Photographing layer thicknesses and discontinuities in a marble quarry with 3D GPR visualisation

An important problem of marble-quarry management is assessing the quality and the homogeneity of quarry blocks before excavation. In this study, we decided to image the limestone, which we studied in a marble quarry, in terms of layer thickness, discontinuities and cavities using the ground-penetrating-radar (GPR) method. The method was successfully applied to detect and map the fractures with the cavities in a marble layer according to depth in the Ankara City Polatli Town (Turkey) region, which represents upper Miocene–Pliocene lacustrine carbonate rocks. This paper is based on interactive transparent 3D visualisation of the 2D GPR profiles to determine changes in layer thickness and discontinuities. In addition, this paper indicates the importance of the appropriate opacity-function construction to obtain transparent 3D visualisation. Firstly we acquired and processed parallel 2D GPR profile data, then we assigned two different amplitude–colour ranges using a limited number of colours to determine the layer thickness and its discontinuities separately. We obtained a 3D volume using parallel 2D GPR data and displayed a limited amplitude range by arranging an opacity function. Therefore, we obtained transparent 3D blocks for thickness and discontinuities, and we formulated an interactive 3D display to image the horizontal, vertical and inclined discontinuities and their directions in the x–y plane versus depth. The GPR results were compared with the petrographical investigation on the basis of textural and mineralogical compositions. The vesicular textures within carbonate platform were supported by the GPR results. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.