3D Geomodeling for Europe (3DGEO-EU)

Begin of project: July 1, 2018

End of project: June 30, 2021

Status of project: March 15, 2019

More than 40 national and regional Geological Survey Organisations (GSO) from over 30 European countries are partners of the ERA‐NET co-fund action “Establishing the European Geological Surveys Research Area to deliver a Geological Service for Europe (GeoERA)”. The GeoERA programme supports the development of a common European knowledge base for geo data. Its goal is to integrate European GSOs information and knowledge on the themes “geo energy”, “groundwater” and “raw materials” in an information platform, to support policy- and decision-making at European and national level. To provide transnationally harmonized subsurface information and knowledge, the GeoERA consortium has launched a co-funded joint call that funds 15 transnational research projects, covering the aforementioned GeoERA themes. GeoERA has an overall budget of ca. 30 M€, of which 10 M€ is provided by the European Commission and the remainder is provided by the GeoERA participants as in‐kind contributions.

The GeoERA research project „3D Geomodeling for Europe (3DGEO-EU)” relates to the GeoERA theme “geo energy” and deals with methods for the cross-border harmonization of 3D geomodels. It tackles the problem that in many cases adjoining geomodels do not fit across international borders, i.e. exhibit border discontinuities like a different depth of a geological horizon (Fig. 1). The reasons for this are e.g. different definitions of (seismo)stratigraphical horizons, heterogeneous geological base data, or different approaches/methods of the GSOs on both sides of the border. But to achieve consistent transnational assessments of subsurface geo-energy potential in Europe, one needs geological base information that is consistent across borders, e.g. harmonized geological 3D models.

Example of a border discontinuity between two 3D geomodels in regard of the depth of a geological horizon Source: BGR

In the project, selected cross-border pilot areas (work packages 1-3, see Fig. 2) will serve as showcases to develop and test methods for the cross-border harmonization of geological 3D models. Accompanying the work in the pilot areas to support cross-border harmonization, three additional work packages will investigate selected geomodeling topics like modeling of geological faults or the visualization of uncertainties of geological 3D models (method development work packages 3-6).

Transnational pilot areas of work packages 1-3 are defined in the marked (ellipses) border regions (base map after Doornenbal & Stevenson, 2010) Source: BGR

The following results, among others, should be achieved during the project:

• methods and (optimized) workflows for cross‐border harmonization of 3D geomodels
• consistent cross‐border geomodels and maps in the pilot areas
• improved visualization methods for uncertainties of geological models

Further information is available on the project website.

Project website: http://geoera.eu/projects/3dgeo-eu/

Partner:

11 Geological Survey Organisations from 7 European countries: BGR, CGS, GEOINFORM, GEUS, IGME, LAGB, LBEG, LBGR, LUNG, PGI, TNO

Promotion / document number:

European Union’s Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement number: 731166