Geological Survey Information Research Articles

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Application of GIS real-time monitoring system in the ecological impact of marine tourism industry development and marine resource protection

With the development of society and the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, people are more eager to explore the mysterious ocean zone, which also makes the focus of tourism development in the world gradually shift to marine tourism. This phenomenon undoubtedly promotes people’s economic development, but at the same time, because of human’s too frequent activities and neglect of the protection of the marine environment, marine pollution has become more and more serious, especially the pollution caused by oil spill from ships. This situation not only destroys the ecological environment in the ocean, leads to the reduction of marine biological species, and affects the ornamental value of the marine environment but also has a great impact on the future development prospects of marine tourism. During the research of GIS marine geological survey information model, we should start from the overview of information model, unified modeling language and information modeling, research of marine geological survey information model, and analysis of system overall design to better complete the development of resources. If marine tourism wants to get a long-term development, it cannot be separated from marine tourism resources. Therefore, only by mobilizing them to strengthen the implementation of policies on marine resources, countries should increase support for the prevention and control technology organizations of marine pollution, so as to maintain the marine ecological environment and so as to realize the long-term development of marine tourism.

Application of a GIS-Based Slope Unit Method for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping in Helong City: Comparative Assessment of ICM, AHP, and RF Model

Landslides are one of the most extensive geological disasters in the world. The objective of this study was to assess the performances of different landslide susceptibility models information content method (ICM), analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and random forest (RF) model) and mapping unit (slope unit and grid unit) for landslide susceptibility mapping in the Helong city, Jilin province, northeastern China. First, a total of 159 landslides were mapped in the study area based on a geological hazard survey (1:50,000) of Helong city. Then, the slope units of the study area were divided by using the curvature watershed method. Next, eight influencing factors, namely, lithology, slope angle, slope aspect, rainfall, land use, seismic intensity, distance to river, and distance to fault, were selected to map the landslide susceptibility based on geological data, field survey, and landslide information. Afterward, landslide susceptibility modeling of landslide inventory data is performed for extracting and learning the symmetry latent in data patterns and relationships by three landslide susceptibility models and utilizing it to predict landslide susceptibility. Finally, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to compare the landslide susceptibility models. In addition, results based on grid units were calculated for comparison. The AUC (the area under the curve) result for ICM, AHP, and RF model was 87.1%, 80.5%, and 94.6% for slope units, and 83.4%, 70.9%, and 91.3% for grid units, respectively. Based on the overall assessments, the SU-RF model was the most suitable model for landslide susceptibility mapping. Consequently, these methods can be very useful for landslide hazard mitigation strategies.

Application of Cloud Computing in Geological Exploration

The wide application of information technology in geological exploration will greatly improve the modernization level of geological exploration. At present, geological survey information work has entered the era of big data. How to break the limitation of independent management of geological exploration database and effectively integrate and share the accumulated massive geological exploration data has become a problem that the geological exploration information workers are eager to solve. The emergence and maturity of cloud computing technology provides a feasible solution to this problem. Firstly, from the perspective of public welfare and social service of geological exploration data, this paper summarizes and analyzes the application requirements of cloud computing in geological exploration work by studying the theoretical basis and relevant examples of cloud computing technology. Use Microsoft azure, SQL azure and other related products of Microsoft cloud computing platform azure to achieve the corresponding needs, research and clarify the relationship between geological exploration data and specific applications in geological cloud computing; use VMware vSphere virtualization platform to share existing and available hardware resources, and at the same time, research and build geoscience cloud storage mode based on virtualization technology to realize the sea Reasonable storage of quantitative geological exploration data; establishment of development environment with SDK provided by azure as the core for the development of application program of geological exploration data cloud computing; realization of data storage in the cloud for the purpose of integrating and sharing the achievement data of national mineral resource potential evaluation, and virtualization application of geoscience software.

