Substitution Random Fields with Gaussian and Gamma Distributions: Theory and Application to a Pollution Data Set

This paper presents random field models with Gaussian or gamma univariate distributions and isofactorial bivariate distributions, constructed by composing two independent random fields: a directing function with stationary Gaussian increments and a stationary coding process with bivariate Gaussian or gamma distributions. Two variations are proposed, by considering a multivariate directing function and a coding process with a separable covariance, or by including drift components in the directing function. Iterative algorithms based on the Gibbs sampler allow one to condition the realizations of the substitution random fields to a set of data, while the inference of the model parameters relies on simple tools such as indicator variograms and variograms of different orders. A case study in polluted soil management is presented, for which a gamma model is used to quantify the risk that pollutant concentrations over remediation units exceed a given toxicity level. Unlike the multivariate Gaussian model, the proposed gamma model accounts for an asymmetry in the spatial correlation of the indicator functions around the median and for a spatial clustering of high pollutant concentrations.     

Conditional Simulation of Nongaussian Random Functions

This paper presents a conditional simulation procedure that overcomes the limits of gaussian models and enables one to simulate regionalized variables with highly asymmetrical histograms or with partial or total connectivity of extreme values. The philosophy of the method is similar to that of sequential indicator technique, but it is more accurate because it is based on a complete bivariate model by means of an isofactorial law. The resulting simulations, which can be continuous or categorical, not only honor measured values at data points, but also reproduce the mono and bivariate laws of the random function associated to the regionalized variable, that is, every one or two-point statistic: histogram, variogram, indicator variograms. The sequential isofactorial method can also be adapted to conditional simulation of block values, without resorting to point–support simulations.     

水利水电工程岩基抗剪强度参数二维分布模型构造的Copula方法

基于国内103个水利水电工程1 174组岩基抗剪强度试验数据,采用Copula函数研究岩基抗剪强度参数联合分布模型,探讨水利水电工程中岩基抗剪强度参数联合分布模型构建方法。利用最小二乘法求出岩基抗剪强度参数试验数据的相关统计参数,基于AIC准则识别出岩基抗剪强度参数边缘分布。选择4种Copula函数构造岩基抗剪强度参数二维分布模型,探讨了基于Copula函数的岩基抗剪强度参数二维分布模型的优越性。结果表明：水利水电工程岩基抗剪强度参数存在明显的统计负相关性。Copula方法能够构造具有任意边缘分布和任意相关结构的岩基抗剪强度参数联合分布模型,它为构造抗剪强度参数联合分布模型提供了一种简便的工具。已知岩基抗剪强度参数的边缘分布函数和相关系数不能唯一确定岩基抗剪强度参数的联合概率分布模型,在抗剪强度参数边缘分布函数和相关系数完全相同的前提下,不同Copula函数建立的抗剪强度参数联合概率分布模型差异显著。与常用的抗剪强度参数二维正态分布模型相比,基于Copula函数的抗剪强度参数二维分布模型具有较强的灵活性,它能更好地拟合原始观测数据。水利水电工程中惯用小值平均法确定标准值,当摩擦系数取较小值时,不同Copula函数构造的黏聚力的条件累积分布函数差异显著,这将对抗剪强度参数标准值的选取以及相应的设计方案具有明显的影响。     

A Characterization of Symmetric Isofactorial Models

The paper examines symmetric isofactorial models. A necessary and sufficient condition for a bivariate stationary random function to be isofactorial is given. Using this characterization, a procedure for checking whether an isofactorial model is appropriate is outlined. If data indicates that an isofactorial model is adequate, the procedure also provides a method for identifying the factors of the model. The paper concentrates on the case where Z(x) takes values 0, 1, 2,..., N and the general case is discussed briefly.     

On Some Consistency Conditions for Geostatistical Change-of-Support Models

This work deals with a family of geostatistical models used in application fields concerned with a change of support, such as mineral resources evaluation and polluted soil management. Three models are examined: the discrete Gaussian, Hermitian and Laguerrian models, which rely on a transformation of the variable of interest (mineral grade or pollutant concentration) defined on point and block supports into variables with Gaussian or gamma univariate distributions and isofactorial bivariate distributions. The focus is given to the relationships between the transformed variables at both supports, and to the conditions that these relationships imply on the model parameters. Additionally, guidelines are given for improving the variogram analysis of the transformed variables and for validating the change-of-support model.     

