Science in China Ser. D Earth Sciences 2004 Vol.47 No.8 739—748 739
Copyright by Science in China Press 2004
On three-dimensional geological modeling and
visualization
WU Qiang
1
& XU Hua
2
1. Department of Resource Exploitation Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing 100083, China;
2. Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China
Correspondence should be addressed to Wu Qiang (email: wuq@cumtb.edu.cn)
Received September 8, 2003
Abstract The technology of 3D geological modeling will bring about great changes in the
methods of geological data acquiring, storing, processing and displaying. However, no perfect or
convenient software systems have been developed up to now since the geologic data which re-
flect geological entities bear the feature of
diversity, uncertainty and complexity. Some super
-
voxel models, mathematical models of fault and geometrical models of fold have been contrived
so as to show the space geometric configuration of the complicated geologic structures. The
application-oriented system architecture for 3D geological modeling is established; and a novel
design concept based on spatial data processing is also proposed with the technology of solid
modeling as its core and the application of models as its objective. Theories and methods for 3D
geological modeling will hopefully be enriched and developed. In the light of these theories and
methods, a feature-based navigation visualization technique is also put forward in the paper. By
integrating geo-database, graphics libraries and KBS with 3D dynamic simulation systems, ge-
ologists will be able to capture the partial characteristics and whole structure embodied in the
geological data in a direct-viewing, figurative and accurate manner.
Keywords: 3D geological modeling, geometrical model, system architecture, visualization
DOI: 10.1360/02yd0475
3D geological modeling and visualization are the
key technique issues to implement the plan of “Digital
Earth”. At present, the major difficulties in 3D geo-
logical modeling are as follows
[1
—
5]
:
(1) 3D spatial data are difficult to acquire. What
3D geological modeling of complex objects and visu-
alization depend on is the original data. However, it is
very difficult to establish 3D complex geological
models when the sampled data are sparse and insuffi-
cient, the seismic profile data are lack of capacity and
resolution, and the data from remote sensing are fuzzy
and ambiguous. So it is impossible to describe accu-
rately the changing characteristics of the spatial attrib-
ute of geological entities.
(2) The spatial relationship among geological en-
tities is exceptionally complex. For faults have caused
the discontinuous distribution of the geologic strata,
the lithology inside rock pieces varies from one piece
to another, and the dynamic essence of time and geol-
ogy process also plays a part. Since geological entities
contain geological phenomena with multivalued sur-
faces, such as reverse faults and overturned folds, data
structures, topological relationship and related algo-
rithms are made more complicated. In addition, peren-