ENGINEERING GEOLOGY | MARTINS LIBRARY

Engineering geologic studies may be performed:

    for residential, commercial and industrial developments;
    for governmental and military installations;
    for public works such as a power plant, wind turbine, transmission line, sewage treatment plant, water treatment plant, pipeline (aqueduct, sewer, outfall), tunnel, trenchless construction, canal, dam, reservoir, building, railroad, transit, highway, bridge, seismic retrofit, airport and park;
    for mine and quarry excavations, mine tailing dam, mine reclamation and mine tunneling;
    for wetland and habitat restoration programs;
    for coastal engineering, sand replenishment, bluff or sea cliff stability, harbor, pier and waterfront development;
    for offshore outfall, drilling platform and sub-sea pipeline, sub-sea cable; and for other types of facilities.

Geohazards and adverse geo-conditions

Typical geologic hazards or other adverse conditions evaluated and mitigated by an engineering geologist include:

    fault rupture on seismically active faults ;
    seismic and earthquake hazards (ground shaking, liquefaction, lurching, lateral spreading, tsunami and seiche events);
    landslide, mudflow, rockfall, debris flow, and avalanche hazards ;
    unstable slopes and slope stability;
    erosion;
    slaking and heave of geologic formations;
    ground subsidence (such as due to ground water withdrawal, sinkhole collapse, cave collapse, decomposition of organic soils, and tectonic movement);
    volcanic hazards (volcanic eruptions, hot springs, pyroclastic flows, debris flow, debris avalanche, gas emissions, volcanic earthquakes);
    non-rippable or marginally rippable rock requiring heavy ripping or blasting;
    weak and collapsible soils, foundation bearing failures;
    shallow ground water/seepage; and
    other types of geologic constraints.

An engineering geologist or geophysicist may be called upon to evaluate the excavatability (i.e. rippability) of earth (rock) materials to assess the need for pre-blasting during earthwork construction, as well as associated impacts due to vibration during blasting on projects.