PA Tutorials

Encom Discover PA 2013 Tutorials
TM
Pitney Bowes Software Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes

Inc. Pitney Bowes, the Corporate logo is a [registered] trademark of Pitney
Bowes Inc. or a subsidiary. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners. © 2013 Pitney Bowes Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Encom Discover PA 2013 Tutorials TM
Encom Discover PA is developed and supported by ENCOM DISCOVER PA RELEASE HISTORY

Pitney Bowes Software Pty Ltd
BHP Gemex Initial Release
v1.0 February 2000
ASIA PACIFIC / AUSTRALIA
Level 7, 1 Elizabeth Plaza Commercial Release
North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia v2.0 February 2001 v7.0 August 2007
v3.0 November 2001 v8.0 April 2008
SUPPORT v3.1 July 2002 v9.0 March 2009
v3.2 December 2002 v10.0 February 2010
T: +61.2.9437.6255
v4.0 July 2003 v11.0 May 2011
v5.0 May 2004 v12.0 February 2012
pbbi.support@pb.com
v5.5 August 2004 2013 February 2013
www.pbencom.com
v6.0 October 2005
Pitney Bowes Software Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes

Inc. Pitney Bowes, the Corporate logo is a [registered] trademark of Pitney
Bowes Inc. or a subsidiary. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners. © 2013 Pitney Bowes Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents i
Table of Contents
Table of Contents................................................................................................ i
1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 1
Fast Displays ............................................................................................. 1
Access to Tutorials .................................................................................... 6
Setting up the Tutorial ............................................................................... 6
Tutorial Background .................................................................................. 7
2 Introductory Tutorial ............................................................................... 9

Tutorial Steps............................................................................................. 9
Step 1 – Open a Geosoft Database ..................................................... 9
Step 2 – Open a 2D Flight Path Map ................................................. 10
Step 3 – Display a Grid Image ........................................................... 12
Step 4 – Creating a Curve Profile Display .......................................... 16
Step 5 – Line Navigation Using the Line Iterator................................ 18
Step 6 – Creating a Template of Profiles and Maps .......................... 20
3 Advanced Tutorial ................................................................................. 24

Tutorial Steps........................................................................................... 24
Step 1 – Displaying a 3D Grid Surface .............................................. 24
Step 2 – Navigating in a 3D Display ................................................... 25
Step 3 – Colouring a 3D Grid Surface by another Grid ...................... 26
Step 4 – Clipping a Grid by another Grid ........................................... 28
Step 5 – Displaying Geo-referenced Geological Sections ................. 29
Step 6 – Displaying 3D Drillholes ....................................................... 31
Step 7 – Modulating Downhole Data .................................................. 33
Step 7 – Displaying 3D Models .......................................................... 36
4 Geology Integration Tutorial ................................................................ 39

Encom Discover Use ............................................................................... 39
Tutorial Background ................................................................................ 40
Tutorial Steps........................................................................................... 40
Step 1 – Using Encom Discover......................................................... 40
Step 2 – Opening a Discover Drillhole Dataset .................................. 41
Step 3 – Display a 2D Geological Map .............................................. 42
Step 4 – Display 2D Drillhole Traces.................................................. 42
Step 5 – 3D Display of Drillholes and Surface Geology ..................... 45
Step 6 – Displaying Assay Downhole Data ........................................ 47
Step 7 – Display Georeferenced Images ........................................... 48
Step 8 – Display 3D Model ................................................................. 49
5 Voxel Modeller Tutorial ......................................................................... 51

Constant Depth Interpolator .................................................................... 51
ii Encom Discover PA Tutorials
Step 1 – Computing Depth Interpolation............................................. 52

Step 2 - Array Data 3D Gridding ......................................................... 53
Offsetting and Scaling a Voxel Model ...................................................... 55
Clipping and Chair Clipping a Voxel Model ............................................. 57
Thresholding a Model .............................................................................. 57
Displaying a Voxel Model Isosurface ....................................................... 61
Displaying Multiple Isosurfaces and Realtime Slice ................................ 62
6 3D Gridding Inversion Data Tutorial .................................................... 65

Adjust Data for Topograhic Offset............................................................ 65
Tutorial Steps ........................................................................................... 66
7 3D Gridding of Drillhole Data ................................................................ 75

Tutorial Background ................................................................................. 75
Tutorial Steps ........................................................................................... 75
3D Gridding of the Drillhole Data ............................................................. 81
Creating a Density Grid....................................................................... 82
Creating a Distance Grid..................................................................... 87
Analysis of the Density and Distance Grids ........................................ 88
3D Gridding of Data ............................................................................ 90
Discrete Gridding ................................................................................ 92
Applying Filtering ................................................................................ 94
8 Magnetic Analysis Tutorial ................................................................... 97

Aim of Tutorial .......................................................................................... 97
Tutorial Background ................................................................................. 97
Tutorial Steps ........................................................................................... 99
Summary ................................................................................................ 113
Introduction 1
1 Introduction
This document provides you with information on how to initially run Encom
Discover PA and how to access and visualise data. A range of tutorial exercises
are described to assist in learning to use Encom Discover PA.
Information on where to get help or more advanced instruction is available from:
• Help and Documentation – A description of the various help facilities

available to assist with operating Encom Discover PA
• Introductory Tutorial – A tutorial (as detailed in the User Guide) is

provided to introduce the operation of Encom Discover PA.
• Advanced Tutorial – Uses the same data as the Introductory Tutorial but
extends the use of Encom Discover PA to visualise drillholes, air
photography and orebody visualisation.
• Geological Integration Tutorial – Uses mapping information from

Encom Discover and displays drillhole data with modelled geophysical
results.
A compendium of practical exploration problems is presented in the tutorials to

help you solve the most common problems in data visualisation. Once you
understand the powerful set of display tools, the range of interpretive problems
that you can solve is almost unlimited.
For additional assistance, use the Help>User Guide document.
Fast Displays
Encom Discover PA is a powerful and simple display system to use when you
know how it all works. Learning how to use Encom Discover PA, like any
software system, takes time and requires use of some tutorials or examples. As
a starting point, this section reveals how you can quickly operate Encom
Discover PA and IMMEDIATELY begin displaying even complex presentations.
Follow the step-by-step procedure below:
Step 1
Install the software and the example datasets Refer to Installation Procedure for
details.
You will require an Encom Discover PA license before you can access any
dataset. Refer to Encom Licensing for information on this.
2 Encom Discover PA Tutorials
Step 2
To begin, execute Encom Discover PA and use some provided session files
and display some complex datasets. A range of sample session files are
provided using a dataset that has geophysical, geological and development
data available.
The example dataset required is stored in a folder called:
…Documents\Encom Discover PA\Example Data
Step 3
Session files are provided in a number of sub-folders called \Sessions for the
relevant example datasets. Let’s start by using the command File>Open
Session and pathing to the following folder:
…Documents\Example Data\Geosoft Swamp Mag-EM\Sessions
The dialog should appear as below:
Session opening dialog using the File>Open Session command
Step 4
Select one of the sessions and click the Open button. Encom Discover PA
should restore the requested session by accessing each required files,
database, grid etc. It should then display these files as they were when
originally saved.
Introduction 3
The following brief summary of each session for the Swamp project is provided
below. With each display is the controlling Workspace tree shown on the left.
Session A - Magnetic map with contours legend titles etc.egs
This session shows the coverage of a geophysical airborne survey in map form.
The map is of total field magnetics with imagery, contours and annotation plus
titling, cadastral information and legends.
Session B - Voxel models with cutaway sections and orebody drilling.egs
This complex session uses the powerful voxel model presentation facility to
display various levels of ‘isosurfaces’ of the 3D models defined property (in this
case, magnetic susceptibility). In addition, an orebody and drilling data are also
shown. This presentation is a 3D window. You can use the mouse keys to
zoom. Pan and navigate around and through the objects. Experiment with your
mouse to gain a feel of how simple this is.
Session C - 3D Voxel model with drill assays and sections.egs
This session uses two voxel models (with the same source model). One of the
voxel presentations uses only the isosurface capability to display a specific
property value (in this case, magnetic susceptibility). The isosurface appears as
a rounded ‘blob’ at the same location as drilling has been testing the anomalous
source. The second voxel model display has been configured to show a series
of east-west transparent slices and one north-south slice.
Since this session uses a 3D display, it can be rotated, zoomed panned and
flown around and into using the various mouse controls.
Session D - 3D view of orebody with drilling and air photo.egs

Introduction 5
This session illustrates the software’s capability of displaying a variety of

different data object types. Shown are:
• Orebody (a 3D .DXF format object)
• Drill data annotated with downhole logged lithology
• Various mine development shafts and drives (as 3D .DXF objects)
• An air photograph draped over a terrain surface at the top of the view.
Integrating various display objects from different sources is a powerful feature of

Encom Discover PA.
Session E - Profiles of magnetics EM and CDI with map location and

titles.egs
As its name implies, Encom Discover PA can show line data from traverses of a
survey. The profiles presented can be configured simply to display data of
different data ranges, different origin and axis specifications and different line
and trace styles. The profile tracks can also contain trace data, image data or
layered presentations such as shown here where Conductivity Depth Images
are presented with trace data in adjoining profiles.
The above session files provide a fast method of viewing the vast range of
different data types and objects in Encom Discover PA. Session files however
have to initially be created and stored. While this is not difficult, there are a
number of different approaches to achieving this. Some are:
1. Load the datasets and simply add them directly to the display windows
required. This ‘direct’ form of display is probably the most typical of the
way users work. Features such as ‘drag and drop’ provide assistance
with this approach.
2. Use templates (either as supplied or develop your own). To create

displays that are similar to previous layouts, templates provide a fast and
structured way to work. Templates are especially useful if you need to
work to display data in a repeatable, company-specific way.
3. Use components to build displays. Components are like small templates

but they can added incrementally to a display to gradually construct you
final presentation.
Access to Tutorials
To assist you in learning how to use Encom Discover PA, these tutorials and
example data to use are included in the installation. Tutorials are composed of
projects that explain the operation and steps to follow, plus data used in the
tutorial exercise. All tutorials are based on real exploration situations in which
Encom Discover PA can be used to display, analyse and interpret line-based
and gridded data as well as a range of other useful exploration information.
The tutorial documentation is available from C:\Program Files\Encom Discover

PA\Documentation folder on your local drive. You need to have Adobe Acrobat
Reader installed to view and print the PDF files.
Tutorial data is available only after Encom Discover PA software is installed.

When installed, the tutorial data is placed in a series of sub-folders beneath a
\Example Data folder on the User’s “Documents” folder. The sub-folders are
individually referred to in the relevant tutorials.
Setting up the Tutorial

The various files used in this tutorial are installed into a folder called:
Example Data\Geosoft Swamp_MagEM
1. When initially executed, Encom Discover PA requests you specify a Project

Folder. Navigate to the folder for this tutorial (Example Data\Geosoft
Swamp_MagEM). This directory and all file access is made simpler by
using this project folder as the starting point for navigation. You can access
data from any other location but for managing the project, it is usually
simpler to have a default directory specified. If you wish to alter the Project
Folder without exiting Encom Discover PA, use the File>Set Project Folder
menu option. Click OK to accept the default Project Folder directory.
Introduction 7
Setting the Project Folder initially
Tutorial Background
The example dataset is selected from a geophysical airborne survey flown in
southern New South Wales, Australia. The geology is complex with a number of
steeply dipping interbedded volcanic units trending NE to SW adjacent to a
major fault. A granitic intrusion is located in the north of the region. Much of the
area is covered by swamp and is inaccessible to conventional ground surveys.
The aim of the survey was to map the area and determine the nature and extent
of the main structure and granitic intrusion. It is possible that the granite
intrudes volcanics and may host base metal accumulations that are known to
exist to the northwest of the survey area.
Geophysical methods undertaken in the provided survey include magnetics and

time domain electromagnetics (EM). Some advanced processing has already
been undertaken on this dataset using the EM Flow software and the results
stored in a second Geosoft Oasis montaj™ database.
Advanced Tutorial 9
2 Introductory Tutorial
This tutorial illustrates the some presentation formats available in
Encom Discover PA and provides step-by-step instructions that
introduce the concepts of multi-line displays. The example uses an
airborne geophysical dataset stored using Geosoft format. The
database contains acquired magnetics and time domain EM data. In
addition, a second database has results of depth and conductivity
derived from processing the EM data.
You will learn how to display multiple profiles, sections and image
maps. Navigation through the survey is required and manual picking
of anomalies is demonstrated. The outcome is a series of anomalies
representing an initial interpretation of the survey.
Tutorial Steps
The following tasks should be undertaken for this tutorial:
Step 1 – Open a Geosoft Database
1. Open some Geosoft databases by selecting

File>Open>Geosoft Oasis Montaj or else by clicking on the
Open Geosoft button (shown left) on the Main toolbar. Browse
to the Project Folder:
\Example Data\Geosoft Swamp MagEM
Select both the Swamp MagEM.GDB and Swamp_EMFlow.gdb

databases and click Open.
Once opened, databases are displayed by name in a data

spreadsheet along with the database fields and lines etc. Menus
and toolbar buttons along the top of Encom Discover PA are
now active.
2. Review the data content of the survey from the spreadsheet

window. To close the spreadsheet click on the Close button in
the top right hand corner of the window. To reopen the window
select the File>New>Database Spreadsheet or the
Spreadsheet button. The spreadsheet lists the two databases
and can be used to interrogate the data fields of the various
survey lines. In particular, note the data field names and the
array, multi-band channels, such as EM.
Spreadsheet of data contained in two Swamp databases.
Encom Discover PA can access two or more databases

concurrently. In this tutorial, the databases contain different
information that can be displayed simultaneously in profile,
graph and map displays.
Close the Spreadsheet window by selecting the Close icon in

the top right hand corner of the spreadsheet.
Step 2 – Open a 2D Flight Path Map
1. To understand the survey area coverage, a Flight Path Map can be used.
Create this basic map by selecting the File>New>Map>2D Flight Path
Map or by using the pull-down Map button on the Documents toolbar.
Alternatively click the Add Flight Path button on the Data Objects toolbar.
A new 2D map window will appear and display the flight path lines for the
Swamp_EMFlow database.
Initial flight path map of database Swamp_EMFLOW.GDB
2. The Swamp_EMFlow database is a subset of the

