INCLUDING KNOWN DISCONTINUITIES DIRECTLY INTO A TRIANGULAR IRREGULAR MESH FOR AUTOMATIC CONTOURING PURPOSES

An algorithm is described that produces piecewise linear contour maps of a regionalized variable (z) from a triangular irregular mesh constructed between the actual coordinates of data points. In the earth sciences, situations are encountered where the domain of z is crossed by lineaments, which causes z to behave in a discontinuous nature. It is shown that the basic algorithm can be modified easily to reflect such discontinuities accurately. The algorithm was devised originally to account for the discontinuities observed in groundwater flow. However, its use is not restricted to this particular field, as can be seen from the example of rainfall data.