CHAPTER 1

UNIT -1 GENERAL GEOLOGY

CONTENTS
1.1 Scope of Geology in Engineering
1.2 Geological Agencies
1.2.1 External Agencies
1.2.1.1 Weathering and wind
1.2.1.2 River and Sea
1.2.1.3 Landslide
1.2.2 Internal Agencies
1.2.2.1 Earthquake
1.2.2.2 Plate Tectonics
1.2.2.3 Ground Water
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Geology
The term Geology comes from the Greek words Geo + Logos.
Geo means Earth, and Logos means discover or study or
science. Geology therefore, deals with the study of the planet
Earth on which we are living. The science of Geology tells us
about the origin, structure and history of the Earth and its
inhabitants, as recorded in the rocks. Geology can further be
defined as the branch of natural science devoted to the study
of the physical features of the earth, the composition and
structure of the rocks composing it, the forces at work in
altering it, and the record of the animals and plants that have
lived on its lands and inhabited its seas.
1.2 Work of Geologist
Geologists seek to understand how the earth formed and evolved
into what it is today, as well as what made the earth capable of
supporting life.
A geologist is concerned with every aspect of the composition
and structure of the earth’s crust. His/her sphere of work is
therefore world-wide; his/her main laboratory is the great out-of-
doors where in he/she examines rocks as they actually occur in
nature. His/her considerations range from the beginning of time
and into the future. He/she studies all that composes the crust of
the earth sphere and especially those materials of use to his/her
fellow man.
1.3 The Scope of Geology
The scope of geology is so broad that it has been split into two (2)
major divisions:-
1. Physical geology
2. Historical geology
1.3.1 Physical geology
It deals with the Earth’s composition, structure, the movements
within and upon the Earth’s crust, and the geologic processes by
which the Earth’s surface is, or has been changed. This division
of geology includes in itself, the following branches:-
Mineralogy: - This deals with the study of minerals. Minerals are
basic constituents of rocks, and thus, influence the properties of
the rocks. Hence in order to know the properties of the rocks, one
has to study the properties of the minerals.
Petrology: - The term Petrology is derived from the Greek word,
Petro + Logos. Petro means rocks and Logos means study. Hence
Petrology means the study of the rocks. Since the Earth’s crust,
also called lithosphere (solid outer layer of the Earth above the
asthenosphere, consisting of the crust and upper mantle), is
composed of different types of rocks, their study is done under this
branch, which deals with the study of mode of formation, structure,
texture, composition, occurrence, types, etc. of the various rocks of
the Earth’s crust.
Structural Geology: - The rocks which constitutes the Earth’s
crust, have undergone and continues to undergo various
deformations, dislocations under the influence of tectonic forces;
causing formation of geological structures like folds, faults, joints,
etc., in the rock masses.
Geomorphology: - This branch of geology explains and studies the
origin of various surface features of the Earth.
Economical Geology: - This is a specialized division of
mineralogy and petrology, wherein the products of the Earth’s
crust having good economic value, are studied. Valuable ores
containing metals, like coals, petroleum, etc, do come under the
domain of this specialized study. It includes the study of their
occurrence, search, and exploitation for commercial and industrial
uses.
1.3.1 Historical Geology
This deals with the study of the origin and evolution of the Earth
and its inhabitants. The various sub-divisions of this branch of
geology includes:-
Stratigraphy: - The term stratigraphy comes from the Greek
words: Strata + Graphy. Strata mean the sets or beds of
sedimentary rocks; while Graphy means the description.
Stratigraphy therefore, deals with the study of the beds of the
sedimentary rocks. The study thus helps in identifying the ages of
the rocks of the various regions and areas, thereby assisting in
describing in detail their general civil engineering uses. The study
of these rocks involves extraction of fossils, i.e. the remains of
plants and animals of the past geological Eras.
Palalentology: - Deals with the study of the ancient organisms,
plants, and animals, etc; as revealed from their remains and
remnants (i.e. fossils), the study helps in providing a background to
the development of life on Earth, over the past geological Eras.
Palaeogeography: - This branch of science deals with the study of
the geographic conditions of the past times. It, thus deals with the
reconstruction of the relations of the ancient lands and seas, and the
organisms that inhabited them.
1.4 Civil Engineering
Civil Engineering is defined as the art that includes the design and
construction of all structures other than simple buildings, and
the investigation, design, and construction of all systems of
transportation, natural power development, water supply and
sewage disposal, as well as the direction of natural resources for
the use and convenience of man. Every branch of civil engineering
has some contact with the surface of the earth. For instance, the
works designed by the civil engineer being supported by or
located in some part of the earth’s crust.
1.5 Engineering Geology
Engineering geology is the application of engineering principles to
geologic problems. Two fields of Engineering that use geology
extensively are civil Engineering and Mining geology Engineering.
For example, the stability of a building or bridge requires an
understanding of foundation material (rocks or soil).
Engineering Geology is applicable in the following engineering
fields
 Foundation engineering -