Arsenic Releasing from Poly-Metallic Sulfide Deposits at Hetao Plain, China

Arsenic (As)-bearing ores of poly-metallic sulfide deposits provide water-bearing medium containing As for high-As aquifer and release As in leaching process. Two ores samples M1 and M4 were collected from two big-scale poly-metallic sulfide deposits, Dongshengmiao and Tanyaokou, with As contents of 78 and 69 μg/g, respectively. Pyrite as the major mineral in ores accounts for over 70 and 20% of all minerals in M1 and M4, respectively. The carbonate contents including dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), smithsonite (ZnCO3), and siderite (FeCO3) in M4 are higher than in M1. As the major As speciation in M1 and M4, residual As accounts for 97.55 and 95.17% of the total detected As, respectively. Results of leaching experiment indicate that under the reducing condition in column filled with M1, As (V) can be produced by pyrite dissolution and oxidation and then reduced as As(III) which is difficult to be adsorbed onto the mineral surface but easy to migrate in aquatic solution. HFO prevents ore surface from contacting with the oxygen in leaching solution, and adsorbs As onto its surface, leading to the relatively lower concentrations of Fe and As in leachate of M4. The leaching rates of As would be are 0.46 for M1 and 0.13% for M4. According to geological survey information, the demonstrated reserves of pyrite at Tanyaokou and Dongshengmiao reach up to 86 288 000 000 and 216 915 000 000 kg, respectively. Assuming that the releasing capability of the ores in natural environment is nearly equal to that in our experiments, 6 730 000 and 15 000 000 kg of As from Tanyaokou and Dongshengmiao mine is expected to be in the risk of release. This study will provide a better understanding of the genesis of high-As groundwater in the Hetao Plain.

THE INACCURACY OF INTERPOLATION AT THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOUNDARIES ON THE ENGINEERING GEOLOGICAL SOIL PROFILES FOR THE GENERATION OF CALCULATED MODELS OF GEOLOGICAL MEDIUM

On the basis of the recent data, construction accuracy of geological boundaries on engineering geological soil profiles is studied. The concept of the interpolation error of geological boundaries is introduced. This error inevitably presents in all engineering geological soil profiles, as well as in hydrogeological and other geological soil profiles. The error is caused by uncertainty of the state of geological boundary between the wells. Geologists draw the line on the basis of the hypothesis about its genesis. The hypothesis is being checked at the next stage of the investigations, or at the opening of the foundation pit, or already during the examination of the accident. The interpolation error fundamentally influences the character of the engineering geological model of the geological medium, and through this, it influences the quality of the system’s calculation of the building-base. The article proposes methods for defining the interpolation error, based on the study of existing engineering geological soil profiles and outcrops of rocks. Using the example of analysis of engineering geological soil profiles for investigations’ objects located in the south-west of Moscow and the south of the Nizhny Novgorod region, it is shown that the interpolation error for the bottom of technogenetics soils and the shale drapes can reach 1 meter with a distance between wells of less than 40 meters and much more than 1 meter at the interwell spacing is 100 meters. Such inaccuracies in engineering geological information lead to an inaccuracy in the settlement calculation of the building exceeding 50% of the calculated value. The article presents, on the basis of mathematical-statistical analysis, the values of the interpolation error for seven geological boundaries of a different genetic type. The specified scientific and technical problem of assessing the accuracy of engineering geological survey information, in terms of the geometry of the engineering geological model of the geological medium, requires further research and reflection in normative documents, in particular in SP 47.13330.2016 « SNiP 11- 02-96 Engineering surveys for construction. Fundamentals », from which the table 6.2, which existed in previous editions of the document and was aimed at increasing the accuracy of geological soil profiles, are excluded.

A Knowledge-Driven Geospatially Enabled Framework for Geological Big Data

Geologic survey procedures accumulate large volumes of structured and unstructured data. Fully exploiting the knowledge and information that are included in geological big data and improving the accessibility of large volumes of data are important endeavors. In this paper, which is based on the architecture of the geological survey information cloud-computing platform (GSICCP) and big-data-related technologies, we split geologic unstructured data into fragments and extract multi-dimensional features via geological domain ontology. These fragments are reorganized into a NoSQL (Not Only SQL) database, and then associations between the fragments are added. A specific class of geological questions was analyzed and transformed into workflow tasks according to the predefined rules and associations between fragments to identify spatial information and unstructured content. We establish a knowledge-driven geologic survey information smart-service platform (GSISSP) based on previous work, and we detail a study case for our research. The study case shows that all the content that has known relationships or semantic associations can be mined with the assistance of multiple ontologies, thereby improving the accuracy and comprehensiveness of geological information discovery.

