Pre Geology File

The ASCII pregeology file name must have a .pgf suffix to be selected in the module's file browser. This file type represents raw (uninterpreted) 3D boring logs. This format is used by the Pre_Geology module and by Indicator_Geology (both PRO and MVS only) for Geologic Indicator Kriging (GIK).

You may insert comment lines in C Tech Pre Geology (.pgf) input files. Comments can be inserted anywhere in a file and must begin with a ’#’ character. The line numbers that follow refer to all non-commented lines in the file.

The pregeology file format is used to represent raw 3D boring logs. We also refer to this geologic data format as "uninterpreted". This is not meant to imply that no form of geologic evaluation or interpretation has occurred. On the contrary, it is required that someone categorizes the materials on the site and in each boring. Furthermore, if the .pgf file is to be used for Geologic Indicator Kriging, each boring must specify these materials as "CONSECUTIVE" integers beginning at zero. By consecutive we mean that if there are 7 materials they must be represented as integers from 0 to 6. There cannot be any gaps in the material number assignments. This requirement for consecutive assignments does not apply if the pgf file is to be used exclusively by the Pre_Geology module (Krig_3d, Map_Spheres and Pre_Geology are the only modules that read .pgf files).

Important Notes:

1)    It is essential to use the same ID for the ground surface as for the bottom of the first observed material in each boring if the file is to be used for GIK.

2)    Also, please note that the data for each boring must be sorted (by you) from beginning to end (normally top to bottom). We cannot sort this data for you because some borings in mining may be oriented horizontal or even upwards. It is your responsibility to make sure that the data is in the proper order.

Line 1: Any header message

Line 2: Elevation/Depth Specifier: This line can contain the word Elevation or Depth (case insensitive) or numbers 1 or -1 to denote whether well screen top and bottom elevations are true elevation or depth below ground surface. If actual elevations are used (a right-handed coordinate system), then this parameter should be 1; if depths below the top surface elevation are used, then this number should be -1.

For pregeology files, a Depth (-1) flag forces the otherwise optional top surface column to be required. Depths given in column 3 are distances below the top surface elevation in the last column (column 6). If the top surface is omitted, a value of 0.0 will be assumed and a warning message will be printed to the EVS Message Console.

Optionally, line 2 may contain names for each material represented by the "geologic unit ID" (e.g. material). There are some rules that must be observed. The number of material names MUST be equal to the number of geologic unit IDs specified. IN OTHER WORDS, if there are four materials represented in your .pgf file, there should be four names on line two.

Each name must be no more than 20 characters and names with spaces in them MUST be surround by quotation marks (example: "Silty Clay"). Names should be limited to upper and lower case letters, numerals, hyphen "-" and underscore "_". The names defined on line two will appear as the cell set name in the Explode_and_Scale or select_cells modules. Names should be separated (delimited) with spaces, commas or tabs.

Optionally, you can also include the units of your coordinates (e.g. feet or meters). If this is included it must follow the names for each material number.

Line 3: The first integer (n) is the number of lines to follow. For each boring, there is one line for the ground surface and one line for the bottom of each observed geologic unit. The second integer MUST BE 1.

Line 4: First line of sample data. X, Y, Z, "geologic unit ID", Boring name, and top surface elevation. The top surface elevation/depth is an optional parameter used if the depth flag (-1) is used. If depths are used (instead of elevations) the top surface should be in the same coordinate system. Depths are relative to the top surface (which is assumed at 0.0 if the top surface is not defined). The boring name cannot contain spaces unless the entire name is surrounded in quotation marks (example "Boring 1D"). One comma and/or any number of spaces or tabs can separate numbers and name.

Line 3+n: is the last line of the file. The line following this line must be blank, i.e. there needs to be a carriage return at the end of this line.

AN EXAMPLE FILE FOLLOWS: