#ROSE DIAGRAM GEOLOGY INTERPRETATION SOFTWARE#
Digitization of fracture networks from imagery (unmanned aerial vehicle, aerial photography, satellite imagery, light detection and ranging, etc.) within Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is more efficient and essential for a robust analysis and characterization ( McCaffrey et al., 2005 Nixon et al., 2011 Bemis et al., 2014, Bisdom et al., 2017).Ī number of software packages and programs have been developed for basic fracture analysis, mainly focusing on analysis of fracture length and orientation (e.g., FracMan7, 2012) or spatial sampling and analyses of fracture networks (e.g., FraNEP by Zeeb et al., 2013). Field mapping provides a means to map fractures but is often time consuming and spatially limited to the outcrops. Topology is essential for the characterization of fracture networks and quantifies fracture connectivity directly, providing parameters for evaluating the percolation potential of a network ( Manzocchi, 2002). Network topology describes the geometric relationships between fractures using components, such as nodes and branches, and dimensionless parameters that are invariant to scale, strain, and continuous transformation within the network ( Huseby et al., 1997 Jing and Stephansson, 1997 Sanderson and Nixon, 2015). More recently, topological analysis of fracture networks has been established, focusing on characterizing the arrangement and connectivity of fractures within a network ( Manzocchi, 2002 Sanderson and Nixon, 2015).
Individual fractures within a two-dimensional network are measured for geometries such as orientation, length, spacing, and intensity, with a view to determining fracture density, size frequency distributions ( Johnston and McCaffrey, 1996 Bonnet et al., 2001) and characterizing their spatial distributions ( Gillespie et al., 1993 Putz-Perrier and Sanderson, 2008 Nixon et al., 2014). Furthermore, the integration of the NetworkGT toolbox into ArcGIS allows two-dimensional fracture networks to be interpreted, mapped, and fully analyzed within the same software package.įracture networks can be analyzed in terms of their geometry and topology ( Peacock et al., 2016). The toolbox will help to facilitate the increasing application of geometry and topology in the analysis and comparison of fracture networks at a range of scales. This includes computing a contour grid with 1326 subsampled regions within the fracture network, which is used to demonstrate the quantitative capabilities of the toolbox and the ability to spatially map important network properties. Using a fracture network example from offshore NW Devon, United Kingdom, we illustrate the practicality and effectiveness of the toolbox. The toolbox helps to extract and plot geometric and topological information from a given two-dimensional fracture network including: rose diagrams, plots of frequency distribution and topology, and maps of topological parameters. We introduce NetworkGT, an open-source toolbox for ArcGIS capable of efficient sampling, analysis, and spatial mapping of geometric and topological attributes of two-dimensional fracture networks. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide a means to map and digitize two-dimensional fracture networks from a variety of field and remote sensing data and to display the results in the form of quality maps. Of particular importance are the distributions and spatial variations of different geometric (locations, orientation, length, etc.) and topological (intersections, connectivity, etc.) attributes of fractures in a network.
Fractures rarely occur individually but more usually as networks of numerous fractures whose arrangement, abundance, and interaction control the mechanical and transport properties of rock masses.