Ion density and temperature variations at altitude of 500 km during moderate seismic activity

Ionospheric ions (O+ and H+) and temperature (Ti) as precursory parameters to seismic activity have been analysed from year 1995 till 1998, using SROSS-C2 (average altitude range of ∼500km) satellite measurements for moderate magnitude earthquakes. The details of seismic events during this period are downloaded from United State Geological Survey (USGS) and National Earthquake Information Centre (NEIC) website. 13 seismic events of moderate magnitude (M=4–5.5) from 1995 to 1998, using SROSS-C2 satellite measurements have been analysed. During seismic affected period, considerable decrease in the density of heavier ion - O+ and increase in the ion temperature (Ti) is observed during all the selected events. Lighter ion - H+ doesn’t show any significant change. Electric field and electromagnetic emissions generated due to seismogenic activity could be the plausible initializing agents responsible for change in ion concentration and temperature values during these events.

An Effective NoSQL-Based Vector Map Tile Management Approach

Within a digital map service environment, the rapid growth of Spatial Big-Data is driving new requirements for effective mechanisms for massive online vector map tile processing. The emergence of Not Only SQL (NoSQL) databases has resulted in a new data storage and management model for scalable spatial data deployments and fast tracking. They better suit the scenario of high-volume, low-latency network map services than traditional standalone high-performance computer (HPC) or relational databases. In this paper, we propose a flexible storage framework that provides feasible methods for tiled map data parallel clipping and retrieval operations within a distributed NoSQL database environment. We illustrate the parallel vector tile generation and querying algorithms with the MapReduce programming model. Three different processing approaches, including local caching, distributed file storage, and the NoSQL-based method, are compared by analyzing the concurrent load and calculation time. An online geological vector tile map service prototype was developed to embed our processing framework in the China Geological Survey Information Grid. Experimental results show that our NoSQL-based parallel tile management framework can support applications that process huge volumes of vector tile data and improve performance of the tiled map service.

Exploration externalities and government subsidies: The return to government

Governments have, for a long time, invested in the direct provision of basic geological survey information to support exploration and mining activity. Recently, Australian governments have also started to provide direct drilling subsidies to exploration companies. Using data for Western Australia we investigate the return to government from the direct provision of geological survey information and the provision of drilling subsides. We find no evidence that drilling subsidies are less effective than traditional geological survey spending in generating a return to government. We suggest drilling subsidies are effective because there is a dishonesty externality in the market for exploration equity capital that gives rise to a market for lemons problem, and that government programs to award drilling subsidies to exploration companies work as a third party certification system that addresses this problem. We conclude by showing that, with real discount rates of 5%, 7%, and 9%, and a narrow definition of benefits, the expected benefit–cost ratios for State government support for exploration are 9.0, 6.7, and 5.2.

Comparison of Czech and German Information Systems Used for Exploration of Geological Situation in Civil Engineering Practice

The main aim of publication is to compare the information systems of the institutes of Czech Geological Survey and German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources from a point of view of information which is needed for civil engineering purposes. The information systems are a base of the modern society. Thanks to them we are able to apply older exploratory works in order to evaluate currently solved projects. An information system becomes a strategic tool to evaluate exploratory works but also for land-use planning. The Czech Geological Survey information systems consists of the database of Borehole Explorations, the Final Reports Archives and the Inventory of Landslides. These three databases are fundamental for civil engineering purposes. The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources information system contains similar databases. It deals with the database of boreholes and the archives of scientific reports and publications. An Inventory of landslides is not available in the German Geological Survey information system even if these questions are discussed within Geohazards. As for the basic map documents which are available online, both the institutes include a geological map, a map of soils, a geophysical map and a map of underground waters or a hydrogeological map and a map of sources or raw materials information system. On the top of that, there is an engineering geological map available in Germany.

A Geospatial Information Grid Framework for Geological Survey.

