Abstract

The Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) at the University of Texas in Austin is the Geological Survey for the state, and in this role is the curator for millions of data records collected and stored over the last 100+ years that reference surface and subsurface geology. These records are stored in warehouses, laboratories, libraries, map drawers, file cabinets and boxes with data types including rock core, cuttings, geophysical logs, driller’s reports, scout tickets, geochemical analyses, microscopic thin sections, professional geologic reports, academic dissertations and theses, and unpublished maps and research. The drill core holdings are the most critical and will be organized into a publicly accessible database first . At the same time, the capabilities of software (like Landmark’s DecisionSpace® and OpenWorks®) and hardware tools have matured to the extent that creating dynamic, 3-dimensional (3-D) geologic interpretations over regional and larger scales is feasible. BEG is proposing to create a publicly accessible web portal user interface (UI) where selected geo-referenced subsurface data can be viewed in relation to a simplified 3-D model of the state of Texas. The overall project includes three major initiatives: 1) organizing a geo-referenced database for the state of Texas, starting with the drill core collection; 2) creating a simplified 3-D model of the subsurface geology across the state of Texas; and 3) developing a publicly accessible website that combines 1) and 2) into an intuitive, user-friendly graphical UX. A successful prototype subsurface model of Ward County, Texas was developed using Landmark’s Decision-SpaceDesktop® and FrameWorks-to-Fill® which included 14 geologic surfaces and over 1000 well locations. These surfaces and other data have been exported and incorporated into a true 3-D user experience using proprietary software developed at BEG. A 3-D immersive demonstration of this software will be presented during the symposium including a fly-thru of basin- and county-scale geologic data.