Strat Desktop

Strat Desktop v. 2.6

by Richard W. Allmendinger © 2018-2019



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 Strat Desktop

Contents
Disclaimer 3
Acknowledgments 3
Introduction 3
The Main Screen 4
The Inspector Palette 6
Lithologies/Formations Group Box 7
Appearance of the Section 7
The Well Data Tab 8
Entering and Saving a Section 8
Reading in an Already Measured Section 8
From Strat Mobile 8
From the Desktop 9
From a Text File Created by Another Program 9
From Well Data 10
Entering a Section from Scratch 11
Editing an Already Entered Section 12
Saving Your Data and Graphical Section 13
Exporting Information 14
Lithology Definitions 14
Formation Definitions 14
Export for SedLog 15
Menu Summary 15
File Menu 15
Edit Menu 16
Section Menu 17
Plot Menu 17
Windows Menu 18
Help Menu 18

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Disclaimer
Strat Desktop is provided “as is” with no without any warranty, explicit or implicit. The
author will not be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages result-
ing from any defect in this software or this user's manual, even if he has been previously
been made aware of the defect. Furthermore, I make no systematic effort to inform all
users of either bug fixes or upgrades. Use this app at your own risk. This program may
not be sold or offered as an inducement to buy any other product.

Acknowledgments
I appreciate the beta-testing prowess of Robert Hall, Teresa Jordan, Tasnuva Ming
Khan, and Néstor Cardozo.

Any errors are mine but, remember, it is completely up to you to verify that the program
is working and yielding reliable results for your purposes. All computer programs have
bugs in them!

Introduction
Strat Desktop is a desktop companion program to my iOS app, Strat Mobile, though it
can also be used as a completely independent program. In short, the program facilitates
the viewing, editing, and entering new data on stratigraphic columns on the desktop.
Those columns can be saved, or copied to the clipboard, as .PDF or .SVG files which
are readable by most modern vector graphics programs like Adobe Illustrator, etc. The
data files that Strat Desktop saves can be read back into Strat Mobile.

Strat Desktop can run on MacOS X, Windows, and Linux computers. It is a document
based application, meaning that you can have several different sections open in differ-
ent Windows. To create a new window for a new section, select File>New. The window
will be blank until you read in some data or start creating a section manually by adding
intervals.

In the lexicon of the program, measured stratigraphic units are referred to as

“intervals”. Intervals can be assigned a lithology, a formation name, or both; you can
only assign colors either by lithology or formation name but not both. If you have en-
tered well data, in addition to the usual parameters, you can assign a sonic (interval)
velocity and plot your section in two way travel time rather than depth. Point observa-
tions are called “samples” but they can represent any point observation you want —

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photographs, identification of a particular fossil, measurement of a feature, or, yes, even

a sample — regardless of whether you physically collected a sample there. Sections are
always defined from the base upwards, though if entering data manually, you can create
one top downwards by using Section>Add Interval to Base.

The Main Screen

The primary work space of Strat Desktop is divided into two halves: On the left side of
the screen is the canvas where a graphical representation is plotted. The graphic has a
scale showing thicknesses in the units of the stratigraphic section. Those units can be
changed in the Inspector Palette. To the left of the scale, small diamond symbols show
point observations or samples. To the right of the scale is the stratigraphic section and
Legend. Strat Desktop uses colors and widths to represent lithologic units rather than
patterns. Those colors and widths can be changed, and units renamed or added, in the

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Inspector Palette. You can define as many units as you want. The appearance of the
right edge of the section — whether you use ragged or straight edges, as well as other
graphical characteristics such as outline, etc. — are also defined in the Inspector Pal-
ette.

The right side of the screen displays the data in three different tabs: The Data Tab pro-
vides an overview of both the measured intervals and the samples in two list boxes. To
see all the recorded details of an individual interval or sample select it, either by clicking
on its row in the list box or by clicking on the unit or sample itself in the stratigraphic col-
umn on the left. Then, click on either the Interval Details or Sample Details tab. These
views offer similar, but not identical information. All of these field are recorded automati-
cally when you measure a section with Strat Mobile. If you are entering a section by
hand, the only required information in the Interval Details tab is the thickness and the
lithology; with those two alone, you can make a stratigraphic section. Manual entry of
data in the Sample Details tab requires either the distance of the sample above the

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base of the section, or the interval number and the distance above the base of the inter-
val. You will also want to define the type of sample. This is entered in a combo box
where you can either select an existing sample type from the drop down list or type in a
new sample type. Any new sample types, once the update same button is clicked, will
be added to the sample types list automatically and so will be available for subsequent
samples. In both tabs, the notes field will take whatever freeform entry you want of any
length.

