Principles Of Geology Research Articles

Principles of structural geology on rocky planets

Although Earth is the only known planet on which plate tectonics operates, many small- and large-scale tectonic landforms indicate that deformational processes also occur on the other rocky planets. Although the mechanisms of deformation differ on Mercury, Venus, and Mars, the surface manifestations of their tectonics are frequently very similar to those found on Earth. Furthermore, tectonic processes invoked to explain deformation on Earth before the recognition of horizontal mobility of tectonic plates remain relevant for the other rocky planets. These connections highlight the importance of drawing analogies between the rocky planets for characterizing deformation of their lithospheres and for describing, applying appropriate nomenclature, and understanding the formation of their resulting tectonic structures. Here we characterize and compare the lithospheres of the rocky planets, describe structures of interest and where we study them, provide examples of how historic views on geology are applicable to planetary tectonics, and then apply these concepts to Mercury, Venus, and Mars.

A Survey of Internet of Things (IoT) for Geohazard Prevention: Applications, Technologies, and Challenges

Geologic hazards (geohazards) are naturally occurring or human-activity-induced geologic conditions capable of causing damage or loss of property and/or life. geohazards, such as landslides, surface subsidence, and earthquakes, can seriously affect and threaten life, property, or public safety. geohazards prevention is the application of geologic engineering principles and existing and emerging technologies to reduce, minimize, or prevent the effects of various geologic hazards. Monitoring and early warning are the most common strategies for geohazards prevention. With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), an emerging new idea is to apply IoT technology to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of monitoring and early warning systems for geohazards prevention. This article aims to present a comprehensive survey of relevant research and technological developments of the IoT applied in geohazards prevention. It first surveys the applications of the IoT in the monitoring and early warning of seven types of common geohazards, including landslides, debris flow, rockfall, surface subsidence, surface collapse, surface cracks, and earthquakes, then investigates the key technologies in geohazards prevention when utilizing the IoT, and finally summarizes the challenges in IoT-based monitoring and early warning systems for geohazards prevention. Moreover, this article also highlights the future directions for employing the IoT for geohazards prevention.

An in-depth study of the crystalline basement of sedimentary basins is a dictate of the time

The history of studying the crystalline basement in the Republic of Tatarstan, the state of implementation of the super-deep drilling program is given. The scientific substantiation of the replenishment of exploited oil and oil-gas fields is provided by feeding them with deep hydrocarbons through oil supply channels connecting the deep source of hydrocarbons with sedimentary cover deposits. The crystalline basement is of interest for the search for hydrocarbon deposits, but its role as a transit for replenishing deposits of hydrocarbon sedimentary cover in the process of constant degassing of the Earth is more attractive and justified. To use these processes, a fundamentally new approach to the construction of geological and hydrodynamic models of oil fields is proposed, taking into account the fundamental principles of geological science on the formation and reformation of oil deposits and the deep processes of Earth degassing. Prospects are substantiated for the development of “old” fields that are in long-term development, for the calculation of oil recovery factor taking into account oil entering the reservoir from the depths of the Earth, the need for adjusting methods for calculating and accounting reserves, changing levels of material balance, and scientific and practical suggestions for accounting when calculating reserves and designing the development of fundamental principles of field geology. Further prospects for the introduction of hydrodynamic development methods and their significant expansion due to the opening of the processes of replenishment of sedimentary basin deposits with deep hydrocarbons and the reformation of deposits at a late stage of development are shown.

Two critical books in the history of loess investigation: ‘Charakteristik der Felsarten’ by Karl Caesar von Leonhard and ‘Principles of Geology’ by Charles Lyell

