3D structural characterization of outcrops by means of close-range multi-view stereo-photogrammetry

Image-based 3D modelling is increasingly used as a fast and cheap alternative to laser-scanning for the 3D digital representation of geological outcrops. This rapidly improving technique is progressively opening the way to the widespread use of virtual outcrop models in geology, as the technique allows nearly everybody to construct a detailed digital model of geological exposures simply using a few handy and cheap devices. In this dissertation, the photogrammetry method has been used to demonstrate and evaluate the potential of virtual outcrops in structural geology. In particular, through the analysis of different outcrops at different scales, I showed that virtual outcrop models enable a switch from a mere descriptive/qualitative analysis of the outcrops to a quantitative one. In fact, by mean of virtual reality it is possible to overcome almost all technical limitations that are generally encountered during field work at different scales including prospective distortion, inaccessibility and the lack of instruments for quantitative acquisition of data, among others.