The Earth and Space Sciences Department has recently been granted ten academic use licenses for the powerful software package MOVE Suite by Petroleum Experts, Ltd. (Petex), valued at more than $2.7 million. MOVE is a 2D and 3D modeling and visualization environment, used primarily for subsurface stratigraphic and structural modeling of basins and tectonically active regions. MOVE incorporates 2D and 3D seismic reflection data to facilitate forward modeling of deformation, sedimentation and other processes.

Here at UW ESS, this software donation will facilitate teaching across the undergraduate and graduate program in several different courses on advanced topics in geophysics and geology, exposing students to tools that are widely used in many areas of applied geosciences in industry and consulting. Professor Harold Tobin, who will manage the software donation, anticipates using it in his Fault Structure, Stress and Tectonics (FASST) research group for investigation of the structure and evolution of offshore faults and folds in the Cascadia subduction zone, as well as other plate boundary locations around the world.

We greatly appreciate the generosity of Petex in making this software donation, giving our students and researchers the means to access cutting edge 3D visualization technology.