GEOLOGY

ENGINEERING

Geology, uses the scientific method

to explain natural aspects of the
earth, for example :
How mountains
form?
How earthquake
form?

Geology, benefits to
everyone on this
planet.
Radio, clothes, car
exist because of
what geologists
have discovered
about earth.
Mankind might have survived an
earthquake, flood or other natural
disaster because the scientists
(geologists) have learned about
these hazards.

Civil engineering
works are all
carried out on or
in the ground.
Ground properties
& processes are
therefore
significant

To understand the
principles of
geology in civil
engineering
constructions AND
avoid failures

Effect of
geologic
elements
(rock, soils,
landslides,
earthquakes,
groundwater
) must be
understood
to ensure
safety &
sustainable
development

An engineering geologist is an
individual who applies geologic data,
principles, and interpretation so that
geologic factors affecting the
planning, design, construction, and
maintenance of civil engineering
works are properly recognized and
utilized
(Geologist and Geophysicist Act 1986).

Geology
Soft ground & settlement
Weak ground & potential failure
Unstable slopes & potential
sliding
Severe erosion (river or coastal)
Potential earthquake hazard
Potential volcanic hazard
Rock required as a material

Responses
Foundation design to reduce or redistribute
loading
Ground improvement or cavity filling; or
identify & avoid hazard zone.
Stabilise or support slopes; or avoid hazard
zone.
Slow down process with rock or concrete
defences (limited scope).
Structural design to withstand vibration; or
avoid hazard zone.
Delimit & avoid hazard zones; attempt eruption
prediction.
Resource assessment & rock testing.

Site investigation is where civil

engineers encounter geology. This
involves the interpretation of
ground conditions (often from
minimal evidence), some 3-D
thinking, & the recognition of areas
of difficult ground or potential
geohazards.

Earth visualised as a
giant machine driven by
two engines, both are
Heat engines
External

Internal

Internal
Driven by heat
moving from the
hot interior of the
earth toward the
cooler exterior.
Moving plates and
earthquakes are
products of this
heat engine.

External
Driven by solar
power. Heat from
the Sun provides
the energy for
circulating the
atmosphere and
oceans. Water,
especially from the
ocean, evaporates
because of solar
heating.

Over long
periods of
time, moisture
at the Earths
surface hepls
rock
disintegrate.
Mountaions
originally
raised by
Earths
internal force
(internal
engine) are
worn away by

The Earths internal

heat engine works
because hot,
bouyant material
deep within the
earth moves slowly
upward toward the
cool surface and
cold, denser
material moves
downward.

As the water immediately above

the fire gets hotter, it expands,
become less dense (weigh become
less) and rises. Water at the top
will loses heat to the air, cools,
contracts, becomes denser and
sinks.

The upper portion of the mantle is

in contact with the relatively cool
crust while the lower portion is in
contact with the hot outer core.
Obviously, a temperature gradient
must exist within the mantle

The variation of mantle density

with temperature produces the
unstable situation of denser
(cooler) material resting on top of
less dense (warmer) material.

Eventually, the cooler, denser

material begins to sink under the
action of gravity and the warmer,
less dense material begins to rise.

The sinking material gradually

warms and becomes less dense;
eventually, it will move laterally
and begin to rise again as
subsequently cooled material
begins to sink. This process is the
familiar one of convection.

Two major types of

crust are Oceanic
crust and
Continental crust.
The crust under
the ocean is much
thinner. It is made
of rock that is
somewhat denser
than the rock
underlies the
continents.

Uppermost part of the mantle are

relatively rigid. This layer known as
lithosphere. lith means rock in
Greek.

Uppermost mantle underlying the

lithosphere, called the
asthenosphere, is soft and therefore
flows more readily than the
underlying mantle. It provides a
lubricating layer over which the
lithosphere moves (asthenos means
weak in Greek)

Where hot mantle material wells

upward, it will uplift the lithosphere.
Where the lithosphere is coldest and
densest, it will sink down through
the asthenosphere and into the
deeper mantle.

The forces generated inside the earth

called as Tectonic Force, cause the
deformation of rock as well as
vertical and horizontal movement of
portions of the earths crust.

Plate tectonics
regards the
lithosphere as
broken plates
that are in
motion.
The plates, which
are much like
segments of the
cracked shell on a
boiled egg.

The theory that has come to be

known as continental drift was not
proposed until the early twentieth
century (Taylor, 1910; Wegener,
1915).
Wegener, for example,
believed that the earth
had only One large
continent called Pangaea
200 million years ago. He
believed that Pangaea
broke into pieces that
slowly drifted

The basic hypothesis of plate

tectonics is that the earth's surface
consists of a number of large, intact
blocks called plates, and that these
plates move with respect to each
other
There are three types of plate
boundaries: divergent boundary,
convergent boundary, and transform
boundary.

