3D implicit geological modeling by Marching cube algorithm and its application in study on Anqing copper-iron deposit, China

This paper presents the researches of how to model 3 dimensional shape in geo-fields through three-dimensional interpolation and isosurface constructing from limited and scatted exploration data. The Kriging algorithm is used as the 3 dimensional interpolation method to convert the insufficient and irregularly-scattered data set into sufficient grid data set. The isosurfaces are extracted from the grid data set by using of Marching cube algorithm and rendered by using of the OpenGL. Through programming for the computation by VC++.net, and integration and test of the programs, a practicable 3D geological modeling software, 3DIMS (3 dimension isosurface modeling soft) is developed. The 3DIMS is applied in the Anqing copper-iron deposit to demonstrate ore grade 3D distribution. The modeling results in the Anqing deposits show visually that high grade of Cu must be in the high grade iron zones, and high grade of Cu and S are spatially related to F1 fault, suggesting that deposition of chalcopyrite might be related to magnetite, and F1 might be conduit for Cu-bearing fluids. The 3DIMS can be extended to model all kinds of 3D data in geofield.