Comparison between different kriging estimators

Six different geostatistical estimators (linear kriging, lognormal kriging, and disjunctive kriging, each with and without a nonbias, i.e., universality condition) were compared using data from a polymetallic deposit in Algeria. The differences between estimators with and without the nonbias condition were far more pronounced than between the different kriging methods. This highlights the importance of choosing an appropriate stationarity model for the data. The criterion concerning kriging weight of the mean in simple kriging, proposed by Remacre (1984, 1987) and Rivoirard (1984) was found to be helpful for determining blocks where the choice of the stationarity hypothesis was critical.     

On the equivalence of kriging and maximum entropy estimators

This study compares kriging and maximum entropy estimators for spatial estimation and monitoring network design. For second-order stationary random fields (a subset of Gaussian fields) the estimators and their associated interpolation error variances are identical. Simple lognormal kriging differs from the lognormal maximum entropy estimator, however, in both mathematical formulation and estimation error variances. Two numerical examples are described that compare the two estimators. Simple lognormal kriging yields systematically higher estimates and smoother interpolation surfaces compared to those produced by the lognormal maximum entropy estimator. The second empirical comparison applies kriging and entropy-based models to the problem of optimizing groundwater monitoring network design, using six alternative objective functions. The maximum entropy-based sampling design approach is shown to be the more computationally efficient of the two.     

Application of universal kriging for estimation of earthquake ground motion: Statistical significance of results

Universal kriging is compared with ordinary kriging for estimation of earthquake ground motion. Ordinary kriging is based on a stationary random function model; universal kriging is based on a nonstationary random function model representing first-order drift. Accuracy of universal kriging is compared with that for ordinary kriging; cross-validation is used as the basis for comparison. Hypothesis testing on these results shows that accuracy obtained using universal kriging is not significantly different from accuracy obtained using ordinary kriging. Tests based on normal distribution assumptions are applied to errors measured in the cross-validation procedure;t andF tests reveal no evidence to suggest universal and ordinary kriging are different for estimation of earthquake ground motion. Nonparametric hypothesis tests applied to these errors and jackknife statistics yield the same conclusion: universal and ordinary kriging are not significantly different for this application as determined by a cross-validation procedure. These results are based on application to four independent data sets (four different seismic events).     

Robustness of variograms and conditioning of kriging matrices

Current ideas of robustness in geostatistics concentrate upon estimation of the experimental variogram. However, predictive algorithms can be very sensitive to small perturbations in data or in the variogram model as well. To quantify this notion of robustness, nearness of variogram models is defined. Closeness of two variogram models is reflected in the sensitivity of their corresponding kriging estimators. The condition number of kriging matrices is shown to play a central role. Various examples are given. The ideas are used to analyze more complex universal kriging systems.Research performed while on leave at Centre de Geóstatistique et de Morphologie Mathématique, Fontainebleau.     

Application of disjunctive kriging for estimating economic grade distribution in an iron ore deposit: A case study of the Choghart North Anomaly,Iran

Most significant iron ore deposits in Iran are located in Central Iran Zone. These deposits belong to the Bafq mining district. The Bafq mining district is located in the Early Cambrian Kashmar-Kerman volcanic arc of Central Iran. Linear estimation of regionalized variables (for example by inverse distance weighting or ordinary Kriging) results in relatively high estimation variances, i.e. the estimates have very low precision. Assessment of project economics (or other critical decision making) based on linear estimation is therefore risky. Non-linear estimation methods like disjunctive kriging perform better and the lower estimation variance allows less risky economic decision-making. Another advantage of disjunctive kriging is that it allows estimation of functions of the primary variable, which here is the grade (Fe %) of the ore. In particular it permits estimation of indicator functions defined using thresholds on the primary variable. This paper is devoted to application of disjunctive kriging method in Choghart North Anomaly iron ore deposit in Central Iran, Yazd province, Iran. In this study, the Fe concentration of Choghart North Anomaly iron ore deposit was modelled and estimated. The exploration data consists of borehole samples measuring the Fe concentration. A Gaussian isofactorial model is fitted to these data and disjunctive kriging was used to estimate the regionalized variable (Fe %) at unsampled locations and to assess the probabilities that the actual concentrations exceed a threshold value at a given location. Consequently a three dimensional model of probability of exceeding a threshold value and the estimated value are provided by disjunctive kriging to divide the ore into an economic and uneconomic part on the basis of estimation of indicator functions using thresholds grades defined on point support. The tools and concepts are complemented by a set of computer programs that are applied to the case study. The study showed that disjunctive kriging can be applied successfully for modeling the grade of an ore deposit. Results showed that the correlation between the estimated value and real value at locations close to each other is 81.9%.     

