Geoscience ANALYST Pro Geophysics allows you to use both UBC-GIF and VP Geophysics Suite inversion programs. But the question is: when should I use which?

“UBC-GIF and VP Suite programs are complementary, and the combination gives one the ultimate flexibility in potential-field inversion,” says Kristofer Davis, Scientific Programmer at Mira Geoscience. “Both UBC-GIF and VP programs can run heterogeneous inversion of potential fields and electromagnetic data. With UBC-GIF, you can do fast, reliable, physical property inversions whereas VP offers geological-model parameterization with direct inversion for 3D geological contact geometry in addition to conventional grid parameterization.” A cross-sectional comparison of inversion options (property versus geometry) is provided below.

The UBC-GIF Suite is comprised of geophysical forward modelling and inversion programs designed to be fast, simple, and easy to use. The published methodologies of UBC-GIF have shown consistent and reproducible results for over 25 years. These programs are parallelized and utilize the wavelet transformation making them ideal for large-scale exploration in green-field scenarios. With the proper tools, one can take advantage of these programs by incorporating constraints based on observed geology directly into the inversions. Simple ASCII-based formatting of the input and output files makes the results straightforward to share and archive.

Cross-section of GRAV3D inversion of the Boulia, Queenland, regional gravity data set. The inversion reproduces the observed data to 2 mGal. Density contrasts range from –0.05 to 0.05 g/cc. The model slice is approximately 16 km by 160 km. There is a 2x vertical exaggeration.

The VP Geophysics Suite products differ in their approach to geophysical inversion by using a model that is defined by rock type, discretized to the centimetre vertically. This unique setup, in concert with four different inversion styles, gives the geoscientist full control to test hypotheses, extend geology, or discover new prospective areas. The geometry-based inversion recovers interfaces at depth and is best utilized by inverting for geological contacts under cover, modelling depth of basement, or intrusive geometry. Homogeneous inversion can solve for bulk properties such as density, magnetic susceptibility (and remanence), or electrical conductivity per geological domain. In addition, practical features such as the ability to incise a local model of interest into a regional model and optimizing the DC shift of the predicted data can minimize data pre-processing.

Cross-section of VPmg geometry inversion of the Boulia, Queensland, regional gravity data set to solve for the interface to the basement. The initial model was a two-layer model with a horizontal basement contact. The basement was assumed to be 2.75 g/cc with a cover of 2.40 g/cc. The inversion reproduces the observed data to 2 mGal. The model slice is approximately 16 km by 160 km. There is a 2x vertical exaggeration.

Kristofer Davis – Scientific Programmer

Kristofer completed his PhD in Geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines. As a Post-Doctoral Researcher at UBC he worked on several advanced problems in geophysical inversion, focusing, amongst other research areas, on development of software workflows to support constrained geophysical inversion. His industry and academic background provide the ideal experience to continue development of our VP Geophysics Suite products, Geoscience ANALYST Pro Geophysics, and our other geophysical tools and workflows. Kristofer is based in Vancouver.

Latest news

Software releases
April, 16 2019

GIFtools via Geoscience ANALYST

Coming up later in 2019 is the launch of GIFtools, an interface for the industry-standard UBC-GIF forward modelling...
Read more
Geoscience ANALYST
October, 10 2019

Geoscience ANALYST Pro Geophysics Consortium

Today we are highlighting our new, industry-led, research consortium focused on delivering software and methods that make the use of advanced geophysics a day-to-day, practical reality for industry...
Read more
Software tips
October, 07 2019

Drag-and-drop files into a 3D compilation

In Geoscience ANALYST, you can create a 3D compilation by simply dragging your data right into the Viewport...
Read more
Software tips
December, 09 2019

Simple unconstrained inversion

Computing an unconstrained inversion in Geoscience ANALYST Pro – it’s never been as easy!
Read more
Software tips
June, 03 2019

Preview files in the Maps/plans/sections page

See the list of layers of your .dwg and .dxf files. Image sneak peeks are also available...
Read more
Software tips
January, 03 2019

Customizing metadata

Version 3.0 of Geoscience INTEGRATOR has a new layout for data set summaries that allows you to document any general information as custom...
Read more
Software tips
July, 15 2019

Extracting property names from a CSV

In Geoscience INTEGRATOR, extract the property names directly from a CSV file to speed up the process and reduce errors...
Read more
Q&A
May, 30 2019

Q&A Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences

We had a chat with Dr. Roisin Kyne from Teck Resources and Dr. Koen Torremans from iCRAG about the importance of 3D analysis and modelling...
Read more
Software tips
November, 02 2020

Taskbar icons

In GOCAD Mining Suite, icons are added to the taskbar when you open windows such as another 3D Viewer or the 3D-GIS Query panel...
Read more
Software tips
February, 27 2020

Save classifications as xml

In GOCAD Mining Suite, Saving complex geological classifications, such as for drillholes, allows you to share them with a colleague or...
Read more
Software tips
May, 13 2021

Filtering samples by their drillhole

In Geoscience INTEGRATOR, you can can filter them according to the drillhole they are located in...
Read more
Geoscience ANALYST
January, 24 2022

Creating 3D geological starting model from geological maps and structural measurements

In this lecture, Philippe generates a 3D geological model from a map with structural measurements in Geoscience ANALYST...
Read more

Please contact our team for additional information about our products and services