Any sort of computer program is definitely worth using if it is used
as a tool - and that is exactly what orthonet and steronet plotting
is. I just finished plotting hundreds of strikes and dips using a
well-known stereonet program. This, as you all know, also allows me
to quickly rotate things, calculate fold axes and so on and to
display them easily. Can you imagine now doing it by hand? Of course
not. The key is in understanding what you are doing. With lots of
buttons to push I still end up checking some results by doing it by
hand. The same applies when using software that restores cross
sections. How often have you heard somebody say "well, it restores in
2-D move, so it must be right"? Well, no, that is not true.
Unrealistic geometries will also restore. It is much better to be
able to read a geology map than to be able to read computer code when
doing such things. In other words, any geologist interpreting
structural data should be able to plot structural data, draw cross
sections and so on before even looking at a computer program. The
beauty of the computer program is that the end user (your local oil
or mining company, for example) has a means of visualising things
that is often simply just nicer to look at than something done by
hand. They also allow it to be reproduced time and again.
Importantly, it also allows different attributes to be applied to a
rock volume, for example, which allows cross discipline analyses to
be carried out. This is all very helpful and should not be
underestimated. But, ultimately, it is the ability of the structural
geologist to understand what is being done that is the key to the
solution, not the tool being used.
The same applies to geodynamic modeling. It appears to be easy to
model a solution to some geodynamic problem, but very difficult to
convince a geologist who knows the geology and understands tectonics.
Dennis Brown
--
-----------
Dr. Dennis Brown
Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra "Jaume Almera"
c/Lluis Sole i Sabaris s/n
08028 Barcelona
Spain
Tel: 34 93 409 54 10
Fax: 34 93 411 00 12
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://wija.ija.csic.es/gt/dennisbrown/
http://www.ija.csic.es/gt/IGCP524
|