LEAPFROG GeoStructuralModelling
LEAPFROG GeoStructuralModelling
LEAPFROG GeoStructuralModelling
Leapfrog Geo
For Leapfrog Geo version 4.3
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Introduction to Structural Modelling
Structural modelling is a cornerstone of geological modelling, and getting it right can be the
difference between finding the next ore shoot or missing it completely. In the past, structural
interpretations and measurements have been underutilised in the modelling process as it has
been difficult to fully incorporate them into the process. This is partially because traditional
structural interpretation tools were only available in independent boutique programs. Now
these important tools are embedded within a powerful 3D modelling program and combined
with complete workflows so that you can make the most of all the structural data you have
spent time and money gathering.
In this structural modelling training module, we will look at the powerful structural modelling
tools available in Leapfrog Geo. We will review both the tools, and the workflows available to
make sense of all the structural data gathered in both the exploration and mining environments,
with the goal of producing better geological models. We will work with two projects, Castle Hill
and Volstead, through which you will learn the tools and workflows available.
By the end of these sessions, you will:
l Import all necessary project data
l Use a stereonet in Leapfrog
l Create a form interpolant
l Create a structural surface in a geological model
l Build and use a structural trend
The data files for these session will be provided by the instructor.
Contents
Setting Up the Project and Creating the Topography 3
Importing and Draping the Map 4
Importing Polyline Contacts 5
Importing Drillholes 6
Importing Faults 7
Importing Structural Data 7
Declustering Structural Data 11
Goals
In this session, we will import a topography mesh and a geological map, drillholes with
downhole structural measurements, planar structural measurements and fault surfaces. By
the end of these sessions, you will know how to:
l Display a surface by face dips
l Import Leapfrog colour files
l Decluster structural data
The data files for this session can be found in the Sessions \ Session 1 to 4 - Castle Hill folder.
All surfaces in Leapfrog can be displayed by their face dip, which is the dip-angle of the triangle
faces. This makes steeply dipping areas or flat spots easily visible.
The usefulness of displaying a mesh by its face dip ranges from simply identifying flat spots for
placing a drill rig to helping to understand slope stability before entering a region, to
highlighting deformation and geological features.
5. Click Import.
6. Display the map on the topography by selecting it in the GIS data dropdown list:
All of the selected polylines will be imported and added to the Polylines folder. Currently, this
method of importing data is unique to polylines.
Importing Drillholes
1. Right-click the Drillhole Data folder and select Import Drillholes.
2. Browse for and open the Collar file.
The survey and interval tables will automatically be selected as well. There is a fourth file,
Structures.csv, but that is downhole data that we will import in a later step.
3. Click Import.
4. Proceed through the table import steps, accepting the data columns that are automatically
selected.
5. Once imported, view the Litho table in the scene.
You will notice that the unit colours displayed for the drillholes do not match those of the
geological map. We can import a colour file to define the correct colours.
6. Expand the Litho table to show its columns by clicking on the black triangle to its left.
7. Right-click on the Rocktype column and select Colours > Import:
Importing Faults
For this part of the session, we will import four faults:
l Cheeseman Fault
l Craigieburn Fault
l Flock Hill Fault
l Sugarloaf Fault
Meshes can be batch imported, but unlike polylines, this must be carried out from within
Leapfrog.
1. Right-click on the Meshes folder and select Import Mesh.
2. Select all four meshes using the Ctrl or Shift keys and click Open.
When meshes are imported, a Cleanup Mesh window appears:
3. In many cases, you can accept the defaults. In this case, we will also select to Combine
identical vertices.
These settings are applied to all of the imported faults, but if you wished to change settings for
one of the meshes, simply double-click on it and the Cleanup Mesh window will appear once
again.
By default the structural data is displayed using the Flat colour option, which indicates the
polarity of the data points. The dropdown list in the shape list can be used to change the display
colour from Flat colour to dip, azimuth or any of the table’s other columns.
6. Change the display for the structural data to rocktype:
Just as with the drillhole intervals, a colour file can be imported to overwrite their default
colour.
