EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS OF PHOTOREALISTIC 3D MODELING WHEN APPLIED TO A MEANDER POINT BAR SEQUENCE OF THE PENNSYLVANIAN HARTSHORNE FORMATION AT THE HUCKLEBERRY CREEK SPILLWAY ARKANSAS

Photorealistic three-dimensional models offer educators a unique, effective, and innovative method of teaching in the geosciences. Students enrolled at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (Sed/Strat.) class travel to the Huckleberry Creek Spillway each year to study the fluvial meander point bar sequence present in the Hartshorne Sandstone. During the spring 2006 trip, undergraduate students involved with the UTD Cybermapping Lab identified this site to be ideal for virtual modeling. In spring 2007, an undergraduate organized and lead team with prior experience in three-dimensional modeling mapped the outcrop using RTK GPS, a Riegl LPM 800 laser scanner, and a digital camera. This team included undergraduates who had already taken Sed/Strat, were currently taking it, and others that intend on taking the course in the future. Virtual mapping of this outcrop preserves the site as a highly accurate three-dimensional photorealistic model. Teaching with three-dimensional models allows educators to introduce their students to a large variety of geologic formations such as the Huckleberry Creek Spillway point bar without having to travel to the site. Furthermore, visualization tools such as the dual projector, 3D stereo Geowall system at UTD enhance the level of detail represented in the models. Ultimately, it is not the goal of three-dimensional modeling to replace field trips, but rather to compliment them by presenting some of the best examples from around the world. In 2008, this model will be incorporated into Sed/Strat related courses by allowing a virtual field trip to the site before the class leaves, observing the outcrop on a laptop at the site to see everything in context, and then comparing the student mapping with the digital maps after the trip. Specific software tools are being developed at UTD for analysis.