This book is a result of a career spent developing and applying computer techniques for the geosciences. The need for a geoscience modeling reference became apparent during participation in several workshops and conferences on the subject in the last three years. For organizing these, and for the lively discussions that ensued and inevitably contributed to the contents, I thank Keith Turner, Brian Kelk, George Pflug and Johnathan Raper. The total number of colleagues who contributed in various ways over the preceding years to the concepts and techniques presented is beyond count. The book is dedicated to all of them. Compilation of the book would have been impossible without assistance from a number of colleagues who contributed directly. In particular, Ed Rychkun, Joe Ringwald, Dave Elliott, Tom Fisher and Richard Saccany reviewed parts of the text and contributed valuable comment. Mohan Srivastava reviewed and contributed to some of the geostatistical presentations. Mark Stoakes, Peter Dettlaff and Simon Wigzell assisted with computer processing of the many application examples. Anar Khanji and Randal Crombe assisted in preparation of the text and computer images. Klaus Lamers assisted with printing. The US Geological Survey, the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Dave Elliott and others provided data for the application examples. My sincere thanks to all of them.

Geologists must be able to “read” a geological map. That means interpreting the vertical dimension through the 2D view represented on the map and at different scales. The main objective of this book is to help students during this difficult learning process. Based on an abundant iconography (field photos, maps, cross-sections) and on basics in mathematics and mechanics, the book dissects the geometry of emblematic geological structures and objects in order to build 3 D models, printable in 3D. The book is dedicated to structural geology with a particular emphasis on kinematics of faulting and folding and on salt tectonics (chapters III, IV and V). The origin of continental great unconformities and oceanic break-up unconformities is also discussed (chapter II). The audience of the book is broad and includes (under)graduate students in Earth Sciences, professors of Natural Sciences, and professional or amateur geologists.

The 3D geological model is still regarded as one of the newest and most innovative tools for reservoir management purposes. The computer modelling of structures, rock properties and fluid flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs has evolved from a specialist activity to part of the standard desktop toolkit. The application of these techniques has allowed all disciplines of the subsurface team to collaborate in a common workspace. In today's asset teams, the role of the geological model in hydrocarbon development planning is key and will be for some time ahead. The challenges that face the geologists and engineers will be to provide more seamless interaction between static and dynamic models. This interaction requires the development of conventional and unconventional modelling algorithms and methodologies in order to provide more risk-assessed scenarios, thus enabling geologists and engineers to better understand and capture inherent uncertainties at each aspect of the geological model's life.

Over the last two decades, earth modeling has become a major investigative tool for evaluating the potential of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Earth modelling must now face new challenges since petroleum exploration no longer consists in only investigating newly identified resources, but also in re-evaluating the potential of previously investigated reservoirs in the light of new prospecting data and of revised interpretations. Earth models incorporate a variety of different interpretations made on various types of data at successive steps of the modeling process. However, current modeling procedures provide no way to link a range of data and interpretations with a final earth model. For this reason, sharing and exchanging information about the model building process is at present a major difficulty. Recently, the term “Shared Earth Modeling” has been used for expressing the idea that earth models should be built in such a way that experts and end users can have access, at any time, to all the information incorporated into the model. This information does not only concern the data, but also the knowledge that geoscientists produce by interpreting these data. Accordingly, practical solutions must be studied for operating a knowledge-driven approach of Shared Earth Modeling. This is the goal of this book. This study of earth subsurface modeling is intended for several categories of readers. It concerns in the first place geologists, engineers and managers involved in the study and evaluation of subsurface reservoirs and hydrocarbon exploration. Relying on recent progress in various fields of computer sciences, the authors present innovative solutions for solving the critical issue of knowledge exchange at key steps of the modeling process. This book will also be of interest to researchers in computer science and, more generally, to engineers, researchers and students who wish to apply advanced knowledge-based techniques to complex engineering problems. Contents : Part I. Earth Models. 1. Earth models as subsurface representations. 2. Earth models for underground resource exploration and estimation. 3. Earth models used in petroleum industry: current practice and future challenges. Part II. Knowledge oriented solutions. 4. Knowledge based approach of a data intensive problem: seismic interpretation. 5. Individual surface representations and optimization. 6. Geological surface assemblage. 7. 3D Meshes for structural, stratigraphy and reservoir frameworks. 8. The data extension issue: geological constraints applied in geostatistical processes. Part III. Knowledge formalization. 9. Ontologies and their use for geological knowledge formalization. 10. Ontologies for Interpreting geochronological relationships. 11. Building ontologies for analyzing data expressed in natural language. 12. Ontology-based rock description and interpretation. Part IV. Knowledge management & applications. 13. Ontology integration and management within data intensive engineering systems. 14. Earth modeling using web services. 15. Full scale example of a knowledge-based method for building and managing an earth model. Part V. Conclusion. Appendix. Glossary.

The problems of three-dimensional computer models of geological oil and gas fields are discussed. Methodological and technological approaches to model creation in the different stages of modelling are described taking into account the exploration maturity, amount and quality of the initial geological and geophysical data. Different aspects of building the models are explained with a large number of illustrative material. The results of building the models for numerous hydrocarbon fields in the different software systems are presented. The book will be interesting to professionals of the companies involved in building geological models of oil and oil and gas fields and also for the students and high school graduates with a specialization in petroleum and geology. Bron: Flaptekst, uitgeversinformatie.

3D DIGITAL GEOLOGICAL MODELS Discover the practical aspects of modeling techniques and their applicability on both terrestrial and extraterrestrial structures A wide overlap exists in the methodologies used by geoscientists working on the Earth and those focused on other planetary bodies in the Solar System. Over the course of a series of sessions at the General Assemblies of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, the intersection found in 3D characterization and modeling of geological and geomorphological structures for all terrestrial bodies in our solar system revealed that there are similar datasets and common techniques for the study of all planets—Earth and beyond—from a geological point-of-view. By looking at Digital Outcrop Models (DOMs), Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), or Shape Models (SM), researchers may achieve digital representations of outcrops, topographic surfaces, or entire small bodies of the Solar System, like asteroids or comet nuclei. 3D Digital Geological Models: From Terrestrial Outcrops to Planetary Surfaces has two central objectives, to highlight the similarities that geological disciplines have in common when applied to entities in the Solar System, and to encourage interdisciplinary communication and collaboration between different scientific communities. The book particularly focuses on analytical techniques on DOMs, DEMs and SMs that allow for quantitative characterization of outcrops and geomorphological features. It also highlights innovative 3D interpretation and modeling strategies that allow scientists to gain new and more advanced quantitative results on terrestrial and extraterrestrial structures. 3D Digital Geological Models: From Terrestrial Outcrops to Planetary Surfaces readers will also find: The first volume dedicated to this subject matter that successfully integrates methodology and applications A series of methodological chapters that provide instruction on best practices involving DOMs, DEMs, and SMs A wide range of case studies, including small- to large-scale projects on Earth, Mars, the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, and the Moon Examples of how data collected at surface can help reconstruct 3D subsurface models 3D Digital Geological Models: From Terrestrial Outcrops to Planetary Surfaces is a useful reference for academic researchers in earth science, structural geology, geophysics, petroleum geology, remote sensing, geostatistics, and planetary scientists, and graduate students studying in these fields. It will also be of interest for professionals from industry, particularly those in the mining and hydrocarbon fields.