Every field can be modified or changed for an existing section. In the Interval Details
tab, you can specify that the unit appear tapered and widening upward or downward by
clicking the “wider at” checkbox and then selecting the appropriate radio button. This is
specified on an interval by interval basis. In the main screen view, the lowest sandstone
unit was marked as wider at the bottom whereas the sandstone unit in the middle of the
section was defined as wider at the top.

Some changes in the Sample Detail tab are linked: For example, if you change the dis-
tance of the sample above the base of the section, the program will calculate automati-
cally what interval the sample is in and how far above the base of that interval it is. If
you change the interval number, the distance above the base of the section will be
change to the base of the new interval and the distance above the base of the interval
text box will be selected for you to enter where in the unit it lies. You cannot enter a val-
ue in that text box which is greater than the thickness of the unit in which it lies. If you
change any of these values, a “Restore” button will appear automatically in the lower left
side of the tab, allowing you to revert to the previously saved values.

Eventually, but not at present, the “Elevation” label will be a live button which will allow
you to retrieve the elevation corresponding to the latitude and longitude value from an
Internet elevation server.

Your changes are not recorded until you click the Update… button in the lower right.

The Inspector Palette

You can specify or change units with the dropdown menu at the top of the Inspector
Palette. If you have already entered data for a section in one, say feet (ft), and want to
switch to meters (m), all of your already entered data will be converted to meters. A dia-
log box will warn you that this is about to happen and give you a chance to cancel. Of
course, you can switch to meters and then back to feet again at will.

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Lithologies/Formations Group Box

You define the color and the width of each
lithology in the Lithologies group box. Just se-
lect the rock type that you want to edit from the
drop down menu and use the slider for the
width and color box to select the colors. The
width is specified as a percentage between 10
and 100% with the selected value shown to the
right of the slider. Your changes are reflected in
realtime in the stratigraphic column in the main
window. You can rename an existing lithology
by clicking the Rename button and add a new
lithology with the Add New button. in both cases
a sheet window will appear where you can enter
a new name or cancel the operation. Any new
lithologies that you add are initially given a ran-
dom color and a width of 50%. You changes will
immediately become available in the lithologies
drop down menu in the Interval Details tab.

Appearance of the Section

The remainder of the Inspector Palette is de-
voted to the appearance of your stratigraphic
section both in the main window and in .SVG
files that you save. The right edge of your sec-
tion can either be ragged or straight by toggling
the “section has ragged edge” checkbox. If
ragged, the program will compute some “pseu-
do-beds” of slightly different thicknesses and
“erodabilities” using a random number genera-
tor. You can control the roughness of the edge
with the top slider and the relative thickness of
the seed beds with the bottom slider. The thick-
ness of the beds is also scaled by the average
width of the unit defined in the lithologies sec-
tion. If you want to see the pseudo-beds plotted,
check the “plot schematic beds” checkbox.

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The final two choices allow you to plot your section with or without a black line around
each interval and whether to plot the section as a black and white line drawing with no
color at all. You might want to plot a black line around each color filled interval if, for ex-
ample, you have two units of the same lithology adjacent to each other in the section or
just if you think it looks better.

The Well Data Tab

Here, you tell Strat Desktop whether to color your section by lithology or by formation
name. Sonic velocities is automatically checked if you have entered well data with ve-
locity information but you can also turn it on manually. Doing so will make the sonic ve-
locities text box in the Interval Details pane visible. You can then type in the velocities by
hand for each of your units. If you only have velocities for some units, you can have
Strat Desktop automatically assign velocities to the rest of the units in your section by
selecting Section>Well Data>Extrapolate Velocities (which is not necessarily ideal!).

Finally, if sonic velocities have been enabled, you will see the “plot in two way time”
checkbox, which is what allows you to toggle between plotting in depth and plotting in
time.

Entering and Saving a Section

When the program starts or you open a new window with the File>New command, the
window is blank. At this point, you can either read in a pre-existing section already
saved to disk or start entering data manually.

