From Maps to Models - Tutorials for structural geological modeling using GemPy and GemGIS

The geological map-to-model tutorials presented enable users of the GemPy and GemGIS Python libraries and associated packages to create structural geological models from scratch using input data for conceptual models but also more sophisticated models representing possible real-world examples. Textbook geological maps and cross sections (e.g., Bennison, 1990; Powell, 1995) are transformed into structural models serving as teaching materials for undergraduate students in the field of Applied Geosciences at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Their purpose is to enable students to not only think about geological problems in 2D (map view) but also in 3D (current structure of the subsurface) and even 4D (depositional, tectonic, and erosional events resulting in the current structural framework). The purpose of creating these models is not to substitute the necessary analog thinking of geoscientists but to aid them in verifying their results, to advance 3D thinking skills, and to introduce students to the world of data processing, data visualization, data analysis, and structural geological modeling in Python.