Swamp_MagEM database which has been processed in the
Encom EMFlow software product. To view the full survey area
Advanced Tutorial 11
select the Flight Path branch of the Workspace tree and

choose the Properties pop-up menu item (right mouse click or
double click the FlightPath branch) to display the property
dialog.
3. From the File tab dialog, change the Data Source for the Flight
Path map by clicking on the dropdown list and selecting the
Swamp_MagEM.gdb file listed.
4. From the Flight Path Map note that both traverse and tie lines are present
in the survey database and the traverse lines are acquired east-west. To
remove the tie lines from the display view the File tab and highlight the tie
lines (line 27010 and higher) in the Show list and click on the left arrow
button (shown left) to move these lines to the Hide list to deselect these
lines from the map display.
Properties dialog of Flight Path map and data source control
Note i. For any changes to take effect, you MUST click on the Apply button at
the base of the dialog.
ii. When a Properties dialog is displayed, use the ‘pin’ symbol in the top left
corner to ‘pin’ the dialog to the screen. This means you do not have to
redisplay the Properties item every time you want to control an object's
properties. If you do click OK, which makes the dialog vanish, you can
re-display it by a double click of the branch item.
5. With the full survey flight lines displayed in a 2D map line labels
and direction symbols can be applied. From the Flight Path
properties dialog, select the Label Start box and click Apply. The
names appear for each line on the map display. The text for these
labels can be changed by selecting the Text Style… button.
Flight Path Properties Appearance dialog..
6. To display arrows representing the direction of flight along

the lines enable the Symbol Start tick box and if necessary
adjust the Symbol size to suit your screen resolution.
Flight path map of the entire Swamp survey
Step 3 – Display a Grid Image
1. It is possible to visualise grid images with the flight path

map. Highlight the Map 1 branch in the workspace tree and
right mouse click on this to view the pop-up menu. Select
the Add Data>Grids menu option and a grids branch will
be added to the workspace tree.
2. View the Grids Properties dialog by right mouse clicking on

the grids branch and choose Properties from the pop-up
menu.
3. The Grids Properties dialog is larger than most. It has buttons in

the top left corner to Add, Delete, Copy or Re-order image
surfaces plus create Pseudocolour, RGB, Contours or use
Located images). By default a Pseudocolour surface (comprising
Colour and Intensity layers) is added to the image branches in the
Grid Group tree.
4. The Pseudocolour branch will be highlighted by default,

displaying a Browse button in the centre of the dialog. Click on
this button (shown left) and navigate to:
\Example Data\Geosoft Swamp MagEM\Grid Surfaces
Select the swamp_tmi.ers (ER Mapper) grid file and click Open.
A preview of the grid image will be displayed in the grids
Properties dialog before it is applied to the 2D map display.
If the Auto Apply tick box is selected prior to opening this grid the
image will be automatically added to the map display.
The default properties for TMI grid in the Grid Properties dialog.
5. Experiment with the controls and image source files using the
Colour and Intensity layers.
The Intensity layer can be used to enhance shading in the

image. Two crosses (red and yellow) are present. The red
cross can be moved with the left button depressed and this
allows real-time shade manipulation (with the Auto-Apply
option enabled). The combined yellow cross and right button
depressed provides image highlights to be enhanced that can
be used to visualise subtle gradient changes and minor
features.
6. Additional layers (either pseudocolour, contours, RGB or ER

Mapper algorithms and Located Images) can be added to the
image display with the Add buttons located above the Grid
Group workspace tree. Press the Add Contour button from
toolbar above the tree and choose the Swamp_tmi.ers grid from
the drop down list to view contours over the magnetics grid.
7. The properties of the Contour branch allow access to three

property buttons for adjusting of the Contour Interval (set to be
25 nT), Colour, Labelling and Dropout.
8. Experiment with the arrowed Order buttons to move the

contours below and then above the Pseudocolour image layer.
Note the drawing order.
Click OK on the Grids Properties dialog and the flight path

map will overlay an image of TMI.
To view the coordinate system of the grid image click on the

Coordinate System icon in the workspace tree located to the
right of the Grids branch.
An information dialog will appear similar to that shown below.

To edit the coordinate system right click on the grid file branch in the Data Manager
window and select Modify projection from the pop-up menu.
Changing the coordinate system for a grid file.
To change the coordinate system of the map (so that all data objects within the map have
the same projection ) on the fly, view the Axes tab of the Map Frame Properties dialog by
right mouse clicking on the Map Frame in the workspace tree. The resultant image shows
the contours and flight path on top of the image. The distinctive magnetic structure in this
survey shows the main NW-SE trending fault plus the low amplitude zone of the granitic
intrusive in the north. The high amplitude response of the metavolcanic units is evident to
the south of the granite.
Image of Swamp magnetic (TMI) grid with contours and flight path lines.
Step 4 – Creating a Curve Profile Display
1. To examine an EM data profile, select the File>New>Profile>Curve

Profile menu item or click the Profile pull-down button. Initially, the first
data field of the first data line of the first database is displayed
(Swamp_EMFlow.GDB). Profile Frame and Profile branches appear in the
Workspace tree.
2. Beneath the Profile branch is a Curve branch. Double left mouse click on
this to display the Curve Properties dialog and select the Data tab to
change the database being displayed to Swamp_MagEM.gdb. Click Apply
and then click on the Fields tab. The initial data field level is the Baro
channel). To change this to the EM channel, alter the Y Field being
accessed from the Fields tab and select the EM data channel. A multi-
banded dataset channel (EM) is listed with 18 data bands.
Data field selection procedure

Click the Apply button and the profile display updates. The
resultant profile appears as shown below:
Profile of line 20010 linearly scaled
3. By default, the traces are colour modulated. This is due to the

default of using a data band to modulate the trace. To make
monochrome, select the Line Style tab of the Curve
Properties and turn off Modulate Line Colour. To change the
default line colour from grey click on the Default Line Style
button and choose another colour from the Line Style dialog.
4. To change the Y-scale to logarithmic instead of linear, right

click on the Profile 1 branch in the workspace tree and display
the Profile Properties dialog by selecting Properties from the
pop-up menu. Select the Y-Scale tab dialog and choose the
Logarithmic scaling option, linear between +/-1.
5. 5. The Transform Y tab on the Curve Properties dialog also

allows you to generate a transform that will space the
channels out in order to better view the lower amplitude
channels.
Select the Reverse Progressive Transform option from the

Apply Transform drop down box and enter a Translate (T)
value of 100. Also select the Apply real time filter check box
and select the Gaussian Smooth filter with a width of 15.
Applying a Transform to multi-channel data

Click the Apply button and notice how the original data alters. This
transform has separated each data channel by adding 1000
successively to the individual data channels. Therefore the last data
channel (18) has no offset added, channel 17 has 1000 added,
channel 16 has 2,000 added etc.
The Gaussian Smooth operator is a convolution filter used to

remove detail and noise.
6. Multiple traverses can be displayed simply by Cloning the Profile.

Do this twice to add two new profiles. Select the Profile branch and
click the right mouse button. From the pop-up menu, choose
Clone>Graph. Note that by default the line number for cloned
profiles has automatically incremented.
EM Profiles from three adjacent lines
From each of the Profile objects in the Workspace tree you can
control the line number that is displayed in each track using the
Data tab.
Step 5 – Line Navigation Using the Line Iterator
1. The Line Iterator is a toolbar which allows you to step the display though
the line set one line at a time or otherwise jump to a specific line. Use the
right and left arrow buttons to step forward or backwards through the
lines.
To reverse the line direction, toggle the Reverse Line Direction button.
To jump to a specific line click on the Line Selection button (shown left and
select a line from the drop-down list.
2. If a flight path map is displayed, the lines are also highlighted in the map.
This provides a means of relating the map and profile displays. Both the
profile and map windows update as the Line Iterator is used. Experiment
with the forward and backwards buttons on the line iterator toolbar and
selecting a line number from the line drop down list to see the flight path
map display update. The highlighted red lines indicate the currently active
lines in the profile display.
3. Next, create a layered conductivity-depth section in the document.

To do this, right mouse click on the Profile Frame branch of the
workspace tree and select the Add>Section Profile pop-up menu
option.
4. The Swamp_EMFlow.GDB database contains records of multi-band

data with conductivity and depths. The conductivity is associated
with the depth values for each reading. Each Depth band equates to
a 2 metre depth layer (the original resolution of the EM Flow
inversion output). Select the Section branch and display the
Section Properties dialog. From the Data tab, ensure the Dataset
is set to Swamp_EMFlow.GDB. Using the Fields tab, select the
Depth data field for Depth and the Cond data field for Colour.
Select the Depth and Cond data fields for the Depth and Colour levels
Select the Apply button and the CDI displays in the bottom track.
5. Delete the top two tracks (Profile 1 and Profile 2) by right mouse
clicking on the Profile 1 and Profile 2 branches of the workspace
tree and choose the Delete>Profile pop-up menu option for each.
Two profiles of EM data with a CDI section displayed
6. If topographic information is available from the altimeter and a

barometer or digital elevation model, the Offset data source can be
used to adjust the top surface of the CDI section to conform to
topography. In the Swamp_EMFlow dataset, the appropriate data
field for Offset is Z.
Two EM profiles with CDI section display when Offset is applied
Use the Line Iterator to step the display through sequential lines.
Step 6 – Creating a Template of Profiles and Maps
Combine the profile and map displays into one document (template)
by using the Copy and Paste operations available for each display
type.
1. Starting with the Profile Display select the Page Layout option from the
View menu (or toolbar button, shown left) and the profile display window
will change to display the full page and page margins. You can see that
the default page orientation is Portrait. This can be changed from the
File>Page Setup menu option or by clicking on the right mouse button
over the Document branch at the very top of the workspace tree and
selecting Page Setup. The usual Page Setup dialog will appear.
For this exercise change the layout to Landscape orientation.

3. The blue frame of the Profile display can be moved and resized by
first selecting the Profile Frame branch in the workspace tree so that
four grey “handles” of the frame are visible. Position the cursor on
anyone of these handles to change the cursor appearance to a
double-headed arrow. Select the handle while in this mode and drag
it to resize the frame. Position the cursor anywhere outside of these
handles but still on the blue frame and the frame can be moved
without being resized.
4. Adjust the position of the profile display using the blue border so
that the profiles only occupy the left half of the document page as
illustrated below:
5. Make the Flight Path Map display with the grid image applied to it
the active window and with the right mouse button click on the Map
Frame branch in the workspace tree to display the pop-up menu.
From this menu select the Copy option.
6. Return to the Profile Display window and click on the Document

branch with the right mouse button and select Paste from the pop-
up menu that appears. The map display will then appear in the
same document window as the profiles, although it may be
positioned over the top of the profiles.
7. To re-adjust the position and size of the map frame select the Map
Frame branch from the workspace tree to display the grey handles
on the blue frame of the map display and then move the frame
accordingly so that the map display finally appears on the right half
of the page document as illustrated below.
8. To complete the document a titleblock with company logo image

and text annotations can be inserted. These are able to be made
manually by using the below options in the Objects toolbar:
The alternative is to use one of the available Titleblock components

which are installed with Encom Discover PA and reside in the
Titleblock sub-folder in the Components Gallery folder located
under the main \Encom Discover PA directory.
9. To insert one of these titleblock components into the page document use
the Insert>Component… menu option or select the Insert Component
button on the Objects toolbar.
The below Component Selection dialog will appear in the default Parent
Directory of the Component Gallery. Double click the left mouse button on
the Titleblock folder to display the contents and a preview of each
titleblock style will appear in the right half of the dialog as each style is
highlighted. When you have chosen one click the OK button to return to
the page document.
10. You will notice that the cursor has changed to a white “+” with a page
hanging from it. This indicates that the cursor is now in “insert” mode so
that you can drag out a rectangle of the size that you want to use for your
titleblock. Position the cursor just below the bottom left corner of the map
display frame and click and hold the left mouse button down before
dragging the cursor diagonally to the bottom right margin of the page
before releasing the mouse button. When the mouse button is release the
area that has been dragged out should populate with the titleblock
component that was selected from the gallery.
11. You will notice in the workspace tree that a series of frame, text and
picture branches are visible which combine to create the titleblock. The
text and picture objects are embedded within the frames so that when the
outer frame is moved the objects are moved with it. To make an object
NOT embedded within a frame simply right mouse click on the text or
picture branch in the workspace tree and select Float from the pop-up
menu. To embed the object again select Embed from the same pop-up
menu.
12. The text in the titleblock will need to be edited. To do this access the Text
Properties dialog for the appropriate text object in the workspace tree by
double left mouse clicking on it and the edit the text. Change the Titleblock
heading text to “Swamp Mag-EM Airborne Survey” and the edit the other
text entry accordingly.
Text Properties dialog.

3 Advanced Tutorial
In addition to the Introductory Tutorial described in the previous
chapter, this tutorial allows the same dataset area (Geosoft Swamp
Mag-EM) to be extended to a smaller exploration survey area where
additional data is available. Shown in this tutorial are:
• display of geophysical images in three dimensions
• draping of one data surface over a topographic surface
• draping an aerial photograph over the topography
• displaying interpretation sections in the 3D environment
• adding a drillhole dataset for display in three dimensions
• configuring the drillhole display to show lithology or assay

data values
• adding an intersected orebody resource and development

items.
Tutorial Steps
Step 1 – Displaying a 3D Grid Surface
1. Execute Encom Discover PA and open a 3D Grid Map display

using the File>New>Map>3D Grid Map menu option or else
click on the drop-down button for creating a new Map (shown
left) on the Documents toolbar and choose the 3D Grid Map
option.
A map window capable of displaying three-dimensional surfaces

and objects is displayed. Also displayed should be the Grids
Properties dialog. If this does not display, select the Grids
branch in the Workspace and double click it with the left mouse
button.
2. Using the Load New Grid button in the Grids Properties,

navigate to the \Grid Surfaces folder (of the Geosoft Swamp
MagEM tutorial dataset), select the Swamp_tmi.ers data file.
The grid also displays in the Preview window of the Grids
Properties dialog.
Display of Swamp magnetics in a 3D Map window
3. Select the Surface branch of the Grid Group tree in the Grids
Properties dialog. Ensure the Auto-Apply button is enabled
and experiment with the sliders/entry boxes to control the
Offset and Scale of the 3D image.
4. Add a 3D Axis to the 3D display to provide a reference by selecting the

3D Map in the Workspace, right clicking and from the pop-up menu,
choose Add Axis>3D Axis. Alternatively click on the Add Axis button
on the Data Objects toolbar.
Step 2 – Navigating in a 3D Display
1. Experiment with the 3D navigational controls in Encom Discover

PA using the 3D buttons on the Zoom Controls toolbar.
For a smooth navigation in 3D make sure that the 3D navigation

button is selected. Once this is selected, move the cursor to the 3D
display window where you will notice that the cursor appearance
changes from an arrow to a hand.
The following mouse button and cursor sequences are described:

To vary the navigation use the following mouse operations:
• Left mouse button depressed with movement up and

down the window (vertically) - rotates the image about a
horizontal axis
• Left mouse button depressed with movement to the left

and right (horizontally) - rotates the image about a vertical
axis
• Right mouse button with movement up and down the

window (vertically) - zooms the image in or out of the
display. Note: Horizontal movement does nothing.
• Both Left and Right mouse buttons depressed together

with left and right (horizontal) cursor movement pans the
view left or right.
• Both Left and Right mouse buttons depressed with

vertical cursor movement produces a ‘fly-through’ operation.
Combining this movement with a horizontal cursor
movement allows a directional fly-through of an image.
• Sensitivity and speed of movement is controlled by the

cursor’s distance from the centre point of the 3D window
observed when in 3D navigation as a black cube. When in
3D Navigation mode, the speed of zooming and panning
(but not rotation) can be controlled by selecting any of the
numeric keys 0-9. The number 1 causes the slowest speed
of movement and speed increases until 9 (and 0) provide
the fastest movement.
Keyboard entries with mouse manipulation can also be used to

control 3D display operation. Available combinations include:
• SHIFT key plus pressed left mouse button repositions

image view by panning vertically or horizontally (this only
operates in Navigate 3D mode). Nearer the centre of the
view reduces the speed of panning.
• CTRL key plus pressed left mouse button repositions image

view by rotation about the horizontal and vertical axes. This
can result in the image rotating as well as panning (this only
operates in Navigate 3D mode). With the CTRL key
pressed, the 3D cursor functionality moves the focus of the
eye such that you can rotate the view about your current
eye position. Nearer the centre of the view reduces the
speed of panning.
If you have a mouse with ‘roller’ wheel controls, you can also use these for 3D
Note
navigation. Place the cursor in the 3D window, press and rotate the wheel to
zoom or pan the 3D display.
Step 3 – Colouring a 3D Grid Surface by another Grid
1. In the present format, the magnetics grid is coloured by the

Colour layer. By default, Encom Discover PA uses the same
grid but you can have it use an alternative grid. Select the
Colour branch of the Grid Group tree and using the Load New
Grid button, select an alternative grid, say, Swamp_K.ers. This
grid is the result of the potassium channel of the airborne survey
acquired with the magnetics in the survey area.
Once selected, note the colouring of the grid alters, but the
surface shape still reflects the Magnetic (TMI) grid since the
Surface layer of the Grid Group tree is set to this alternative
grid.
Potassium grid colours displayed over the magnetics grid surface
2. Until now, only a Pseudocolour image has been used. RGB or ER Mapper
algorithms can also be used as draped grids over a 3D surface. From the
Surface Properties dialog, select the RGB button. This adds Red, Green,
Blue and Intensity layers to the Grid Group tree.
3. Using the Load Surface button, select the Swamp_Topo.ers file. This is
another ER Mapper grid, but it has three bands corresponding to
Red:Green:Blue and so is a raster image derived from a scan of a
cadastral map. The new image drapes over the magnetics surface.
Scanned cadastral RGB raster image draped over the magnetics surface
4. Another useful application of this draping technique is to use it

with aerial photography. In this case the approach is identical to
the previous step, but with a raster or scanned image derived
from an aerial photograph draped over a topographic DTM grid
surface.
Open a new 3D Map window with the Swamp_Local_DTM.ers

grid file displayed as a 3D surface using the File>New>Map>3D
Grid Map menu option. The Swamp_Local_DTM.ers grid file
can be found in the Geosoft Swamp Mag-
EM\Air_Photo_Cadastral folder of the Encom Discover PA
Example Data directory. Click on the Load Grid File button in
the Grids properties dialog to browse for this file and click Open
and then Apply.
5. Over this surface a raster (Red:Green:Blue) aerial photograph is

to be draped. In the Grids Properties dialog, click the RGB
button and using the Load Grid File button again, load the
Swamp_colourphoto.ers file.
Air photograph displayed draped over a topographic surface
Step 4 – Clipping a Grid by another Grid
When displayed, note that the coverage of the two surfaces is

not the same. This is not a problem for Encom Discover PA
except that the DTM grid area where there is no raster coverage
will appear in grey.
Clipping the grid to the area of the airphoto would remove this grey
area. This can be done in Encom Discover PA using the Grid Utility
plug-in accessed from the Gridding menu.
1. Open the Grid Utility from the Gridding menu and select the
Utilities button in the Grid Utility dialog that appears and
choose the Grid To Grid Clip option from the list that appears.
2. In the grid list at the top of the dialog highlight the

Swamp_Local_DTM.ers grid (the grid to be clipped), which will
be added to the Main grid box in the parameters for this utility.
3. Next choose the Swamp_colourphoto.ers raster file from the

drop-down list for the Secondary grid. Ensure that the Action to
Clip to the area of the secondary grid is selected.
The Grid utility dialog showing the Grid to Grid Clip utility parameters.
4. Click the Update button to refresh the preview shown on the

right hand edge of the dialog. When the parameters are set
accordingly select the Save as… button and save the clipped
grid as a new grid file with a suffix of “_clipped” added to the file
name.
5. The clipped grid will automatically open in a 2D map display.

Close this window and in the 3D display already created edit the
Grids Properties by highlighting the 3D Surface branch and
choose the Swamp_Local_DTM_Clipped.ers grid from the drop
down list available. Click Apply to display the changes to the
3D surface in the window.
Step 5 – Displaying Geo-referenced Geological Sections
1. The area of the survey has been geologically mapped. From the
mapping a series of geological sections have been interpreted.
Nine sections have been provided as scanned images in the
\Geosoft Swamp Mag-EM\Bitmap Interpretations example data
folder. All nine images are associated and geo-referenced with
a location file (called an EGB – Encom Georeferenced Bitmap
file). This ASCII file permits an image file (e.g. bitmap, jpeg,
png, geotiff etc) to be located for display in maps, sections or
3D displays.
2. Using the 3D map already created and displaying the aerial photography,
right mouse click on the 3D Map 1 branch in the workspace tree and
select Add Data>Located Image. An Images branch will be added to the
tree.
3. Display the Images Properties dialog by right mouse clicking

on this branch and selecting Properties from the pop-up menu
that appears. Select the File tab dialog and click on the Browse
button to navigate to the \Bitmap Interpretations example data
folder and highlight the Geological_Sections.egb file. Click
Open and then Apply to view the geological cross-sections in
the 3D Map display.
Images properties dialog for a series of geological sections.
4. Sections 1, 2, 3, and 11 are located away from the 3D surface

so these can be hidden from view. To hide these sections click
on the tick boxes belonging to these four images to remove the
ticks and the images should disappear from the display.
5. The top of each section image has an area of white that is

not necessary to be visible. Display the Images Properties
dialog again and in the File tab click on the Edit button for
the Mesh display. This will display the Image tab dialog for
the Located Image. Enable the tick box for Specify
transparent colour + range and make sure that the colour is
white. Then select the Apply to All option from the drop-
down list at the bottom of this dialog before clicking OK.
Click Apply on the Images Properties dialog.
Images Properties dialog with white transparency enabled.
Step 6 – Displaying 3D Drillholes
Based on the geological interpretation, a test drill was sited in the

area. After encouraging drill assay results, an extensive drill
program was undertaken. An Encom Discover drillhole database
was used to store both the assay and lithology data acquired during
the drilling.
1. Access the Discover drillhole database by selecting the Open

Discover Drillholes button on the Main toolbar or by using the
File>Open>Downhole>Discover Downhole menu option.
Discover uses MapInfo Professional and .TAB files to store the
database. A Collar, Survey and Assay table are available and
these are located in the Geosoft Swamp Mag-EM\Drilling
Data\Discover Drillhole Data example data folder. In the
Browse dialog that appears select the four .TAB files together
using the Ctrl key and click Open.
Encom Discover PA loads the data and will display a spreadsheet of

the data. You can examine the drillholes in the project using the
options of the spreadsheet display. Close the spreadsheet window
once you have looked at the data.
2. Select the 3D Map 1 branch in the Workspace tree and click the right
mouse button. Choose the Add Data>Drillhole Group. An alternative is to
click the Add Drillholes button on the Data Objects toolbar. A Drillholes
branch is added to the Workspace plus a single drillhole is displayed
(although it may be difficult to see due to the scale of the other objects).
3. You can navigate the 3D display to a location that views the hole near the
geological section number 4. The Holes tab of the Drillholes Properties
dialog allows you to select additional drillholes. You can either select from
the Hole selection list or graphically from the Hole Selection button as
shown below.
Select drillholes graphically or from the displayed list of the Holes tab
4. With a range of drillholes displayed, you can adjust their

appearance as required. The first parameter to adjust is the
default thickness of the holes. Click on the Appearance tab for
the Drillhole Properties and ensure that the drillhole Style is set
to 3D Tube with a Thickness of 8. Please note that the
thickness required may vary depending on your screen
resolution.
The Appearance properties dialog for drillholes.
Step 7 – Modulating Downhole Data
1. In the database loaded, the assay data logged from the holes
can be plotted. To do this, select the Drillholes property dialog
Colour tab and enable the Colour tick box to gain access to the
drop down list of drillhole fields. From the pull-down list, choose
the Swamp_Assays_Cu_ppm data field and then click on the
Colour Modulation Edit button. Select the Legend option and
choose the Cu-1 legend table from the available list. When you
click Apply, the drillholes are displayed with lithology patterns.
Selection of the Colour/Legend modulation of the Cu assays of the drillholes
2. As well as being represented by colour modulation, assay

results can be represented by a thickening of the drillhole trace
in the 3D display. In the Appearance tab of the Drillhole
Properties dialog enable the Modulate option in the Thickness
section and choose the Swamp_Assays_Cu_ppm field from the
drop-down list. Use the By Default modulation option and enter
a minimum and maximum value of From 5 To 20. Click Apply to
observe this affect. The thickness of each drillhole will vary in a
gradual manner based upon the assay values. Now enable the
Discrete samples option in the Styles section of the

Appearance tab. The thickness of the drillholes will now appear
disk-like for it is showing the discrete from and to depths down
the drillhole for each assay value.
Thickness modulation using default min/max values.
3. An alternative to this method of thickness modulation is to

modulate by a legend file, in this case the Cu-1 legend used in
the colour modulation properties. The thickness of the drillhole
is dependant on the assay values and line thickness values
recorded in the legend file.
Thickness modulation using an applied legend file.
4. To observe what this legend file looks like select Tools>Legend

Editor from the main menu and select the Cu-1 legend file from
the list in the Legend Editor utility that appears.
The Legend Editor utility showing values for the Cu-1 legend file.
5. It is possible to show the values for multiple assays down a

drillhole by using the 3D Rose style. From the Appearance tab,
select the 3D Rose hole style from the drop-down list in the
Style options.
The 3D Rose style Properties and Petal Channels dialog.
6. Once this style of drillholes is selected a Petals button will

appear. Press this button to display the Petal Channels dialog.
This dialog controls the tube thickness of drillholes as either
discs or enlarged tubes.
7. Up to 8 numeric downhole data fields can be specified by

checking a Show box and selecting the required field to display
from the adjacent pull-down lists. Enable the first Show box to
activate an assay field to display and then specify the
Swamp_Assays_Cu_ppm field from the active drop-down list.
This field will be used to control the drillhole diameter. The
default colour for this petal channel is red, however this colour
will only be displayed if there is no drillhole colour modulation
specified in the Colour tab of the Drillhole Properties dialog.
8. Ensure both the Enhance and Global options are checked to

modulated the thickness. The Enhance option will display the
assay value for each depth using a logarithmic expansion. The
Global option will scale the data in each hole with respect to the
entire dataset, rather than the default scaling of scaling each
hole individually. Although not used in this tutorial the Sharpen
option squares the data to give greater weighting to larger
values. This is a useful way of exaggerating the visual display of
high grade intercepts. Press the Apply button and note how the
displayed drillhole diameters alter.
9. Enable the Show box for the next two rows in the Petal
Channels dialog and nominate the Au-ppm and Ag-ppm assay
fields. Also enable the Enhance and Global options for these
assay diameters. Press OK on this dialog and Apply on the
Drillhole Properties dialog.
10. You will see that the drillholes are still colour modulated by the
Cu_ppm assay field from the database and the applied Cu-1
legend file. Select the Colour tab of the Drillhole Properties and
disable the Colour tick box and press Apply. The drillhole
depths will now be divided into three sectors coloured red
(Cu_ppm), blue (Au_ppm) and green (Ag_ppm).
11. Finally the rotation angle of the petals around the drillholes can
be altered by specifying an angle between 0 and 360 in the
Initial Angle box, located below the Petals button in the
Appearance tab. Experiment with these angles until you are
happy with the view.
Thickness specification of copper and gold data in the drillholes
Step 7 – Displaying 3D Models
1. Based on the drillholes and the recorded assay and lithological

information, a three dimensional size interpretation of an
intersected orebody was developed in a mine planning

package. The orebody, when available in 3D DXF format can be
displayed in Encom Discover PA. Press the Add Vector button
on the Data Objects toolbar to add a 3D Vector branch to the
workspace tree. Right mouse click on the branch and choose
Properties from the pop-up menu to display the 3D Vector
Properties dialog. In the File tab browse for the
Orebody_Volume.dxf file located in the Geosoft Swamp Mag-
EM\Orebody\ folder and press Open and Apply.
2. The orebody will appear near the geological cross-section

called Section 7. In the display below, the Located Images have
been toggled off using the tick boxes in the workspace tree to
clearly see the orebody.
3. In the File tab dialog of the 3D Vector Properties enable the

Geometry Option of Smooth Surface and enter a Sharp Angle
of 150.
4. To assist in visualising the object select the Transparency tab

and adjust the Transparency of the object to approximately
20%.
5. Finally select the Surface tab and enable the Override Fill tick
box and press the grey button to change the colour of the
orebody to a colour that does not interfere with the other data
objects in the 3D display.
6. Proposed development drives, shafts and adits are also used to

indicate possible development. These are available as .DXF
files stored in the same \Orebody folder.
Drillholes with lithology, orebody and development shafts.