An application of disjunctive kriging for earthquake ground motion estimation

For earthquake ground motion studies, the actual ground motion distribution should be reproduced as accurately as possible. For optimal estimation of ground motion, kriging has been shown to provide accurate estimates. Although kriging is accurate for this application, some estimates it provides are underestimates. This has dire consequences for subsequent design for earthquake resistance. Kriging does not provide enough information to allow an analysis of each estimate for underestimation. For such an application, disjunctive kriging is better applied. This advanced technique quantifies the probability that an estimate equals or exceeds particular levels of ground motion. Furthermore, disjunctive kriging can provide improved estimation accuracy when applied for local estimation of ground motion.     

Compensating for estimation smoothing in kriging

Smoothing is a characteristic inherent to all minimum mean-square-error spatial estimators such as kriging. Cross-validation can be used to detect and model such smoothing. Inversion of the model produces a new estimator—compensated kriging. A numerical comparison based on an exhaustive permeability sampling of a 4-ft² slab of Berea Sandstone shows that the estimation surface generated by compensated kriging has properties intermediate between those generated by ordinary kriging and stochastic realizations resulting from simulated annealing and sequential Gaussian simulation. The frequency distribution is well reproduced by the compensated kriging surface, which also approximates the experimental semivariogram well—better than ordinary kriging, but not as well as stochastic realizations. Compensated kriging produces surfaces that are more accurate than stochastic realizations, but not as accurate as ordinary kriging.     

Robust kriging—A proposal

Geological data frequently have a heavy-tailed normal-in-the-middle distribution, which gives rise to grade distributions that appear to be normal except for the occurrence of a few outliers. This same situation also applies to log-transformed data to which lognormal kriging is to be applied. For such data, linear kriging is nonrobust in that (1)kriged estimates tend to infinity as the outliers do, and (2)it is also not minimum mean squared error. The more general nonlinear method of disjunctive kriging is even more nonrobust, computationally more laborious, and in the end need not produce better practical answers. We propose a robust kriging method for such nearly normal data based on linear kriging of an editing of the data. It is little more laborious than conventional linear kriging and, used in conjunction with a robust estimator of the variogram, provides good protection against the effects of data outliers. The method is also applicable to time series analysis.     

Comparison of ordinary and disjunctive kriging in an Indian iron ore deposit

This paper presents the results of disjunctive kriging applied to a supergene iron ore deposit of Bailadila Range of India. Disjunctive kriging is applied firstly to compare estimates of the blocks by ordinary kriging and secondly to estimate benchwise local recoverable reserves of the orebody. Good agreement exists between block estimates by ordinary kriging and disjunctive kriging except for peripheral blocks with less borehole information. Estimation of benchwise reserves shows that the behavior of the distribution of grades is different in various benches. The study shows that disjunctive kriging can be applied successfully for estimation of local recoverable reserves in the case of a good grade hematite iron ore deposit.     

Comparing the robustness of ordinary kriging and lognormal kriging: Outlier resistance

Ordinary kriging is well-known to be optimal when the data have a multivariate normal distribution (and if the variogram is known), whereas lognormal kriging presupposes the multivariate lognormality of the data. But in practice, real data never entirely satisfy these assumptions. In this article, the sensitivity of these two kriging estimators to departures from these assumptions and in particular, their resistance to outliers is considered. An outlier effect index designed to assess the effect of a single outlier on both estimators is proposed, which can be extended to other types of estimators. Although lognormal kriging is sensitive to slight variations in the sill of the variogram of the logs (i.e., their variance), it is not influenced by the estimate of the mean of the logs.This paper was presented at MGUS 87 Conference, Redwood City, California, 14 April 1987.     

Comparison of two techniques for applying disjunctive kriging: The Gaussian anamorphosis model versus the direct statistical inference of the bivariate distributions

Indicator cokriging is an alternative to disjunctive kriging for estimation of spatial distributions. One way to determine which of these techniques is more accurate for estimation of spatial distributions is to apply each to a particular type of data. A procedure is developed for evaluation of disjunctive kriging and indicator cokriging for such an application. Application of this procedure to earthquake ground motion data found disjunctive kriging to be at least as accurate as indicator cokriging for estimation of spatial distributions of peak horizontal acceleration. Indicator cokriging was superior for all other types of earthquake ground motion data.     

Disjunctive kriging revisited: Part II

In order to find distributions other than infinitely divisible distributions which are suitable for disjunctive kriging, infinitesimal generators are used. In addition to distributions developed in Part I, this leads to development of suitable models for the beta (), hypergeometric, and binomial distributions.     

The equivalence of predictions from universal kriging and intrinsic random-function kriging

A proof is provided that the predictions obtained from kriging based on intrinsic random functions of orderk are identical to those obtained from anappropriate universal kriging model. This is a theoretical result based on known variability measures. It does not imply that people performing traditional universal kriging will get the same predictions as those using intrinsic random functions, because traditionally these methods differ in how variability is modeled. For intrinsic random functions, the same proof shows that predictions do not depend on the specific choice of the generalized covariance function. It is argued that the choice between these methods is really one of modeling and estimating the variability in the data.     

