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Version 2.2: Date of Release: December 2016
Summary of Major Changes
- StructureSolver's modeling capabilities have been extended to allow model surfaces to be ordered by age rather than depth. This lets you model a wide variety of syntectonic erosion scenarios.
- There are numerous improvements to usability of StructureSolver functions.
Detailed Description of Changes
- Each StructureSolver menu grouping now includes a menu item that brings up a summary Help page for the menu grouping.
- The First Time Instructions for Stretch Overlying Layers, Move Underlying Layers and Move Individual Surface have been removed in favor of the summary instructions for Structural Modeling Menu.
- In previous versions the StructureSolver graphics window could be scrolled vertically using a mouse scroll wheel as a result of some default Microsoft capabilities. This was an unsupported behavior that sometimes cause problems. Scrolling via the mouse wheel is now disabled.
- When you create a New Solution, Open an existing solution, or Exit, the dialog that asks whether you wish to save any changes to your existing solution now has a Cancel button.
- In previous versions displayed vectors (such as the vectors in Show Displacement Vectors for Model) did not appear correctly in Adobe Illustrator after saving for Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. This bug has been fixed.
- If you Exit the StructureSolver main window, and you have one or more Restore or Flatten windows open, a dialog now appears warning you that you will be asked to close multiple windows.
- Dialogs invoked during menu operations now open with the same dimensions they had when previously closed.
- If you try to delete a fault with a hidden structural mode, the model will be shown and you will be given the option to proceed or cancel.
- The Undo behavior for Copy and Drag Curve Segment was improved.
- The organization of the menu items has been improved so that the four menu selections that will create, delete, show or hide a structural model are now at the top of the menu list, followed by actions that affect model faults directly.
- The algorithms and displays used in the creation of structural models have been improved in the following ways:
- StructureSolver now locks hangingwall cutoffs automatically as required and previous menu option has been removed. hangingwall cutoffs are locked whenever one or more surface is moved on the footwall side of the fault and whenever the bottom segment of a fault is modified in any way. This makes the modeling process much simpler and more intuitive.
- Structural surfaces can now have reference points above the tips of non-trishear faults, without being undefined. The fault is automatically extended upwards as a dashed line.
- Faults are also automatically extended downwards as dashed lines to intersect with structural surfaces that are below the bottom fault tip (unless the projection is large enough to cause confusion).
- A much greater variety of fault shapes can now be handled, including faults that are multivalued in both distance and depth. The deepest segment of a fault can now climb section. Fault points for which shear axes cannot be constructed are automatically ignored during modeling and the fault trajectory is simplified accordingly. Shear axis orientations and displacement vector orientations are accurately calculated for complex fault geometries.
- As a result of these changes, the number of cases where modeling results in undefined structural surfaces has been much reduced. The previous Identify Fault Errors menu item has been retired
- You can now use ages of surfaces in a structural model, rather than depths, in order to determine the depositional order order the surfaces. This allows you to easily model the effects of more complex burial histories on both the footwall and hangingwall of faults, including periods of erosion associated with relative drops in depositional base level. You can change between using ages and not using ages by the menu function Use or Don't Use Ages in Structural Model or by a radio button selection in the dialogs for Add Structural To Fault or Redefine Surface.
- In previous versions of StructureSolver, local interpenetration of structural surfaces could occur (for example at the crest of a contractional growth fold), implying erosion and truncation. If ages are used to order structural surfaces, there are many more possibilities for erosion of structural surfaces. Accordingly, calculation and display of eroded surfaces is now carried out continuously in StructureSolver. Parts of surfaces that are eroded are shown as dotted surface segments. The display of eroded surface segments can be turned on or off for all models using Hide or Show Eroded Surfaces.
- Fault trishear and shear axes displays are now extended to the highest point on any surface, even if it is eroded.
- When it is useful during selection operations, faults that have structural models now display a small circle with the number of structural surfaces shown inside. If the structural model is visible, the circle has a white background and black text. If the structural model for the fault is hidden, the circle has a black background and white text. This new display is present when you are selecting faults in Delete Curve Segment, Add Structural Surface to Fault, Enable or Disable Trishear for Fault, Create or Delete Structural Model for Fault, and Hide or Show Structural Model for Fault.
- In previous versions, a number of functions that involve selection of a fault would "auto-select" the fault if only one fault was shown in your interpretation. Now most functions require you to explicitly select a fault if only one is shown. The remaining exceptions are Add Structural Surface to Fault, Change Shear Angle, and Animate Model, because in each of these cases the user must make subsequent choices and can cancel if desired.
- Add Structural Surface to Fault has several new features. You can choose to auto-suggest the color and age for the next surface. If you have selected to use ages in your structural model, then the Add Surface dialog will not let you specify an age for a new surface that duplicates an existing age. Within the same dialog, you can also change the model from using ages to not using ages and vice-versa if that makes sense. If you are using ages, and you add a surface of intermediate age, the regional throw across the fault is interpolated.