Voxel Modeller Tutorial 39
4 Geology Integration Tutorial

This tutorial is designed to illustrate various presentation formats
available in Encom Discover PA that bring together a wide range of
geoscience data and view them in an integrated presentation. The
datasets draw largely from GIS data and include the following:
• Elevation surface
• Geophysical surfaces (magnetics)
• Mapped geology
• Geochemical assay surfaces
• Drilling information
• Section interpretations derived from drilling
• Mine plan and modelling data.
The GIS data is derived from Encom Discover but could be ArcGIS
or other sources. You will learn how to display the various data
formats, present them in both two and three dimensions and
develop an understanding of the spatial relationships between
surface and below-surface objects.
Encom Discover Use

If you have access to Encom Discover (using the MapInfo GIS
software), various .TAB and .MAP files are available in the
\Discover folder for use in demonstrating how the interpreted
sections were derived. Refer to the Encom Discover documentation
for additional information on creating maps, drillhole projects and
section interpretation.
If you do not have the Discover software available, you will still be
able to display much of the tutorial using Encom Discover PA.
The Discover software has been the main source for the various file
formats used in the integration shown here. An example of section
creation and surface geology mapping is shown below:
Encom Discover used to generate a geological section and surface map
Within the various Discover directories are numerous TAB files that
contain the sections and drilling information. As examples of the
interaction with Encom Discover PA, the sections are transferred as
Located Image (.EGB) bitmaps, the drilling as .TAB files and the
mapping as a MID/MIF or ER Mapper surface file. The elevation
surface can also be found as both a MapInfo .TAB file or as a
Geosoft grid file.
Tutorial Background
The example data is selected from a fictitious geological
exploration, drilling and mine development project in Western
Australia. The surface mapping and geochemical results are based
on field sampling programs and initial drilling is located due to
anomalous gold soil geochemistry. Both reverse circulation (RC)
and diamond core drilling was undertaken and based on this data
plus the assay results from core samples, a detailed geological
depth interpretation was developed.
Some geophysical modelling based on airborne and surface

magnetics was used and some geophysical block models are
available for integration with the exploration presentation.
Successful delineation of a mineral resource resulted in an open pit

and underground mine being developed and this can also be
presented using Encom Discover PA.
Tutorial Steps
Step 1 – Using Encom Discover
If you have access to Encom Discover you may wish to investigate

some of the supplied Workspaces, drill project and .TAB files used
to create the mapping, sections and drilling displays. See an
example of an interpretation section and geology map above.
Step 2 – Opening a Discover Drillhole Dataset
Even if you do not have Discover available, execute Encom

Discover PA and initially set the Project Folder to the \Encom
Discover PA\Example Data\Geology Project directory.
1. Select the Open Discover Drillhole button on the Main toolbar (

or use the File>Open>Downhole>Discover Downhole menu
option) and navigate to the \Discover\Drilling folder. Ensure that
you select all together the three tab files available called Collar,
Survey and Assays.TAB.
Select the Collars, Survey and Assays TAB files
Once opened, Encom Discover PA displays a spreadsheet of the

data with the various data fields available. Note in the assay data
that gold (Au), copper (Cu) and others are available.
Spreadsheet of assay data in various imported drillholes

Step 3 – Display a 2D Geological Map
1. Initially, display a 2D map by pressing the button to display the

drop-down options for a Map display (shown left) and choosing
2D Grid Map from the list. Press the Add Vector button
(shown left) from the Data Objects toolbar to add a 2D Vector
branch to the workspace tree. Right mouse click on this branch
and select Properties from the pop-up menu to display the 2D
Vector Properties dialog.
2. In the File tab press the Browse button to navigate to the
\Geology Project\Discover\ Geology and Mapping\ folder and
select the MapInfo vector file called Surface_Geology.MIF.
Geological map created in Discover and displayed in a 2D map with vector

properties.
Step 4 – Display 2D Drillhole Traces
1. Add the drillholes to the map to locate them. Because the

drillhole dataset is already open in the software display the Data
Manager window and select the Collars_NT drillhole dataset
from under the Datasets folder and drag the file into the 2D map
window. Alternatively highlight the Map 1 branch in the
workspace tree, click the right mouse button and select Add
Data>Drillhole Group.
2. By default only the first drillhole is drawn. Right mouse click on

the Drillhole branch and choose Properties from the pop-up
menu to display the Drillhole Properties dialog. Select all or a
subset of holes to have them display over the geology surface
from the Holes tab of the Drillholes Properties dialog. You can
also graphically select the required drillholes using the Hole
Selection button.
Select all drillholes in the Drillhole Properties Holes tab dialog
3. The Drillhole traces may be difficult to locate on the map scale

that is presented by default. Use the Data Zoom In button on
the Zoom toolbar or else click on the Zoom To Extents icon
located in the workspace tree to the right of the Drillholes
branch. The map should zoom in to show the drillhole traces in
greater detail.
4. Display the Drillhole Properties dialog again and select the

Symbols tab. Enable the tick box for Collar Symbol and press
the Collar Symbol button to display the Symbol Selector
dialog. Enable the TrueType Font option and choose the Map
Symbols font type from the drop-down list. Select a symbol
best representing a drillhole collar from the displayed symbols
and adjust the font Size to 10 and press the Fill Colour button
to apply a red colour to the symbols. Click OK to return to the
Symbols tab dialog.
The Symbol Selector dialog for drillhole collars.
5. Enable the tick box for Collar Label and press the Collar Label
button to display the Advanced Arrangement dialog. Press the
Font button to display the Font dialog and increase the font
Size to 8 and apply a Bold font style. Click OK on both dialogs
to return to the Drillhole Properties Symbols tab dialog and click
Apply.
The Font dialog for drillhole collars.

6. You will notice that the collar locations are now clearly marked
and labelled however the lines representing the drillhole traces
could be better presented. Select the Appearance tab dialog for
the Drillhole Properties and press the Line Style button.
Decrease the line Weight to 1.25 and leave the colour and style
as default grey solid line.
A 2D map display showing surface geology and drillhole traces.
7. To colour modulate the lines of the drillhole traces select the

Colour tab of the Drillhole Properties and enable the Colour tick
box. Select the Assays_NT_Au_ppm field from the drop-down
list and click on the second Edit button (for colour mapping) to
apply a Data Transform to the colour mapping of Log
(Increasing) from the Colour Mapping dialog. Click OK to
return to the Drillhole Properties dialog and click OK to close the
properties dialog.
Step 5 – 3D Display of Drillholes and Surface Geology
A similar display for three dimensions can be created as for a 2D

map.
1. Initially, use the File>New>Map menu item or Map pull-down button and
select the 3D Grid Map option. A new, empty 3D map window is
displayed.
2. Three dimensional displays require a surface (such as topography) to be
specified if a grid is to be presented. Specify the Geosoft grid surface
supplied that maps the elevation, called DEM_RL.GRD in the
\Discover\Geology and Mapping folder. The surface is automatically
displayed in the 3D Map window once selected.
3. To overlay the mapped geology onto the terrain, select the Add Red
Green Blue Surface button. From the new Red:Green:Blue layer in the
Grid Group tree, select the Surface_Geology.ers file located in the
\Geology and Mapping folder.
The vertical exaggeration of the elevation can be altered by either:
• adjusting all surface Z-Scale scaling from the 3D Map, Z-

Scale tab, 3D Scaling item or
• the Scale Multiplier of the Surface layer of the 3D Surface of

the elevation grid.
4. Navigation around the 3D display may be enabled by selecting the 3D

Cursor navigation button or clicking with the right mouse button with the
cursor located in the 3D window. Select the Navigate 3D item from the
pop-up menu.
Elevation surface with mapped geology draped across the surface
5. Add the drillholes to the 3D Map by pressing the Add Drillholes button on
the Data Objects toolbar or else right mouse click on the 3D Map 1 branch
in the workspace tree and choose Add Data>Drillholes.
6. Select all drillholes to display by moving them to the Show list in

the Holes tab of the Drillholes Properties dialog and click the
Apply button. Navigate and zoom to a display position that
allows the drillholes to be visible.
7. Select the Appearance tab and increase the Thickness of the

drillholes to 8. This value may vary from machine to machine
depending on the screen resolution.
8. While in the Drillhole Properties select the Symbols tab dialog

and enable the tick box for Collar Labels. Also enable the Collar
Symbols tick box and press OK.
Drillhole Properties Symbols tab dialog for displaying collar labels and symbols.
9. To make the upper geological surface have a light source shine

onto it view the Grids Properties by right mouse clicking on the
Grids branch in the workspace tree and select Properties from
the pop-up menu. Then highlight the 3D Surface branch in the
Grid Group Tree and enable the tick box for Switch off lighting
for this surface.
10. The collar labels are located above the DTM grid surface so to
make these visible apply a transparency to the surface by
viewing the 3D Surface branch in the Grids Properties and
adjust the transparency to 20% using the Transparency slide
bar. Click OK.
Drillhole traces beneath the draped surface geology and elevation surfaces
Step 6 – Displaying Assay Downhole Data
To display assay data associated with the drillholes, select the 3D

Rose Hole style from the drop down list in the Appearance tab and
then press the Petals button that appears to display the Petal
Channels dialog of the Drillhole Properties.
Assay data displayed down the drillholes with gold and silver rose diagrams
Enable a Show item and select the Au and Ag assay data channels
to be displayed. The selected assay fields are shown as ‘rose
diagrams’ at the depth in the drillholes where the samples were
recorded. If the scaling of the resultant ‘rose diagrams’ is too large
or too small, you can Sharpen or Enhance the scaling.
Step 7 – Display Georeferenced Images
To add a located, interpreted image of geology to the 3D display

map, press the Add Located Image button on the Data Objects
toolbar, or alternatively select the 3D Map branch of the Workspace
tree and click the right mouse to display the pop-up menu. Select
the Add Data>Located Image item.
The property dialog associated with the Located Image allows

selection of nominated images supplied with the tutorial. Display the
Images Properties dialog by right mouse clicking on the Images 1
branch in the workspace tree and selecting Properties from the
pop-up menu. Select the File tab and press the Browse button to
navigate to \Geology Project\Profile Analyst\Interp Sections folder
and select one of the Located Images (e.g. Section1.egb) available.
Click Apply and the 3D display will be updated with a geological
cross-section located image.
3D Map display with assay drillhole data plus located image.
Additional located images can be added to the display by either

repeating the above procedure or creating a Clone of the initial
located image (right mouse click on the original Images branch) and
then selecting another image file.
Step 8 – Display 3D Model
1. To add an object derived from a geophysical model, highlight

the 3D Map layer and click right to again display the pop-up
menu. Select the Add Data>3D Vector File item or alternatively
press the Add Vectors button from the Data Objects toolbar.
2. Using the Browse button on the Properties dialog of the

Vectors branch, specify the modelvision model.DXF in the
\Geology Project\Discover folder.
3. Modify colour and transparency if necessary using the Surface

and Transparency tab dialogs of the 3D Vector Properties.
Magnetic model (as a DXF file) derived from Encom ModelVision.

This model has been created by exporting a magnetically derived

model of two dyke-like bodies used to simulate the magnetic
response of an anomaly in the area.
5 Voxel Modeller Tutorial

This tutorial illustrates the gridding of geophysical multi-channel
data to produce a 3D voxel model and the various display options
available for interpretation.
Note Operations in this tutorial creating voxel model data require the functionality
available only in Encom Discover PA Professional. If you wish to use this
option but it is not available on your installation, please contact Pitney Bowes
Software.
Encom Discover PA provides two gridding utilities that create voxel

models suitable for voxel display. These are:
• Array Data 3D Gridding – This program (used in this tutorial)

is specifically for datasets that contain multi-banded array
data. A simple gridding approach is used where planar grids
are computed in east-west, north-south and then vertical
orientations. The gridding methods using this utility are either
a simple spline or minimum curvature. This method is fast but
not as elegant or accurate as the Voxel Toolkit.
• Voxel Toolkit – This method (described and used in the next

tutorial) provides a number of options for preconditioning the
input data and uses complex, distance based methodology to
optimally create a 3D grid. Although the toolkit can be used
with arrayed data (as is to be used in this tutorial), it can also
be used in other 3D data distribution situations such as
gridding results from drillholes.
A tutorial exercise, 3D Gridding, is also available and demonstrates

the use of the Voxel Toolkit. For this tutorial the Array Data 3D
Gridding method is described.
Constant Depth Interpolator

In this tutorial, the input dataset is derived from the EM Flow
inversion software. This software produces a Geosoft database
which has arrayed data for (1) Conductivity and (2) Depths of
layered conductivity solutions. These two parameters are used for
the gridding with the conductivity providing the ‘property’ of the
voxels at the defined depths.
A shortcoming of the EM Flow processed output however, is that

each record created commences at a relative depth of zero and
extends downwards (using the resolution defined by the processing,
i.e. 0, -2, -4, -6 -8 etc). As a relative depth scale is used, the data
requires an adjustment for topography.
Prior to the gridding therefore, it is advisable to adjust the depth of

the output data channels so that they are adjusted for topography of
the surveyed area. The Constant Depth Interpolator tool performs
this task and creates adjusted Depth and Data fields, which are
appended to the original database as additional channels.
Step 1 – Computing Depth Interpolation
1. To use the Constant Depth Interpolator to make vertical

adjustments to depths firstly load the input data file by pressing
the Open Geosoft button in the Main toolbar of alternatively
selecting File>Open…>Geosoft Oasis montajTM and load the
Swamp_EMFlow.GDB database.
2. From the Database menu select the Depth Interpolation

option to display the Constant Depth Interpolator utility dialog.
3. Enter the appropriate fields to reflect those in the dialog

illustrated below.
The Constant Depth Interpolator control dialog
The Dataset drop down box displays all loaded databases in the current
session. The Line Selection button next to this box (shown left) allows a
subset of survey lines contained within the displayed database to be selected
for interpolation. By default all lines are selected.
For the Input fields specify the Depth and Value fields from the
loaded database. Select the DTM field check box before selecting
the DTM or equivalent field from the database, i.e. Z. The Output
fields are named Depth_interp and Cond_interp by default. These
can be renamed if you wish.
Note that you need to have a digital terrain column (DTM) data
channel to make the adjustments to depth. If this channel is not
obvious you may be able to use the Line Calculator to create it from
say, GPS_Height –Altimeter or Barometer–Altimeter. Be aware that
these computations are approximations only and not as accurate as

a correctly adjusted DTM.
4. Click on the Compute min/max input depth button in the

Interpolation portion of the dialog to display the computed
minimum and maximum depths for the loaded database. This
process interrogates all selected data lines and examines the
Depth data channel.
5. Click on the Process button to complete the depth adjustment. After the
computation has completed the two calculated fields, Depth_interp and
Cond_interp are added to the database. To confirm this addition, open up
a new spreadsheet display by selecting File>New>Database
Spreadsheet or clicking on the Spreadsheet button on the Documents
toolbar (shown left) and expand the fields branch of the spreadsheet.
Note An alternative to using the Constant Depth Interpolator for generating depth-
corrected 3D voxel models is applying a DTM grid offset in the Voxel Model
Properties after gridding the model. Refer to Offsetting and Scaling a Voxel
Model in this tutorial for further instructions on this.
Step 2 - Array Data 3D Gridding
With an adjustment applied to the depths of the computed inversion

results, you can now use the Array Data 3D Gridding option to
create a 3D voxel model. The Array Data 3D Voxel Gridding is
initiated from the Voxel menu option. Select this menu option and
the EMVoxel utility interface appears as illustrated below:
3D Voxel Gridding dialog showing the controls for voxel model creation
Step 1
If not already open from the previous exercise load the

Swamp_EMFLOW.GDB database using the File>Open…>Geosoft
Oasis Montaj option.
Step 2
Select the Array Data 3D Voxel Gridding option from the Voxels menu to
display the Voxel Gridding dialog. Enter the parameters specified in the control
dialog as illustrated above. The Line Selection button allows a subset of
survey lines to be used. By default all lines are selected.
Note that if you have used the Constant Depth Interpolator

