Development of a 3D geological mapping and database interface to support interconnected groundwater and surface water management: progress
February 2011
The project is complete.
This project demonstrates an approach for coordinating hydrogeological data to improve the management of water in a catchment. A series of Mathematica applications have been developed that help with the improved visualisation and interpretation of catchment water data, in particular advancing the way we spatially analyse standing water level information and driller logs. (Mathematica is a software program used for plotting and analysis of hydrograph data and for constructing the 3D conceptual model.)
The new visual methods help with conceptualising the catchment hydrogeology, and guide the construction of catchment water balance models.
A major outcome of this project has been the development of a new approach for constructing 3D geological models of catchments. New scripts have been written in the Mathematica scripting language that enable the construction of 3D geological structural and property models. The structural model provides the boundary surfaces for the groundwater flow model (the ground surface and the palaeovalley surface) and the property model provides the permeability distribution for the groundwater flow model. The 3D geological models can be used to determine the volume between any surfaces, or to present the most likely lithology to be encountered when drilling a new bore.
The Mathematica notebooks will be marketed under the name Crystallize. The Crystallize notebooks take advantage of the extensive library of functions in Mathematica and add new algorithms needed for hydrogeological investigation. Mathematica notebooks are interactive documents. Each notebook consists of text, links to databases, algorithms, plots, 2D and 3D graphics. Pages in the notebook look like normal text. The scripts that form part of the document can be run from within the document, and the plots and 3D graphics that are generated in the document can be manipulated and edited within the notebook. All 3D objects within the documents can be rotated, allowing the 3D geological models to be viewed from any position in space.
The project developed a showcase 3D geological and hydrogeological mapping and database tool to support management decisions concerning water allocation in areas where significant surface water and groundwater resources are located. A time lapse video visually analysing the hydrological data for Maules Creek Catchment and adjacent reaches of the Namoi River can be found at: http://www.connectedwaters.unsw.edu.au/resources/video/video_maules.html
Return to the project.