ETL 1110-1-175
30 Jun 97
Chapter 3
intrinsic random functions, and comparisons of
kriging to other spatial prediction techniques. The
Geostatistical Resources and Tools
text is written from a statistician's point of view
and is, in places, written at a fairly high level
mathematically. It nevertheless contains numerous
Since the mid-1970's, a myriad of texts and arti-
examples and illustrations using real-world data.
cles have been published that are either totally
Journel and Huijbregts (1978) maintain a mining-
dedicated to geostatistical methods or discuss
geological perspective. Two other texts written by
geostatistics in detail. Numerous computer pro-
statisticians that present general treatments of spa-
grams and software packages on geostatistics and
tial processes, but that lack detailed discussions of
kriging accompany many of these texts. Although
kriging, are Cliff and Ord (1981) and Ripley
only a few of these resources will be briefly
(1981).
described in this ETL, their lists of references can
provide the interested reader a path to other geo-
c. David's (1977) text was the first extensive
statistical topics or software not specifically
discussion of geostatistics and kriging in mining
covered in the resources.
applications, and the discussion is presented from a
practitioner's viewpoint. Its value as reference
material derives from the many specific mining
3-1. Texts on Geostatistics
applications and results. A broad statistics text
with a bent toward geological applications (Davis
a. The geostatistical texts presented in this
(1986), serves as a reference for standard statisti-
section can be classified into two broad categories:
cal procedures needed in geological applications of
instructional texts or reference texts. For one who
geostatistics. A book by Bras and Rodriguez-
is delving into geostatistics for the first time,
Itrube (1985) that discusses a range of techniques
Clark's (1979) book is a starting point. Simple
for stochastic modeling in the field of hydrology
explanations of the basic kriging techniques are
includes a chapter on applications of kriging.
applied to an example data set. A more advanced
There is a fairly complete mathematical develop-
treatment of the kriging techniques is described by
ment of kriging with details of an application to
Isaaks and Srivastava (1989). This textbook pre-
predict mean areal precipitation. In a paper pre-
sents a detailed discussion of many of the back-
pared for the U.S. Environmental Protection
ground statistical tools and concepts needed in
Agency, Journel (1993) discusses geostatistics as it
geostatistical applications, including histograms
relates to environmental science. Finally, Olea
and distributions (univariate and bivariate),
(1991) presents a useful glossary of geostatistical
sampling, correlation, and spatial continuity. The
terms.
text also discusses how to treat the subtleties of
kriging using three data sets as examples. As well
as being instructional, the book also can be used as
3-2. Useful Journals
a reference.
The journal Mathematical Geology by the Inter-
b. Texts by Cressie (1991) and Journel and
national Association for Mathematical Geologists
Huijbregts (1978) describe the tools of geostatis-
reports new developments in the theory and appli-
tics, but also include a comprehensive theoretical
cation of kriging. Although many of the articles
background on the techniques. Cressie's (1991)
present new applications of kriging tools, many
text is a treatment of spatial processes in general
also are dedicated to the derivation of statistical
and reviews a wide range of statistical techniques
properties of the variogram, kriging estimation,
in the analysis and stochastic modeling of spatial
and cross-validation results. Journals such as
data. There is a four-chapter section on geosta-
Water Resources Research, published by the
tistics, with a complete discussion of variogram
American Geophysical Union, and Groundwater,
estimation, kriging (including universal kriging),
3-1
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