A correction model for conditional bias in selective mining operations

A nonlinear correction functionK(Z*) is proposed to transform any initial linear grade estimatorZ* into a conditional unbiased estimatorZ**=K(Z*) with reduced conditional estimation variance. Such a corrected estimator allows more accurate prediction of ore reserves at any level of selection performed during the mine lifetime. The correction is based upon an analytical or isofactorial representation of a bivariate distribution model of true gradeZ and its estimatorZ*. This correction model allows derivation of conditional estimation variances for both estimatorsZ* andZ** and provides a solution to the problem of change of support. A case study is presented and performance of the proposed correction model is evaluated in terms of actual conditional bias and mean squared errors. Results obtained stress the practical importance of the correction model in selective mining operations.     

Comment on “Indicator principal component kriging” by V. Suro-Pérez and A. G. Journel

Conclusions The indicators covariance is equivalent to the bivariate distribution of the class index. The factor decomposition of the indicator covariance proposed by SPJ is an isofactorial model of the corresponding bivariate distribution. However, the choices of cumulative indicators and of principal component analysis produce unacceptable inconsistencies. In LL, a correspondence analysis of the bivariate distribution was used to produce more satisfactory empirical factors. These were used in the procedure of identification of discrete isofactorial models, with improved consistency, and the benefit of change of support models.     

Disjunctive Kriging with Hard and Imprecise Data

This paper presents a methodology for assessing local probability distributions by disjunctive kriging when the available data set contains some imprecise measurements, like noisy or soft information or interval constraints. The basic idea consists in replacing the set of imprecise data by a set of pseudohard data simulated from their posterior distribution; an iterative algorithm based on the Gibbs sampler is proposed to achieve such a simulation step. The whole procedure is repeated many times and the final result is the average of the disjunctive kriging estimates computed from each simulated data set. Being data-independent, the kriging weights need to be calculated only once, which enables fast computing. The simulation procedure requires encoding each datum as a pre-posterior distribution and assuming a Markov property to allow the updating of pre-posterior distributions into posterior ones. Although it suffers some imperfections, disjunctive kriging turns out to be a much more flexible approach than conditional expectation, because of the vast class of models that allows its computation, namely isofactorial models.     

Uncertainties in Facies Proportion Estimation I. Theoretical Framework: The Dirichlet Distribution

To simulate geological models comprising several litho-types—or facies—we need first to estimate their proportions, which are often poorly known. The corresponding uncertainties can be modelled using a Bayesian approach for inverting the multinomial distribution. The result obtained is known as the Dirichlet distribution. It can be simulated by decomposition into independent conditional distributions. Application of the model is extended to the case of nonstationary proportions and, with some approximation, to the case of correlated spatial data. The mathematical developments presented in the appendices provide a more precise and general definition of the distribution, several decomposition formulae into independent variables, the determination of remarkable stability properties, and the resulting consequences for the conditional and marginal distributions.     

Three-parameter generalized exponential distribution in earthquake recurrence interval estimation

The purpose of this article is to study the three-parameter (scale, shape, and location) generalized exponential (GE) distribution and examine its suitability in probabilistic earthquake recurrence modeling. The GE distribution shares many physical properties of the gamma and Weibull distributions. This distribution, unlike the exponential distribution, overcomes the burden of memoryless property. For shape parameter  β> 1, the GE distribution offers increasing hazard function, which is in accordance with the elastic rebound theory of earthquake generation. In the present study, we consider a real, complete, and homogeneous earthquake catalog of 20 events with magnitude above 7.0 (Yadav et al. in Pure Appl Geophys 167:1331–1342, 2010) from northeast India and its adjacent regions (20°–32°N and 87°–100°E) to analyze earthquake inter-occurrence time from the GE distribution. We apply the modified maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate model parameters. We then perform a number of goodness-of-fit tests to evaluate the suitability of the GE model to other competitive models, such as the gamma and Weibull models. It is observed that for the present data set, the GE distribution has a better and more economical representation than the gamma and Weibull distributions. Finally, a few conditional probability curves (hazard curves) are presented to demonstrate the significance of the GE distribution in probabilistic assessment of earthquake hazards.     

T -distributed Random Fields: A Parametric Model for Heavy-tailedWell-log Data1

Histograms of observations from spatial phenomena are often found to be more heavy-tailed than Gaussian distributions, which makes the Gaussian random field model unsuited. A T-distributed random field model with heavy-tailed marginal probability density functions is defined. The model is a generalization of the familiar Student-T distribution, and it may be given a Bayesian interpretation. The increased variability appears cross-realizations, contrary to in-realizations, since all realizations are Gaussian-like with varying variance between realizations. The T-distributed random field model is analytically tractable and the conditional model is developed, which provides algorithms for conditional simulation and prediction, so-called T-kriging. The model compares favourably with most previously defined random field models. The Gaussian random field model appears as a special, limiting case of the T-distributed random field model. The model is particularly useful whenever multiple, sparsely sampled realizations of the random field are available, and is clearly favourable to the Gaussian model in this case. The properties of the T-distributed random field model is demonstrated on well log observations from the Gullfaks field in the North Sea. The predictions correspond to traditional kriging predictions, while the associated prediction variances are more representative, as they are layer specific and include uncertainty caused by using variance estimates.     