(described in the previous section), the Depth and Data fields
should be Depth_Interp and Cond_Interp.
You may also wish to adjust the size of the voxel cells. The total
number of voxels to be created is shown beside the Reset to Input
Extents button. As a general guide, the greater number of voxel
cells created, the slower the display of the model will be. Therefore,
it is recommended you select a cell size that does not create a
model with greater than approximately 1.2 to 1.5 million voxel cells.
Two gridding methods are also available – Spline and Minimum

Curvature. Although slower, the minimum curvature method
produces a better data honouring than the spline method.
Once you have specified the dataset, data channels and any other
required parameters, press the OK button. After processing (with
the Show in Encom Discover PA option enabled), a display
window with the created voxel model is displayed. Once displayed,
you can use the various Voxel Modeller settings and controls to clip,
apply thresholds and create isosurfaces of the model.
Initially, the created voxel my need to have its vertical scale and
colour mapping altered.
Altering the colour mapping properties in the initial mesh display

The vertical scale (from the 3D Map properties dialog) can be

altered to 10 or 15 to allow a reasonable viewing scale of the block
since the area extent of the model is large compared to the 200
metres vertical extent. The Colour adjustment is from the Colour tab
of the Voxel Properties dialog. Select the Edit button of the Colour
mapping item and select the Histogram option in the Data
Transform pull-down control.
The resulting model should appear as below:
Example voxel model derived from Swamp example dataset
If opening a Voxel Model created during a previous session, open a new 3D

Map display from the File>New>Map>3D Grid Map option and click on the
Add Voxel button on the Data Objects toolbar.
In the Data tab of the 3D Voxel Model Properties click on the Load Model
Wizard button to load a UBC Model format Mesh file and Properties file of the
name given during the 3D gridding process.
Click on the Finish button and the Voxel Model loads into a 3D map display.
Offsetting and Scaling a Voxel Model

Step 1
Click on the Offset tab of the Voxel Properties dialog to experiment

with applying a Z scale and Offset value. You can alter an individual
voxel model’s Z Scale or add/subtract specific amounts in X, Y or Z
directions to position the model where required. The values entered
add to the location of each voxel in the model and thereby adjusts
the relative location.
Step 2
Add a 3D Surface to the display by selecting the DTM Offset option

in the VoxelModel Properties Offset tab. Specify the
SWAMP_DTM.ERS grid from the \Grid Surfaces folder using the

Browse button.
Applying a DTM offset from a grid to a voxel model
Click Apply to observe the voxel model elevation being offset to

match the DTM surface.
Example voxel model with DTM added derived from Swamp example dataset
Each individual voxel cell is moved and repositioned up or down

depending on its location relative to the specified grid surface.
Clipping and Chair Clipping a Voxel Model

Step 1
Display the Clipping tab and select the Clip model outside of
specified extents box to enable the clipping options. Ensure that
the Auto Apply is selected and experiment with the Easting,
Northing and Elevation extents by moving the minimum and
maximum coordinate slide bars.
Note To fix the X, Y and Z axis ranges so that the voxel model does not fit the frame
after every clipping action go to the X Scale and Y Scale tabs in the Map
Frame Properties dialog and select the Fix Axis Range check box for each.
Repeat for the Z Scale tab in the 3D Map branch of the workspace tree.
Step 2
For a different form of clipping, click on the Chair Clipping tab and
enable the Clip model within specified extents option. Clipping
can be applied using ether the Front and Back standard cuts
options or the Easting, Northing and Elevation standard cuts
threshold options. These choices are quickly applied from the eight
buttons (TL -Top Left, TR- Top Right etc). Cell control is then
available from the slider bars or entry fields.
Voxel model display showing chair clipping with a Top Right-Front cut
Thresholding a Model
Thresholding of voxel models allows volume elements (voxels) to be
displayed only if their specified attribute lies within the chosen data
range. The thresholding feature operates in two modes:
• Lithology mode – The Lithology mode displays those voxels

with only predetermined data ranges. Specifying the data
ranges is explained in the Reference Manual.
• Interactive mode – Using slider bars, you can control the

displayed voxels by dynamically altering the upper and lower
data range.
Step 1
Click on the Threshold tab and select the Threshold By… check
box to enable the Accept Voxel Range minimum and maximum
value slide bars. With the Auto Apply check box selected,
experiment with the minimum and maximum voxel data ranges.
Experiment with the Accepted and Rejected Transparency by
moving the slide bars accordingly.data ranges. Experiment with the
Accepted and Rejected Transparency by moving the slide bars
accordingly.
Voxel Model with a threshold range applied
Step 2
In the Appearance tab select the Show wireframe option to display

the outline of each voxel. Deselect the Show Colour Fill option to
display the unfilled individual voxels.
Any created threshold display can be exported as a grid file from the
Data tab of the Voxel Model Properties by clicking on the Export
Model Wizard button and selecting the Threshold option.
Displaying a Voxel Model as Slices
Step 1
To display a voxel model in horizontal, vertical (E-W) or vertical (N-

S) slices ensure that the Threshold and Isosurface options in the
Appearance tab are unselected.
Step 2
In the Slices tab of the Voxel Model Properties select the check box
for the Horizontal slices. To display multiple slices select the
Multiple check box and set the values of the first and last slices to
be 210 and 335. Also set the value of the step intervals between the
slices to 35. Click Apply.
Displaying multiple horizontal slices of a voxel model
Step 3
To display single horizontal slices deselect the Multiple check box.

This will display a single depth slice at the elevation value shown in
the First box (-103).
To iterate through the depth slices ensure that the Auto Apply
check box is selected and move the Horizontal slide bar to the
right, moving the single slice up through the elevation values until
the last elevation value is reached (-10).
Displaying a single horizontal slice from a voxel model at an elevation value of -20.2
The same can be performed with the vertical slices (both North-
South and East-West).
Any slices can be exported as a .ERS file from the Data tab of the
Voxel Model Properties by clicking on the Export Voxel Model
Wizard button and selecting the Depth Layer option or the Depth
Slices option.
Step 4
Display the Data tab and click on the Export Model Wizard button.
Select the Depth Layer export option and click Next. In the
Choose Layer to Export dialog select -20 from the drop down box
as the centre value for the layer to be exported. Click Finish and a
Save As dialog will appear asking you to select a location and name
to save the grid file.
An ER Mapper .ERS file of a specified band from the Property data

of the voxel model will be created which can then be displayed as a
2D or 3D surface.
Use the Export Model Wizard to select a particular data band to export as a grid file
Step 5
Open a 2D grid and load the ER Mapper grid file to display the
exported depth layer.
An exported Depth slice of a voxel model displayed in a 2D Grid map display
Step 6
To export a depth slice of a single horizontal slice being displayed in

the current 3D Voxel Model display click on the Depth Slices option
in the Export Model Wizard.
Step 7
Use the default data file displayed in the next dialog and click on
Finish. Select the name and location of the exported depth slice
from the Save As dialog and Click Save. This will be saved as an
ER Mapper file which can be loaded into a 2D or 3D grid group
display in a similar fashion to the depth layer above.
Displaying a Voxel Model Isosurface

Step 1
In the Appearance tab deselect the Render Threshold voxel model

option OR turn off the Threshold enable option in the Threshold tab
to allow for the display of an isosurface-only display.
Step 2
Display the Isosurface tab and select from the Add a new
isosurface drop down box the Swamp EMFlow voxel model. Click
on the Add New Isosurface button next to the drop down box to
display an isosurface of the 600 conductivity value for the voxel
model. To change this displayed value firstly select the Auto Apply
check box and then move the Isosurface Value slide bar.
Any created isosurface can be exported as a .DXF file from the

Data tab of the Voxel Model Properties by clicking on the Export
Model Wizard button and selecting the Isosurface option.
Step 3
To display additional isosurfaces in the one view click on the Add

New Isosurface button again and adjust the isosurface slide bar to
view desired values.
A voxel model displaying two isosurfaces for the conductivity values of 388.
Displaying Multiple Isosurfaces and Realtime Slice

In the previous section a single isosurface was created. The same
Isosurface dialog can be used to create multiple isosurfaces to
display internal structures of voxel models. This section then shows
a method of cutting and slicing these surfaces in realtime.
Step 1
Ensure you can display an isosurface (as described in the previous

section). From the Isosurface tab, add a value at say, the bottom of
the property range of interest. Turn off the AutoApply option for this
next stage.
Step 2
Now press the Add Value button and specify a new and slightly higher
property value. Repeat this process until you have built a number of entries
with Property values that span the range of desired property values. Usually
about 5-6 levels is sufficient.
Add a number of Property levels with values spanning a range of interest
Step 3
Press the Apply button and the display shows each of the
isosurface levels with their appropriate colour. Each level reveals
the shape of its internal structure like an ‘onion skin’.
Step 4
It is possible to ‘cut away’ the ‘onion skin’ display in real time using
the 3D Cursor capability of Encom Discover PA. This powerful
method allows a slicing plane to be used to remove items displayed
in front of the plane and so reveal the internal layers as the plane is
moved or rotated.
Activate the 3D Cursor from the Cursor button. When this is done, the 3D
Cursor toolbar becomes active and a slicing or Edit plane is displayed within a
bounding box. You can position and size the plane and box as required using
the 3D Cursor toolbar buttons. Navigation of the Edit plane is from the
keyboard operations of:
Forward – Page Down
Backward – Page Up
Left/Right Arrows - Rotate about a vertical axis (azimuth)
Up/Down Arrows - Rotate about a horizontal axis (dip)
Other Edit plane property controls are available from the Property button.
Refer to the on-line help or Reference Manual for additional uses of the 3D
Cursor.
Step 5
To use the 3D Cursor to ‘slice’ the voxel model, click the Transparency
Clipping button. When this is enabled, you will notice that the Edit plane now
cuts the voxel model layers. With the plane movement, the plane cuts all
isosurface layers in front to show the internal structure as it is moved
backward or forward.
Moving the Edit plane backward or forward reveals and slices the voxel model
3D Gridding Inversion Data Tutorial 65
6 3D Gridding Inversion Data Tutorial

This tutorial repeats the gridding of the geophysical multi-channel data used in
the previous tutorial but uses the 3D Gridding Toolkit (referred to as IGrid3D).
This tutorial is relatively simple and can produces a 3D voxel model of higher
quality that the Array 3D Gridding method described in the previous tutorial.
Note Operations in this tutorial creating voxel model data require the functionality
available only in Encom Discover PA Professional. If you wish to use this
option but it is not available on your installation, please contact Pitney Bowes
Software.
Encom Discover PA provides two gridding utilities that create voxel models
suitable for voxel display. These are:
• Array Data 3D Gridding – This program is specifically for datasets that

contain multi-banded array data. A simple gridding approach is used
where planar grids are computed in east-west, north-south and then
vertical orientations. The gridding methods using this utility are either a
simple spline or minimum curvature. This method is fast but not as
elegant or accurate as the 3D Gridding Toolkit.
• 3D Gridding Toolkit – This method (used in this tutorial) provides a

number of options for preconditioning the input data and uses complex,
distance based methodology to optimally create a 3D grid. Although the
toolkit can be used with arrayed data (as is to be used in this tutorial), it
can also be used in other 3D data distribution situations such as gridding
results from drillholes (as described in the next tutorial) with assay or
lithological data.
A tutorial exercise, 3D Gridding, is also available and demonstrates the

advanced use of the 3D Gridding Toolkit used with drillhole data.
Adjust Data for Topograhic Offset

As for the previous tutorial, the input dataset is derived from the EM Flow
inversion software. This software produces a Geosoft database which has
arrayed data for (1) Conductivity and (2) Depths of layered conductivity
solutions. These two parameters are used for the gridding with the conductivity
providing the ‘property’ of the voxels at the defined depths.
A shortcoming of the EM Flow processed output however, is that each record

created commences at a relative depth of zero and extends downwards (using
the resolution defined by the processing, i.e. 0, -2, -4, -6 -8 etc). As a relative
depth scale is used, the data requires an adjustment for topography.
Prior to the gridding therefore, it is advisable to adjust the depth of the output
data channels so that they are adjusted for topography of the surveyed area.
The Constant Depth Interpolator tool performs this task and creates adjusted
Depth and Data fields, which are appended to the original database as
additional channels. This processing is described in the previous tutorial in the
section, Constant Depth Interpolator.
Tutorial Steps
Using the 3D Gridding Toolkit can be fast and simple to derive useful voxel
model results. For this tutorial the EM inversion data is provided along data
lines and the third, depth dimension is provided as a series of depth layers
specified for each data reading along the lines.
Step 1
Execute Encom Discover PA and from the Load Geosoft button (or the
File>Open>Geosoft Oasis montaj). Open the SWAMP_EMFLOW.GDB
database.
Display a 2D Flight Path map of the survey (using the File>New>Map>2D

Flight Path Map, the Map pull-down button or the New Document wizard).
The 2D Flight Path Map and spreadsheet of the SWAMP_EMFLOW dataset

From the Flight Path Map and the Spreadsheet displays, note that the along line
data sampling is at approximately 14 metres and the across line separation is
about 200 metres oriented East to West.
This information is required when specifying parameters in the 3D Gridding

Toolkit.
Step 2
From the Voxels>3D Grid Toolkit menu option, the dialog presents a wizard
with processing choices. Click the Gridding button.
3D Gridding Toolkit Wizard dialog
In the Gridding Technique screen, ensure the 3D Grid option is enabled and
then select the Continuously variable technique.
Select the Continuously variable option of the Gridding technique screen
This gridding method allows data that is stored in single or multiple arrayed
channels to be gridded using an interpolation method that caters well for data
that varies across the extent of the dataset. Click the Next button to continue.
Step 3
The specification of the Input Data screen is displayed.