AbstractThe two critical books, launching the study and appreciation of loess, were ‘Charakteristik der Felsarten’(CdF) by Karl Caesar von Leonhard, published in Heidelberg by Joseph Engelmann, in 1823-4, and ‘Principles of Geology’(PoG) by Charles Lyell, published in London by John Murray in 1830-3. Each of these books was published in three volumes and in each case the third volume contained a short piece on loess (about 2-4 pages).These two books are essentially the foundations of loess scholarship. In CdF Loess [Loefs] was first properly defined and described; section 89 in vol. 3 provided a short study of the nature and occurrence of loess, with a focus on the Rhine valley. In PoG there was a short section on loess in the Rhine valley; this was in vol.3 and represents the major dissemination of loess awareness around the world.A copy of PoG3 (Principles of Geologyvol. 3) reached Charles Darwin on the Beagle in Valparaiso in 1834; worldwide distribution.Lyell and von Leonhard met in Heidelberg in 1832. Von Leonhard and Heinrich Georg Bronn (1800-1862) showed Lyell the local loess. These observations provided the basis for the loess section in PoG3. Lyell acknowledged the influence of his hosts when he added a list of loess scholars to PoG; by the 5thedition in 1837 the list comprised H.G. Bronn, Karl Caesar von Leonhard (1779-1862), Ami Boue (1794-1881), Voltz, Johann Jakob Noeggerath (1788-1877), J. Steininger, P. Merian, Rozet, C.F.H. von Meyer (1801-1869), Samuel Hibbert (1782-1848) and Leonard Horner (1785-1864); a useful list of loess pioneers. The loess is a type of ground that has only recently been established, and it seems, the peculiarity of the Rhine region, and of a very general but inconsistent spread.” H.G. Bronn 1830

The Origin of the Porphyry Deposit Name: From Shellfish, Tyrian Purple Dye, and Imperial Rome to the World’s Largest Copper Deposits

Abstract The porphyry deposit name has a long and fascinating etymological history of over 3,000 years. “Porphyry” is derived from the ancient Greek word porphyra (πoρϕύρα), or purple. It was originally applied to a rare purple dye, Tyrian purple, extracted by the Phoenicians from murex shells. It was later applied to a prized purple porphyritic rock, Imperial Porphyry or Porfido rosso attico, quarried by the Romans from Mons Porphyrites in the Eastern Red Sea hills of Egypt from the first to fifth centuries A.D., and used as a monumental stone in Imperial Rome and Byzantium (Istanbul). The name evolved in the field of igneous petrology to include all rocks with a porphyritic texture, regardless of their color. Mining of the first porphyry copper deposits, which were originally called disseminated or low-grade copper deposits, started in 1905. As a result of the close spatial and genetic relationship to porphyry stocks, they became known as porphyry copper deposits. The term was first used by W. H. Emmons in his 1918 textbook The Principles of Economic Geology, but it was originally used more as an engineering and economic description, as in Parsons’ 1933 book The Porphyry Coppers. It was slow to catch on in the geological literature. It was first used in the title of a paper in Economic Geology in 1947 but did not gain widespread use until the 1970s, following the publication of seminal papers on porphyry models and genesis by Lowell and Guilbert (1970) and Sillitoe (1972, 1973).

Grid density overlapping hierarchical algorithm for clustering of carbonate reservoir rock types: A case from Mishrif Formation of West Qurna-1 oilfield, Iraq

The primary goal of this study is to solve a major challenge of reservoir rock typing in quantitatively understanding the relationship between geological and petrophysical properties of carbonate reservoir. This paper first presents an improved overlapping index based on the grid density to define the overlapping relationship between different clusters and a grid density overlapping hierarchical algorithm (GDOH) for clustering of carbonate reservoir rock types. GDOH clustering algorithm is a hybrid type which integrates the gird, density, overlapping index and the hierarchical clustering method using the number of grid divisions and the threshold value of the overlapping index as the key parameters. Taking the Mishrif Formation of West Qurna Oilfield-1 as a case, the GDOH clustering algorithm is employed for clustering of carbonate reservoir rock types. As a result, ten geological rock types are identified according to the lithological type and diagenetic type using the thin section data. We finally got four reservoir rock types using the GDOH clustering algorithm with the overlapping index of core porosity and the permeability data as the metric. These reservoir rock types are different in reservoir qualities and porosity-permeability relationships. Each reservoir rock type also shows a similar set of capillary pressure curves and a typical and unique set of pore throat size distribution. The clustering result gives us some clues to understand the control of depositional and diagenesis features on the variation of reservoir rock types in reservoir quality and porosity-permeability relationship. Compared with the model-based petrophysical rock-typing techniques such as Winland r35, FZI and FZI-Star (FZI*), GDOH algorithm shows some apparent advantages in the evaluation of reservoir quality and prediction of permeability in three dimensions based on geologic principles in addition to understanding the relationship between reservoir rock type and petrophysical static and dynamic rock type.