两变量水文频率分布模型研究述评

水文变量多特征属性的频率分析,以及各种水文事件的遭遇及联合概率分布问题需要采用多变量概率分布模型解决。总结了当前应用最广泛的几种两变量概率分布模型,对各种模型的适用性和局限性做了详细分析,并介绍了一种新的两变量概率模型——Copula函数。现有模型大都基于变量之间的线性相关关系而建立,对于非线性、非对称的随机变量难以很好地描述;大部分模型假定各变量服从相同的边际分布或对变量间的相关性有严格的限定,从而限制了其应用。Copula函数所构造的两变量概率分布模型克服了现有模型的不足,它具有任意的边际分布,可以描述变量间非线性、非对称的相关关系。作为一种用于构造灵活的多变量联合分布的工具,Copula函数在水科学领域具有广阔的应用前景。     

Isofactorial models for granulodensimetric data

Existing isofactorial models developed for disjunctive kriging using a cutoff grade on one variable are extended to the bivariate case which arises when dealing with granulo-densimetric data, such as are obtained from coal washing or mineral processing.     

Revisiting Multi-Gaussian Kriging with the Nataf Transformation or the Bayes’ Rule for the Estimation of Spatial Distributions

A multivariate probability transformation between random variables, known as the Nataf transformation, is shown to be the appropriate transformation for multi-Gaussian kriging. It assumes a diagonal Jacobian matrix for the transformation of the random variables between the original space and the Gaussian space. This allows writing the probability transformation between the local conditional probability density function in the original space and the local conditional Gaussian probability density function in the Gaussian space as a ratio equal to the ratio of their respective marginal distributions. Under stationarity, the marginal distribution in the original space is modeled from the data histogram. The stationary marginal standard Gaussian distribution is obtained from the normal scores of the data and the local conditional Gaussian distribution is modeled from the kriging mean and kriging variance of the normal scores of the data. The equality of ratios of distributions has the same form as the Bayes’ rule and the assumption of stationarity of the data histogram can be re-interpreted as the gathering of the prior distribution. Multi-Gaussian kriging can be re-interpreted as an updating of the data histogram by a Gaussian likelihood. The Bayes’ rule allows for an even more general interpretation of spatial estimation in terms of equality for the ratio of the conditional distribution over the marginal distribution in the original data uncertainty space with the same ratio for a model of uncertainty with a distribution that can be modeled using the mean and variance from direct kriging of the original data values. It is based on the principle of conservation of probability ratio and no transformation is required. The local conditional distribution has a variance that is data dependent. When used in sequential simulation mode, it reproduces histogram and variogram of the data, thus providing a new approach for direct simulation in the original value space.     

Co-simulating Total and Soluble Copper Grades in an Oxide Ore Deposit

In oxide copper deposits, the acid soluble copper represents the fraction of total copper recoverable by heap leaching. Two difficulties often complicate the joint modeling and simulation of total and soluble copper grades: the inequality constraint linking both grade variables and the sampling design for soluble copper grade, which may be preferential and cause biases in sample statistics. A methodology is presented in order to accurately estimate the total and soluble copper grade bivariate distribution, based on an explicit modeling of the conditional distributions of soluble copper grade. Co-simulation is then realized by converting the copper grades into Gaussian random fields, through stepwise conditional transformation, and by fitting a coregionalization model while accounting for the preferential sampling design. The proposed approach is illustrated through an application to an ore deposit located in northern Chile.     

大地电磁法的1D无偏差贝叶斯反演

应用贝叶斯理论对一维(1D)大地电磁反演问题进行无偏差不确定度分析。在贝叶斯理论中,测量数据和先验信息包含在后验概率密度函数(PPD)中,它可以解释成模型的单点估计和不确定度等贝叶斯推断,这些信息的获取需要对反演问题进行优化求最优模型和在高维模型空间中对PPD进行采样积分。采样的完全、彻底和效率,对反演结果有着重要的影响。为了使采样更有效、更完全,数值积分采用主分量参数空间的Metropolis Hastings采样,并采用了不同的采样温度。在反演中,同时采用了欠参数化和超参数化方法,数据误差和正则化因子被当成随机变量。反演结果得到各参数的不确定度、参数间的相关关系和不同深度模型的不确定度分布。COPROD1数据的反演结果表明模型空间中存在双峰结构。非地电参数在反演中得到了约束,说明数据本身不仅包含地球物理模型信息(电导率等),还包含了这些非地电参数的信息。     

