--> Abstract: Application of Computer-Mapping Programs (SYMAP and SYMVU) to Interpretation of Ancient and Modern Sedimentary Environments, by J. Richard Jones, Barry Cameron; #90968 (1977).

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Abstract: Application of Computer-Mapping Programs (SYMAP and SYMVU) to Interpretation of Ancient and Modern Sedimentary Environments

J. Richard Jones, Barry Cameron

A review of the geologic literature indicates that widespread use of SYMAP (synagraphic mapping) by geologists has not been initiated. SYMAP, developed by H. T. Fisher in 1963 as a computer-mapping package, allows the user a wide range of options, including a variety of multivariate techniques, as well as various other options which graphically display the data as line-printed output. The SYMVU plotting program, used in conjunction with SYMAP, vastly improves the cartographic aesthetics of line-printed output. SYMVU is designed either to operate as the plotting option of SYMAP or to produce independent cartograms from a data set in conjunction with a drum plotter and stylus.

SYMAP and SYMVU have been used successfully to (1) map the subsurface Miocene sedimentary parameters of the Delaware coastal plain to identify offshore barrier islands and lagoonal environments; (2) denote surface and subsurface textural shifts in the sands of the westwardly migrating Plum Island, Massachusetts, barrier-island system; (3) contour the current-flow velocities in Boston Harbor; and (4) map sedimentary statistical associations in selected New England drumlins.

SYMAP in conjunction with the SYMVU plotting option can be put to significant use by sedimentary geologists for (1) mapping graphically any spatial relations present within a data set, (2) reducing various types of geologic data through commonly used multivariate techniques, and (3) producing cartograms which can be of publishable quality.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90968©1977 AAPG-SEPM Annual Convention and Exhibition, Washington, DC