Reading in an Already Measured Section

From Strat Mobile

Strat Desktop was designed for viewing, editing, and producing high quality graphics
from sections measured with Strat Mobile for iOS. Simply move your Strat Mobile data
file to you desktop computer and then choose File>Open and locate the Strat Mobile
file. You can move the Strat Mobile file to your desktop in various ways, depending on
the computer you have. For Mac users, perhaps the most convenient way is using Air-
Drop or iCloudDrive which can be accessed from the Staring Panel — the icon is a box
with an upward pointing arrow — in Strat Mobile. You can also paste the column into an
email program and mail yourself the data or use the Notepad app, which automatically
shares its data with the desktop version of note pad.

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 Strat Desktop

From the Desktop

Simply choose File>Open and locate any Strat Desktop or Strat Mobile file that you
have previously saved. In Strat Desktop, you can also enter data that is on the system
clipboard. Make sure you copy the complete file from the program that displays it (e.g.,
an email program) and then choose Edit>Paste Section.

If you have already entered data in the program, you will be given the opportunity to ap-
pend the data to the existing section or replacing it.

As soon as you read in the section, it will be displayed with the colors and widths that
you had designed for it originally.

From a Text File Created by Another Program

Strat Desktop can read any column-oriented text file, separated by tabs or commas, that
was created in another stratigraphy program or in a spreadsheet program. To start,
choose the text file by selecting File>Parse Column. After you identify the file have has
the column to read in, the below dialog box will appear where you will assign the col-
umns in the file to Strat Desktop data types. This window can be resized by dragging on
an edge.

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Use the radio buttons to tell Strat Desktop whether the data appear in the columns in
top-to-bottom (i.e., the first row of data is that the top of the section and the last row at
the bottom) or bottom-to-top. You can either enter thicknesses or tops of intervals, but
not both. Finally, you can concatenate several columns into the notes field as shown by
separating the column numbers with commas as shown in the above example. Don’t
forget to assign the right units on import!

From Well Data

Strat Desktop makes it easy to plot data from vertical wells by entering the tops of for-
mations encountered in the wells. In the spreadsheet in which you have your well data,
select and copy the columns that
you want to import into a blank Strat
Desktop file. You can include as
many columns as you like but you
should not include any header col-
umns, just data. Then, in Strat
Desktop, select Section>Well
Data>Add Well Data. make sure
that the listbox has the focus and
choose Edit>Paste. The columns
from the spreadsheet will be parsed
into the columns in the listbox. Then
use the popup menus at the bottom
of the window to tell Strat Desktop
which column is which, as well as
assign names, locations, and units
at the top of the window. By default,
Strat Desktop will assign random
colors to the formations and every
unit will be given a width of 50. Note
that one of the columns that Strat
Desktop recognizes is the one for
the sonic velocity. If velocity is spec-
ified (in the same units as the
tops!!), you will be able to plot the
column either in depth or in two-way
travel time (for comparison to seis-
mic reflection data):

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t(ms) 0
2500

100

upper Devonian
200 upper Devonian

2000
300

Onondaga-Oriskany-Heldeberg
400
Camillus-Bertie Onondaga-Oriskany-Heldeberg
Camillus-Bertie
1500 Syracuse 500
Syracuse

Vernon 600
Lockport Vernon
Clinton Lockport
700
1000 Medina (Grimsby) Clinton
Queenston Medina (Grimsby)
800 Queenston

Oswego
900 Oswego

500 Lorraine
Lorraine
Utica 1000
Utica
Trenton
Trenton
Black River 1100
Tribes Hill Black River
Tribes Hill
Little Falls
m 0 Galway
Little Falls
Galway

Entering a Section from Scratch

Strat Desktop can also be used to build a section from scratch, assuming that you know
the true thicknesses of your beds already. With a blank window open, select Section
>Add Interval to Top. the right side of the main window will automatically open the In-
terval Details tab where you can enter the data that you want for the interval. You may
find it convenient to have the Inspector Palette open as well so that you can convenient-
ly define new lithology types as you encounter them. When you are finished with the
data for that interval, click the “Add Interval” button in the lower right to record your unit.
To enter the next unit just select Section >Add Interval to Top again. You will probably
find it more convenient to use the keyboard shortcut: Cmd-A (Mac) or Ctl-A (Windows).