 Construction materials/ highway engineering

 Dam and Hydropower engineering

 Disaster mitigation and Earthquake engineering

Urban Planning and Environmental engineering

For this civil engineer must have sufficient knowledge of

Engineering Geology
 Importance of geology for civil engineering
• To classify and know the types of rocks
• To differentiate the types of minerals and their properties.
• To appreciate geological structures such as faults, folds, joints,
bedding, etc.
• To determine the strength and behavior of geological materials.
• To be able to understand and carryout ground investigations.
• To understand the earth’s endogeonetic and exogeonetic
processes e.g. weathering, erosion, failure of slopes, etc.
• To be able to interpret Geological Maps
• To help identify suitable locations for landfills
• To understand characteristic of ground water bodies.
• To facilitate excavations in rocks and soils during mining,
tunneling, etc.
• To be able to determine foundations and embankments for
reservoirs, dams, etc.
 Geological Agents
 There are a series of natural systems that carry out the different
geological processes, known as the geological agents. These
geological agents carry out the modelling of the land relief. The
external geological agents are the wind, the water, living beings
and gravity.

 The wind and the water are dynamic agents, which are driven
by the energy that comes from the Sun. Living beings; animals,
plants and microorganisms, are also dynamic agents that change
the earth’s surface. Gravity is a static agent which is always
present in all the processes carried on by the dynamic agents.
External geological processes
External geological processes are driven by the external energy
that comes from the Sun and gravity. The changes the land relief
undergoes is because of these processes, which are weathering,
erosion, transport and deposition.
 The external geological processes driven by the energy provided
by the Sun and gravity are:
weathering, erosion, transport, river and sea, landslide and
deposition (sedimentation).
Weathering
Rain, frost, and the heating effect of the Sun weaken and loosen
the surface of the rock. We will consider three types of weathering:
mechanical, chemical and biological.
·
 Mechanical weathering:
When the main agent responsible for the breaking of a rock is
the temperature. Mechanical or physical weathering is the
breaking down of rock into smaller pieces without any
chemical changes in the rock itself.
This type of action can occur in a number of ways, one
example being frost or ice wedging – water seeps into
cracks and pores in a rock and freezes, expands, exerts
pressure within the crack or pore and causes pieces of the
rock to break off.
Chemical weathering:, chemical changes take place in the
rock, forming new products that can be carried away more
easily than the original rock. Areas where water is present or
the air is humid are subject to chemical weathering. The main
agents responsible for the alteration of rocks are the CO2,
water vapour and oxygen, found in the atmosphere.
 Biological weathering: It is a mixture of mechanical and
chemical weathering carried out by living beings. Some
plants can easily break rocks. The roots grow through
existing cracks in the rocks. The growth causes the root to
expand, forcing the crack to expand, forcing the crack to
widen. This force can eventually split the rock apart. Also,
many plants, algae and fungi produce chemical substances
that may alter some minerals. Animals that live in the soil
(moles, insects, worms etc.) cause a lot of weathering. By
burrowing in the ground, these animals brake up soil and
loosen rocks to be exposed to further weathering.
Erosion, transport and deposition
1. Erosion or fragmentation of rocks, is the picking up or
physical removal of rock particles by an agent such as water,
wind, ice, and the particles transported by these agents. Erosion
