This is a listing of computer programs with applications in structural geology and tectonics available on the world-wide web. Most are freeware or low-cost shareware. If you know of additional software that should be listed here, please send e-mail to geotech@smith.edu.
Allmendinger’s Archives *** Highly Recommended Site ***
Archive of programs for the Macintosh written by Richard Allmendinger of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Includes a stereonet plotting program, a fault kinematics program, a microstructural analysis program, and several structural geology teaching programs.
A Windows version of the Stereonet program is now available.
Nestor Cardozo Programs *** NEW ***
OSXGeoCalc: A structural geology calculator
OSXBackstrip: Backstripping of sedimentary strata
OSXFlex2D: 2D Flexural modelling
All are freeware and require Mac OS X v10.3.9 (Panther) or Mac OSX v10.4 (Tiger)
- COGS
The Computer Oriented Geological Society maintains archives of DOS and Macintosh programs of interest to geologists.
Computers & Geosciences
Source code for programs published in the journal Computers & Geosciences.
Detach (Europe download) (USA download)
Software to construct detachment folds formed by different amplification mechanisms. The software is for free and it is an Excel spreadsheet that can be used in both PC and Macintosh platforms.
DotProc – Geoscientific Analysis Software
DotProc software is designed to help geoscientists in the analysis of two-dimentional (2D) spatial data sets in a highly visual manner. Quick and easy decisions about large numbers of data points can be made without the necessity of much mathematical skill.
Finite Element
Archive of thin-plate and thin-shell finite element programs written by Peter Bird at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).
FMSI
The Focal Mechanism Stress Inversion program for the Macintosh written by John Gephart at the Institute for the Study of the Continents (INSTOC) in Ithaca, New York.
Folding
A high-amplitude folding simulations program for DOS written by Kenneth Cruikshank at Portland State University in Oregon (Journal of Structural Geology 15:79-94).
Fry Method I
A strain analysis program for DOS by Laurent Aillères and Michel Champenois (Journal of Structural Geology 16:1327-1330).
GAEA Technologies
GAEA Techologies develops and markets software for borehole logs, cross-sections, grain-size analysis, contaminant transport modeling and landfill design.
Geotechnical Software
A large directory of software for geotechnical engineering, data analysis, and data visualisation. Some shareware, but most of the programs are commercial.
Gustavo Tolson — Structural Software
This is a set of public domain structural geology programs written by Dr. Gustavo Tolson and his research group at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
Mathematica Demos
Download Mathematica notebooks demonstrating time-dependent effects of heat advection and topography during erosion from Bernhard Grasemann at Vienna University in Austria.
Oriana
A program to perform orientation analysis of circular data in Windows written by Waren Kovach at Kovach Computing Services in Anglesey, Wales.
Orient
A stereographic projection and structural domain analysis program for DOS written by Frederick Vollmer at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
PaleoMag
A paleomagnetic data analysis package for the Macintosh by Craig Jones of Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Paleostress
An archive of programs for the analysis of fault-slip data on the Macintosh (and a few for SUN sparc stations) from Bernard Celerier of the University of Montpellier in France. Documented software deals with fault and slip data/graphic representation/analysis/stress inversion and core structural measurements. Undocumented software deals with focal mechanisms and borehole logging data.
Poly3D
Ploy 3D (Thomas, 1993) is a 3D boundary-element code that provides solutions to boundary value problems of continuum mechanics. Slip distributions on faults subject to tectonic loading can be calculated, as well as the stress and displacement fields around the faults. Developed by the Structural Geology and Geomechanics Group at Stanford University.
Rake
Download a Visual Basic program, written by Louvari Eleni of the Geophysical Laboratory at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, for earthquake focal mechanism analysis (Computers & Geosciences 23:851-857).
Rampe
Download a Macintosh program from Eric Mercier of the Université de Nantes in France for forward modeling of several different types of ramp-related folding.
Rose
A rose diagram plotting program for Windows written by Todd Thompson of the Indiana Geological Survey in Bloomington.
ScienceProf.com
Company run by Declan DePaor and Carol Simpson providing web- and PC-based teaching and research resources from K-12 through Ph.D. Click here to download a free evaluation copies of Dr. DePaor’s new Structural Analysis course on CD ROM.
SoftStructure
A collection of structural analysis programs for DOS written by Ze’ev Reches at Hebrew University in Israel.
Softree
Offers a downloadable freeware beta version of its Terrain Tools surveying and mapping software.
SpheriCAD
An AutoCAD utility for plotting structural orientation data written by Carl Jacobson at Iowa State University has been updated to a VBA package for AutoCAD 14 (and higher) by John P. Baldwin. Another program (ChronoMag VB) is also available to plot and perform statistical analyses on paleomagnetic and geochronologic age data.
StereoPro
A Windows stereonet program written by Martin Walters at Racal Defence Electronics Limited. Version 1.0 can be downloaded freely.StereoNett
A stereographic projection program for Windows written by Johannes Duyster at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany.
Stereoplot
A stereographic projection program for the Macintosh written by Neil Mancktelow at ETH-Zentrum in Zürich, Switzerland.
Structural Geology, Mapping, and GIS Software *** Highly Recommended Site ***
This site contains Windows programs written by Rod Holcombe at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Queensland in Australia. Software includes GEOrient (stereonets and rose diagrams), GeoCalculator (structural geometry calculator), GeoFryPlots (Fry strain analysis), and others.
Structural & Tectonics Software
This site is maintained by the Structural Geology and Tectonics Department at the University of Amsterdam and contains links to numerous programs of interest to structural geologists and tectonists (some are also accessible from this page, while others are new).
TectonicsFP
A 32-bit Windows software package for plotting all types of structural data (including paleostress analysis) written by Franz Reiter and Peter Acs at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.
Visualizing Stress & Strain
Download programs by Nathaniel Reish and Gary Girty at San Diego State University for teaching basic stress and strain theory.
WinTek
A structural analysis program for Windows written by Andreas Peterek and Stefan Krumm at the University of Erlangen in Germany.