Handbook of Mathematical Geosciences

This Open Access handbook published at the IAMG's 50th anniversary, presents a compilation of invited path-breaking research contributions by award-winning geoscientists who have been instrumental in shaping the IAMG. It contains 45 chapters that are categorized broadly into five parts (i) theory, (ii) general applications, (iii) exploration and resource estimation, (iv) reviews, and (v) reminiscences covering related topics like mathematical geosciences, mathematical morphology, geostatistics, fractals and multifractals, spatial statistics, multipoint geostatistics, compositional data analysis, informatics, geocomputation, numerical methods, and chaos theory in the geosciences

Determination of an Ultimate Pit Limit Utilising Fractal Modelling to Optimise NPV

The speed and complexity of globalisation and reduction of natural resources on the one hand, and interests of large multinational corporations on the other, necessitates proper management of mineral resources and consumption. The need for scientific research and application of new methodologies and approaches to maximise Net Present Value (NPV) within mining operations is essential. In some cases, drill core logging in the field may result in an inadequate level of information and subsequent poor diagnosis of geological phenomenon which may undermine the delineation or separation of mineralised zones. This is because the interpretation of individual loggers is subjective. However, modelling based on logging data is absolutely essential to determine the architecture of an orebody including ore distribution and geomechanical features. For instance, ore grades, density and RQD values are not included in conventional geological models whilst variations in a mineral deposit are an obvious and salient feature. Given the problems mentioned above, a series of new mathematical methods have been developed, based on fractal modelling, which provide a more objective approach. These have been established and tested in a case study of the Kahang Cu-Mo porphyry deposit, central Iran. Recognition of different types of mineralised zone in an ore deposit is important for mine planning. As a result, it is felt that the most important outcome of this thesis is the development of an innovative approach to the delineation of major mineralised (supergene and hypogene) zones from ‘barren’ host rock. This is based on subsurface data and the utilisation of the Concentration-Volume (C-V) fractal model, proposed by Afzal et al. (2011), to optimise a Cu-Mo block model for better determination of an ultimate pit limit. Drawing on this, new approaches, referred to Density–Volume (D–V) and RQD-Volume (RQD-V) fractal modelling, have been developed and used to delineate rock characteristics in terms of density and RQD within the Kahang deposit (Yasrebi et al., 2013b; Yasrebi et al., 2014). From the results of this modelling, the density and RQD populations of rock types from the studied deposit showed a relationship between density and rock quality based on RQD values, which can be used to predict final pit slope. Finally, the study introduces a Present Value-Volume (PV-V) fractal model in order to identify an accurate excavation orientation with respect to economic principals and ore grades of all determined voxels within the obtained ultimate pit limit in order to achieve an earlier pay-back period.Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, the global network IOM3Cornish Institute of EngineersWhittle Consulting (Business Optimisation for the Mining Industry

Subsurface Characterization by Means of Geovisual Analytics

This Thesis is concerned with one of the major problems in subsurface characterizations emerging from ever-increasing loads of data in the last decades: What kind of technologies suit well for extracting novel, valid and useful knowledge from persistent data repositories for the characterization of subsurface regions and how can such technologies be implemented in an integrated, community-open software platform? In order to address those questions, an interactive, open-source software platform for geoscientific knowledge discovery has been developed, which enables domain experts to generate, optimize and validate prognostic models of the subsurface domain. Such a free tool has been missing in the geoscientific community so far. The extensible software platform GeoReVi (Geological Reservoir Virtualization) implements selected aspects of geovisual analytics with special attention being paid to an implementation of the knowledge discovery in databases process. With GeoReVi the human expert can model and visualize static and dynamic systems in the subsurface in a feedback cycle. The created models can be analyzed and parameterized by means of modern approaches from geostatistics and data mining. Hence, knowledge that is useful to both the assessment of subsurface potentials and to support decision-making during the utilization process of the subsurface regions can be extracted and exchanged in a formalized manner. The modular software application is composed of both integrated and centralized databases, a graphical user interface and a business logic. In order to fulfill the needs of low computing time in accordance with high computational complexity of spatial problems, the software system makes intense use of parallelism and asynchronous programming. The competitiveness of industry branches, which are aimed at utilizing the subsurface in unknown regions, such as the geothermal energy production or carbon capture and storage, are especially dependent on the quality of spatial forecasts for relevant rock and fluid properties. Thus, the focus of this work has been laid upon the implementation of algorithms, which enhance the predictability of properties in space under consideration of uncertainty. The software system was therefore evaluated in ample real-world scenarios by solving problems from scientific, educational and industrial projects. The implemented software system shows an excellent suitability to generically address spatial problems such as interpolation or stochastic simulation under consideration of numerical uncertainty. In this context, GeoReVi served as a tool for discovering new knowledge with special regard to investigating the heterogeneity of rock media on multiple scales of investigation. Among others, it could be demonstrated that the three-dimensional scalar fields of different petrophysical and geochemical properties in sandstone media may diverge significantly at small-scales. In fact, if the small-scale variability is not considered in field-scale projects, in which the sampling density is usually low, statistical correlations and thus empirical relationships might be feigned. Furthermore, it could be demonstrated that the simple kriging variance, which is used to simulate the natural variability in sequential simulations, systematically underestimates the intrinsic variability of the investigated sandstone media. If the small-scale variability can be determined by high-resolution sampling, it can be used to enhance conditional simulations at the scale of depositional environments

