Integration of laser scanning, digital photogrammetry and UAVs for the digital outcrop modelling of Lamotte Formation in Missouri

Laser scanning, digital photogrammetry and UAVs have been employed in geoscience field studies because of their efficiency in point cloud generation. This study combined these three techniques to model a geological outcrop of Lamotte Formation in Missouri. The outcrop was of geological interest as an analogue of lower Mt. Simon Formation, a main storage CO (sub 2) in Decatur IL. Detailed continuous spatial data were acquired to create digital outcrops models using the three techniques. From these high-resolution and high accuracy outcrop models, geological features were and extracted, which can be used to build geocellular models comparable to those built using subsurface data, allowing direct comparison between the Lamotte outcrop and the lower Mt. Simon.