The beginning of the Norwegian oil industry is often attributed to the first exploration drilling in the North Sea in 1966, the first discovery in 1967 and the discovery of the supergiant Ekofisk field in 1969. However, petroleum exploration already started onshore Svalbard in 1960 with three mapping groups from Caltex and exploration efforts by the Dutch company Bataaffse (Shell) and the Norwegian ...

The Svalbard Composite Tectono-Sedimentary Element (SCTSE) is located on the northwestern corner of the Barents Shelf and comprises a Carboniferous–Pleistocene sedimentary succession. Due to Cenozoic uplift, the succession is subaerially exposed in the Svalbard archipelago. The oldest parts of the succession consist of Carboniferous–Permian mixed siliciclastic, carbonate and evaporite, and spiculitic ...

<p>The Covid-19 pandemic occurred at a time of major revolution in the geosciences – the era of digital geology. Digital outcrop models (DOMs) acquired from consumer drones, processed using user-friendly photogrammetric software and shared with the wider audience through online platforms are a cornerstone of this digital geological revolution. Integration of DOMs with other geoscientific data, such ...