7. Expand the Field mapping structures table in the project tree to reveal its columns.
8. Right-click on the rocktype column and select Colours > Import.
9. Find and open the .lfc file we imported for the drillholes and click Open.
By default, structural disks show their down dip line. If you would prefer not to see this line, click
on the structural data in the shape list. In the properties panel untick the Show down dip lines
box:
Importing Lineations
Next we will import lineations:
1. Right-click on the Structural Modelling folder and select Import Lineations.
2. Select and open the Lineations file.
3. Import the Filter column as a Category and click Finish.
4. Add the lineations to the scene to view them.
2. Navigate back to the Drillholes folder and select and open the Structures file.
3. In addition to the automatically defined columns, import the Confidence column as
Numeric.
4. Click Finish.
5. Add the downhole structural data to the scene.
Spatial search radius defines the distance over which measurements are grouped into clusters.
This distance is whatever units your project is in; in this case, it is 1m. One representative
measurement is kept per cluster, the structural measurement closest to the mean.
Angular tolerance is used to discard outliers from the calculation of the mean.
If a Priority column is selected, this will change the weighting of each measurement when
calculating the mean, preferentially keeping measurements with a higher level of confidence.
To be used, the confidence/priority column must be imported as Numeric data.
The Select category columns option essentially allows you to decluster separately between
different types of measurements (e.g. bedding, foliation, crenulation, vein, joint, fault, etc.) or
decluster downhole.
The Polarity of the data is important. If a cluster of structures is not consistently oriented,
especially subvertical structures, then the resulting mean calculation will be off. It is possible
to lose an entire cluster because it is considered to be too noisy to pick a representative
measurement.
4. Click OK.
For example, here the declustered set is available as a filter on the Structures table:
Now that we have imported all the necessary data and declustered the downhole structural
data, we will take a look at the structural tools designed to help with your geological modelling.
Contents
Stereonets in Leapfrog 13
Creating a New Stereonet 14
Adding Structural Data to the Stereonet 15
Viewing Options for Data on the Stereonet 15
Structural Domaining - 2D and 3D Selection 16
Stereonet Statistics 22
3D Stereonets 25
Goals
In this session, we will cover Leapfrog’s interactive stereonet tool, which provides the
capability to interpret complex structural data sets through stereographic projection.
l Create and add data to a stereonet in Leapfrog
l Visualisation and analysis options
l Stereonet statistics
l 2D and 3D selection of structural data
For this session we will use the Castle Hill project from the previous session.
Stereonets in Leapfrog
Stereonets are a tool for analysing orientation data and making interpretations. Traditionally,
measurements are plotted on a 2D stereographic projection looking down on a hemisphere.
Dominant orientations are visible, and it is easy to identify folds and outliers.
Having stereonets in Leapfrog Geo means that you can quickly assess all of your structural data
to gain insights, make interpretations and integrate it into your models.
Leapfrog Geo stereonets are optimised to work with large datasets and support any
combination of mapped, downhole or declustered structural data. They can be viewed as
traditional 2D stereonets in a separate tab, or as a 3D stereonet in the scene window. Built-in
visualisation options such as contouring and statistics provide the means to discover hidden
trends, relationships and geological structures. An interactive selection and categorisation
workflow makes it easy to classify distinct populations of measurements. The selected regions
and colourings are simultaneously linked with the 3D scene for a wider perspective.
Stereonets can be saved as part of a Leapfrog Geo project for quick recall. Stereonet plots can
be exported in PDF format for use outside of Leapfrog.
Now that we’ve had a brief introduction to Leapfrog stereonets, let’s take a look at them in
action.
Stereonet Options
There are a number of default settings applied when a new stereonet is created.
3. Click on the Options button in the stereonet toolbar:
The different viewing options are designed to help you quickly analyse all your orientation data.
The controls in the stereonet shape list include:
l The Show/Hide toggle ( ), Show/Hide legend in plot and Remove buttons operate as you
would expect.
l Show Planes ( ) displays the structural data planes.
l Show Poles ( ) displays the structural data poles.
l Show Contours ( ) displays the contours for the structural data.
l Show contour legend ( ) displays the contour legend.
l Colour Display option. In addition to Flat colour, structural data can be displayed on the
stereonet based on any imported category data. This is also where you can create a New
Selection. More on that later.
