Building a {3D} Wheeler Diagram for Stratigraphic Modeling

@inproceedings{Kedzierski05GM,
 abstract = { Sedimentary unit modeling which respects fault and layering is an important aspect of modern
3D numerical stratigraphic approaches. In particularly a major challenge is the representation of
the clinoform geometry (S–shape form) because it pervades stratigraphic sequences across a variety
of scales. This paper suggests to simplify the traditional approaches to describe clinoform geometry
and its boundaries, by using the GeoChron parameterization in order to model separately the
geometry in the geological space (x, y, z) and the properties in the geochronological space (u, v, t).
The suggested solution simplifies the description of the stratigraphic architectures and of the lithofacies
distributions. This approach extends the method used in 2D by the sequence stratigraphists
to 3D. It is shown that it is equivalent to build a Wheeler diagram or to model the stratigraphy in
the geochronological space. A Wheeler diagram differs from the GeoChron model because it may
contain some empty cells corresponding to non-deposition areas. The advantage of the presented
method is to provide a straightforward way to build the GeoChron model from the Wheeler diagram
taking into account the non-deposition areas. The extraction of isochronous surfaces in this new
(u, v, t) space is easy because it corresponds to horizontal planes. Formulas to project this planar
isochronous surface onto the geological space are given. The method has been tested on a synthetic
data set. },
 author = { Kedzierski, Pierre AND Royer, Jean-Jacques },
 booktitle = { Proc. 25th Gocad Meeting, Nancy },
 title = { Building a {3D} Wheeler Diagram for Stratigraphic Modeling },
 year = { 2005 }
}