Computer Graphics in Geology – Pflug & Harbaugh – 1992 Springer Earth Sciences 41

Published in 1992, Computer Graphics in Geology: Three-Dimensional Computer Graphics in Modeling Geologic Structures and Simulating Geologic Processes captures an interesting transitional moment when increasingly powerful computers were beginning to fundamentally change how scientists could visualize the Earth.

Edited by Reinhard Pflug and John W. Harbaugh, the book grew from an international meeting devoted to three-dimensional computer graphics in geology. Its contributions explore the emerging use of digital 3D modeling to represent geological structures and simulate geological processes—techniques that have since become routine across geoscience.

What makes this volume particularly interesting today is its age. Published long before modern GPUs, ubiquitous GIS software, photorealistic visualization, and today's enormous geological datasets, it documents researchers developing the computational foundations of technologies now used to digitally reconstruct landscapes, geological formations, subsurface structures, and changes through geological time.

It is therefore as much an artifact of the history of scientific computing and data visualization as it is a geology reference: a snapshot of the period when scientists were learning how to translate the enormously complex three-dimensional structure of the Earth into a virtual one.

Publication details:
Computer Graphics in Geology
Three-Dimensional Computer Graphics in Modeling Geologic Structures and Simulating Geologic Processes
Edited by Reinhard Pflug & John W. Harbaugh
Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, Volume 41
Springer-Verlag, 1992
Printed in Germany
ISBN 3-540-55190-5 / 0-387-55190-5

Condition: Vintage softcover in good overall condition with light shelf and handling wear consistent with age. Interior appears clean from the photographs provided. Please review photos for exact condition.

An unusual scientific reference with particular appeal for collectors interested in geology, early computer graphics, scientific visualization, computational science, GIS history, and the history of digital Earth modeling.