When viewed separately, each unit has its own contouring and mean pole/plane.
If you select an existing column as the Source Column, you can assign selected points to the
existing categories or create new categories. If you select no Source Column, you need to
define each category manually.
8. Set the Source Column to None.
9. Enter the name “Bedding” and click OK.
A set of tools for selecting data will be added to the stereonet window:
There are two ways to select data in the stereonet, which can be used in combination:
l Use the polygon tool ( ) to draw around points you wish to select. When you close the
polygon, click inside it to select the points.
When the points are selected you can use the radio button options to show the corresponding
Fisher statistics for the selected points, or the Bingham analysis.
11. By default it shows the Fisher Mean statistics; click on the Bingham analysis to show it.
Based on current selection, we can see that the Fisher mean and the Bingham mean pole and
plane are almost identical. We will continue to add additional near vertical measurements to the
selected group and then revisit the two different statistics types.
13. Again, toggle between the Fisher Mean and the Bingham analysis buttons.
You will now notice a significant difference between the two sets of statistics for the selected
data.
Once you are finished with the selections, save the selection.
Stereonet Statistics
Leapfrog has two options for calculating stereonet statistics: Fisher Vector Distribution and
Bingham Statistics. As mentioned previously, the Fisher method does not work for folded
geology or steep structural sets that plot on both sides of the stereonet.
Fisher Statistics
The Fisher statistics are a vector based analysis method. Vectors (poles) are given an equal
magnitude (1) and summed. The resultant vector is the Fisher mean, the average pole from each
set, from which the mean dip and dip azimuth are calculated.
Fisher statistics work well for simple distributions of data; however, we can see that for Set 1,
which is a steeply dipping structural set split on both sides of the stereonet, the Fisher statistics
are not suitable.
Bingham Statistics
The Bingham statistics are a matrix-based analysis method, which is significantly more robust
(and complicated), and suitable for handling more complexly distributed geological data. This
method can handle both folded and steeply dipping data, as we see on the stereonet.
The data distribution (tightness of clustering) is represented by the weighting between the eigen
vectors, which sum to 1.
3D Stereonets
In addition to the 2D stereonets we have just reviewed, stereonets in Leapfrog can also be
displayed in the 3D scene. Visualising stereonets in the 3D scene helps you find trends,
relationships and geological structures.
1. Click View in the stereonet toolbar to display the stereonet in the scene.
If you make a wrong selection, hold the Ctrl key and re-swipe over it to deselect it.
You can change the width of the selection tool by clicking on the line width icon ( ) in the
interval selection toolbar. A line width of 100 allows all the data to be selected in a couple
strokes.
The selected segments will be assigned as the new category. The next steps are to hide the
Mapped Area structural data and then categorise the remaining data points.
10. Click the visibility button ( ) for the Mapped Area points:
11. Click on the Select all visible structures button ( ) to select the remaining points.
12. Assign them to a new category called “Outside Mapped Area”.
13. Click the Save button.
14. Close the Category Selection window.
The structural data can now be viewed in the scene and in the stereonet by where it falls in
relation to the mapped area, as well as by rock type.
Now that the selection has been made, a query can be made on it as well. In this case, we
selected out a particular mapped area, but this tool could also easily be used to select out
erroneous data.
22. Using the Query Filter option, view just the structural data that exists in the mapped area:
In this case, the difference isn’t too significant; the data outside the mapped area is likely
perfectly valid and fine to use. In other situations, though, this would be an effective workflow
for removing problematic or unreliable legacy data, if necessary.
23. Change the Query filter back to None.
Contents
Form Interpolants 31
Creating a New Form Interpolant 31
Modifying a Form Interpolant 33
Uses for a Form Interpolant 34
Goals
In this session, we will cover Leapfrog Geo’s form interpolant tool, which provides an
excellent visualisation of the overall rock fabric of a region. By the end of this session, you will
be able to:
l Create a form interpolant
l Visualise the regional rock fabric orientation
l Understand the different uses for form interpolants
For this session, we will use the Castle Hill project from the previous sessions.