If you do not have the true thickness of the Interval you are addition, you can have Strat
Desktop calculate the thickness from your original field data. The program can calculate
thicknesses from tape measure data (see conventions, above right), GPS coordinates
of the base and top, Jacob staff, or eye height data. Click the “Calculate Thickness” but-
ton that appears in the Interval Details tab just to the right of the Thickness text field. A
sheet window will appear as shown below; select the tab appropriate to the method that
you used to collect the data. All methods of calculating thickness except for Jacob staff

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require that you enter the bedding strike and dip. As you type numbers into the boxes,
the thickness will appear in real time at the bottom of the window once you have en-
tered sufficient data. Uncertainties are calculated for GPS data by propagating typical
horizontal and vertical errors for GPS receivers. This is done just for GPS data to rein-
force the scale of uncertainty of those measurements!

Samples can be added by selecting Section >Add Sample. They can be added as
soon as you have recorded the corresponding rock interval or added later.

Editing an Already Entered Section

Using the Section Menu, you can
add or insert intervals or samples °
N 1 90
anywhere within your column. If )=
HR
you choose to Insert a unit, please (R
e
rik
st
note that it will be inserted strati- top
(end)
graphically beneath the selected
base
bed. Editing of individual intervals (start)
or samples always requires that
you press the “Update…” button to dip
record your changes. The rest of
Tape conventions: strike and dip given using right-hand rule.
the section will automatically be Tape azimuth given in the up-section direction with slope
positive going uphill and negative going downhill. Section is
adjusted to reflect your changes. measured from base to top.

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Conglomerate
140

Sandstone
130

Siltstone
120

110 Shale

100 Limestone

90 Volcaniclastic

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

m 0

The Section Menu is also where you can delete individual intervals or sample. If you
delete an interval, any samples associated with the interval will also be deleted and
the samples associated with intervals higher in the section will be moved down by an
amount equivalent to the thickness of the deleted interval.

Deletions cannot be undone so you are asked if you are sure before it is too late!

Saving Your Data and Graphical Section

If you have made any changes, or you entered a section from scratch, you will want to
be sure to save the section using File>Save. This writes a plain text file with tab-sepa-

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rated columns that is compatible with Strat Mobile for iOS and can also be read back in
to Strat Desktop at any time.

The plot of the section can be saved as a high quality vector graphic by choosing
File>Save PDF or File>Save SVG File. A section saved to disk as a PDF file is always
scaled to the size of one page. If you wish to capture a larger section that you have
scaled so that the entire thing does not fit on the page, click on the Section Pane to give
the drawing canvas the focus, and then select Edit>Copy1 . The entire extended section
will be copied to the system clipboard as a PDF object. You can then paste the section
into any program that can accept PDF data on the clipboard (which includes most Mac
graphics programs and most Adobe programs).

SVG stand for “scaleable vector graphics” that is an open standard vector format read-
able by most modern graphics programs like Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Corel
Draw, etc. It is also the standard vector format designed for the World Wide Web and
therefore can also be opened and displayed by any modern web browser. If you have a
vector graphics program that cannot open .svg files, you can open the file in your web
browser and from there save the file as .pdf which should then be openable in many
more programs. An example vector graphic is shown, below.

Exporting Information
Lithology Definitions

Lithology definitions can be exported as a simple text file by choosing File>Export

Lithology Types. This file can be read into another stratigraphic section in Strat Desktop
or transferred to your iOS device for importing (via the clipboard) into Strat Mobile. You
can also save default lithology definitions by choosing File>Save Defaults which will
write your preferred lithologies to the user preferences folder of your computer.

Formation Definitions

Formation definitions, like lithology definitions, can be exported as a simple text file by
choosing File>Export Formation Types. This file can be read into another stratigraphic
section in Strat Desktop. This will allow you to standardize colors and widths between
formations.

1Note that Edit>Copy Section Data copies to the clipboard text data that is saved in the format
of the Strat Desktop data file and is used for moving data from one section to another.

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Export for SedLog

SedLog is a popular share/freeware program for building stratigraphic sections that is

available for any computer that can run Java apps. It is available from:

http://www.sedlog.com

Strat Desktop can take your Mobile/Desktop sections and save them as comma sepa-
rated values for easy import into SedLog. Your thicknesses are changed to centimeters
(required by SedLog) and, because SedLog does not have the concept of separate
point observations (i.e., “Samples”), any sample ID numbers attached to intervals are
written to the Notes field.

If you use SedLog extensively, you will probably want to set up as your default in both
Strat Mobile and Strat Desktop a suite of lithology types that are compatible with Sed-
Log.

Menu Summary

File Menu

• New — Opens a new, blank window

• Open — Opens a data file in the correct Strat Mobile/Desktop format for entering
into the program

• Import Lithology Types — Read a file from disk that has lithologic names, colors,
and widths already defined. This will delete any unused lithology types and litholo-
gies that already have intervals assigned to them will assume the colors of the im-
ported types with the same name.