Specification of the arrayed data input channels
After processing the data with the Constant Depth Interpolator, the correct data
channels to use for the Depth and variable property to grid (Conductivity) are
DEPTH_INTERP and COND_INTERP. Both these data channels are Array
Channels so enable this option after selecting the channels. The interface
automatically selects ALL bands of the data channel when the Array Channel is
enabled. In this case we intend to use all bands, but if you wanted to select only
a subset, you could use the cursor and the CTRL and SHIFT keys to do this.
Click the Next button to continue.
Step 4
The data is read from the database and limits (in X, Y and Z directions) are
computed. To apply a data clip to the model created, enable the Apply data clip
option. You can reset the data limits for your model if necessary. In this case,
the data limits correspond with the line data input and no outliers exist.
Specify the data clip option in the Conditioning screen
If null values or data range limiting is required for you data the Advanced
Settings button displays an Advanced Conditioning dialog. Limits on data
gridding can be useful where large data ranges and outliers exist in the dataset.
Step 5
In keeping with normal gridding practice (as used for 2D grid procedures), it is
valid to specify grid cell sizes about ¼ to ½ of the data sampling of the input
data. In this case, the along line sampling (East-West is about 14-16 metres,
across line (the Y direction) is 200 metres and vertically, the data resolution of
the EMFlow inversion output is 2 metres. Therefore, a 3D grid mesh of size
approximately:
50 x 50 x 5 (row (X), column (Y) and plane (Z) directions)
would present a reasonable compromise between the data spacing and

computational speed. Enter these values into the Size screen of the 3D
Gridding Toolkit. To update the Number of cells that these dimensions would
create, click the Auto button and select the Fit to Extents option.
Size screen and specification of cell mesh sizes
Note that the number of computed cells (Total cells) is updated also and
indicates 816,000 cells are to be created. For best visualisation and reasonable
computation time (depending on your computer’s speed), limit the size of the
output voxel model to be less than about 1.2 to 1.4 million mesh cells.
Click the Next button to continue.
Step 6
Specification of the search and weighting parameters appears in the next

wizard screen. Data searching can be spherical or elliptical.
In the spherical search case, from each detected data point, the program
searches within a specified radius in all directions around the point’s location.
In the elliptical search mode, a search ellipse is specified to account for

uneven sampling in one direction versus another. The ellipse has horizontal and
perpendicular major and minor axes with the minor axis oriented as specified (0
degrees is to the north or Y direction). The Depth axis defines the vertical
thickness of the search ellipse.
In this case, there is considerable East-West to North-South sampling interval

difference (along line 14 versus north-south 200). Therefore, the major and
minor axes (with the minor being across line or 0o orientation) is set to be 300
metres and the major (along line) of say, 150 metres.
The Depth axis can be say 20 metres with sampling at 2 metre intervals in this
direction.
The Increment and Grid passes can be set to 2 and 1 respectively. If an

insufficient number of data points are found within the search radius, that
search radius is increased (by the initial radius) and the search is repeated. This
occurs up to ‘n’ times. The final search radius is the number of increments
multiplied by the initial search radius.
Set the Numbers of search sectors to be 1. This means it only succeeds if it

finds one point in each of the search sectors divided by the X and Y planes.
Turn on the Use nearest and Grid is one point found options. This enables
the nearest neighbour gridding method.
Select a Power law weight model with a Power of 1 or 2. The Power Law is
where the contribution from each data point is weighted by the distance to the
point raised to the specified power. A higher power ensures that closer points
have a higher influence on the solution. Leave Apply density corrections off –
if you are not using nearest neighbour then this should always be turned on.
Turn off Use elliptical weighting.
Run-away interpolation may occur in areas where there is little data coverage.
This is not applicable with this data and so Tapering controls can be disabled.
Specify the various search and weighting gridding parameters
By clicking Finish, the 3D grid begins to be generated. If you wish to stop the
gridding process, click Cancel at any time. There may be some delay before
gridding is halted.
Step 7
After the gridding process is completed, the 3D Gridding Toolkit requests you
save the file (as an Encom 3D Grid format) and then you can display the model
automatically in Encom Discover PA using the Display Assistant. Once
displayed you may need to increase the vertical scaling to view the internal
structures.
Display Assistant can be used to automatically display the created 3D mesh model
Step 8
The voxel model can be displayed using any of the techniques described in the
last tutorial. Some methods include:
• Clipped – Isolate just the anomalous eastern portion of the model
• Threshold – Examine the internal structure of the model
• Isosurface – Isolate any high conductive buried zones
• Slice – Create slices of the internal structure through the model
• Multiple Isosurface – Visualise internal layerings of the model.
Examples of each of the display formats is shown below:

Examples of the various display formats

3D Gridding of Drillhole Data 75
7 3D Gridding of Drillhole Data

This tutorial introduces the basics of loading an ASCII drillhole dataset into
Encom Discover PA. It then describes an analysis of the drillhole data
distribution using the 3D Gridding Toolkit before gridding the assay and
lithological data.
This is an advanced tutorial and uses the initial analysis of data density and
data distance to define to the spatial nature of the data. This analysis is not
absolutely necessary since in most cases you will have a reasonably good
knowledge of drillhole spacings and average collar separations. This advanced
aspect of the tutorial is however provided to allow you to understand how to
investigate the data in-depth if you wish.
The Toolkit’s calculator and spatial convolution (filtering) capabilities are also
described and used.
Tutorial Background
The example drilling dataset is selected from an exploration prospect in
southern central New South Wales, Australia. The drill data has been acquired
from 84 diamond and percussion drillholes For each of the diamond drillholes,
their downhole geometry has been recorded by a drillhole camera and the data
has been recorded in DRILLHOLE_SURVEY.CSV. Collar data (location and
reference level) has been listed in DRILLHOLE_COLLARS.CSV. The data in
the survey file is tabulated as recorded by the field technician, that is, with
distance down the hole (in metres) and the measured dip and azimuth reading
at that downhole distance. This form of survey data needs to be ‘desurveyed’ or
transformed to Easting, Northing and Vertical depth (elevation). This process is
performed by a drillhole import wizard in the software.
In addition to the drillhole location survey, assay laboratory samples were

measured and the drillhole cuttings logged for lithology. The assay and
lithological logging is provided as interval data, that is From a depth - To a
depth downhole. These data are recorded in DRILLHOLE_ASSAY.CSV and
DRILLHOLE_LITHOLOGY.CSV.
A geophysical logging survey was also undertaken but many of the drillholes
had collapsed before logging could be completed and so only a few diamond
drillholes were sampled this way. The geophysical logging used measured point
samples of both magnetic susceptibility and specific density properties. This
data is found in DRILLHOLE_LOGGING.CSV.
Tutorial Steps
Step 1
Initially, the drillhole data needs to be imported before display or 3D gridding

can be performed. Select the File>Open…>Downhole>Import ASCII
Downhole Data. Proceed to the Step 1 wizard screen and select the Collars
file type. Press the ASCII Import button and ensure the Easting, Northing and
Elevation data columns are specified. If they need to be altered, position the
cursor over the column header and click the right mouse button. You can then
select the required data field.
Specify the required data field from the pull-down list
When the data fields are specified, press the Import button and create a
Collars.TAB output file (in a new folder). Press the Next button and confirm the
data fields are as you have defined them.
Confirm the data fields are as required
Press the Next button again and answer Yes to additional input data files to be
specified. This will return you to the start of the wizard input procedure again.
Step 2
Continue by repeating Step 1 but this time selecting the Survey file type from
the drillhole file type pull-down list.
Select the drillhole file type to specify the additional data import
After the Survey file is created, you need to again repeat the input procedure for
the Assay data specifying the Downhole From-To data type.
Step 3
At this stage you will have specified the Collar, Survey and Assay data. You can
continue with the Lithology and Geophysical logging data if you wish but they
are not used in this tutorial.
When you have imported the Collar, Survey and Assay data, press the No
button for Additional drillhole files to import. A confirmation dialog is
displayed.
Completion of the file import process
The data in this example has Down Dip as negative so ensure you check this
option on and click the Finish button.
Note If you need to load the data from the created, desurveyed data later (instead of
importing it), you can do this by selecting the
File>Open>Downhole>Discover Downhole option and then multiply select
the required .TAB files.
Multiply select the input .TAB files if you need to load the project later.
Step 4
By default, a spreadsheet view opens to display the drillhole data. If you have
switched off this default behaviour, open a spreadsheet by hitting the
spreadsheet button on the Document toolbar. Click on the dataset in the
spreadsheet tree – Drillhole_Collar and change the Display Type to
Statistical data. The software computes the statistics of the entire dataset
and display them for each field.
The spreadsheet display allows you to see the NULL values and broadly check
the integrity of the data as well as review the data. Questions that should be
asked include:
• Should some values be clipped out above or below a threshold level?
• Has the NULL value been misinterpreted and if so what should it be?
Created and displayed spreadsheet of the drillhole data
Step 5
To display the drill holes in a 3D map to ensure their positional integrity, from
the Data Objects toolbar, click on Add Drillholes button to add a new map
view or click on the Add Map button on the documents toolbar to activate the
document wizard – create a 3D map and add a Drillhole branch.
Select the properties of the Drillhole branch and add all holes.
In the Holes tab of the Drillhole Properties dialog, select all holes
On the selection page, the Graphical Selection button may help you
understand the 3D geometry of the drillholes as it allows you to see the hole
collar positions from the top, front and side.
On the Compression tab of the Drillhole Properties dialog turn compression off.
This option is only used with many drillholes.
On the Thickness tab select Sample Discrete . Turn on four fields and select
the copper, lead, zinc and gold fields. Change the Width from/to to 0.5 and 4.0.
Switch on Enhance for all four fields. This gives a better idea of the distribution
of the assay values. As you can see, only the gold assays have any real
continuity in this dataset.
Resultant Thickness tab after settings are applied
Click the Add Axes button on the Data Objects toolbar to add a 3D axis to the
display.
Resultant 3D display of assays and drillhole locations
3D Gridding of the Drillhole Data

Step 1
In preparation for 3D gridding, make an initial judgment on the appropriate grid

cell size. A number of different grids are to be produced. Ideally, they should all
be generated with the same size and resolution. So firstly we need to determine
the ideal grid dimensions.
• Should the cell size be constant or variable?
• Should the grid encompass all of the input data?
• What padding ought to be used about the input data?

This is a compact and equi-dimensional dataset so a constant cell size in X and

Y is appropriate. Also, there are no outlying drill holes (in X,Y or Depth) so it is
reasonable to produce a grid that encompasses all the input data.
From the documents menu click on the Map button down arrow and select 2D
flight path map. Turn on Symbol start for the flight path. This shows the
collar positions and extents of the holes in plan view.
From this map it is clear holes have been drilled approximately 20m apart on
lines spaced 50m apart. An X and Y cell size of one quarter to one fifth the line
spacing is usually appropriate – in this case 10 metres is appropriate. To work
out an appropriate vertical resolution examine the field data in the spreadsheet.
The assays have been taken at 1m or smaller intervals. It may be appropriate to
use a Z cell size as small as this. However, for this tutorial we will use a larger
cell size of 5 metres.
Creating a Density Grid
Step 2
Execute the 3D Gridding Toolkit from the Gridding>3D Grid Toolkit or

Utilities>Gridding>3D Gridding Toolkit menu options.
Initially analyse the dataset by examining the density of the source data
distribution. 3D Gridding generates a 3D grid representing the data density and
this can be used to identify areas where drillhole coverage is less than
complete.
Click the Gridding button. On the Gridding Technique screen make sure 3D
grid is checked. Check the Density grid option to ensure a density data
distribution is created. Click OK to continue.
Step 3
Select the input data consisting of the dataset, X, Y and Z fields as well as input
data channels. The software automatically selects the appropriate X, Y and Z
fields for the dataset. As this is a drillhole dataset it is appropriate to check the
From-To Segments box. Note that this does NOT mean you need to select the
From and To channels. You should still select the X, Y and Z channels. The
program works out the sample lengths from the input data supplied in the
dataset.
As we are generating a point density grid you may expect that we would not
have to specify a data channel. The program requires that you select one or
more data channels. The algorithm interprets NULL values in the data channel
as invalid point locations. Select say, the gold channel and click Next to load
the source data.
Specifying the input data
Step 4
Next you are required to specify data conditioning parameters. These options
clip the input data by XYZ coverage and also applies modifications to the data
channels.
Turn on Cap minimum value and set the cap to zero. Because this is assay
data we expect that all valid data are positive. A negative number may be an
error or an unrecognized null value. This cap converts any data less than zero
to zero.
Turn on Convert null to background and set a background value of zero. The
background level of gold mineralization is likely to be zero (or close to it).
Wherever the drill hole was not sampled or a null value was recorded it is
reasonable to assume that the assay value at that point is at background levels.
Click Next to continue.
Grid conditioning parameter screen
Step 5
Next define the grid extents and cell sizes. Set the Column, Row and Plane
cell size to 10, 10 and 5. Click the Auto button and select Fit to extents from
the pop up menu. Save these settings for future use by selecting Save from
the same menu. Click Next to continue.
Cell and extents dialog

Step 6
Finally set the Density Method parameters. Select a KDE estimator

(Epanechnikov kernel) and set a search radius of 50 metres. Click Finish to
create the grid. A progress bar reports progress of the procedure and you can
cancel at any time.
When the grid has been generated you are prompted to save it to disk. Save it
as an Encom 3D grid file format.
If you save the grid you are taken to the Display Assistant. This allows you to
immediately display the new grid in Encom Discover PA. Select the new grid in
the spreadsheet and click Apply to display the grid.
Advanced You can repeat this procedure but switch off the Convert NULL to background
option on the Data Conditioning screen. The result shows the density of only
valid data points.
Step 7
The density grid just created has a large number of cells with zero density
(shown initially with a blue or very low data value). As these cells are of no
interest it is useful to eliminate them. This can be achieved with the 3D Grid
Calculator.
Return to the main 3D Grid Toolkit window (if you have not already) by
clicking the Cancel button. Select the Grid Calculator task button
Select the grid you have just created in the spreadsheet. In the formula edit box
type in the following formula, substituting grid name for the Name of your grid
using the syntax below:
NewGrid = if (grid name == 0, null, grid name)
Click the OK button and the computation converts all zero values in the grid to
null values. A progress dialog reports the progress of the process and you can
cancel at any time. Once the procedure has finished you are can Save the grid
by selecting and once again taken to the Display Assistant. If you display this
grid you can see the zero density cells are no longer displayed.
Advanced Another way to achieve the same result is to use the Convert Null utility
(accessible via the Grid Utilities task button). Specify the new null as zero
and you should result in exactly the same grid outcome.
Using the calculator to convert null values
Step 8
To display a specific isosurface value of the voxel model created, use the
Display Assistant and enable only the Isosurface display. The slider bar can
be used to specify the data property used. The resultant display (with the
drillholes added appears as below) using a property of 0.6.
Display of the resultant density grid with a value of 0.6

Creating a Distance Grid
In this stage of the tutorial we create a grid that records the distance from the
centre of every cell to the first valid input data point surrounding it.
Step 1
Click the Gridding task button as before. On the Gridding Technique screen
make sure 3D grid option is checked and select the Distance to data grid
option. Click Ok to continue.
Follow the same steps as for the density grid procedure and set exactly the
same parameters. Note that if you have been following this tutorial exactly then
the procedure does not present a wizard – it will be a series of tabbed property
pages. This indicates that all method parameters are valid and compatible with
the current input data in memory.
Step 2
On the Grid Size screen use the same grid extents and size as for the density
grid. Note that you can use the Auto button to load the extents file you saved in
the previous exercise or you can use the Match option to match the extents to
the density grid you saved on disk.
On the Distance Parameters screen do not turn on any options. Click Ok or

