Laser ranging is extremely accurate and efficient. Terrestrial scanning lidar (light detection and ranging) applied to outcrop stratigraphic mapping enables researchers to capture laser range data at a rate of thousands of individual X, Y, Z and laser-intensity points per second. These data, in conjunction with complementary remotely and directly sampled data, are used to conduct high-precision facies characterization and to construct 3D geological computer models. Outcrop data are presented here to explain our workflow and to discuss the construction of rock-based 3D Digital Outcrop Models (DOMs). Reproducibility and quantification are the drivers of this methodology. High-resolution terrestrial lidar acquisition, processing, interpretation, and visualization are discussed and applied to mapping of geological surfaces in three dimensions. Laser-generated models offer scientists an unprecedented visualization medium in a quantitative 3D arena. Applications of this technology include constructing and visualizing complex 3D Earth models from outcrops for improved reservoir modeling, flow simulation in hydrocarbon and aquifer systems, and property modeling to constrain forward seismic modeling.

Karst systems are widely recognized as highly complex and often extremely productive reservoirs of water as well as petroleum. They are also often associated with mineralization. The availability of a large (several tens of square kilometers), well-preserved paleokarst outcrop is rare; therefore, maximizing the information that we can extract from examples like the Franklin Mountains is critical to the study of karst-related fl uid fl ow. The mapping process is confounded by the need to map very large areas to fi nd relatively small and somewhat unpredictable zones of extreme deformation. Moreover, the brecciated regions interpreted to be of karst origin are often composed of the same lithology as the surrounding rock and thus make traditional remote sensing data such as multispectral satellite imagery or photographic data inadequate to delineate such systems.The Franklin Mountains in El Paso, Texas, expose lower Paleozoic carbonates deposited over a giant carbonate platform referred to as the Great Ordovician Bank. The limestonedominated bank was subsequently modifi ed by surface karst and several large, vertically extensive caves that occupy up to 70,000 m 2 of outcrop each. The breccia bodies are preferentially dolomitized within the limestone host rock. The size of these features is ideal for testing dolomite-calcite identifi cation with high-elevation hyperspectral imagery at 20-m × 20-m pixel size. Terrestrial-based lidar (light detection and ranging) data were also utilized to identify collapse brecciation highlighted by hyperspectral image analysis.Results of this study delineate the distribution of dolomite and calcite in natural, passive light, well outside the visible spectrum, and combine active (lidar) and passive remote-sensing technologies to conduct remote mineralogical mapping linked to diagenetic alteration of carbonates. Through the combination of hyperspectral image processing and shape/texture analysis of terrestrial lidar data, a quantitative, multiscale facies map was generated in three-dimensional, geographically rectifi ed space.

Exceptional oblique-dip exposures of submarine fan complexes of the Brushy Canyon Fm. allow reconstruction of channel geometries and reservoir architecture from the slope to the basin floor. The Brushy Canyon conslsts of 1,500 ft. of basinally restricted sandstones and siltstones that onlap older carbonate slope deposits at the NW margin of the Delaware Basin. This succession represents a lowstand qequence set comprised of lugher frequency sequences that were deposited in the basin during subaerial exposure and bypass of the adjacent carbonate shelf. Progradational sequence stacking patterns reflect changing position and character of the slope as it evolved from a relict, carbonate margin, to a constructional, siltstone-dominated slope. Lowstand fan systems tracts consist of sharp-based, laterally extensive, sand-prone basin floor deposits and large, sand-filled channels encased in siltstones on the slope. The abandonment phase of each sequence (lowstand wedge-transgressive systems tract) consists of basinward-thinning siltstones that drape the basin floor fans. The slope-tobasin distnbution of lithofacies is attributed to a three stage cycle of: 1) erosion, mass wasting, and sand bypass on the slope with concurrent deposition from sand-rich flows on the basin floor, 2) progressive backfilling of feeder channels with variable fill during waning stages of deposition, and 3) cessation of sand delivery to the basin and deposition of laterally-extensive siltstone wedges. Paleocurrents and channel distributions indicate SE-E sediment transport from the NW basin margin via closely spaced point sources.

This study highlights three‐dimensional variability of stratigraphic geometries in the ramp crest to basin of mixed carbonate–siliciclastic clinoforms in the Permian San Andres Formation. Standard field techniques and mapping using ground‐based lidar reveal a high degree of architectural complexity in channellized, scoured and mounded outer ramp stratigraphy. Development of these features was a function of location along the ramp profile and fluctuations in relative sea‐level. Deposition of coarse‐grained and fine‐grained turbidites in the distal outer ramp occurred through dilute and high‐density turbidity flows and was the result of highstand carbonate shedding within individual cycles. In this setting, high‐frequency cycles of relative sea‐level are interpreted on the basis of turbidite frequency, lateral extent and composition. Submarine siliciclastic sediment bypass during lowstand cycles resulted in variable degrees of siliciclastic preservation. Abundant siliciclastic material is preserved in the basin and distal outer ramp as point‐sourced lowstand wedges and line‐sourced early transgressive blankets. In mounded topography of the outer ramp, siliciclastic preservation is minimal to absent, and rare incised channels offer the best opportunity for recognition of a sequence boundary. Growth of mounded topography in the outer ramp began with scouring, followed by a combination of bioherm construction, fusulinid mound construction and isopachous draping. Intermound areas were then filled with sediment and continued mound growth was prevented by an accommodation limit. Mound growth was independent of high‐frequency cycles in relative sea‐level but was dependent on available accommodation dictated by low‐frequency cyclicity. Low‐angle ramp clinoforms with mounded topography in the outer ramp developed during the transgressive part of a composite sequence. Mound growth terminated as the ramp transformed into a shelf with oblique clinoform geometries during the highstand of the composite sequence. This example represents a ramp‐to‐shelf transition that is the result of forcing by relative sea‐level fluctuations rather than ecologic or tectonic controls.