A Software Environment For Combined Analysis And 3-D Modeling of Multiparameter Geophysical Data

Recognition of the importance of both image analysis and 3-D modeling of geophysical data has led to the development of interpretation software that combines these functions using an advanced 3-D graphics workstation. The present implementation is confined to the interpretation of gravity and magnetic fields in conjunction with geological information, digitised seismic sections and borehole location data, but the design is generalised so that other datasets may be included in the future. Observed fields are displayed as 3-D faceted surfaces and analysed using lighting, shading and coloring operations. A combined structural analysis can then be used as a starting point for quantitative 3-D forward modeling. Models are held as triangular-faceted polyhedra, constructed interactively from a series of sections.