Dr. Ryan Shackleton
Adjunct Professor
Department of Geology & Geography
West Virginia University
  • Home
  • Research
  • Publications
  • Contact
  • News

Another fun structural geology 3D model

5/5/2015

0 Comments

 

This is a quick model I made of some 3rd or 4th order folds in the Oriskany Sandstone in Smoke Hole Canyon, WV.  This one is right along the road just around the corner from Eagle Rock, which is an overturned limb of the same unit.  The Smoke Holes are really impressive!

Geology - Anticline in the Oriskany by Ryan Shackleton on Sketchfab

Here's where this outcrop is located (approximately)

0 Comments

A Chrome extension that's perfect for geologists!

11/18/2014

0 Comments

 
If you like aerial imagery at all, download this extension for your Chrome web browser: Earth View from Google Maps.


It drops you into a new and beautiful aerial image every time you open a new tab, and even lets you link to the Google Map view so you can pan around and see what's nearby.  Amazing.  Definitely the best thing that's ever happened to Chrome.
Picture
I just got this image of complex folding in Australia and it made my day.
Picture
0 Comments

My favorite West Virginia fault propagation fold

10/28/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
An orthorectified image of a fault propagation fold in the Tuscarora Sandstone near Baker, WV
PictureA classic Suppe Fault Propagation Fold (Suppe and Medwedeff, 1990)
I came across this little gem of a fault propagation fold last year while driving back from Washington DC along Corridor H (Highway 48) in eastern West Virginia.


If you don't know or remember what a fault propagation fold is, it's a thrust-related fold where part of the displacement on the fault goes into faulting new rock ahead of the fault tip, and part of the displacement goes into folding, or bending the layers above the thrust.

In this particular outcrop, the thrust ramp has propagated along cross beds in the Tuscarora Sandstone.  This complicates the classic fault propagation fold geometry that we might see with originally horizontal stratigraphy (as shown in the image above), but it's still a fault propagation fold.  What's nice here is that it's possible to match beds that were cut by the thrust and see that displacement decreases toward the fault tip: a diagnostic feature of fault propagation folds.  The fault tip is also visible in outcrop.

In the 3D image below, click through the annotations to see how the thrust has propagated up-section.  There are several other fault related folds in the view.  Can you find them?  Try clicking the full screen button on the bottom right for the full view.
(This will work best in Chrome or Firefox, but possibly not as well in Internet Explorer).  
Field digitization
Faulted bed contacts (digitized in the field with binoculars) showing decrease in slip up-section. The fault is in pink, and the cross-beds that form the ramp in the footwall are in black.

Geology - Fault Propagation Fold by Ryan Shackleton on Sketchfab


Read More
1 Comment

Article on Shale Gas funding from the National Research Center for Coal and Energy (NRCCE)

5/30/2014

0 Comments

 
This is a press release about some funding I received from NRCCE to study fractures in shale outcrops to develop a "fracability index" and relate fractures in outcrop to those in the subsurface.
0 Comments

Virtual rock outcrop #1

3/17/2014

0 Comments

 
Here's my first attempt at creating a 3D outcrop.  Changing spatial perspective is very important in structural geology, and models like this can open up new ways of visualizing and analyzing geology.  In this case, I'd like to document fracture sizes and scaling in 3D (more on that below)

Geologic Background

Helderberg Outcrop View
The Devonian Helderberg Group is exposed along large roadcut on Highway 48.  These predominantly limestones were deposited in an epeiric sea that existed between the Taconic highlands to the southeast and the Cincinatti and Algonquin arches to the west (Smosna, 1988).  The unit has been evaluated as a possible seal for CO2 sequestration purposes associated with the Burger electric power plant (Lewis, et al. 2009).

My interests in digitizing the outcrop are mainly in testing the photogrammetry technique for the purposes of documenting fracture network geometries in 3D.  This outcrop is actually fascinating to view from different angles, because several different fracture sets come into view depending on how we rotate the model.
  • Rotate the view looking from left to right and you can see the white faces of calcite filled fractures
  • Once your eye is trained on the calcite filled fractures, rotate the model the other way and the spacing between those fractures becomes much more obvious.
  • As you look closer, you might also notice at least 1 other fracture set whose faces are stained reddish brown.

The 3D Outcrop
(The surface may appear black for a second while the image loads. Best viewed with Chrome, FireFox, or Opera.  I'm not sure how well Internet Explorer works.)
Try full screen mode to really be able to zoom around.

Helderberg Limestone near Moorefield, WV from Ryan Shackleton on Sketchfab.

I can't wait to dive into this a bit further, especially using these 3D models to help with digitizing fracture data while on the outcrop.  There's also great potential for generating orthorectified images of the cliffs in various orientations that are conducive to fracture measurement.


I'll post another outcrop when I get a sec.

Location on Google Earth


References

Lewis, J.E., McDowell, R.R., Avary, K.L., Carter, K.M., 2009. Characterization of the Helderberg Group as a geologic seal for CO2 sequestration. Environmental Geosciences 16, 201–210.
 

R. Smosna, Paleogeographic reconstruction of the Lower Devonian Helderberg Group in the Appalachian basin in N. J. McMillan, A. F. Embry  and D. J. Glass (eds.), Devonian of the world: Canadian Soc. Petrol. Geol., v. 1, p. 265-275, 1988.
0 Comments

First attempt at Structure from Motion using AgiSoft Photoscan

3/13/2014

0 Comments

 
Having left this "News" section empty for a while, I thought I'd post something fun.  I've purchased AgiSoft Photoscan to reconstruct 3D surfaces from photogrammetry.  Here's my first attempt at reconstructing the top of a landslide that's active at Dorsey's Knob Park in Morgantown.

The 3D image is a bit incomplete, but what you're looking at is a series of fault scarps where each break in the asphalt marks a series of "fault cutoffs".  Notice that you can see a yellow parking line in the middle block that was connected to the bock above.  Also notice the series of poles (originally vertical and in a row) that have been transported and locally rotated due to the internal deformation of the slide.  I hope to return and get the whole scarp when I've perfected the technique.
Picture
Picture

Landslide Scarp at Dorsey's Knob Park from RyanShackleton on Sketchfab.


I plan to use this technique to reconstruct fracture geometries in 3D, similar to the LiDAR based technique including this excellent study: Wilson, C.E., Aydin, A., Karimi-Fard, M., Durlofsky, L.J., Sagy, A., Brodsky, E.E., Kreylos, O., Kellogg, L.H., 2011. From outcrop to flow simulation: Constructing discrete fracture models from a LIDAR survey. AAPG Bulletin 95, 1883–1905. doi:10.1306/03241108148
0 Comments

    About Ryan Shackleton

    I'm a geologist and software developer based in Seattle Washington.  In my spare time I enjoy whitewater kayaking, fly fishing, and spending time with my partner Marcella.

    Archives

    May 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Search

Pages

Home | Research 
Publications | Contact | News
Links

Links

WVU Logo
G&G Logo

Contact