South Devon, UK

Where can you teach the fundamental principles of geology in three short field days? In this feature article, I introduce South Devon as a classic area of geology, useful for introducing basic concepts relevant to school and first‐year degree curricula. That this region remains a catalyst for developing young geologists is especially fitting given that it was here that Henry de la Beche embarked on the first mapping project of what would later become the British Geological Survey. In South Devon, a novice geologist can learn about plate tectonics, the unifying theory of our subject, through a visit to two quarries. At Chipley Quarry, near Newton Abbott, sea‐floor spreading is well illustrated by Devonian pillow‐lavas extruded within the back‐arc margins of the Rheic Ocean. At Burrator Quarry, near Yelverton, the aftermath of continental collision is represented by the north‐verging Variscan fold belt, intruded and thermally metamorphosed by the Dartmoor granite. A trip along the coast to Paignton provides an informative lesson about the distinctive stratigraphic imprint that is created by this plate tectonic cycle. Here, tightly folded Devonian slates are unconformably overlain by near‐horizontal Permian breccia‐conglomerates at Waterside Cove. The ‘abyss of time’ at their junction represents the tens of millions of years involved in the uplift and denudation of Rheic Ocean sediments in the course of the Variscan Orogen. The Devonian and Permian successions of South Devon additionally serve as an excellent training ground for interpreting ancient environments with both marine and terrestrial facies spectacularly represented. Fossils abound in these strata, too, including the stromatoporoid life assemblage at Triangle Point, Torquay, where students have the opportunity to do a virtual scuba‐dive over a Devonian reef. Finally, given current discussions about employability in UK universities, there is even room in an excursion to instill the practical importance of geology: for example, a trip to the scenic Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor reveals what can go wrong for geotechnical engineers when a major dam is sited on a granite weakened by chemical weathering. In summary, South Devon has it all—a brilliant natural laboratory for training and inspiring the next generation of geologists.

Multi-parameter quantitative assessment of 3D geological models for complex fault-block oil reservoirs

Abstract In the field of 3D geologic modeling, researchers often pay more attention to modeling methods and workflows, but neglect the quantitative evaluation of models. If the evaluation is narrowed to the same reservoir type, the comparability and practicality of quantitative assessment will be emerging. The evaluation system should include three parts: data verification, geological understanding and process check. Data verification mainly involves testing the accuracy of local prediction with actual data, and geological understanding is to examine whether the global estimation honors geological principles and prior insights. Process check is also indispensable to avoid occasionality. To this end, we produced a set of assessment criteria, taking complex fault-block sandstone oil reservoir as an example. To be specific, thirteen characteristic parameters were totally selected, setting weights according to their rated importance, formulating three-level evaluation standards in a centesimal system for each characteristic parameter, and obtaining the final assessment based on the cumulative score. The results indicate that such evaluation can not only access the quality of the model objectively and comprehensively, but also identify the aspects in need of improvement through the deduction items.

Giovanni Arduino - the man who invented the Quaternary

A flowering of research into the natural environment and particularly geology took place in Italy in the eighteenth century. New concepts of the composition and formation of mountains and the structure of the Earth arose from regional field investigation of the lithology and palaeontology of the rocks, geomorphology and their relative position. Classification of mountains and the rocks from which they were formed developed rapidly following the critical insights into basic geological foundation principles by the Florentine scientist N. Steno. From this classification, a broad system of stratigraphical sequence gradually emerged in the form of a relative chronology based on the position and relative properties of the rocks. This led to the proposal of the terms “primary” (or “primitive”), “secondary,” and “tertiary” to describe the nature of mountains and in addition the terms began to be used as stratigraphic units. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the mining engineer and field geologist Giovanni Arduino, following two decades of fieldwork in the Venetian and Tuscan mountains, made a remarkable contribution when he proposed a classification of mountain and rocks in northern Italy. His scheme divided the mountains and rocks into four basic units or “ordini” which were based on lithology, position and internal structure, yet excluded fossil evidence. The three orders of mountains and a fourth of the plains, were respectively: “Primary” (underlain by “Primitive or Primaeval” schist considered to be the earliest rocks), “Secondary” and “Tertiary”. His youngest division, the “Fourth Order” or “Quarto ordine” comprised alluvial and estuarine deposits that underlie river valleys or plains. His recognition of the “Fourth Order” was the first time that deposits representing the Quaternary had been identified and defined as a discrete sequence. In this way, Arduino's classification system of divisions laid the foundations of modern stratigraphy.

