171 Advancing Geologic Analysis with Digital Outcrops and Close-Range Remote Sensing Data
This session highlights close-range remote sensing techniques (e.g., photogrammetry, LiDAR, hyperspectral imaging) in geologic analysis, focusing on innovative methodologies, workflows, case studies, and applications in structural geology, sedimentology, paleobiology, and critical mineral exploration.
Tuesday, 21 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 301C
Digital Outcrops Project, Solitario Dome, West Texas
Paper number: 171-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:20 AM – 8:35 AM
Authors
Abstract
A series of high-resolution, 3D digital outcrop models of classic exposures of the Paleozoic sedimentary succession in Far West Texas, USA is being created using camera drones, structure-from-motion photogrammetry, and digital interpretation applications, with a focus on interpreting and increasing the understanding of stratigraphic, sedimentologic and structural features. The project area is located in the Solitario Dome of Big Bend Ranch State Park, within a region where four major geological features of North America come together: the Appalachian/Ouachita/Marathon orogenic belt, the Rocky Mountain orogenic belt, the Trans-Pecos Volcanic Field, and the Basin and Range Trend. The Solitario also contains the westernmost exposure of sedimentary rocks that were deposited along the southern margin of Laurentia during the early Paleozoic Era, as well as the westernmost known exposure of structures related to the late Paleozoic Appalachian/Ouachita/Marathon orogenic belt. Many of the outcrops in the Solitario are difficult to access in a safe manner because of their remote location and/or being high cliffs that can only be physically examined by using climbing equipment. Thus, digital twins of these classic outcrops will enable anyone to safely become familiar with many important aspects of the geology of the area.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6
doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412132
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