Technology

250-Million-Year-Old Rocks Meet 21st Century Aerial Technology

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Just another day’s work, studying deltaic outcrops with the assistance of modern drone capabilities. In collaboration with Cari Johnson, Ellen Reat, and Casey Duncan of the University of Utah, we are documenting deltaic facies and stacking patterns in South Africa’s Kookfontein Formation. The technology is impressive, but it still requires human brains to operate the machine, interpret the results, and apply the outcomes to different data sets.

The camera was my iPhone 8 and the photo was run through a filter in Snapseed.