Критерії хронології історії психосоматичних систем

Актуальність. У попередніх дослідженнях установлено, що для кваліфікації систем і вправ комплексної регуляції загального стану організму людини засобами тілесної й психічної активності оптимальними є терміни «психосоматичні системи» та «психосоматичні вправи», критерії хронології історії яких є малодослідженою ланкою фізичної культури. Постановка проблеми. Виходячи з того, що психосоматичні системи є складовою частиною загальнолюдської культури, припущено, що хронологія історичного розвитку психосоматичних систем збігається з періодизацією історії людства, культури, фізичної культури. Установлено, що періодизація історії фізичної культури людства ґрунтується на геологічних, морфологічних, соціально-економічних, генетичних, археологічних та інших принципах, які неоднозначно визначають її і потребують удосконалення. Мета дослідження – визначити оптимальні критерії хронології історії психосоматичних систем. Методи дослідження – історичний і логіко-теоретичний аналіз джерел інформації. Результати дослідження. Установлено, що принципи періодизації як загальної історії людства, так і її складників, зокрема фізичної культури, ґрунтуються на низці критеріїв, таких як поступова морфологічна еволюція людства, зміни в характері знарядь праці, види суспільно-економічних відносин, наявність писемності, які мають численні недоліки. Виявлено базовий критерій загальної хронології історії фізичної культури. Висновки. Оптимальним базовим критерієм хронології історії психосоматичних систем і фізичної культури є термін часу відносно межі, що визначає два періоди: І – до нашої ери (із ... до кінця 1 ст. до н. е.); ІІ період – нашої ери (із початку 1 ст. н. е. до сьогодні). Плануються подальші дослідження характеристик давніх психосоматичних систем різних культур.

Hidden Geology in Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians had an advanced scientific knowledge and their sciences, texts, and archeological remains reflect the breadth of that knowledge. Although geology is now recognized as the youngest of the major branches of the professional sciences, this paper addresses the use of geology by ancient Egyptians in building their civilization and the advanced knowledge of geology that they applied in building pyramids, extracting ores, and in quarrying. This includes a knowledge of crystallography employed in building pyramids and establishing obelisks; petrological knowledge is indicated in their selection of rock types with respect to character and durability; quarrying expertise is evident in their means of extraction of rocks for building; mineralogical knowledge is evident from their use of minerals, as well as the use of metals in reshaping and molding monuments. Knowledge of gemology and mining geology is evident from their use of gems and semi-precious stones, and their knowledge of how to prospect for and extract them. Their achievements in field geology include making the first geological map in the world. Knowledge of this history is useful to inform inventory-based geoconservation and around 7000 years of its history has left Egypt, replete with related geo-sites, classic sites illustrating geological principles, and examples of historical geological exploitation, geological controversy, and geoconservation. Archeologists have used geology as a science to explain some issues in the ancient history, but have never recognized the degree to which geology was used by the ancient Egyptians themselves. This article discusses the evidence from ancient Egypt that, far from being a recent science, geology was widely used in ancient Egypt.

Discovery Through the Ages – A Journey of Coal Resource Discovery in Queensland’s Bowen Basin From the 1960’s and the 2000’s

Exploration methods, technology and equipment may have changed greatly over the last few decades but still does not replace sound geological principles in making new coal resource discoveries. Starting with a case history of the early big discoveries in the Bowen Basin, Central Queensland, author and co presenter Mr Lex Hansen will provide an overview of the methods, techniques, equipment and successes of exploration during the early 1960’s in the Bowen Basin.Mr Hansen was a member of the team of 3 geologists working for Utah development Company (purchased by BHP Ltd in the 1980’s) that made the first big coking coal discoveries in the Bowen Basin extending from Blackwater in the south along the western side of the Basin to Goonyella in the north. The majority of these discoveries are still in production today, some 50 years later.These are compared and contrasted with a more recent case study involving greenfields discovery’s at the Meteor Downs South Project located also in the Bowen Basin Central Queensland. This will provide a unique opportunity to review coal exploration methodology, technology and successes. Co author and co presenter Mr Darren Walker lead the teams responsible for this discovery.The authors then contrast and compare exploration from the ‘then’ and ‘now’ and discuss the importance of ‘grass roots’ geological field work, data analysis and principles in successful exploration regardless of the perceived exploration or resource maturity of a mineral province. Much has changed in the 60 odd years between the discovery of the world class coking coal deposits along the western edge of the Bowen Basin with the most significant being technology and significant increases in regulation, community expectations and approvals now governing coal exploration in Queensland.This begs the question as to whether this change has achieved the benefits desired and resulted in further major discoveries, or if its has further hindered the exploration industry and the discovery of the future of the coal resources in Queensland.

Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology, the Geological Sublime, and the Romantic Theatre

Across the three volumes of his influential Principles of Geology (1830–33), Charles Lyell demonstrates that the scale of earth history is out of all proportion to human temporality. Lyell makes the case that geologists should assume a viewing position outside the drama of geological action. He repeatedly represents this distance through the figure of the theatre, invoking Romantic critiques of theatrical naturalism that aligned with developments in natural philosophy. At the same time, Lyell deployed technologies from the contemporary stage in his public lectures, and in personal correspondence, he reveals promiscuous tastes across genres, forms and sites of performance. Ultimately, I argue, these apparent inconsistencies point to the role of his subjectivity in a project that is deeply ambivalent about human points of view.

Next the Sea: Eccles and the Anthroposcenic

This paper considers the Anthroposcenic, whereby landscape becomes emblematic of processes marking the Anthropocene, through a specific site, Eccles on the northeast coast of Norfolk, England. The coast has become a key landscape for reflections on the Anthropocene, not least through processes of erosion and sea level change; the title phrase ‘next the sea’ here carries both spatial and temporal meaning. Through Eccles the paper investigates cultural-historical Anthropocene signatures over the past two centuries. Between 1862 and 1895 a church tower stood on Eccles beach; in preceding decades the tower was half-buried in sand dunes, but emerged after these were eroded by the sea. In 1895 the tower fell in a storm, although fragments remained intermittently visible over the following century, depending on the state of the beach. The paper takes Eccles tower as a focus for the exploration of themes indicative and/or anticipatory of the Anthropocene, including sea defence and geological speculation on land and sea levels, Eccles featuring in Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology. The tower became a visitor attraction, and discussions around the 1895 fall are examined, in relation to the spectacle of ruin, claims over the site and anxieties over defence. The periodic beach exposure of bones from the former churchyard prompted reflections on mortality, also present in literary engagements with Eccles by figures such as Henry Rider Haggard. The paper traces the persistence of fragmentary ruin memory through twentieth-century sea defence initiatives, and the ways in which late twentieth-century concerns for climate change and sea level rise generated a rediscovery of the site, yet also led to its effective disappearance as the beach built up following new sea defence construction. Eccles beach speaks to twenty-first-century preoccupations, aspects of its history over two hundred years making it emblematically Anthroposcenic.

Evidence for Gravity Tectonics After the Great Sumatra Quake

A new method that applies structural geology principles to aftershock analyses suggests that gravity-driven motion may occur during part of the seismic cycle.

What is seismic sedimentology? A tutorial

I have developed an alternative narrative of seismic sedimentology from a geologist’s perspective. Seismic sedimentology is a high-resolution supplement for traditional, low-resolution seismic stratigraphy, reflecting the fact that seismic responds to sedimentary bodies differently at low and high resolution. Seismic stratigraphy is a model-driven method that follows the principles of field geology and the well-based study of subsurface sedimentology, and it assumes that seismic reflections can duplicate geologic correlations. Seismic sedimentology is a more data-driven approach based on the understanding of how a seismic signal responds to thin-bedded depositional elements in the context of stratigraphy, which is a function of thickness, lithology-impedance model, wavelet phase, and frequency. Seismic sedimentology is focused on mapping seismic litho-geomorphologic facies, by joint investigation of seismic lithology and seismic geomorphology. In such an investigation, seismic lithology and seismic geomorphology are complementary, making more complete use of seismic information, and they can be more powerful in determining the sedimentary environment and reservoir quality. To reduce the knowledge gap between sedimentary geologists and seismic geophysicists, sedimentologists have to learn and master geophysical principles and techniques. To begin with, a simplified four-step workflow is recommended, which can be summarized as select-adjust-decompose-blend.

