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Carbonate platforms can have complex internal facies variations and stratal geometries expressed at length scales longer than all but the largest outcrops. The latter commonly form high and relatively inaccessible cliffs, and thus conventional field techniques (logging and photomontages) may not adequately capture the 3D geometry of surfaces and the details of the facies distribution. Because facies and stratal geometry control rock properties and connectivity in carbonate reservoirs, accurate outcrop data can be critical to reservoir and forward seismic modeling. The Gresse-en-Vercors cliffs (southeastern France) provide a seismic-scale slice though a Lower Cretaceous (Barremian) platform margin analogous to Lower Cretaceous reservoirs in the Middle East. The cliffs are 500 m high and extend for 25 km along depositional dip, straddling the transition from shallow-water platform to deeper basin. This paper describes the methodology developed to create a high-resolution stratigraphical digital outcrop model (DOM) integrating field measurements (logged sections, facies mapping) and high-resolution digital data (photomosaic and new LIDAR data acquired by a helicopter survey). Integration of the LIDAR and other point cloud data provide a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) on which georeferenced field observations were then posted. The “solid image” technique was used to extract precise x,y,z coordinates of stratigraphic surfaces from the DEM. The resulting numerical geological model allows a coherent restoration of the platform architecture, quantification of component surfaces (shape, angles, dimensions) and geobodies, and a better characterization of the relationship between facies and platform architecture

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