School of Earth Sciences

625-023 Geology

(Engineering Course)

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Classroom Presentation - Introduction and Earth Overview

A general view of the Earth and its main components, and some examples of the interaction between Geology and Engineering.

Classroom Presentation - Minerals

These are the basic building blocks of rocks and the Earth. Fortunately, a small number of minerals are widely abundant, so learning of their behaviour is important and efficient.

Classroom Presentation - Rocks

Rock materials are the components on or in which engineering structures are based. This segment introduces the major rock types and their general characteristics

Classroom Presentation - Plate Tectonics

This is a return to the large-scale view of the Earth and its dynamic behaviour, both of direct interest to Engineering and also of importance in the evolution of rock masses.

Classroom Presentation - Geological Time

An intermission explaining the hierarchy of descriptions used in geological time, and its background.

Classroom Presentation - Stratigraphy

Formally, stratigraphy is the reconstruction of past events from stratified rocks. The principles enable not only that reconstruction, but also much of the inference, central to geology, about the disposition of rocks which have not been observed, between outcrops or beneath the surface of the Earth.

Classroom Presentation - Geological Structures

Rocks and rock materials change over geological time in response to the dynamical behaviour of the Earth. Structural geology studies the outcomes of these changes.

Classroom Presentation - Remote Sensing

Several modern techniques are available for versions of geological mapping, with both advantages and disadvantages over direct, in-the-field examination of rocks. Remote sensing is generally concerned with the surface properties of the Earth.

Classroom Presentation - Geophysical Methods

These are also remote sensing methods, but are distinctive in returning information about rocks at depth and in place. There are mportant applications in site testing/foundation evaluation and other geoenvironmental studies.

Classroom Presentation - Weathering

Engineers are most often in contact with rocks which have been affected by exposure to the atmosphere. This section looks at the distinctive processes by which the rocks are changed.

Classroom Presentation - Soils

Although generally the outcome of the weathering process, soil is nevertheless defined differently in different disciplines. The similarities and differences between engineering "soil" and other understandings are part of this segment.

Classroom Presentation - Sediment transport

The transport of weathered rock by various processes has largely shaped the landscape and environment we now see. Human intervention to reshape that environment may work with or against natural processes.

Classroom Presentation - Hydrogeology

Water, usually containing dissolved salts, is almost ubiquitous in rocks. This brief overview discusses the main influences on, and of, groundwater in near-surface rocks.

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