The earth's crust is divided into six

continental-sized plates (African,
American, Antarctic, AustraliaIndian, Eurasian, and Pacific) and
about 14 of subcontinental size
(e.g., Caribbean, Cocos, Nazca,
Philippine, etc.).

Although most divergent boundaries

present today are located within
oceanic plates, a divergent boundary
typically initiates within a continent.

It begin when a split, or rift in the

continent or is caused either by
extensional(stretching) forces within
the continent or by upwelling of hot
asthenosphere from the mantle
below.

Either way, the continent plate pulls

apart and thins. Initially, a narrow
valley is formed. Fissures extend
into magma chamber.

Magma (molten rock) flows into the

fissures and may erupt onto the
floor of the rift. With continued
seperation, the valley deepens, the
crust beneath the valley sinks, and
a narrow sea floor is formed.

Underlying the new sea floor is rock

that has been newly created by
underwater eruptions and
solidification of magma in fissures.
Rock that form when magma
solidifies is IGNEOUS ROCK.

The Igneous rock that solidifies on

the sea floor and in fissures become
oceanic crust.

Plates
move
toward each
other
By accommodating the addition of new
sea floor at divergent boundaries, the
destruction of old sea floor at
convergent boundaries ensures the
Earth does not grow in size.

Convergent boundaries describe by the

character of the plates that are involved:
Ocean-continent, Ocean-ocean and
Continent-continent.

Occurs where two plates slide

horizontally past each other, rather
than toward or away from each
other.

A fault is a
crack in the
Earth's crust.
Typically,
faults are
associated
with, or form,
the boundaries
between
Earth's
tectonic
plates.

In an active
fault, the
pieces of the
Earth's crust
along a fault
move over
time.
The moving
rocks can
cause
earthquakes.

The main types

of faults are
-Normal dipslip fault
-Reverse dipslip fault
-Transform
(strike-slip)
faults

Faults are
fractures in
the Earths
surface along
which
displacement
has occurred

If movement
could take
place
continuously
along faults
then major
earthquakes
would not
occur.

However, most faults

become locked such
that forces
(movement of plate
tectonics) causing
the displacement
continue to increase
until the shear
strength of the
obstruction is
exceeded, resulting
in the sudden release
of a significant
amount of strain

Tsunami, is
preferred by
geologist to
represent the
huge waves.
Tsunami also
called as
seismic sea
waves.

The sudden
movement of
the sea floor
upward or
downward,
during a
submarine
earthquake

400 m
wavelength

90 km/h

15 m high

160
kilometers
wavelength

900 km/h

30 m high

A tsunami is
generated in
an ocean by a
disturbance
such as an
earthquake,
landslide,
volcanic
eruption, or
meteorite
impact.

Can be caused by
large
earthquakes, can
also cause
tsunami waves to
form as water
attempts to find a
stable position.

Undersea
earthquakes,
which typically
occur at
boundaries
between
Earths
tectonic
plates, cause
the water
above to be
moved up or
down.

can create
enough force to
uplift the water
column and
generate a
tsunami.

Asteroid impacts
disturb the water
from above, as
momentum from
falling debris is
transferred to the
water into which
the debris falls.

Most tsunamis are caused by

earthquakes generated in
asubduction zone, an area where an
oceanic plate is being forced down
into the mantle byplate
tectonicforces.

The friction between the subducting

plate and the overriding plate is
enormous.
This friction prevents a slow and
steady rate of subduction and
instead the two plates become
"stuck".

Stuck causes a slow distortion of

the overriding plate. The result is an
accumulation of energy very similar
to the energy stored in a
compressed spring.

Energy can accumulate in the

overriding plate over a long period
of time - decades or even centuries

Energy accumulates in the

overriding plate until it exceeds the
frictional forces between the two
stuck plates. When this happens,
the overriding plate snaps back into
an unrestrained position

This sudden motion is the cause of

the tsunami - because it gives an
enormous shove to the overlying
water. At the same time, inland
areas of the overriding plate are
suddenly lowered.

The moving wave begins travelling

out from where the earthquake has
occurred.

Some of the water travels out and

across the ocean basin, and, at the
same time, water rushes landward
to flood the recently lowered
shoreline

killing over
230,000
people
Height of
waves = 30
meters
Energy
released =
26 megatons of
TNT
Energy released =
1500 times that of the
Hiroshimaatomic bomb

1000 km/h
Energy
released =
26 megatons of
TNT

Liquefaction is a condition in which

soils, typically loose saturated sands
and silty sands, behave as a fluid

This is a result of
strong vibration
and is normally
related to
moderate to large
earthquakes
When liquefaction
occurs the shear
strength of the
soil is reduced
essentially to
zero.

As a result, the soil will no longer be

able to support the foundations for
buildings and bridges.
Bearing capacity failure: an
apartment block that has toppled
over due to bearing capacity failure
resulting from liquefaction.