Finish to generate the grid. As before, save the grid and display it in Encom
Discover PA using the Display Assistant.
Advanced You can repeat this procedure but switch off the Convert NULL to
background option on the Data Conditioning screen. The result shows the
distance to only valid data points.
Advanced You can turn on the Use distance to line option on the Distance screen to
improve the solution. With this option the 3D Gridding computes the
perpendicular distance to the sample. However, by default the assay samples
have been sub-sampled to 1 metre lengths (or smaller) so the result does not
improve significantly. Also note that the procedure takes significantly longer to
complete.
Resultant Distance grid as calculated from the 3D Gridding Toolkit
Analysis of the Density and Distance Grids
We can use these two grids (density and distance) to identify areas of less than
optimal drilling coverage.
Step 1
Ensure that both grids are loaded into the program. If not you can load them
from the Grid management task dialog or from the Calculator which is about
to be used. If the Name of the grids is inconvenient (or contains any spaces)
you can double click on it and edit it. This is the name you use in any calculator
expressions.
Step 2
We are interested in knowing which regions of the drilling coverage have below
average drilling density. Use the density grid to restrict the area of investigation
to only those areas where drilling is dense and exclude the outer regions. It is
necessary to determine the distance to data where it is between say, 25 and 50
metres. The following Calculator expression could be used:
NewGrid = if (DensityGrid >= 0.5, if (DistanceGrid >= 25,
if (DistanceGrid <= 50, DistanceGrid, null), null), null)

Step 3
Try the following expression which is equivalent but uses the and() command.
NewGrid = if (and (DensityGrid >= 0.5, and (DistanceGrid >=25,
DistanceGrid <=50)), DistanceGrid, null)
Execute the Calculator, save and display the grid. It shows the areas where
exploration interest is high but drilling coverage is sub-optimal. In these areas
there is a gap of 25 to 50 metres between drill holes. This example may have
limited application in this example but in a mine site context may reveal gaps in
coverage that may be difficult to detect from other kinds of visualization
techniques.
Step 4
Use the Display Assistant to show the computed result as below. Add the
drilling to examine the coverage and drilling density results. Note when
examining the distribution of the drillholes with the data sampling density, you
will see some drillholes intersecting zones of low data coverage. This is
because the original sampling of the assay collection is low in these zones, not
necessarily the drill locations.
Analysis result of the Density and Distance grids

3D Gridding of Data
Gridding the assay data reveals where high and low concentrations of the
selected assay are to be found from the drillhole results.
Step 1
Initially, click the Gridding button. On the Gridding technique screen make
sure 3D grid is enabled. Check the Continuously variable grid option as this
is the type of data obtained in drillhole intersection results. Click Ok to
continue.
Select the input data as before but this time select multiple data fields so we
produce a multi-banded grid. Use the CTRL or SHIFT keys to select multiple
assay fields. Choose say DRILLHOLE_ASSAYS_AU, copper, lead and zinc).
Step 2
On the Data Conditioning screen turn on Cap minimum value (0) and Convert
NULL to background (0).
Use the same grid dimensions as previously – use the Auto option to get the
extents. Note that this may be slow to grid so you may want to increase the cell
size to get a more expedient result.
Step 3
The Gridding Parameters screen contains a large number of options that

require some effort to understand and employ appropriately. The program
populates these parameters with defaults it has deemed appropriate but, it can
frequently makes poor guesses depending on the data type and distribution.
You almost always have to set these parameters yourself based on your own
analysis of the spatial distribution of the input data (as studied in the previous
section of this tutorial).
Set the Searching Major Axis distance to 50. We know that most of the holes
are less than 50 metres apart so a search radius of 50 metres ought to find a
sufficient number of input points.
Set the search Increment and grid passes to 2 and 1. This means a single
pass process is applied which expands the search distance to a maximum of
100 metres (2 x 50).
Turn on Elliptical search as the data is sparse in XY but dense in Z. Set the
Minor axis length to 50 metres and the Depth axis length to 25 metres.
Set the Numbers of search sectors to 4 XY. This means it only succeeds if it
finds one point in each of the four search sectors divided by the X and Y planes.
Turn off the Use nearest and Grid is one point found options. This disables
the nearest neighbour gridding method.
Select a Power law weight model with a Power of 2. Turn on Apply density
corrections – if you are not using nearest neighbour then this should always be
turned on. Turn on Use elliptical weighting.
To prevent run-away interpolation in areas where there is little data coverage,

turn on Tapering. Begin to Taper at 50 metres and reduce the result to
background by 100 metres. Set a background level of 0.
Gridding Parameters screen as specified for the multi-banded assay grid
Step 4
Click Ok or Finish to grid the data. A progress dialog shows you the progress of
the procedure and you can cancel at any time. Once the procedure has finished
you are prompted to save the grid and taken to the Display Assistant.
Step 5
To investigate the effects of some of the various Gridding Parameter settings:
• To use nearest neighbour – Turn on the Use 1 nearest points in each

sector option. Turn off density corrections. See how the final grid differs.
• Try to improve gridding performance by reducing the search radius to 25

metres. You can compensate for the reduced maximum search by
increasing the increments to 4.
• Try changing the weight model or varying the weighting parameters.
• Turn off tapering and use isosurfaces to spot the differences in the
output grid.
• Use the Simple option to generate a grid. It will take along time but will
be substantially smoother.
Result of Gold, Copper, Lead and Zinc with different colouring and isosurfaces
Discrete Gridding
The difference between continuous and discrete gridding is primarily in the kind
of data supplied to the algorithm. The gridding methods are essentially the
same. Discrete gridding expects the input data to be discretely distributed. For
example, you can grid rock code strings (Lithology) for drill hole data. The
software identifies all the unique strings in the dataset and as well as the grid,
generates a legend for those strings. The gridding process populates the grid
with indices to those legend entries. You can also grid numeric data. If the data
is continuous it will be split into histogram equalized bins. If the data is discrete
(usually integer whole numbers) you can elect to bin it into unique
compartments for each value present. Finally, you can supply your own legend
file which you may have constructed with the Legend Editor or by hand with a
text editor.
Note For this exercise ensure you have the Lithology data loaded with the drillhole
data.
Step 1
Click the Gridding button. On the Gridding Technique screen make sure 3D
grid is checked. Check the Discretised grid option. Press Ok to continue.
Select the X, Y and Z fields as normal and turn on From-To Segments.

Choose the Drillhole_Lithology_RCODE_STR field to grid. This is a string
field representing rock type. Press Next to continue.
Step 2
The Data Conditioning page is only used to set the clipping range and a NULL
value. If you are inputting string data you can specify a string NULL on the
Classification screen.
Step 3
The Classification screen allows you to specify the legend file or request that
the software create a legend file. In the latter case you can specify the output
file name. The legend is saved the first time you save the grid. Note that this file
is saved into your current project directory or into the system LUT directory. If
not, it will not be immediately usable in Encom Discover PA. You can find out
the project directory in Encom Discover PA from the File>Set Project Folder…
menu.
Classification screen with legend entry
Generate the grid using the same parameters as were used in the previous
gridding exercise. Save the grid and display it in Encom Discover PA.
The legend you created is not initially used by default. You can choose the
legend via the Colour tab of the voxel model property dialog.
Step 4
Experiment with nearest neighbour gridding which may be a more suitable

technique for this style of source data.
Add a floating colour bar to the document from the data object toolbar. By
default it will link the voxel model and display the legend. If not, link it manually.
Use the Tools>LegendEditor to customize the colour and patterns and
improve the appearance of the voxel model.
Applying Filtering
The inverse distance gridding interpolator is not smooth because of the

modifications to the ‘pure’ algorithm that improve performance. To improve the
visualization of grids we can therefore apply 3D convolution filtering to smooth
the grid.
Step 1
Click the Convolution filtering button.

Select the input grid by choosing it in the spreadsheet. In this case the assay
grid just produced will be the input.
Click on the Add filter button and from the menu select a Gaussian filter. A
new filter is added to the filter spreadsheet. All the filters in the spreadsheet
are applied in listed order to the input grid unless they are switched off.
Click on the Filter properties button and set the width of the filter to 7x7x7.
Click Ok or Apply to continue. A progress dialog shows you the progress of the
procedure and you can cancel at any time. Once the procedure has finished
you are prompted to save the grid and once again taken to the Display
Assistant.
Step 2
This filtering operation may not honour the original data. To introduce data
honouring using the distance grid we generated earlier, load the grid. Delete or
turn off the Gaussian filter we created above. Add a new moving average filter
and set the size to 3x3x3. Turn on data Honouring and select the distance grid
in the drop-down list. Increase the Number of iterations to 3 by clicking the
up/down buttons or double clicking in the iterations cell and typing in 3. Press
Ok or Apply and save the new grid.
Filtering of the Distance grid using and Average filter
Step 3
Use the isosurface visualization capabilities to view all three grids (original,
smoothed and smoothed with honouring) and compare the results. Set the
isosurface value manually to a common value eg 0.25.
Advanced Use the Merge utility to merge one of the grids (eg the smoothed, honoured
grid) with the distance grid. Select the two grids you wish to merge – the utility
will produce a grid that is the superset of all input bands. Save and then
display this new grid in Encom Discover PA as a threshold (choose gold as the
input channel). Colour the voxel model by the distance band and use a reverse
log colour mapping. This produces a confidence map where red voxels
correspond to high confidence (as they are close to observations) and blue
areas have low confidence as they are interpolated.
Resultant model with confidence levels as described

Magnetic Analysis Tutorial 97
8 Magnetic Analysis Tutorial

This tutorial is designed to illustrate a range of methods that can be used to
present and assist interpretation of a magnetics and radiometrics dataset. The
data is also supplemented by some external processing that has been
undertaken and resulted in filtered magnetic data plus a separate database that
has resulted from processing of the data in ModelVision Pro using AutoMag
(details of this are provided within the Tutorial). The example uses an airborne
geophysical dataset stored using a Geosoft database format that contains data
derived from airborne magnetics and gamma ray spectrometry. A number of
data grids for the area are also available.
The tutorial is described by a set of steps that introduce the display methods of
multiple profiles, sections and image maps. Navigation through the survey is
required and manual picking of anomalies is demonstrated.
Aim of Tutorial
A variety of visualisation techniques are provided to permit a rapid exploration
analysis of a complex airborne geophysical dataset. Specifically the tutorial
provides use of:
• basic profile display control
• survey line navigation using the Line Iterator and map
• display of depth-solution results derived from external processing
• integration of magnetic results with radiometrics.
Tutorial Background
The example dataset is selected from a geophysical airborne survey flown in a
region of south-western New South Wales in Australia. Geologically, the area to
be studied is complex with a number of steeply dipping interbedded volcanics
trending NW to SE adjacent to a major granitic intrusive. The intrusive has a
steeply dipping margin known to host a number of tin-bearing deposits.
Reduced magnetic response (as a result of local alteration and differentiation) in
the vicinity of the late-emplacement tin-rich fluids along the margin of the granite
provide a key to exploration. Combined image enhancement plus careful review
of the magnetics is useful in identification of potential host zones for tin
mineralisation.
The aim of the survey was to map the area and determine the nature and extent
of the main structures and granitic intrusion. It is possible that the intersecting
flanks of the granite with some of the favourable hosting volcanics may contain
tin accumulations that are known to exist in the area.
Previous Processing
Geophysical methods undertaken in this survey include magnetics and gamma

ray spectrometry. Some interpretational processing has already been
undertaken on the dataset using ModelVision Pro to create data channels that
include high and low pass and AGC filtering. In addition to filtering of the
magnetics, AutoMag processing of the data has also been undertaken.
AutoMag Processing
Traditional methods of magnetic depth estimation that rely on only a few

statistics of an anomaly have been largely rendered obsolete by the ability to
analyze complete anomalies in digital form. Batch magnetic depth estimation
generally using the Werner, Euler and Naudy methods have become popular.
Batch depth estimation refers to the procedure of automatic processing of a

complete dataset. ModelVision Pro is an interactive modelling system but it
provides both interactive and batch capabilities for the operation of AutoMag.
In most implementations of magnetic depth estimators, quality criteria are set

empirically through inspection of the number and distribution of the solutions
with respect to the observed field variations. The greatest strength of AutoMag
that sets it apart from other magnetic depth estimators is that it provides much
greater discrimination in the generation of solutions. AutoMag solutions are fully
specified as source bodies and are delivered in a modelling environment where
they can be immediately tested against the observed data. This procedure
allows you to investigate the field variation that is attributable to any one source.
You are able to thereby tune AutoMag for maximum discrimination in generating
required solutions while eliminating spurious ones. The ability to tune AutoMag
while investigating the exact significance of any solution provides considerable
power and versatility to the complex problem of depth estimation.
In cases where the geology is appropriate for representation by AutoMag

derived bodies, the solutions provide excellent starting models that may require
only minor modification by forward or inverse modelling to match complete data
profiles.
AutoMag is based on a curve matching method devised by Naudy (1971) and

further developed by Shi (1991,1993). The original Naudy’s method is a two
stage process:
1. Locate the potential source locations
2. Revising the depth estimate for the solutions.

This basic structure has been retained in AutoMag. Naudy split the input curve
into symmetric and anti-symmetric parts to help resolve ambiguities in locating
anomalies. Shi (1991) refined this analysis using both horizontal and vertical
field components and extended the analysis to include vertical gradient data.
Both the anomaly location and depth estimation phases of the process are
based on the correlation of a theoretical anomaly response with the measured
data.
Resulting from the AuoMag processing is a Geosoft Oasis montaj© database

(called AUTOMAG.GDB).
Filtered Magnetic Data
A second Geosoft database called WEST WYALONG.GDB is used to store the

final magnetics and filtered data. The filtered data was processed by
ModelVision Pro, exported and then imported into the Geosoft database. Filters
available in the Geosoft Oasis software could also have been used to compute
the filtered results. Filters used include:
LP15k Low Pass 1500 metre
HP400m High Pass 400 metre
HP800m High Pass 800 metre
AGC400 High Pass 400 metre filtered output processed by Automatic
Gain Control to enhance the low amplitude features at the
expense of higher amplitude, dominant responses.
AGC800 High Pass 800 metre filtered response then AGC processed.
Tutorial Steps
Step 1
Execute Encom Discover PA and initially set the project folder to be:
\EXAMPLE DATA\ WEST WYALONG – MAG-SPEC

