INTEGRATED 3D GEOLOGICAL MODELLING AND APPLIED GEOSCIENCE IN LONDON AND THE THAMES BASIN

The Thames Basin reaches across Southeast England, from the rural Cotswolds in the west, through several major urban centres to the coastal areas of Essex and Kent in the east. This catchment encompasses the UK’s principal aquifer (the Cretaceous ‘Chalk Group’), Europe’s largest megacity (London) and is home to over a quarter of the population of England. The region’s subsurface provides essential natural resources and services including groundwater, space for engineered development and burial of infrastructure, drainage and thermal energy.

The management of these resources and services is supported by geoscience research, data and knowledge. FutureThames, led by the British Geological Survey (BGS), is a multidisciplinary initiative that is drawing together geoscience in the Thames Basin. In collaboration with partners from industry and academia, an enhanced geoscience knowledgebase is being developed. Baseline geochemical surveying, targeted geological mapping and multiscaled 3D geological modelling of strategic horizons are being undertaken. Associated research into groundwater systems, engineering properties and mineral resources is building on this understanding to create integrated 3D geological models of the region.

This presentation will focus on the 3D modelling and its application to infrastructure projects and regional hydrogeological studies. As a ‘testbed’ for BGS’s Environmental Modelling Platform, FutureThames aims to develop dynamic modelling capabilities that can be used to predict the impacts of environmental change. Models attributed with physical properties and processes will enable the simulation of ‘real world’ responses to various ‘what if’ scenarios. Analysis of these simulations will inform sustainable solutions to mitigate anthropogenic and environmental change impacts within the Thames Basin.