Display techniques for integrated data sets

Abstract

At Los Alamos National Laboratory, geoscientists have assembled and integrated 30 geological, geophysical, and geochemical data sets with four Landsat bands for the Montrose 1° × 2° quadrangle, Colorado. Three graphical displays were developed to determine if visual analysis of the data facilitated interpretation. Two displays project the data spatially: gray-level maps project values of a single data set, and three-color overlays project the values of three data sets simultaneously. The third display, a three-dimensional plot, graphs three data sets and allows examination of relationships in parameter space. Two examples illustrate the potential applications of the display techniques. Uranium in sediments, uranium in waters, and equivalent uranium each provide unique information about uranium distribution in the quadrangle. However, the combined data convey more information than each data set separately. Copper, lead, and zinc displays allow identification of all the basemetal districts and convey information about the geochemical character of the deposits. Visual displays greatly increase efficiency of analysis and interpretability of diverse geologic data sets.