Bulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia, Volume 76, November 2023, pp. 3 – 25
Marcus R. Dobbs1,*, Qalam A’zad Rosle2, Dalila Ahmad3, Helen F. Burke1, Muhammad Ezwan Dahlan2, Jontih Enggihon2, Richard B. Haslam1, Nicholas Jacob2, Kenneth Lawrie4, A. Graham Leslie4, Alvyn Clancey Mickey5, Muhammad Ramzanee Mohd Noh2, Syed Omar2, Nikki A. Smith4, Steve Thorpe1
1 British Geological Survey, Environmental Science Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK
2 Dept. of Mineral & Geoscience Malaysia, Selangor & W. Persekutuan, 6th & 7th Floor, Bangunan Darul Ehsan, No. 3, Jalan Indah, Section 14, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor D.E., Malaysia
3 Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Menara DBKL 1, Jalan Raja Laut, 50350 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Malaysia
4 British Geological Survey, the Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South, Edinburgh, EH14 4AP, UK
5 Dept. of Mineral & Geoscience Malaysia, Aras 9, Jalan Tun Abdul Razak, Presint 2, 62100 Putrajaya, Malaysia
* Corresponding author email address: marc1@bgs.ac.uk
Abstract: The objective of UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Geoscience can play a significant role in achieving targets within this goal by developing a better understanding of geological properties and processes within urban environments, and by ensuring that this understanding is integrated into urban development. A key step in this process will be enhancing awareness of urban geology among non-geoscience decision-makers, so that inherent subsurface risks and benefits are understood and accounted for during all phases of development. Three-dimensional geological models are an effective tool for geologists to communicate with stakeholders in government and industry during that process. They can also provide a framework to enable geological data and information to be integrated into Building and City Information Models, and thus facilitate more effective infrastructure and utility asset management. This paper describes the modelling workflow adopted by a consortium of geoscientists from government, industry and academia to deliver the first 3D geological model of Kuala Lumpur – 3DKL v1.0. The modelling workflow involved: digitising borehole logs from site investigation reports and storing them in a dedicated geospatially-enabled SQLite borehole database; viewing and interpreting that borehole data using QGIS software; generating multiple orthogonally oriented cross-section profiles across the modelled area using Groundhog Desktop software; and integrating the information derived from the interpreted boreholes, surface data and cross-section profiles to generate a 3D geological model in Leapfrog Geo software. 3DKL v1.0 has demonstrated proof-of-concept: we have developed a workflow, based largely on freely-available software, for transforming borehole information, previously captured in paper records, into a conceptual 3D model. The modelling process has also identified areas where geological knowledge and data need to be enhanced if 3DKL is to fulfil its potential to support more sustainable and resilient urban development in Kuala Lumpur.
Keywords: UN Sustainable Development Goals, urban geology, Engineering Geology, Kuala Lumpur geology, 3D modelling, digital workflows, geoscience databases
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Manuscript received 20 June 2023;
Received in revised form 29 September 2023;
Accepted 17 October 2023
Available online 29 November 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7186/bgsm76202302
0126-6187; 2637-109X / Published by the Geological Society of Malaysia.
© 2023 by the Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License 4.0.