Form Interpolants
Individual bedding or foliation measurements from pit face-mapping, downhole measurements
and surface mapping are samples of the overall rock fabric orientation. The form interpolant
takes these orientations and interpolates the changing orientation through space. The
isosurfaces (form surfaces) are a good way of visually representing this. Visualising the form
interpolant is incredibly useful for understanding the geology and how that may affect
mineralisation, useful knowledge to improve targeting for future mapping/drilling/geophysics
work.
5. Click OK.
When working with large structural data sets (particularly downhole structural data), it is
highly recommended that the data be declustered prior to being used as an input to a form
interpolant.
You will notice that when compared with the geological map (faintly displayed in the image)
that you can see the folds in the evaluated form interpolant. This could lead to interpretations
not yet drawn from the mapping.
Contents
Structural Surfaces 37
Creating a New Geological Model 37
Building the First Surface 38
Building the Remaining Surfaces 40
Activating the Faults 41
Editing the Model 41
Goals
In this session, we will cover building contact surfaces in a geological model using a
structural surface. In addition to standard surface input data, structural surfaces can use
non-contacting structural data to influence and guide the overall geometry.
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
l Build a geological model with faults and structural surfaces
l Edit structural surfaces using points and polylines
For this session, we will use the Castle Hill project from previous sessions.
Structural Surfaces
Leapfrog Geo’s structural surfaces allow you to put all your structural data to use in your
models, not just the data that lies along unit contacts. In the session, we will use these structural
surfaces to build our geological model.
While both surfaces honour the drillhole data well, the structural surface is a much better
reflection of the structural information and the mapping.
We will edit surfaces in the North West 1, Middle and South East fault blocks.
6. Edit the Charter’s Bay Sandstone - Iron Creek Greensand contacts using the same technique.
7. Edit the Broken River - Charter’s Bay Sandstone contacts using the same technique.
Geological models, fault block boundaries, numerical models and form interpolants can all
be evaluated onto structural data to assist in interpretation.
Contents
What is a Structural Trend? 45
Setting up the Project 45
Create the Geological Model 46
Structural Trend Inputs 47
Creating Our Own Trend Mesh 48
Using a Existing Mesh in the Project 49
Creating a Structural Trend 50
Applying a Structural Trend 55
Exercise: Apply a Structural Trend to a Numeric Model 55
Goals
In this session, we are going to investigate structural trends. The session starts with an
introduction and notes and moves on to a practical demonstration and exercises. At the end
of this session, you will:
l Know what a structural trend is and how it relates to a global trend
l Have been exposed to the options for creating structural trends and understand when to
use them
l Be aware of the limitations of structural trends and so know when to stop modifying the
parameters and switch to another method
The data files for this session can be found in the Sessions \ Session 5 - Volstead folder.
3. Click OK.
4. Right-click on the Surface Chronology and select New Intrusion > From Base Lithology.
6. Click OK.
7. Add the surface to the scene:
By default, Leapfrog uses an isotropic interpolant to produce the surface, which does not
define any preferred orientation. While this can help us to visualise broad trends, it also
produces a rather unrealistic-looking, spherical appearance to the surface. In most cases,
applying a trend of some form (global or structural) is necessary. In this case, the single plane
available to define the orientation offered by the global trend is insufficient for defining the
overall curved orientation of this mineralised zone. For this intrusion, we need a structural trend.
Be careful, though, when using a dynamic mesh in the project to define your structural
Both structural data and meshes can be used together to generate a structural trend.
In this session, we are going to make a few different trends from the different inputs. We have
already imported the structural data, so that option is set, but we will look at another couple of
ways of defining the trend: creating our own trend mesh and using a mesh from elsewhere in
the project.
2. Create a new polyline and digitise along the centre of the trend.
You can use either curved polylines or points.
3. Move the slicer to a new elevation and digitise another polyline or set of points.
4. Repeat 1 or 2 more times on different levels.
5. Save the polyline.
6. Remove the slicer from the scene to review your polylines/points.
7. Right-click the Meshes folder and select New Mesh > From Polyline.
9. Click OK.
10. In the next window, select Existing Polyline and select the Trend polyline:
The trend mesh is a good visualisation of the trend. If it is not, make any adjustments to the
polylines to tweak the orientation of the trend mesh.
