Dr. Stephan Gelinsky at IMAGE 2026

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Dr. Stephan Gelinsky's Presentation

Facies and the Rock Physics Link Between Seismic and Geology

Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Time: 3:30 PM CDT
Location: Ikon Science Booth #1545

George R. Brown Convention Center | Houston, Texas

As the global geoscience community gathers in Houston for IMAGE 2026 (International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy), one question remains central to every subsurface interpretation workflow:

How Do We Move from Seismic Response to Confident Geological Understanding?

For exploration, appraisal, field development, and reservoir characterization teams, the challenge is rarely a lack of data. The challenge is knowing how to connect seismic observations to the rock properties that actually matter: lithology, facies, porosity, saturation, pressure, reservoir quality, and the geological processes that shaped them.

This is where rock physics becomes critical.

Facies and the Rock Physics Link Between Seismic and Geology — Concept and Case Study

Seismically characterizing the subsurface is never simple. Reservoir rocks and their bounding lithologies are heterogeneous, complex, and variable across multiple scales. While many rock physics models have been developed to connect seismic-derived elastic properties to geological and petrophysical meaning, selecting the right model — and calibrating the right parameters — can be a time-consuming and uncertain process.

Dr. Gelinsky’s talk will explore how a facies-based rock physics approach helps reduce that uncertainty.

By investigating the fundamental geological controls on elastic and petrophysical rock properties, geoscientists can group rocks with similar provenance, depositional environment, mineralogy, texture, and burial history into meaningful facies. With adequate seismic data, those facies can then be identified and quantitatively characterized away from well control, allowing teams to constrain static and dynamic models in a more confident and geologically consistent way.

For teams working in complex depositional settings, unconventional reservoirs, carbonates, tight rocks, or mixed lithology systems, this connection between facies, rock physics, and seismic interpretation can make the difference between a technically plausible model and a model that is truly grounded in geological reality.

Why This Talk Matters

Seismic data can reveal patterns in the subsurface, but it does not automatically explain what those patterns mean. Rock physics provides the translation layer between elastic response and geological interpretation.

In this session, Dr. Gelinsky will show how understanding facies behavior through a rock physics lens can help teams:

Link seismic attributes to geological and petrophysical properties
Improve confidence in seismic facies classification
Reduce ambiguity in reservoir characterization workflows
Select rock physics models based on geological context, not guesswork
Extend interpretation away from well control with greater confidence
Build static and dynamic models that remain geologically consistent

This is especially important when dealing with heterogeneous reservoir systems where conventional endmember assumptions do not fully capture the complexity of the rocks.

Dr. Stephan Gelinsky

Dr. Stephan Gelinsky brings deep technical authority in rock physics, quantitative interpretation, and integrated reservoir characterization.

As Senior Technical Advisor at Ikon Science, Stephan works closely with Ikon’s R&D team to advance rock physics modeling, quantitative interpretation, and geopressure workflows. Through Ephangeli Subsurface Consulting, he also supports rock physics and integrated reservoir characterization projects.

Before launching his own business in 2025, Stephan spent 25 years at Shell, where he held senior roles including Principal Technical Expert & Advisor for QI Petrophysics, QI Manager, and project lead for integrated basin evaluations worldwide. His work has supported opportunity evaluation and risk reduction across the full E&P lifecycle, with a strong emphasis on data integration and interdisciplinary field development planning for major reservoirs.

His career began in the service sector in 1996, specializing in borehole acoustics, VSP processing, and pore pressure prediction before moving into QI and rock physics. Stephan holds a PhD from Karlsruhe University in Germany and is an active member of SEG, EAGE, SPE, DPG, and SPWLA.

Whether you are working in quantitative interpretation, seismic inversion, rock physics modeling, reservoir characterization, exploration, or field development, this session will provide practical insight into how facies-based rock physics can help turn seismic data into more reliable subsurface decisions.

Reserve your lunch, join the technical conversation, or stop by the Ikon Science booth to meet the team.

At IMAGE 2026, let's talk about how better rock physics leads to better geological confidence — and better decisions below the surface.