TEACHING GEOLOGY – THE 3D REVOLUTION

Geology is an inherently three dimensional science. Until very recently the medium used by Geologists to express and communicate their findings has been hampered by the two-dimensional nature of media such as paper and later Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

The main tools to convey the 3rd and 4th dimension alongside the 2D geological map, has mostly consisted of contours, cross-sections, and the Generalised Vertical Section (GVS). The oldest national geological map drawn by William Smith in 1815 already contains these elements.

A problem shared by many geoscience students is being able to form a mental picture of 3D/4D structures and processes from 2D field, map and GIS outputs. Today’s earth science students can potentially utilise a variety of skills and processes during their learning experience including the application of schema’s, spatial thinking, image construction, detecting patterns, memorising figures, mental manipulation and interpretation, making predictions and deducing the orientation of themselves and the rocks. These spatial thinking strategies can be used as a shortcut or metaphor to think about processes and properties whist helping the student to recognise pre-learnt geological principles in the field and to convert what they see at the surface (in 2D) into a picture of what is going on at depth (in 3D).

Although 3D geological models have been used in teaching as early as 1841, recent developments in 3D geological modelling methods and visualisation at the British Geological Survey (BGS) may revolutionise the teaching of Geosciences. The Subsurface Viewer is a tool that combines the traditional elements of geological communication and provides the spatial understanding described above by putting everything into a real 3D context. The easy-to-use software interface allows not only geoscience experts and enthusiasts to use this system, but unlocks the potential of 3D geological models for everybody. People generally remember about 10% of what they read if they are given text alone. When presented with images carefully chosen to enhance the meaning of the text they may remember as much as half: the old adage a picture paints a thousand words springs readily to mind!