How To: Draw a Cross Section

Preparation

For this work you can use a real geological map or you can draw an imaginary cross section on a piece of graph paper. In either case along your line of section you will need X and Y (distance and height) values of contours and contacts. Measure these off and prepare a table of values. The example below shows an imaginary topography and set of beds. It has been annotated with X and Y values of contacts (and for illustration only shows some horizontal lines representing contour values).

This results in the following table of data:

When you have your table of X-Y values you are ready to start drawing.