2019 Volume 84 Issue 2 Pages 150-159
Outcrop analogues provide crucial information to understand subsurface geology whose data are often inadequate in quantity and quality. The petroleum industry has exploited geological concepts and geometric data derived from outcropping examples to envisage architectures of subsurface reservoirs and those lithological heterogeneity. Emerging 3D digitalization technologies are changing usages of outcrops to more quantitative and more qualitative ways. Here, I review tools and methodologies employed for 3D digitalization of the outcrop analogues and then demonstrate how these technologies work to build structural models of compressional deformations in Southeastern France and Western Wales. Finally, impacts of such digitalization technologies on petroleum E&P businesses are discussed with reference to some previous works and recent advances of technologies.