The use of digital information in geological fields is becoming very important. Thus, informatization in geological surveys should not stagnate as a result of the level of data accumulation. The integration and sharing of distributed, multi-source, heterogeneous geological information is an open problem in geological domains. Applications and services use geological spatial data with many features, including being cross-region and cross-domain and requiring real-time updating. As a result of these features, desktop and web-based geographic information systems (GISs) experience difficulties in meeting the demand for geological spatial information. To facilitate the real-time sharing of data and services in distributed environments, a GIS platform that is open, integrative, reconfigurable, reusable and elastic would represent an indispensable tool. The purpose of this paper is to develop a geological cloud-computing platform for integrating and sharing geological information based on a cloud architecture. Thus, the geological cloud-computing platform defines geological ontology semantics; designs a standard geological information framework and a standard resource integration model; builds a peer-to-peer node management mechanism; achieves the description, organization, discovery, computing and integration of the distributed resources; and provides the distributed spatial meta service, the spatial information catalog service, the multi-mode geological data service and the spatial data interoperation service. The geological survey information cloud-computing platform has been implemented, and based on the platform, some geological data services and geological processing services were developed. Furthermore, an iron mine resource forecast and an evaluation service is introduced in this paper.

Characteristics of the gravel size and potassium in the Ejin Alluvial Fan from remote sensing images and stratigraphic section

The Ejin Alluvial Fan (EAF), located in the north-west of China, is an important recorder of both paleoclimatic and tectonic information of the north margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Remote sensing technics, including optical and microwave sensors, have been the key spatial observation tools to extract the surface information related to the paleoenvironment. In this paper, the gravel size and chemical element potassium K distributions of the EAF were obtained from RadarSat-2 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and LandSat TM optical data, respectively. In addition, the stratigraphic section of the EAF was established and the corresponding geological information in the vertical direction with different periods was obtained. Combining the geological survey information and surface distribution information, it can be concluded as follows. 1) The EAF covers an area of above 30,000 km2 and may be the largest arid and semi-arid alluvial fan in the world based on the remote sensing survey. 2) Some surface parameters which are related to the paleoenvironmental change can be obtained from remote sensing data, such as the gravel size and potassium K parameters. 3) The forming process of the EAF and the corresponding environments will be understood deeply, combining the paleoenvironmental related parameters derived from remote sensing data and the geologic survey data.

Steps toward Grid-based geological survey: Suggestions for a systems framework of models, ontologies, and workflows

Consideration of an explicit systems framework for geological survey information is timely, to assist in developing and maintaining an integrated and coherent view of regional geoscience in a Grid-based context. A framework based on a solid Earth systems model is tentatively proposed in this paper. The developing advanced infrastructure of information and communications technology, the so-called Grid, points to more flexible global communication that will help to overcome artificial boundaries and divergence of concepts from separate places and scientific disciplines. Interoperability of information (the ability to amalgamate and work with concepts, terms or models from various sources, and thereby share and reuse information) will be a key to the Grid’s success. Geological surveys can respond to the opportunity by changing their emphasis, away from publishing printed maps and related documents, towards maintaining a geoscience knowledge system from which scientific workflows can provide flexible services that match requirements specified by the user. The changing system should fit with, and build upon, existing patterns of human thought and the published record; include interpretation as an essential part of the conceptual building blocks that support geologists as they abstract, codify and reason, link observation to explanation, and predict what they have not yet observed; support improved representations of the geology; and encourage the use of generic concepts and ontologies, following international standards where appropriate.

Integration and fusion of geological exploration data: a theoretical review of fuzzy logic approach

