We pioneered ergodic survey design theory and its application.

  • Enhance the resolution by 2 to 10 times
  • Reduce the time and cost for data acquisition
  • Accelerate exploration cycles
ergodic sampling image