So much has changed in geology over my career it makes my head spin and it is mostly due to advancing technology. I stopped doing field work shortly before the GPS signal was made available to civilian use. How that has changed mapping and sample collection is amazing. I used to make maps at a big map table with T-squares, stencils, and ink pens that always stained my fingers. Now it is three dimensional computer drafting and GIS software. I used to measure the orientation of rock layers using my trusty Brunton compass. Now there are apps for my phone where all I have to do is put the phone against the rock and push a button. These apps even collect all the data for a location and does the 3D statistics as well. I used to have to go to the USGS library and search for air photos, then wait a few weeks after I ordered them before I could get to work. Now I just go to Google Earth. The USGS also has all of their geologic maps in an easy to use viewer where I can search an area and download the maps I want, or bring them into my GIS program as vector files.

But you asked about the future.

Artificial Intelligence is already making inroads. I recently read about a test of super computing in mineral exploration. This is how it usually works: A company will be interested in a known mine site in the hopes of finding more ore. A geologist, or more likely a team, will be handed a huge amount of information: reports, maps, cross-sections, core logs, geophysical studies, drill core, samples, pictures, multi-element assays, and more. It takes months to years to pour through this information. The goal is to come up with "targets," trying to figure out the best place to drill and test the model the geologist have come up with. The study took information like this, put it all into the computer and asked it where to drill. In a short period of time the computer spat out several potential targets. Most of them matched what the geology team came up with but a few were novel. And they yielded positive results when drilled.

When I was doing field work, it was always nice to have an assistant. Not only for the company on a long traverse but to help carry the samples. Have you seen the Boston Dynamics robots? In the future, these things will be following geologists in the field like an obedient dog. They'll carry samples, equipment, lunch, and the beer:30 needs. They'll also have the analytic tools the mars rovers have. No need to haul all those samples! just zap it with a laser and get your data. They'll have attached drones that will look around for interesting outcrops or for bears. If coupled with AI, the geologist will probably just hang out in the truck.

LIDAR is already changing the profession quickly. Being able to see the ground by stripping away the vegetation allows observation of surface subtleties that was impossible before. As the coverage of LIDAR mapping grows, so will the discoveries. Apple announced a future phone with LIDAR. So you could go into a mine and just wave the phone around and get a high resolution scan of the tunnel as you go. The mapping drones in the movie Prometheus are not far off.

Finally, Virtually Reality. Geologists will not even have to go into the mine or out in the field. The robot with lidar, multi spectral cameras, analytic ability, and AI will just feed it all back to the camp, or the jeep, or my little office here in the basement. And that'll save money and time. But it'll also be sad. There is nothing as fun as wandering the desert, getting lost, turning a corner and finding something amazing.