Book of Abstracts

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Earth Resources, A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes

This bibliography lists 460 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between July 1 and September 30, 1984. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economical analysis

Water Resources Management and Modeling

Hydrology is the science that deals with the processes governing the depletion and replenishment of water resources of the earth's land areas. The purpose of this book is to put together recent developments on hydrology and water resources engineering. First section covers surface water modeling and second section deals with groundwater modeling. The aim of this book is to focus attention on the management of surface water and groundwater resources. Meeting the challenges and the impact of climate change on water resources is also discussed in the book. Most chapters give insights into the interpretation of field information, development of models, the use of computational models based on analytical and numerical techniques, assessment of model performance and the use of these models for predictive purposes. It is written for the practicing professionals and students, mathematical modelers, hydrogeologists and water resources specialists

The 1990 Johnson Space Center bibliography of scientific and technical papers

Abstracts are presented of scientific and technical papers written and/or presented by L. B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) authors, including civil servants, contractors, and grantees, during the calendar year of 1990. Citations include conference and symposium presentations, papers published in proceedings or other collective works, seminars, and workshop results, NASA formal report series (including contractually required final reports), and articles published in professional journals

Modern Climatology - Full Text

Climatology, the study of climate, is no longer regarded as a single discipline that treats climate as something that fluctuates only within the unchanging boundaries described by historical statistics. The field has recognized that climate is something that changes continually under the influence of physical and biological forces and so, cannot be understood in isolation but rather, is one that includes diverse scientific disciplines that play their role in understanding a highly complex coupled “whole system” that is the Earth’s climate. The modern era of climatology is echoed in this book. On the one hand it offers a broad synoptic perspective but also considers the regional standpoint as it is this that affects what people need from climatology, albeit water resource managers or engineers etc. Aspects on the topic of climate change – what is often considered a contradiction in terms – is also addressed. It is all too evident these days that what recent work in climatology has revealed carries profound implications for economic and social policy; it is with these in mind that the final chapters consider acumens as to the application of what has been learned to date. This book is divided into four sections that cover sub-disciplines in climatology. The first section contains four chapters that pertain to synoptic climatology, i.e., the study of weather disturbances including hurricanes, monsoon depressions, synoptic waves, and severe thunderstorms; these weather systems directly impact humanity. The second section on regional climatology has four chapters that describe the climate features within physiographically defined areas. The third section is on climate change which involves both past (paleoclimate) and future climate: The first two chapters cover certain facets of paleoclimate while the third is centered towards the signals (observed or otherwise) of climate change. The fourth and final section broaches the sub-discipline that is often referred to as applied climatology; this represents the important goal of all studies in climatology–one that affects modes of living. Here, three chapters are devoted towards the application of climatological research that might have useful application for operational purposes in industrial, manufacturing, agricultural, technological and environmental affairs. Please click here to explore the components of this work.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/modern_climatology/1014/thumbnail.jp