Application of Lidar to 3D Structural Mapping

Author

Bertrand Gaschot, West Virginia UniversityFollow

Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Geology and Geography

Committee Chair

Jaime Toro

Committee Co-Chair

Aaron Maxwell

Committee Member

Aaron Maxwell

Committee Member

Dengliang Gao

Abstract

The rugged, densely forested terrain of the West Virginia Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province has made it difficult for field-based studies to agree on the structure of the highly deformed Silurian-Devonian cover strata. In this study, we demonstrate a 3D approach to geologic mapping utilizing the structural information revealed in a “bare-earth” 1-m Lidar DEM of the Smoke Hole Canyon. The completed 3D map was integrated with kinematic forward modeling carried out in MOVE^TM to provide information on the parameters required to form the major structures observed. Additionally, land surface attributes generated using geomorphometric analysis of the Lidar allowed for better mapping of smaller scale structures and specific outcrops.

Our kinematic reconstructions and 3D models show that the Cave Mountain Anticline can be produced with Trishear-style deformation for fault-propagation folds. Also, the depth to detachment of the Cave Mountain thrust shallows along strike to the north and south, indicating that lateral ramps are required from the Martinsburg to the Juniata Formation. Additionally, steeper backlimb dips indicate that the thrust ramp angle increases from 30° to 45° moving southward. To the north, the Cave Mountain Anticline splits in to two, indicating that the main thrust plane is branching at depth, resulting in an imbricated-thrust geometry. Kinematic reconstructions of the shorter wavelength folds west of Cave Mountain show that they can be modeled using detachment folding algorithms, however they must form above a shallower detachment than previously interpreted, within the shales of the Silurian Rose Hill Formation.

Recommended Citation

Gaschot, Bertrand, "Application of Lidar to 3D Structural Mapping" (2019). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 4111.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/4111