Ex omnia conchis? Edward Onslow Ford and the problem of Victorian ‘animalier’ sculpture

What does it mean to rethink the imbrication of sculpture and literature in Britain at the nineteenth-century fin de siècle from a post-humanist or critical animal studies perspective? And what might happen if we braid together Victorian sculptor Edward Onslow Ford (1852–1901) with a range of long-nineteenth-century literary–scientific authors and more recent theorists concerned with questions of species? This article considers Ford’s St George and the Dragon Saltcellar and Snowdrift (both c.1901) in relation to an eclectic group of long-nineteenth-century texts, ranging from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s A Vindication of Natural Diet (1813–15) and Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology (1830–33), through Thomas Henry Huxley’s essay ‘On a Piece of Chalk’ (1868) to Robert Hunt’s A Descriptive Guide to the Museum of Practical Geology (1877) and Sándor Ferenczi’s Thalassa: A Theory of Genitality (1938). It does so in order to make the claim that we need to consider both geology and animality whenever we consider stone sculpture in Victorian Britain and beyond.

Samuel Hibbert in Edinburgh; early studies on loess deposits- connecting Leonhard and Lyell

Samuel Hibbert (1782–1848) published his book ‘History of the Extinct Volcanos of the Basin of Neuwied, on the Lower Rhine’ in 1832. This book contained some of the first references to loess deposits in the geological literature. It also contained a detailed geological map of the region around the Laacher See which showed the distribution of the loess. Hibbert had some influence on Charles Lyell and was acknowledged in the brief loess section when volume 3 of the Principles of Geology was published in 1833. Loess was effectively announced in 1824 by Karl Caesar von Leonhard in Heidelberg, and made well known by Lyell in 1833. Between 1824 and 1833 Hibbert produced some of the first studies in English. He was a student at Edinburgh University at the same time as Ami Boue (c.1815–1818) and he was much influenced by Boue, on basins, on large floods, and on the nature of loess. He deserves to be recognised as a significant loess pioneer; he was included in the list of loessic savants produced by Lyell in 1833: Leonhard, Bronn, Boue, Voltz, Steininger, Merian, Rozet, Hibbert. He eventually had an unfortunate relationship with Lyell (and other geologists) and the loessic link was soon severed. The 1832 book was his only loessic contribution to geo-scholarship.

A Novel Method for Selecting Protective Seam against Coal and Gas Outburst: A Case Study of Wangjiazhai Coal Mine in China

Protective seam mining is a major and critical regional measure to prevent coal and gas outbursts (CGO) in coal mines. In this study, a novel method for selecting protective seam against coal and gas outburst was studied on the basis of gas geology and rock strata control theories and principles for protective seam mining and relevant regulations, which is that theories of gas geology were used to assess the outburst risk inherent in different seams of this mine, and then make preliminary selection of protective seams, and the technical feasibility of the proposed selection method was then analyzed using the theories and principles for protective seam mining and relevant regulations. The case application study results show that the extraction of the upper protective seam (UPS) caused significant decreases in the predicative indicators of outburst risk in the outburst-prone seam and thereby prevented CGO, and the novel method can provide a theoretical basis for selecting protective seam against CGO.

Constraining self-organizing map facies analysis with stratigraphy: An approach to increase the credibility in automatic seismic facies classification

Pattern recognition-based seismic facies analysis techniques are commonly used in modern quantitative seismic interpretation. However, interpreters often treat techniques such as artificial neural networks and self-organizing maps (SOMs) as a “black box” that somehow correlates a suite of attributes to a desired geomorphological or geomechanical facies. Even when the statistical correlations are good, the inability to explain such correlations through principles of geology or physics results in suspicion of the results. The most common multiattribute facies analysis begins by correlating a suite of candidate attributes to a desired output, keeping those that correlate best for subsequent analysis. The analysis then takes place in attribute space rather than ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text]) space, removing spatial trends often observed by interpreters. We add a stratigraphy layering component to a SOM model that attempts to preserve the intersample relation along the vertical axis. Specifically, we use a mode decomposition algorithm to capture the sedimentary cycle pattern as an “attribute.” If we correlate this attribute to the training data, it will favor SOM facies maps that follow stratigraphy. We apply this workflow to a Barnett Shale data set and find that the constrained SOM facies map shows layers that are easily overlooked on traditional unconstrained SOM facies map.