- Create or Delete Structural Model for Fault replaces the previous Delete Structural Model for Fault. The new Create functionality allows the explicit creation of a structural model before any surfaces have been created by defining and displaying shear axes. If you try to delete a hidden structural mode, the model will be shown and you will be given the option to proceed or cancel.
- Hide or Show Structural Model for Fault has been changed so that the function now applies only to faults for which a structural model has been already created using Add Structural Surface to Fault, Enable or Disable Trishear for Fault, or Create Structural Model for Fault.
- Use or Don't Use Ages in Structural Model lets you change whether ages or depths are used to determine the depositional order of structural surfaces in a structural model. A structural model can only use ages if the ages for all surfaces are unique, and if the youngest surface is undeformed. If using ages will change the depositional ordering you will be warned before proceeding. Likewise, when you change from using ages to not using ages,you will be warned if one or more erosional intervals must be collapsed. If a structural model uses ages a small unconformity icon is shown above the tip of the fault.
- Show or Hide Burial History is a new feature that lets you automatically display footwall and hangingwall burial history diagrams for structural models that use ages. These burial history plots automatically update as you modify or animate a structural model.
- Hide or Show Eroded Surfaces is a new feature that turns the display of eroded surfaces off or on for all structural models. You can change this attribute during structural animation.
- The displays and interactions for functions that select individual surfaces (Stretch Overlying Layers, Move Underlying Layers, Move Individual Surface, Identify Surface, Delete Surface, and Redefine Surface) have been improved in the following ways:
- If eroded surfaces are hidden, they will be temporarily shown for the duration of the interaction.
- Depths, thicknesses, stretch factors and ages adjacent to surface reference points are shown only for the structural model associated with the surface that you are selecting, not for all structural models.
- If you identify a surface and burial history plots are shown, the corresponding surface is highlighted in the burial history plots.
- The dynamic labels shown when you highlight surfaces display more useful information than in previous versions.
- Stretch Overlying Layers behaves in an appropriate way if your model uses ages, in which case "overlying" means "younger". You cannot select any surface that is within or at the base of an erosional interval. For any other surface, the interval that is stretched is restricted to the younger layers up to the base of the next erosional interval. This isolates the stretch to a well-defined geological phase. The best way to understand this behavior is to show burial history along with your model.
- Move Underlying Layers moves older layers if you are using ages. In this case you can move the selected surface above a younger surface or below and older surface to create an erosion interval. In previous versions if hangingwall cutoffs were locked and you moved the top hangingwall surface, the entire model would move. This behavior has been corrected so that hangingwall cutoffs for all underlying layers stay fixed. The shortcut Alt + 2 has been added for this function.
- Move Individual Surface allows you to move a surface above a younger surface or below an older surface if you are using ages. The shortcut Alt + 1 has been added for this function.
- Redefine Surface now lets you change between using ages for not using ages for your structural model by radio-button selection Within the same dialog, you can also change the model from using ages to not using ages and vice-versa if that makes sense
- Animate Model now displays geologic age during animation, and animates at a rate proportional to geological time, if you Use Ages in the structural model. Additionally you can animate with either a Fixed Fault or Fixed Depositional Surface datum. Continuous computation of erosion is carried out during animation. Eroded surfaces can be hidden or shown during animation. If a model has Burial History shown, the burial history plot also animates appropriately.
- Identify Fault Errors no longer shows an error if a surface reference point lies above the top tip of a fault that does not have trishear enabled.
- Displace Curve on Fault is a new function that lets you displace an arbitrary curve segment along a fault according to the shear axis deformation for the fault.
- The method of determining the ordering of faults for linked modeling has been improved. In particular, opposed trishear contractional faults whose upward continuations intersect are now permissible.
- Animate Linked Models now displays geologic age during animation, and animates at a rate proportional to geological time, if you Use Ages in the structural models. You can animate a linked model only if all constituent models use ages. If ages do don't match you will be given a warning. Additionally you can animate with either a Fixed Fault or Fixed Depositional Surface datum. Continuous computation of erosion is carried out during animation. Eroded surfaces can be hidden or shown during animation.
- Display Diagnostics for Linked Models now shows warnings related to surface age mismatches if you are using ages.
- In Restore and Flatten in Version 2.1 there was a bug whereby a restored curve segment might not be properly resampled if the original window had an area-depth graph. This bug has been fixed.
- Restore First Time Instructions now also restored the Closing Multiple Windows warning which appears if you close a StructureSolver main window that has one or more attached Restore or Flatten window.
- A number of data components have been augmented. As always, StructureSolver maintains forward and backward compatibility.