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Cultana

 

Map of Cultana project area

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The Cultana 3D Geological Model covers an area which includes the Roopena and western half of the Cultana 1:100,000 map sheet areas.

The geology of the model area comprises a succession of deformed Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary and intrusive rocks which are overlain by the Corunna Conglomerate and Mesoproterozoic Gawler Range Volcanics and intruded by the Hiltaba Suite granites. 

In the east of the model area the Gawler Craton basement is overlain by a sequence of Neoproterozoic sediments and volcanics of the Stuart Shelf. These sediments have been eroded from the uplifted block of the Cultana Inlier, to expose the basement below.

About the model
Using the model

Download the Cultana 3D Geology Model (PDF: 4.4Mb) (opens in new window)

 About the model

Table showing how the 100K and 2M geology was aggregated into the Cultana geomodeller stratigraphic legend

Table showing the 100K and 2M geology used to create an aggregated Geomodeller stratigraphic legend.
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Intrepid Geophysics' 3D GeoModeller was used to create the Cultana 3D model as it supports the importation of a variety of existing data sets, directly into the model including:

  • SRTM - NASA Shuttle Radar DEM (~70m) used as the surface topography for the model.  The DEM was re-sampled to 900m to reduce the computation time.
  • Surface and Solid Geology   1:100,000, 1:2,000,000 and Solid Geology maps were used to create a simplified Stratigraphic Legend (opens in new window). Geomodeller uses this to determine the stratigraphic succession and the relationships between geological bodies.
  • Drillhole & Field Observations – Drillhole data and field observations were used to create a series of N-S and E-W cross-sections. The sections were scanned and the images imported into Geomodeller where they were digitised
  • Faults – Faults were then created once the relationships between the Geology-Fault and Fault-Fault (opens in new window) were established. 

 

Relationship between geological units and faults in the Cultana 3D geological model project area

Table showing the relationship between the geological units and the faults within the project area.
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Future model enhancements

It is planned to incorporate existing geophysical data (TMI & Gravity) to create Inversions and Forward Models. Geomodeller’s Inversion module will determine the most probable model. New data will be fed back into Geomodeller to compute a new model. This will be an iterative process until a satisfactory interpretation is achieved.

 

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Using the model

In order to increase its accessibility, the Cultana model has been converted to .pdf format, allowing for maximum portability and eliminating the need for the end user to purchase any specialised software.
 
The user can fully interact with the model using Adobe Acrobat’s 3D Tool bar:

  1. Rotate
  2. Spin
  3. Pan
  4. Zoom
  5. Default view
  6. Select view
  7. Toggle model tree
  8. Pause animation
  9. Use orthographic projection
  10. Model render mode
  11. Enable extra lighting
  12. Background colour (disabled if a gradient background is being used)

Adobe Acrobat 3D toolbar

The user can also:

  • Selectively activate and/or deactivate any geological unit or fault
  • Identify units with a mouse-click
  • Apply 2, 4 or 6 times vertical exaggeration

Software Information
The models can be viewed with Acrobat Reader 7, but the full range of functions is only available with the latest Acrobat Reader 8 as it incorporates 3D visualisation capabilities. Acrobat Reader 8 can be downloaded free from the Adobe website.

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Note: these models are presented as a 'proof of concept' only and their accuracy (spatial or otherwise) should not be relied upon for exploration or other decision making processes.