Data acquisition by digitizing 2-D fracture networks and topographic lineaments in geographic information systems: further development and applications

Palamakumbura, Romesh; Krabbendam, Maarten; Whitbread, Katie; Arnhardt, Christian

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1731-2020

Articles | Volume 11, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1731-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-1731-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 5

Method article

|

04 Sep 2020

Method article |

| 04 Sep 2020

Data acquisition by digitizing 2-D fracture networks and topographic lineaments in geographic information systems: further development and applications

Romesh Palamakumbura, Maarten Krabbendam, Katie Whitbread, and Christian Arnhardt

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Final revised paper (published on 04 Sep 2020)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 10 Dec 2019)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Fracture network review comments', Anonymous Referee #1, 10 Dec 2019
- AC1: 'Response to review', Romesh Palamakumbura, 12 Mar 2020
RC2: 'review', Anonymous Referee #2, 06 Jan 2020
- AC2: 'Response to review', Romesh Palamakumbura, 12 Mar 2020
RC3: 'Review of se-2019-184', Francesco Mazzarini, 24 Jan 2020
- AC3: 'Response to review', Romesh Palamakumbura, 12 Mar 2020

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Romesh Palamakumbura on behalf of the Authors (28 Apr 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (04 May 2020) by Federico Rossetti

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (08 May 2020)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Dear Editor and Authors,

I have just read with interest the manuscript titled “A review and evaluation of the methodology for digitising 2D fracture networks and topographic lineaments in GIS” by Palamakumbura et alii. The manuscript addresses the problem of gathering high quality, oriented-fracture datasets in the field using georeferenced photographs.

The manuscript is well written and potentially of interest for Solid Earth, but I have some significant questions and comments to pose.

(1) In the last years, many articles on the same/similar method/subject have been published. In this manuscript, I do not see much discussion/review of previous articles. Consequently, what is the real novelty of the method proposed by Palamakumbura et alii? How about advantages and disadvantages of this new method with respect to previous ones?

(2) As mentioned in the previous point, I do not see much review (despite this word is in the title) of previous methods. This review should be carefully done to point out the novelty of the presented method.

(3) Although I understand that fracture lineaments (profiles) can be useful to determine fracture density, contact points, etc (as pointed out by Palamakumbura et alii), the fact that their method does not provide fracture surface orientation significantly limits the usefulness of the method itself. At present, I am not so sure that it is still worth publishing a method only for fracture lineaments. I think that the science of virtual outcrops is quite ahead of simple fracture lineaments. This should be addressed and justified, in my opinion. I have serious doubts on the novelty of this manuscript.

(4) If possible, a statistical/numerical comparison between analog and digital acquisitions of fractures from the same limited exposure should be done and presented, so to understand the differences. What are the differences between manual and semi-automatic acquisitions?

In synthesis, in my opinion, the manuscript should be considered for publication only in the case that a significant novelty and significant advantages of the presented method will be properly pointed out.

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ED: Reconsider after major revisions (08 May 2020) by Federico Rossetti

AR by Romesh Palamakumbura on behalf of the Authors (29 Jun 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (01 Jul 2020) by Federico Rossetti

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (08 Jul 2020)

ED: Publish as is (08 Jul 2020) by Federico Rossetti

ED: Publish as is (08 Jul 2020) by Federico Rossetti (Executive editor)

AR by Romesh Palamakumbura on behalf of the Authors (08 Jul 2020)

Short summary

The aim of this paper is to describe, evaluate and develop a simple but robust low-cost method for capturing 2-D fracture network data in GIS and make them more accessible to a broader range of users in both academia and industry. We present a breakdown of the key steps in the methodology, which provides an understanding of how to avoid error and improve the accuracy of the final dataset. The 2-D digital method can be used to interpret traces of 2-D linear features on a wide variety of scales.