You will notice its orientation is quite similar to the mesh we hand digitised.
The input mesh can be used to create one of three types of trends that behave slightly
differently. Each trend type is covered in more detail in the examples below. What they do have
in common, though, is the Strength and Range parameters. The strength is similar to the
ellipsoid ratio and dictates how much elongation or stretch you have in a certain direction. The
range, on the other hand, is the distance from the mesh in which the trend has effect. To make it
easier to visualise the trend, discs are displayed along the mesh. The size and shape of the discs
represents the strength and orientation of the trend, and can range from circular to cigar
shapes, depending on the type of trend used.
A Strongest along inputs trend allows you to create multiple trends that decay in strength back
to the estimated global trend of the data based on a set range. This is particularly useful where
there is strong geological continuity along a certain trend, with intervals away from this
behaving either more isotropically or in a planar manner. In the image below, we can see the
discs are largest along the trend mesh in the center, and reduce in size (strength) as they move
away from the mesh, over a defined range:
A Blending trend allows you to build a trend from multiple meshes, specifying a range and
strength for each mesh. If two or more of the trends intersect each other, Leapfrog Geo will
work out a combined trend. The blended trend is perfect for situations where two or more
trends merge and you want to have a smooth transition from one to the other or show the
Compatibility
There are 2 Compatibility versions (1 and 2). Version 2 has been available since Geo 2.2 and
should be used for any new projects. Version 1 remains an option to be compatible with
surfaces created in older versions.
Trend Inputs
We have three different Trend Inputs in this project: the structural data, our hand digitised
mesh and the form interpolant meshes. We’ll start with adding just the mesh we created.
2. In the Structural Trend window, set the Trend Type to be Strongest along inputs.
3. Click Add and select the mesh you created from the polyline.
There are two parameters to define: Strength and Range:
The Strength is the strength of the structural trend and determines the strongest anisotropy of
the trend as a ratio of the length of the major axis to the length of the minor axis. So the default
value of 5 gives an oblate spheroid that is 5 times wider than it is thick. This corresponds to the
anisotropy value of 5:5:1 for a global anisotropy.
The orientation of the ellipsoid is derived from the normal on the closest point on the mesh. In
that way, the ellipsoids follow the mesh directionally.
However, note that in the visual representation, there are some ellipsoids that are larger and
some that are smaller. The meaning of the size of the ellipsoids is related to the strength of the
trend at that point; a smaller ellipsoid implies that it has a smaller strength. The reason we chose
to display the trends like this is to make the extent of the trend easier to see.
The parameter governing the change in strength as you move away from the mesh is the Range
parameter. This parameter governs how localised a structural trend is around the meshes. As
you move away from the mesh, the strength of the anisotropy decreases towards isotropic. The
way in which the anisotropy varies is multiplicative: As you move out a distance of range, r, the
anisotropy drops by a factor of 2. For example, if we have a strength of 5 and a range of 100, the
effective anisotropy at the mesh is 5:5:1. At a distance of 100m, the anisotropy has dropped to a
factor of 2.5:2.5:1. At 200m, the anisotropy is 1.25:1.25:1 and so on. Although it never reaches
8. Create a few different structural trends using the different inputs in the project and using
different strength and range values.
The Outside value is a value implemented to correct an artefact known as “the Lego block”
or “waffle” effect. The isosurface is being created at a value of 0.0 (the contact), but when
there is a lack of contrast between the “interior” and “exterior’ (a lack of exterior points), the
isosurfacer can get “lost”. To fix this, an Outside value can be set and this is the value that the
isosurfacer sees away from the data. It should be set to -1 (or a greater negative number for
increased effect). The default is -1. If you enter a positive value, the surface will flip inside out.
8. Complete the geological model by double-clicking on the Surface Chronology and ticking
the box for the surface.
9. Set the Background lithology to Basement and click OK.
The Outside value when applied to numeric models allows you to specify the value that the
interpolant decays to at a distance away from the input data. This can be useful to change
when the background grade value is higher than 0 (i.e. if you have bound your numeric
model to the centre of your orebody and you expect a background grade above detection
limit).