A simple approach to 3D geological modelling and visualization

Abstract

3D geological modeling has become one of the most reliable and effective means of displaying geological structures, but most commercial software products for 3D geological modeling need special techniques and much pre-processing work as well as being expensive and complicated to operate. In this paper, a simple approach to building a 3D geological model is proposed, integrating such popular software packages as 3D Studio Max (3DSMax), ArcGIS, and Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). The approach can be used to build accurate 3D geological structures and to model stratigraphy at almost any level of complexity. Moreover, the resulting model can be operated interactively, including zooming in or out, rotating and moving. The paper demonstrates how this new approach can be a very effective method for 3D geological modeling. © Springer-Verlag 2009.