The planet we live on: The beginnings of the Earth Sciences

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Figure 6.9: Acid mine drainage from an abandoned mine in Spain.6.6 Geotechnical engineeringGeotechnical engineers study building foundations and the earth materials in whichother constructions, such as dams, bridges, roads, railways and waterways are sited, as<strong>we</strong>ll as landfill and coastal protection sites. <strong>The</strong> earth materials involved include soil,surface deposits from rivers and glaciation, and the bedrock beneath. A new geotechnicalproject will begin by researching the information already available from maps and otherpublications. Geotechnical engineers will assess the likely strength of the earth materialsinvolved, and will be looking out for faults, fractures and other <strong>we</strong>aknesses in the bedrock.<strong>The</strong>y will also be looking for particular problems such as natural features, like cavesand potholes, or features caused by past human activity, such as mining, quarrying,waste disposal or poor foundations of previous constructions. <strong>The</strong>y will research potentialproblems from natural hazards too, like danger from landslides, or sediments which might‘liquefy’ and collapse in earthquakes.<strong>The</strong> geotechnical engineer will visit the site, assess any exposures of earth materials andthen carry out an investigation, usually involving a pattern of soil samples or boreholesand the testing of the materials found; sometimes geophysical investigations are also used.<strong>The</strong> next stage is the planning of suitable foundations and other constructions to copewith the findings of the investigation. <strong>The</strong>n as construction continues, the geotechnicalengineer will continue to monitor the site to ensure that everything works as planned.Building work uses a range of foundation types, from simple foundations for smallerbuildings on stable materials to deep foundations for tall buildings, or buildings on less145
Figure 6.10: A slab foundation, built tospread the load of a smaller building.Figure 6.11: Deep foundations being constructedin Spain.Figure 6.12: A retaining wall supporting<strong>we</strong>aker materials in a cutting.Figure 6.13: Stone-filled gabions, stabilisinga river bank.stable material. <strong>The</strong>se may need vertical columns of steel-reinforced concrete called pilesto be hammered into the ground, or other specialised structures.Dams need particular sorts of foundations, depending on their design, whilst transportroutes need <strong>we</strong>ll-constructed embankments, cuttings and tunnels, and bridges with <strong>we</strong>llengineeredfoundations. Where cuttings and tunnels are excavated into <strong>we</strong>aker materials,these are dealt with in different ways, from removing material to make more stable shallowslopes, to supporting it with walls or stone-filled gabion cages. Similar methods are usedto stabilise river banks and coastlines. Meanwhile, rivers prone to flooding have artificialbanks called levées or dykes constructed on their banks, built of rock, concrete or gabions.While building continues across the world, geotechnical engineers will always be in demand.146
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Basic Books in ScienceBook 6<strong
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BASIC BOOKS IN SCIENCE- a Series of
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BASIC BOOKS IN SCIENCE- a Series of
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Looking ahead - If you came across
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3.2 Plate tectonics (20th Century)
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1.30 Coal seams in an opencast coal
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3.4 Alfred Wegener, the polar explo
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5.14 A GPS remote volcano monitorin
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Figure 1.2:minerals.A sandstone roc
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Even diamond can have different col
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Figure 1.8: A red garnet crystal in
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Figure 1.12: Crystals of minerals i
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Hematite, Fe 2 O 3 - earthy red, me
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Figure 1.17: Sedimentary rocks show
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Figure 1.20: A close up view of a p
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Figure 1.26: Ancient wave ripple ma
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Figure 1.30: Coal seams in an openc
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Figure 1.32: Close up view of a pie
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Figure 1.35: A fossil colonial cora
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Figure 1.38: Fossil ammonites, indi
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Figure 1.39: ‘Massive’ igneous
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Figure 1.41: A close up view of a p
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Figure 1.44: A basalt flow that coo
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Figure 1.47: Deposit of volcanic as
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Figure 1.49: An old slate quarry, s
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Figure 1.51: Slate, a low-grade met
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Figure 1.53: Schist, a medium-grade
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Figure 1.56: Metaquartzite, produce
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Figure 1.58: A region of folded roc
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Figure 1.61: A normal fault. This s
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Figure 1.64: An unconformity. Older
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proper geological maps. Fossils hav
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Cephalopods are not extinct, but th
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Figure 1.68: A shelled cephalopod f
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You can try the rock sequencing pri
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Chapter 2Reading landscapes: how la
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Figure 2.3: Rock fragments loosened
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Figure 2.6: The jo
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Figure 2.10: The m
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are forming them. Similarly the sha
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Figure 2.19: This photo was taken f
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Figure 2.25: Dinosaur tracks conser
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• On coastal sections, whenever p
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found evidence that the Earth was a
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Figure 3.3: James Hutton, the ‘Fo
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Figure 3.5: A page of Wegener’s 1
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Figure 3.7: The st
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Figure 3.10: The r
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Figure 3.13: The m
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Figure 3.15: The S
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Figure 3.19: An ocean versus contin
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Figure 3.23: Map of the major tecto
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Figure 3.26: Global temperature cha
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Figure 3.29: A computer generated p
Page 109 and 110: Figure 3.31: The
Page 111 and 112: planet extended th
Page 113 and 114: Figure 4.1: William Smith’s geolo
Page 115 and 116: Millionsof yearsago (Ma)01000Some M
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Page 119 and 120: Figure 4.9: The ch
Page 121 and 122: Figure 4.12: The 4
Page 123 and 124: Millionsof years Some Major Earth E
Page 125 and 126: Figure 5.2: Strike-slip movement (r
Page 127 and 128: Figure 5.4: The So
Page 129 and 130: Figure 5.6: An ash eruption rising
Page 131 and 132: Figure 5.10: A hazard zone map of t
Page 133 and 134: isk to humans. The
Page 135 and 136: Figure 5.14: A GPS (global satellit
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Page 139 and 140: Figure 5.17: A windfarm in Ireland.
Page 141 and 142: Figure 5.19: A beautifully preserve
Page 143 and 144: Another ‘missing link’ find has
Page 145 and 146: Figure 5.22: A dinosaur reconstruct
Page 147 and 148: Figure 5.25: A working aggregate-pr
Page 149 and 150: Figure 5.26: The E
Page 151 and 152: Chapter 6Understanding what geologi
Page 153 and 154: Figure 6.2: A drilling rig used for
Page 155 and 156: When an oil/gas field has been foun
Page 157 and 158: Figure 6.6: Groundwater flowing out
Page 159: Dam disaster in Italy, when the wav
Page 163 and 164: An example of this is investigation
Page 165 and 166: GlossaryAbsolute age The</s
Page 167 and 168: Carbon capture The
Page 169 and 170: Crustal shortening This results of
Page 171 and 172: Evaporite deposits (or evaporites)
Page 173 and 174: Geophysical survey Using the method
Page 175 and 176: “Integrated waste management” <
Page 177 and 178: Metamorphism The r
Page 179 and 180: Pore spaces (or pores) Gaps bet<str
Page 181 and 182: Saltation Sediment movement by flui
Page 183 and 184: Suspension Sediment movement by flu
Page 185 and 186: AcknowledgementsPermission to repri
Page 187 and 188: Figure 2.3 A scree slope. Photo ID:
Page 189 and 190: Figure 1.15a Hematite.Figure 1.15b
Page 191 and 192: Figure 1.28 Dune cross bedding in s
Page 193 and 194: Figure 3.18 An island arc volcano,
Page 195 and 196: Figure 5.21 Excavations at the dino
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The planet we live on: The beginnings of the Earth Sciences

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