Project Folder setting
Select either the File>Open>Geosoft Oasis Montaj menu item or the Oasis
Montaj button (for this exercise, Geosoft databases are to be used). Navigate
to the folder containing the West Wyalong databases called
\EXAMPLE DATA\WEST WYALONG – MAG-SPEC
Select BOTH the AUTOMAG.GDB and the WEST WYALONG.GDB files. Press
the Open button.
The File Open dialog for multiple Geosoft databases
A data spreadsheet is displayed to show the database fields etc.
Step 2
Review the data content of the survey from the spreadsheet or select the
File>New>Database Spreadsheet or the Database Spreadsheet button.
Spreadsheet of data contained in two West Wyalong databases
The spreadsheet indicates the two databases available and can be used to
interrogate the data fields content of the various survey lines. It is important to
realise that Encom Discover PA can access one, two or more separately
occurring databases concurrently. In this case, the databases contain different
information that can be displayed within various documents using common
lines.
Step 3
To obtain an idea of the extent and relationship of lines within the survey, a
Flight Map can be used. Create this basic map by selecting the
File>New>Map>2d Flight Path Map or from the pull-down list of the Map
button. As two databases are available to Encom Discover PA, the first
database alphabetically is selected for display. The AUTOMAG.GDB
database has only a subset of the flight lines of WEST WYALONG.GDB and it
occurs first alphabetically, therefore its flight path display is presented. A more
complete display (from the whole survey, not just the solutions available from
the AUTOMAG.GDB) and so by selecting the Flight Path branch of the
Workspace and displaying the Properties dialog, select the West Wyalong
database instead of AutoMag. The dialog and display are shown below:
Initial flight path map of database West Wyalong.GDB
With the database source altered, the entire survey flight path can be displayed
by clicking Apply. Other controls including line labelling and symbols can be
controlled if desired.
Step 4
It is possible to examine gridded imagery with the flight map if required. Select
the Map branch of the Workspace tree and click right. The pop-up menu has an
Add Data> Grid Group option you can use to append a Grid Group branch. If
you double click the Grid Group branch, the Properties dialog appears.
In the Grid Group Properties dialog are some buttons in the top left corner to
Add, Delete and Duplicate imagess. Using the One Step Load Surface
button, select a grid from those available in the \WEST WYALONG folder.
Various industry-standard grid formats are supported. By Default, a
Pseudocolour surface (comprising Colour and Intensity layers) is added to the
Grid Group image tree. The chosen grid is used to populate these layers.
Selection of a grid from the West Wyalong folder
Enhancement of the shading of the image is produced by manipulation of the

colour attributes on the Colour layer, or from the shading controls on the
Intensity layer.
Intensity layer controls for enhancement and manipulation of shading
If you have the Auto-Apply option enabled, changes to the sun-angle (red
cross and left mouse cursor) or the highlights (yellow cross and right mouse
cursor) can be manipulated in real-time in the displayed image as well as the
Preview window.
The resultant image shows the magnetic grid beneath the flight path and
contour vector drawing. The distinctive magnetic structure in this survey shows
the main NW-SE trending volcanic units plus the low amplitude zone of the
granitic intrusive in the north. Surrounding and south of the granite are radiating
higher lithological responses due to the metavolcanic units.
The magnetics image with flight path tracks
Step 5
You can also examine the available radiometric grids acquired from the data of
the West Wyalong survey. These grids can be ‘added’ to the same image map
as the magnetics.
Encom Discover PA provides a unique ‘grid flipping’ capability to permit you to

cycle rapidly through the grids and so compare features directly.
As before, add a new Pseudocolour grid surface (or duplicate the existing grid
layer). Using the One Step Load Surface button and select the Potassium
(K_dcrg.ers), Uranium (U_dcrg.ers) and Thorium (Th_dcrg.ers) grids. Each
grid therefore has its own Pseudocolour layer with Colour and Intensity
controls.
To demonstrate the ‘grid flipping’ ability, press the Apply button and return to
the main Encom Discover PA map window. Follow the steps below:
a. To show the grids alternately, select the Tools>Grid Flipper menu
item.
b. From the Grid Flipper toolbar, select a grid or use the Left or Right
buttons. As the buttons are pressed, the display cycles through the
loaded grids and displays them consecutively.
Step 6
A final analysis of images uses the radiometric grids to be displayed with

Potassium:Uranium:Thorium in the matched levels of Red:Green:Blue. The
method enables images of the relative proportions of the elements to be
displayed in the image. Return to the Grid Group Properties dialog and create a
new surface. Click right while the Pseudocolour layer is highlighted and select
Red:Green:Blue. Four new branches beneath this layer are provided. For each
of these, assign the potassium, uranium and thorium grids (in an order of your
preference).
You may need to alter the colour distribution to improve the RGB mixture
displayed when you Apply the image to the map display. If you wish, you could
also assign the Intensity level to be the Magnetic residual grid.
Assigned Red:Green:Blue to the radiometric grids with magnetics to Intensity
When you have the final RGB image displayed, in particular examine the
margin area around the identifed granite in the North-West portion of the
survey. Note in particular any anomalous Potassic alteration zones (purple-blue
in colour with a KUT mix mapped to Blue:Red:Green respectively).
In the image displayed, also note that the magnetics is superimposed as grey
shading (intensity) in the image to assist defining the granitic margin.
Step 7
With the image maps indicating anomalies around the granite intrusive, a more
accurate location may be derived from the profile data.
To examine a magnetics data profile, select the File>New>Profile>Curve

Profile menu item or press the Profile pull-down button. Initially, the first data
field of the first data line of the first accessed database (AUTOMAG.GDB) is
displayed. A Profile hierarchy appears in the Workspace tree. The initial data
field is the AZIMUTH channel.
To alter this to be the required magnetics channel, from the Workspace tree
double click the Curve branch to display the Properties dialog. On the Data tab,
alter the Dataset to be WEST_WYALONG. Change to the Fields tab and select
the MAG channel from the drop-down list associated with the Y data (that is,
vertical scale of the profile).
Display of profile using the MAG data field
Step 8
Additional data tracks can be added to the window to provide displays of filtered
and spectrometer results. A number of methods can be used to add additional
tracks. Some of these are:
• Select the Profile Frame branch of the tree. Click the right button and
select the Add>Curve Profile option. This item adds a new unassigned
track at the base of the display.
• Select the Profile branch of the tree and click the right button. Select the
Clone>Graph item. This option makes a duplicate of the selected profile
and all its attributes and then places the copy at the base of the display.
• Select the Profile branch of the tree and click the right button. From the
pop-up menu make a copy of the profile track. Move the highlight to the
Profile Frame and with a right click for the pop-up menu, select the Paste
item. This can be repeatedly and rapidly done if a number of tracks are
required.
The latter method is probably the fastest to quickly create a number of tracks.
Note When tracks are copied by the above methods, the track attributes of the
initial track are also copied. This means that it is worthwhile spending some
time to ensure the copied tracks have all the attributes required.
In this exercise, we wish to make a number of copied tracks all appear the
same.
To view the profile with no annotation at the bottom and top of tracks (except
the bottom track), we need to remove the Titles from all tracks (except the top)
and the X-axis annotation from all tracks except the bottom. Use the X-Axis Title
and Ticks tabs plus the Appearance tab of the Profile branch.
Using the Appearance tab to remove annotation and reduce the margin height
The Appearance tab is used to move the base of the track down towards the
bottom of the available display. This movement can be increased if desired from
the Profile branch Appearance tab by reducing the Minimum Outer and Inner
Margins.
For the display of most data fields, we want the following channels presented:
Mag K
HP400m U
HP800m Th
LP15k
AGC400
AGC800
Hence a total of 8 tracks need be added to the already present MAG profile.
Use
one of the methods above. Modify the track as required (see Note above) then
create the additional tracks.
From the Fields tab of the Curve branch for each track, assign the data fields.
Step 9
The use of colour can be helpful in highlighting anomalous areas of a profile

from one data field to another. Use the colour fill and line style options in the
Curve branch Line Style tab of the various data fields. The resultant display is
shown here:
Profile of line L10 with each trace individually configured
Note that the bottom track has the Easting (X) annotations displayed (refer to X-
Axis branch for Profile 9, plus the Profile branch Appearance tab). Also note
that the tracks have been re-sized to distribute the track heights evenly.
Step 10
Navigation of the profile display through the survey can be undertaken in a

number of ways.
• The Data tab of the Profile branches can be altered to control the flight
line displayed. This would have to be done for each of the 9 tracks and is
therefore not recommended. This method is however useful when
adjacent lines of similar data fields are to be compared.
• The Line Iterator can be used with either the line pull-down list or the
Forward and Backward buttons. Note that the Line Iterator operates in
either Spatial, Sequential or Standard mode. The mode required here
is Standard as this incrementally moves through the numeric line list of
the survey. If spatial is used, the line increment uses line start location.
In this survey the lines are not sequentially north-south and so the
Iterator may not increment as desired.
• A Flight Path map may be used interactively to select lines and thereby
automatically update the profile display. Present a Flight Path map in a
window from the icon. Once displayed, you can place the cursor over a
traverse and click the left mouse button to have the line display in the
profile window.
If the last selection method is used, refer to Step 3 of this Tutorial. To

investigate the profile response over the prospective area of the granitic margin,
use the RGB spectrometric display to select the required traverse line. The
combined Red:Green:Blue spectrometer image easily allows the correct profile
to be isolated.
Once the correct traverse line is selected and displayed in the profile window,
by placing the cursor in the window and clicking the right mouse button, a
position cursor indicates the location of the anomaly clearly. You can move the
cursor in the profile with the associated cursor in the map to provide ‘real-time’
location.
The RGB image and multi-track profile with Selection cursor in both the map and profile displays
Step 11
Sequentially updating the profile displays quickly indicates any anomalism

associated with the spectrometer channels and their location relative to the
magnetics can be examined.
If any of the anomalies are to be examined further, the Feature Manager facility
could be used to highlight them. For further information on using the Feature
Manager, refer to the User Guide, on-line help or the Reference Manual.
Hardcopy plots of the maps, profiles or combined profile displays can be

created and scaled as necessary. If combined plots of maps/profiles etc are
required you can Copy and Paste these object Frames into a New Document or
within their own plot layout areas. Alternatively, you can post displays directly
into Microsoft Word or Powerpoint.
Step 12
In addition to the filter processing applied to the magnetics in this dataset, some
AutoMag processing was also undertaken (refer to AutoMag Processing at the
introduction of this Tutorial).
The output of Automag is to produce magnetic anomaly solutions along lines

where the process has detected a magnetic anomaly. The solution coincides
with a depth and range of solution properties that have a response that
simulated the observed for a data width selected from the observed data. The
solution properties include estimates of location, magnetising dip and azimuth,
magnetic susceptibility, source halfwidth and strike length. The various
parameters have been created in ModelVision Pro and then imported into a
Geosoft Oasis database (AUTOMAG.GDB).
A display of AutoMag solution in conjunction with the magnetics is useful as an

adjunct to the anomalies defined from the spectrometric interpretation. To
display these two datasets, commence with a simple magnetics profile (as
described in Step 8). To this add a second profile (Copy or Clone the initial
profile).
Since AutoMag solutions are represented as individual points associated with

their depth, in the Data tab of the Curve branch select the AUTOMAG.GDB
dataset and using the Fields tab, assign the Depth channel to the Y data. It is
best to present the data as data symbols (representing the AutoMag solutions)
rather than as a line, therefore, from the Curve branch of the Workspace tree
use the Line Style tab to turn off lines (Show Line option) and enable Show
Symbols from the Symbols tab. With symbols displayed, it is possible to
modulate the symbols for:
Colour - Use with SUSASI

Size - Use with DPTHXTNT
Rotation - Use with DIPA
Within the Symbols tab of the Curve branch for the AUTOMAG dataset, select
the various Modulate properties for Size, Colour and Rotation (see below). The
two Curves and Profiles of the display showing Magnetics and Automag
solutions.
Note in the above profile that the tracks used for both the data and the Automag
solutions have no gap between them. This has been achieved from the Profile
branch Appearance tabs for both tracks as described in Steps 9 and 10. Also
note on the right side of the AutoMag track are two legends indicating the colour
and size axis scalings.
Display of the magnetic profile with the controlling dialog for symbols
From the displayed window, you can navigate quickly through the survey lines
using the Line Iterator as described in Step 11.
Summary
This completes the tutorial. It has described complex image manipulation,
profile creation and configuring, plus the use of external data points derived
from interpretive processing.
The templates developed and provided can be used for other datasets and will
rapidly provide complex interpretive displays. The use of different data types
(magnetic, spectrometry and depth related solution points) as demonstrated
here, assists in many exploration applications.

PA Tutorials

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

PA Tutorials

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Encom Discover PA 2013 Tutorials

Pitney Bowes Software Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes

Encom Discover PA is developed and supported by ENCOM DISCOVER PA RELEASE HISTORY

Pitney Bowes Software Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes

2 Introductory Tutorial ............................................................................... 9

3 Advanced Tutorial ................................................................................. 24

4 Geology Integration Tutorial ................................................................ 39

5 Voxel Modeller Tutorial ......................................................................... 51

Step 1 – Computing Depth Interpolation............................................. 52

6 3D Gridding Inversion Data Tutorial .................................................... 65

7 3D Gridding of Drillhole Data ................................................................ 75

8 Magnetic Analysis Tutorial ................................................................... 97

Information on where to get help or more advanced instruction is available from:

• Help and Documentation – A description of the various help facilities

• Introductory Tutorial – A tutorial (as detailed in the User Guide) is

• Geological Integration Tutorial – Uses mapping information from

A compendium of practical exploration problems is presented in the tutorials to

For additional assistance, use the Help>User Guide document.

The example dataset required is stored in a folder called:

…Documents\Encom Discover PA\Example Data

…Documents\Example Data\Geosoft Swamp Mag-EM\Sessions

The dialog should appear as below:

Session opening dialog using the File>Open Session command

Session A - Magnetic map with contours legend titles etc.egs

Session B - Voxel models with cutaway sections and orebody drilling.egs

Session C - 3D Voxel model with drill assays and sections.egs

Session D - 3D view of orebody with drilling and air photo.egs

This session illustrates the software’s capability of displaying a variety of

• Orebody (a 3D .DXF format object)

• Drill data annotated with downhole logged lithology

• Various mine development shafts and drives (as 3D .DXF objects)

Integrating various display objects from different sources is a powerful feature of

Session E - Profiles of magnetics EM and CDI with map location and

2. Use templates (either as supplied or develop your own). To create

3. Use components to build displays. Components are like small templates

The tutorial documentation is available from C:\Program Files\Encom Discover

Tutorial data is available only after Encom Discover PA software is installed.

Setting up the Tutorial

Example Data\Geosoft Swamp_MagEM

1. When initially executed, Encom Discover PA requests you specify a Project

Setting the Project Folder initially

Geophysical methods undertaken in the provided survey include magnetics and

Step 1 – Open a Geosoft Database

1. Open some Geosoft databases by selecting

Select both the Swamp MagEM.GDB and Swamp_EMFlow.gdb

Once opened, databases are displayed by name in a data

2. Review the data content of the survey from the spreadsheet

Spreadsheet of data contained in two Swamp databases.

Encom Discover PA can access two or more databases

Close the Spreadsheet window by selecting the Close icon in

Step 2 – Open a 2D Flight Path Map

Initial flight path map of database Swamp_EMFLOW.GDB

2. The Swamp_EMFlow database is a subset of the

select the Flight Path branch of the Workspace tree and

Properties dialog of Flight Path map and data source control

Flight Path Properties Appearance dialog..

6. To display arrows representing the direction of flight along

Flight path map of the entire Swamp survey

Step 3 – Display a Grid Image

1. It is possible to visualise grid images with the flight path

2. View the Grids Properties dialog by right mouse clicking on

3. The Grids Properties dialog is larger than most. It has buttons in

4. The Pseudocolour branch will be highlighted by default,