Disjunctive kriging revisited: Part I

Difficulties in applying disjunctive kriging (D.K.) with an anamorphosis to a normal distribution have led to an interest in D.K. based on other distributions. After reviewing Gaussian D.K., this paper reviews other types of D.K. based on other infinitely divisible distributions (gamma, Poisson, and negative binomial).     

On the condition number of covariance matrices in kriging, estimation, and simulation of random fields

The numerical stability of linear systems arising in kriging, estimation, and simulation of random fields, is studied analytically and numerically. In the state-space formulation of kriging, as developed here, the stability of the kriging system depends on the condition number of the prior, stationary covariance matrix. The same is true for conditional random field generation by the superposition method, which is based on kriging, and the multivariate Gaussian method, which requires factoring a covariance matrix. A large condition number corresponds to an ill-conditioned, numerically unstable system. In the case of stationary covariance matrices and uniform grids, as occurs in kriging of uniformly sampled data, the degree of ill-conditioning generally increases indefinitely with sampling density and, to a limit, with domain size. The precise behavior is, however, highly sensitive to the underlying covariance model. Detailed analytical and numerical results are given for five one-dimensional covariance models: (1) hole-exponential, (2) exponential, (3) linear-exponential, (4) hole-Gaussian, and (5) Gaussian. This list reflects an approximate ranking of the models, from best to worst conditioned. The methods developed in this work can be used to analyze other covariance models. Examples of such representative analyses, conducted in this work, include the spherical and periodic hole-effect (hole-sinusoidal) covariance models. The effect of small-scale variability (nugget) is addressed and extensions to irregular sampling schemes and higher dimensional spaces are discussed.     

Comparing some approximate methods for building local confidence intervals for predicting regionalized variables

Approximate local confidence intervals can be produced by nonlinear methods designed to estimate indicator variables. The most precise of these methods, the conditional expectation, can only be used in practice in the multi-Gaussian context. Theoretically, less efficient methods have to be used in more general cases. The methods considered here are indicator kriging, probability kriging (indicator-rank co-kriging), and disjunctive kriging (indicator co-kriging). The properties of these estimators are studied in this paper in the multi-Gaussian context, for this allows a more detailed study than under more general models. Conditional distribution approximation is first studied. Exact results are given for mean squared errors and conditional bias. Then conditional quantile estimators are compared empirically. Finally, confidence intervals are compared from the points of view of bias and precision.     

The updated kriging variance and optimal sample design

A number of criteria based on kriging variance calculations may be used for infill sampling design in geologic site characterization. Searching for the best new sample locations from a set of candidate locations can result in excessive computation time if these criteria and the naive rekriging are used. The relative updated kriging estimate and variance for universal kriging estimation are demonstrated as a simple kriging estimate and variance, respectively. The updated kriging variance is demonstrated as the multiplication of two kriging variances. Using these updated kriging variance equations can increase the computational speed for selecting the best new sample locations. The application results for oil rock thickness in an oilfield indicate that minimizing the average relative updated kriging variance is a useful alternative to the other criteria based on kriging variance in optimal infill sampling design for geologic site characterization.     

Two key parameters when choosing the kriging neighborhood

In the stationary case, two parameters are especially interesting when choosing the kriging neighborhood: weight of the mean, which shows how kriging depends on the neighborhood, and slope of the regression, which indicates if the neighborhood is large enough.     

Restricted kriging for mixture of grade models

A modified type of kriging, referred to as restricted kriging (RK), is proposed in this study. The method incorporates constraints on different grade classes to restrict the influence of the samples having different likelihoods in estimation. RK is motivated by the estimation of mineral reserves when grades have highly skewed distributions. Ordinary kriging tends to produce an overly smoothed interpolated surface by underestimating high grades and overestimating low grades. The fact that ordinary kriging gives a uniform prior treatment to all samples independent of their values is a major factor associated with this smoothing effect. The new approach differentiates each grade portion by preselected cutoffs. RK is developed for a single cutoff and then extended into a general form for any finite number of cutoffs. Restricted cokriging (RCK) is also formulated to simultaneously estimate a set of random functions with restriction conditions. Methods are suggested for determination of the probabilities of occurrence of different grade portions. Finally, the new approach is demonstrated on a case study of an epithermal gold deposit.     

The Bayesian bridge between simple and universal kriging

Kriging techniques are suited well for evaluation of continuous, spatial phenomena. Bayesian statistics are characterized by using prior qualified guesses on the model parameters. By merging kriging techniques and Bayesian theory, prior guesses may be used in a spatial setting. Partial knowledge of model parameters defines a continuum of models between what is named simple and universal kriging in geostatistical terminology. The Bayesian approach to kriging is developed and discussed, and a case study concerning depth conversion of seismic reflection times is presented.