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I am trying to predict the lithofacies, i.e. the rock type, from well log data, a project very similar to the one described in this tutorial.

A well log can be seen as a 1D curve tracking how a given property (e.g. gamma radiation, electrical resistivity, etc...) varies as a function of depth. The idea is to use these 1D arrays as the input features to train a Machine Learning model (e.g. SVM or Random Forest), to infer the facies at a given depth. For instance, in the image below:

  • the first 5 tracks (GR to PE) are the well logs used as features
  • while the last 2 tracks (Facies and Prediction) correspond to the true and predicted facies.

enter image description here

One of my colleague started using depth as a feature, thus obtaining much higher scores than when working with well logs only.

While this may make sense from a geological standpoint, as certain rock types are expected within a given depth range, I think that this will cause model overfitting [EDIT from June 1, 2022] I am concerned that doing so would put "too much constraint" on the model.

Is this explanation correct, or may depth (or position) be used as a feature to train a ML model?

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I don't see any problem using depth. Instead of putting "too much constraint" on, I would say it provide "extra information" or "predictive power" to the model, just like the well logs. This is what a feature does.

Think it in another way, if depth would harm the model (say by 'overfit'), I can argue that any of the 5 tracks of well log features could do the same.

As a separate topic, "putting extra constraint on a model" usually ease overfitting, which is often done deliberately. This technique is called regularization.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for your answer, @Ipounng! You make a valid point: I know regularization from geophysical data inversion and it does indeed prevent overfitting by promoting a certain behavior (e.g. smoothness or "blockyness"). In that regards, you are right that constraining the model prevents it from overfitting. $\endgroup$
    – Sheldon
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 19:59
  • $\begingroup$ Maybe I did not phrase my question properly. Imagine an algorithm aiming to identify a given target (e.g. a dog) from a series of photos. Would it make sense to use the position of the dog in each picture as a feature? $\endgroup$
    – Sheldon
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 20:00
  • $\begingroup$ No sure if the dog example is a good comparison to the original question, but yes! ( if we know whereabouts a dog is in advance) This points the model to focus on important area thus improving performance. $\endgroup$
    – lpounng
    Commented Jun 2, 2022 at 1:10
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    $\begingroup$ Another example from medical field: given some medical images (X-ray/MRI etc.), task to identify whether a certain tumor exist or not. A popular strategy is to train a model to seek potential areas which such tumor potentially exists (segmentation phase), then use these areas as input to train another model which classify if a tumor exists or not. $\endgroup$
    – lpounng
    Commented Jun 2, 2022 at 1:16
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    $\begingroup$ True! Otherwise the model may be biased to keep looking at that corner. And this is a reason why we do image augmentation / a lot of random cropping and centering etc. in image classification to prevent overfitting. $\endgroup$
    – lpounng
    Commented Jun 2, 2022 at 1:43

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