• Parse Column — Read in a tab or comma separated column oriented text file from
any program or spreadsheet to import into Strat Desktop. After opening the file, the
Parse Text File dialog box will appear, allowing you to assign columns to Strat Desk-
top data types. Files with either tops or thicknesses, and measured either bottom-up
or top-down. can be parsed.

• Save — Saves a text file in the correct Strat Mobile/Desktop format wherever you
specify on your disk.

• Save SVG file — Saves a vector graphics file in scaleable vector graphics (SVG)
format which you can open in your favorite vector graphics program (e.g., Adobe Il-
lustrator). The section and the legend are grouped separately but all are un-

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groupable and fully editable. If you do not have a vector graphics program that can
read SVG, open the file in any modern web browser and then save the file as PDF.

• Save Defaults — Saves your preferred lithology types and other settings to in the
user preferences folder where they will be read in the next time you start the pro-
gram.

• Export Lithology Types — Saves a text file to disk containing the definitions for the
currently defined lithology types. Thus you can set up a suite of preferred lithologies
and save them so that you can reimport them later or transfer them to your iOD de-
vice for importing into Strat Mobile.

• Export for SedLog — Saves a .csv file that can be imported into the popular SedLog
program. Because SedLog does not have separate samples, any samples in Strat
Mobile are written to the notes field in the .csv file.

Edit Menu

• Cut/Copy/Paste/Delete — These standard operating system functions only work

within individual text files. You can, however, select multiple rows in either of the list
boxes in the Data Tab and choose copy and they will be copied to the system clip-
board as tab separated columns.

• Copy Section — Copies to the system clipboard the complete stratigraphic section
with samples as tab separated columns. You can paste these into a spreadsheet or
into a section in another window within Strat Desktop.

• Copy Lithologies — Copies the current lithology type definitions to the system clip-
board for importing into another section or transferring to iOS.

• Paste Section — If you have text on the clipboard formatted so that Strat Desktop
can read it, you can paste the section into the current window. You will be asked if
you want to append or replace any existing data. If you choose “append”, the section
on the clipboard will be pasted at the top of any existing section.

• Paste Lithologies — Assumes the information on the system clipboard is a correctly

formatted suite of lithology definitions for pasting into the current section.

• Find in Notes — You will specify some text and the program will look for that text in
the notes field of both Intervals and Samples. The search is case-insensitive. You
will be shown the details of the first interval or sample which contains the text.

• Find Again — Search for the same text specified in “Find in Notes” in subsequent
records. The program will inform you when you come to the end of a search.

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Section Menu
• Add Interval / Add Interval at Top — If you have a blank window, the first choice will
read “Add Interval” and you can select this to start building a section manually. If
data have already been entered, this menu choice will read “Add Interval at Top”.
Select this to add a new interval manually at the top of an existing section.

• Add Interval to Base — Use this command to add a new interval at the bottom of an
existing section, underneath all those already entered.

• Insert Interval Below Selected — This will insert a new interval in your section be-
neath the interval which is currently selected.

• Well Data submenu:

• Add Well Data — Displays the dialog box discussed in the Well Data section

• Extrapolate Velocities — If you have entered sonic velocities for some units but not
others, this will go through your section and assign velocities to any formation that
does not have a velocity assigned.

• Add Sample — In no samples are selected, this will add a new sample at the end of
the sample list. If a sample is selected, it will insert the sample below the selected
sample.

• Delete Selected Interval — This menu command will delete not only the selected in-
terval but also any samples associated with that interval. All of the samples higher in
the section will be moved down by an amount equal to the thickness of the deleted
interval. You are asked if you are sure…

• Delete Selected Sample — Use this command to delete the selected sample. You
are warned that the action cannot be undone and asked if you are sure…

Plot Menu

• Section — Turns on or off the plotting of the section (though I don’t know why you
would want to do so!)

• Samples — Toggles the plotting of the samples to the left of the column.
• Legend — Toggles on or off the plotting of the legend (the boxes to the right of the
section.

• Labels — Turns on or off the plotting of the formation name labels immediately to
the right of the section.

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Windows Menu
• Inspector Palette — Displays the Inspector Palette where you can set many of the
graphical characteristics and units of the section.

Help Menu

• Strat Desktop Help — Displays this document.

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