Parametric Modeling Method for 3D Symbols of Fault Structures

Abstract

As the research and application of three‐dimensional (3D) Geographic Information Science (GIS) continue to advance, the abstract representation and symbolic modeling of geological entities in three dimensions have become one of the research focuses in the current GIS field. To address the need for the symbolic representation of complex and diverse fault structures, this paper proposes a parametric modeling method for 3D fault symbols. This method includes (1) constructing a 3D stratum model and a fault plane model based on stratum and fault plane parameters, (2) performing a 3D cutting operation based on the fault plane model to generate the fault block model, and (3) translating the strata in two faultblocks according to the parameters of fault motion to generate a fault symbol model. The experimental results show that the proposed method requires only a small number of parameters to efficiently and intuitively construct diverse 3D fault symbol models. This method breaks through the excessive dependence on geological survey data in the process of 3D geological modeling. It is suitable for 3D geological symbol modeling of folds, joints, intrusions, and other geological structures, as well as 3D modeling of typical geological structures with relatively simple spatial morphology. This paper's parametric modeling method has essential research significance and application value in various applications such as digital earth, digital city, and virtual geoscience exploration.