Blockworlds 0.1.0: a demonstration of anti-aliased geophysics for probabilistic inversions of implicit and kinematic geological models

Parametric geological models such as implicit or kinematic models provide low-dimensional, interpretable representations of 3-D geological structures. Combining these models with geophysical data in a probabilistic joint inversion framework provides an opportunity to directly quantify uncertainty in geological interpretations. For best results, care must be taken with the intermediate step of rendering parametric geology in a finite-resolution discrete basis for the geophysical calculation. Calculating geophysics from naively voxelized geology, as exported from commonly used geological modeling tools, can produce a poor approximation to the true likelihood, degrading posterior inference for structural parameters. We develop a simple integrated Bayesian inversion code, called Blockworlds, showcasing a numerical scheme to calculate anti-aliased rock properties over regular meshes for use with gravity and magnetic sensors. We use Blockworlds to demonstrate anti-aliasing in the context of an implicit model with kinematic action for simple tectonic histories, showing its impact on the structure of the likelihood for gravity anomaly.

Automated summary

Parametric geological models provide interpretable representations of 3D geological structures, and combining them with geophysical data allows for quantifying uncertainty in geological interpretations. The process of rendering parametric geology in a finite-resolution discrete basis is crucial for accurate posterior inference. The Blockworlds code demonstrates a numerical scheme to calculate anti-aliased rock properties for gravity and magnetic sensors, showcasing its impact on the likelihood structure for gravity anomaly.