3D geological modelling based on 2D geological map

Abstract

Current methods for constructing a 3D geological model of an area require field drilling or measured section data which are often not available over large areas. 2D geological maps not only contain information on the distribution of geological strata but also provide sufficient geometric, topological and semantic information for 3D geological modelling. This paper presents a method for constructing a detail 3D model from 2D geological maps. First, a series of parallel cross sections is automatically created from the 2D geological map and the corresponding relationships of the geological objects in the cross sections are recorded. Second, a contour algorithm is used to connect these cross sections to establish a 3D geological model of the study area. The spacing of cross sections has strong impact on the result, we proposed a rule to determine the spacing of cross sections adaptively. As a case study, the method was applied to construct a 3D geological model for Xing-gang area in Chongqing city. The results of this case study suggest that the method is effective to construct a quality 3D geological model solely based on the information from a 2D geological map of the area.