Near-surface 3-D view with topography and stations

For interpretation, the top ~1 km is usually what matters — it is where AMT resolution is highest and where targets sit. This example builds a focused 3-D view of just that near-surface window, draped over real topography and annotated with the survey stations, so structure is read directly against the ground surface and the sites that constrain it.

Every scene is an interactive Plotly view: orbit to look under the terrain, hover for resistivity and depth.

Load the survey

import os

from pycsamt.map import MapView


DATA = os.path.join(
    os.environ.get("PYCSAMT_DOCS_REPO_ROOT", "."), "data", "AMT", "WILLY_DATA"
)
mv = MapView.from_folder(DATA, recursive=True)
print(f"{mv.n_stations} stations across {len(mv.lines)} lines")

53 stations across 2 lines

The near-surface block

depth_range=(0, 1000) restricts the interpolated volume to the top kilometre. With topography on (the default) and show_stations=True, the resistivity body hangs beneath the true ground surface with a marker at every site.

fig = mv.map3d(
    mode="block", depth_range=(0, 1000), show_stations=True, station_size=4
)
fig.update_layout(height=660, scene_aspectmode="cube")
fig

Near-surface fence with stations

The same 1 km window as a fence: each line’s shallow cross-section, draped on topography, with its stations. This ties the near-surface resistivity straight back to the acquisition geometry.

fig = mv.map3d(
    mode="fence", depth_range=(0, 1000), show_stations=True, station_size=4
)
fig.update_layout(height=660, scene_aspectmode="cube")
fig

Shallow depth slices, labelled

Depth slices through the top kilometre give a peel-down sequence of maps. Adding station_labels=True writes the site IDs, turning the scene into a self-contained near-surface figure.

fig = mv.map3d(
    mode="depth",
    depth_range=(0, 1000),
    n_slices=5,
    show_stations=True,
    station_size=3,
    station_labels=True,
)
fig.update_layout(height=660, scene_aspectmode="cube")
fig

A cleaner target view

Dropping the terrain surface (show_terrain=False) while keeping the topographic shift leaves an unobstructed view of the shallow body with its stations — often the clearest angle for presenting a near-surface anomaly.

fig = mv.map3d(
    mode="block",
    depth_range=(0, 1000),
    show_terrain=False,
    show_stations=True,
    station_size=4,
    opacity=0.7,
)
fig.update_layout(height=660, scene_aspectmode="cube")
fig

See also. To isolate the conductive or resistive parts of this volume, continue to Isolating resistive, conductive, and background bodies.