Media and Events

Innovative Virtual Field Trips Enhance Geosciences Education at University of Padova

30.06.2025

The Department of Geosciences at the University of Padova has launched an innovative educational initiative called Trail Geo. This project introduces virtual geological field trips to complement traditional on-site excursions, which remain fundamental in geoscience education.

Trail Geo offers two significant advantages:

  • Access to remote or challenging locations: students can now explore geologically significant sites that may be difficult or impossible to visit in person.
  • Enhanced learning experience: virtual trips can be used to prepare students for actual field excursions or to review and discuss observations made during physical visits.

Currently, the department is developing several virtual field trips across the Mediterranean area. One notable example is the Santerno Valley excursion, renowned for its exceptional exposures of turbidity deposits and evaporite formations from the Messinian salinity crisis.

Using advanced 3D modeling, students can analyze various outcrops, study different sedimentary processes and depositional systems, observe the interplay between tectonics and sedimentation, and examine features of deposits formed at the continental shelf-slope transition.

In this video, Prof. Massimiliano Ghinassi, the scientific coordinator of Trail Geo, provides insights into this innovative project. Students Monika Schnitzer, Mohammed Elnazeer Hamid Abdalrahman, and Chidozie Kennedy Unogu share their perspectives on their first virtual field trip experience.