is a dynamic process with transportation of the materials.
2. Transport is the movement of eroded particles by agents
such as rivers, waves, glaciers, or wind. These materials will be
transported more or less distance depending on the agent and
on the size of the fragmented rocks. Weathering processes
continue during transportation.
3. Deposition (or sedimentation) of the transported materials. It
usually takes place in the lower parts of the crust, forming
layers of sediments.
 Wind
The earth, as you know is surrounded by an environment of
gases, called the atmosphere. The movement of the
atmosphere in a direction parallel to the Earth's surface, is
wind, where as the vertical movements of the atmosphere are
termed as air- currents.
We under engineering Geology are mainly concerned with the
geological work done by wind, in the form of erosion and
consequent deposition of the eroded material. Like water, wind
is also an agent of erosion, transportation, as well as deposition.
It is quite an effective agent of erosion in deserts and arid dry
areas.
 Water
Water is the most important agent of erosion responsible for the
maximum havoc it creates in the form of erosional damages to
the land surface.
It may act in three forms i.e. as falling drops, running overland
flow and as running rivers and streams. The erosion caused by
water is generally quite devastating and may create various
engineering problems, if not properly checked or accounted for,
while planning the engineering projects.
Rivers are natural, usually permanent watercourses flowing
toward an ocean, a sea, a lake or another river. Their erosive and
transportation capacity will be determined by the speed of their
flow as well as their steepness, which at the same time will
depend upon the climate of the area, and location of the river
(high mountain or a valley).
The sea will act mainly along the shoreline, and we can see the
result of this erosive agent on the cliffs.
The changes on the earth’s surface are the best evidence of the
action of these agents which act with a greater or lower intensity
depending on the climate and the chemical composition of rocks.
Groundwater flows principally downward under the influence
of gravity, through soils, sediments, and rocks. They will
dissolve soluble underground rocks, in particular limestone and
gypsum. As a result we will have the formation of caves,
stalactites, etc.
 LANDSLIDE
Landslides represent the rapid downward and outward
movement of slope-forming materials.
The movement taking place by falling, sliding or flowing, or by
some combination of these factors
It is the earth processes that affect engineering structures to any
degree
It can damage the engineering structures those constructed on
the moving mass and those constructed on the path of moving
mass
Therefore when we construct engineering structures on the hills
or at the foot of the hill we must conduct investigation to
determine the stability condition of the slope
 LANDSLIDE
Two primary categories of causes of landslides:

– natural and

– human‐caused.
Sometimes, landslides are caused, or made worse, by a
combination of the two factors.
Natural Occurrences
Three major triggering mechanisms that can occur either singly
or in combination
water, seismic activity, and volcanic activity.

Effects of all of these causes vary widely and depend on factors

such as: steepness of slope
shape of terrain, soil type and underlying geology, and
 Internal geological Agents
Internal geological agents: They are the movements of the
lithospheric plates, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. These
agents build the Earth’s relief. The energy resource that lets them
work is the heat stored inside the Earth. Proof of this heat is the
geothermal gradient; defined as the increase of temperature
with depth. This heat is due to:
The collision of the planetesimals during the Earth’s formation.

The disintegration of radioactive elements.