Simulation of Non-Gaussian Transmissivity Fields Honoring Piezometric Data and Integrating Soft and Secondary Information

The conditional probabilities (CP) method implements a new procedure for the generation of transmissivity fields conditional to piezometric head data capable to sample nonmulti-Gaussian random functions and to integrate soft and secondary information. The CP method combines the advantages of the self-calibrated (SC) method with probability fields to circumvent some of the drawbacks of the SC method—namely, its difficulty to integrate soft and secondary information or to generate non-Gaussian fields. The SC method is based on the perturbation of a seed transmissivity field already conditional to transmissivity and secondary data, with the perturbation being function of the transmissivity variogram. The CP method is also based on the perturbation of a seed field; however, the perturbation is made function of the full transmissivity bivariate distribution and of the correlation to the secondary data. The two methods are applied to a sample of an exhaustive non-Gaussian data set of natural origin to demonstrate the interest of using a simulation method that is capable to model the spatial patterns of transmissivity variability beyond the variogram. A comparison of the probabilistic predictions of convective transport derived from a Monte Carlo exercise using both methods demonstrates the superiority of the CP method when the underlying spatial variability is non-Gaussian.     

Estimation of Geological Attributes from a Well Log: An Application of Hidden Markov Chains

Geophysical well logs used in petroleum exploration consist of measurements of physical properties (such as radioactivity, density, and acoustic velocity) that are digitally recorded at a fixed interval (typically half a foot) along the length of the exploratory well. The measurements are informative of the unobserved rock type alternations along the well, which is critical for the assessment of petroleum reservoirs. The well log data that are analyzed here are from a North Sea petroleum reservoir where two distinct strata have been identified from large scale seismic data. We apply a hidden Markov chain model to infer properties of the rock type alternations, separately for each stratum. The hidden Markov chain uses Dirichlet prior distributions for the Markov transition probabilities between rock types. The well log measurements, conditional on the unobserved rock types, are modeled using Gaussian distributions. Our analysis provides likelihood estimates of the parameters of the Dirichlet prior and the parameters of the measurement model. For fixed values of the parameter estimates we calculate the posterior distributions for the rock type transition probabilities, given the well log measurement data. We then propagate the model parameter uncertainty into the posterior distributions using resampling from the maximum likelihood model. The resulting distributions can be used to characterize the two reservoir strata and possible differences between them. We believe that our approach to modeling and analysis is novel and well suited to the problem. Our approach has elements in common with empirical Bayes methods in that unspecified parameters are estimated using marginal likelihoods. Additionally, we propagate the parameter uncertainty into the final posterior distributions.     

Using non-Gaussian distributions in geostatistical simulations

Parametric geostatistical simulations such as LU decomposition and sequential algorithms do not need Gaussian distributions. It is shown that variogram model reproduction is obtained when Uniform or Dipole distributions are used instead of Gaussian distributions for drawing i. i.d. random values in LU simulation, or for modeling the local conditional probability distributions in sequential simulation. Both algorithms yield simulated values with a marginal normal distribution no matter if Gaussian, Uniform, or Dipole distributions are used. The range of simulated values decreases as the entropy of the probability distribution decreases. Using Gaussian distributions provides a larger range of simulated normal score values than using Uniform or Dipole distributions. This feature has a negligible effect for reproduction of the normal scores variogram model but have a larger impact on the reproduction of the original values variogram. The Uniform or Dipole distributions also produce lesser fluctuations among the variograms of the simulated realizations.     

Variograms of Order ω: A Tool to Validate a Bivariate Distribution Model

The multigaussian model is used in mining geostatistics to simulate the spatial distribution of grades or to estimate the recoverable reserves of an ore deposit. Checking the suitability of such model to the available data often constitutes a critical step of the geostatistical study. In general, the marginal distribution is not a problem because the data can be transformed to normal scores, so the check is usually restricted to the bivariate distributions. In this work, several tests for diagnosing the two-point normality of a set of Gaussian data are reviewed and commented. An additional criterion is proposed, based on the comparison between the usual variogram and the variograms of lower order: the latter are defined as half the mean absolute increments of the attribute raised to a power between 0 and 2. This criterion is then extended to other bivariate models, namely the bigamma, Hermitian and Laguerrian models. The concepts are illustrated on two real data-sets. Finally, some conditions to ensure the internal consistency of the variogram under a given model are given.