A geometric method is described for 3D structural restoration of a subsurface model including receiving data representative of a subsurface volume of interest including one or more chronohorizons and the geometry and topology of any faults of relevance; developing a fault framework model of the subsurface volume of interest; selecting a horizon, the deposition of which represents the geologic time to which the structural model should be restored; developing coordinate transformation constrained by a single datum horizon and, optionally, additional geologic constraints; applying the 3D transformation to all geologic features below and, optionally, above the datum surface; and scaling the vertical coordinates to accurately relate vertical and horizontal dimensions. The method may be executed by a computer system.