Digitising Svalbard’s Geology: the Festningen Digital Outcrop Model

The renowned Festningen section in the outer part of Isfjorden, western Spitsbergen, offers a c. 7 km-long nearly continuous stratigraphic Lower Carboniferous to Cenozoic strata, spanning 300 million years geological history. Tectonic deformation associated with Paleogene West-Spitsbergen-Fold-and-Thrust belt tilted strata near-vertical, allowing easy access along shoreline. is regionally important reference profile, and thus key locality for any geologist visiting Svalbard. lithology variations, dinosaur footprints, many fossil groups, record more than continental drift, climate change, sea level variations. In addition, only natural geoscientific monument protected by law (i.e. geotope) this contribution, we present digital outcrop model (DOM) processed from 3762 drone photographs. resulting high-resolution detail down 7.01 mm, covers an area 0.8 km2 can be freely accessed via Svalbox database. Through Svalbox, also put regional context comparing it nearby offshore seismic, exploration boreholes penetrating same stratigraphy publications on deep-time paleoclimate trends recorded at Festningen.