A geological survey project, including the exploration of nonrenewable resources, typically includes the following steps: planning of the survey, field mapping, acquisition of data, achieving of data, processing and fusion of all relevant information, which are closely followed by an interpretation of the final survey results. In this process, important spatial data layers are topographic map, often digital elevation model (DEM), geological map, several sets of geochemical and geophysical survey maps, airborne or space-borne remote sensing data and, sometimes, old archived data. Each of these multiple layers of geological exploration data can first be preprocessed, and input into a chosen geographic information systems (GISs). This will be followed by information representation and fusion steps for the final imaging of the processed and fused information. Most commercially available GISs however do not have information fusion and focusing capabilities. Users of the slected GIS must first be able to represent the preprocessed geological survey information with respect to the target geological hypothesis. In the case of mineral exploration, the target hypothesis can be a specific mineral deposit(s) being explored. Compared to the model driven exploration approach, the data driven geological exploration utilizes multiple sets of exploration data and there are several mathematical tools available for information representation and fusion. Some of these include the traditional probability approach, evidential belief function methods, AI/Expert systems and the fuzzy logic approach. In this paper, the fuzzy logic approach of quantifying the exploration information with respect to the target hypothesis, and several of the fuzzy operators which are frequently used for geological resource exploration are critically reviewed. Although our understanding of the fuzzy information representation and fuzzy operators is still incomplete, many case studies of applying fuzzy logic approaches to various exploration projects have concluded that the final fuzzy membership function maps or the final fuzzy theme maps are considerably more accurate than the results obtained using any conventional intuitive approach, including the brute stack of the exploration (spatial) data using a GIS. In general, the efficiency and accuracy of the final fused information with respect to the target hypothesis increases with the increasing number of geological exploration data layers. If a specific Earth system model is available, or a mineral deposit model in the case of mineral exploration projects, is available or is known a priori, fuzzy logic approach can easily be combined with currently popular machine-reasoning processes such as the neural network approach. In this type of quantitative spatial reasoning and fuzzy logic information fusion, uncertainty and error analysis is also important. In most cases, propagation of errors and uncertainties can be handled and estimated in the same manner as the processing and fusion of main exploration data.

The Eastern Gas Shales Project (EGSP) Data System: A case study in data base design, development, and application

The U.S. Geological Survey and Petroleum Information Corporation in Denver, Colorado, developed the Eastern Gas Shale Project (EGSP)Data System for the U.S. Department of Energy, Morgantown, West Virginia. Geological, geochemical, geophysical, and engineering data from Devonian shale samples from more than 5800 wells and outcrops in the Appalachian basin were edited and converted to a Petroleum Information Corporation data base. Well and sample data may be retrieved from this data system to produce (1)production-test summaries by formation and well location; (2)contoured isopach, structure, and trendsurface maps of Devonian shale units; (3)sample summary reports for samples by location, well, contractor, and sample number; (4)cross sections displaying digitized log traces, geochemical, and lithologic data by depth for wells; and (5)frequency distributions and bivariate plots. Although part of the EGSP Data System is proprietary, and distribution of complete well histories is prohibited by contract, maps and aggregated well-data listings are being made available to the public through published reports.

Eastern Gas Shales Project (EGSP) Data System: Useful Exploration and Research Tool: ABSTRACT

The U.S. Department of Energy in Morgantown, West Virginia, and the U.S. Geological Survey and Petroleum Information Corp. in Denver, Colorado, have created two large data files for the Eastern Gas Shales Project (EGSP). All computer-compatible well, outcrop, and sample data generated by EGSP contractors from Devonian shales throughout the Appalachian basin are being edited, converted to a data base, and accessed by Department of Energy contractors to produce digital printouts, charts, and maps. The EGSP Well Data File was developed as an extension of the Petroleum Information Well History Control System (WHCS) and contains geologic, engineering, and production test data for more than 6,000 wells. The EGSP Sample Data File contains geochemical, lithologic, and physical characterization data on more than 50,000 samples from 17 EGSP cored wells, and 140 additional wells and outcrops. Well and sample data can be retrieved to produce (1) production test summaries by formation and location; (2) contoured isopach, structure, and trend surface maps of Devonian shale units; (3) sample summary reports by location, well, contractor, and sample number; (4) cross sections displaying digitized log traces and geochemical and lithologic data by depth for wells; and (5) frequency distributions and bivariate plots. EGSP Data System products are being used by EGSP contractors to help solve Devonian shale exploration and research problems in the Appalachian basin. Although part of the EGSP Well Date File is proprietary, and distribution of complete well histories is prohibited by contract, maps and aggregated well data listings can be made available to the public through published reports. End_of_Article - Last_Page 921------------