EARTHQUAKES
EARTHQUAKES
Dramatic picture of a collapsed expressway by the 1995 Mw 7.5 Great Hanshin
Earthquake in Japan, also known as the Kobe Earthquake.
EARTHQUAKES
 An Earthquake is a natural vibration of the ground (or the
Earth’s Crust) produced by forces called earth quake forces or
seismic forces.
Or
An Earthquake is a trembling or shaking of the ground caused by
sudden release of energy stored in the rocks beneath Earths
surface.
Causes of Earthquakes and their types
Depending upon the possible cause of an earthquake, earthquakes
are generally classified into two categories
1) Tectonic earthquakes
2) Non-Tectonic earthquakes
Tectonic Earthquakes
Tectonic is the force that produces movement and deformation
of the Earth’s crust. The tectonic earthquakes are caused by the
slippage or movement of the rock masses along a rupture or
breaks called a fault. These are generally very severe and the area
affected is often very large.

Non-tectonic earthquakes
Non Tectonic earthquakes are earthquakes caused by a
number of easily understandable processes, such as;
volcanic eruptions, superficial movements like
landslides, subsidence of the ground below the surface,
etc. All such processes may introduce vibrations into the
ground.
Seismic waves
The energy released during faulting, produces seismic waves
which can be detected by sensitive and delicate instruments,
called seismographs, installed at specially designed
seismographic stations; the record of seismic waves is called
seismogram.
The focus or seismic center is the place beneath the Earth’s
surface from where an Earthquake originates and the point or line
on the Earth’s surface immediately above the focus is called the
Epicentre or Epicentral line. The point which is diametrically
opposite to the epicenter is called anticentre. The area around the
epicenter will be subjected to earthquake vibrations, and is called
epicentral area.
Shallow earthquakes originate within about 60km of the surface;
intermediate earthquakes have force between 60 to 300km down;
and the deep seated earthquakes originate at depths below 300km
Types of seismic waves
Body waves:
Body waves are seismic waves that travel through the Earth’s
interior spreading outwards from the focus in all directions.
a) P wave (primary): is a compressional (or longitudinal) wave
in which rock vibrates back and forth parallel to the directions of
wave propagation. It’s very fast and the first to arrive at a
recording station following an Earthquake
b) S wave (secondary): These are waves that travel in directions
at right angles (i.e. transverse) to the directions of propagation of
the wave. These waves travel slower than the P-waves, and are
second to be recorded at the seismographic station.
Types of seismic waves
Body waves:
Body waves are seismic waves that travel through the Earth’s
interior spreading outwards from the focus in all directions.
a) P wave (primary): is a compressional (or longitudinal) wave
in which rock vibrates back and forth parallel to the directions of
wave propagation. It’s very fast and the first to arrive at a
recording station following an Earthquake
b) S wave (secondary): These are waves that travel in directions
at right angles (i.e. transverse) to the directions of propagation of
the wave. These waves travel slower than the P-waves, and are
second to be recorded at the seismographic station.
Surface waves
These are the slowest waves, set off by earthquakes. Surface
waves causes more property damage than body waves because
surface waves produce more movement and travel more
slowly, so they take longer to pass.
a) Love waves: are most like S waves that have no vertical
displacement. The ground moves side to side in a horizontal
plane that is perpendicular to the directions, the wave is traveling
or propagating. Like S waves, love waves do not travel through
liquids and would not be felt on a body of water. Because of the
horizontal movement, love waves tend to knock buildings off
their foundations and destroy highway and bridge supports.
b) Rayleigh waves: These behave like rolling ocean waves and
cause the ground to move in an elliptical path opposite to the
direction of the wave passes. Rayleigh waves are incredibly
destructive to buildings because they produce more ground
movement and take longer to pass.

Effects of earthquakes
Damage to buildings and other structures depends greatly on the
type of geologic material on which a structure was built as well
as the type of construction. Houses built on solid rock normally
are damaged far less than houses built upon loose sediment.
1. Ground motion is the trembling and shaking of the land that
can cause buildings to vibrate.
2. Fire is a particularly serious problem just after an earthquake
because of broken gas and water mains and fallen electrical
wires.
3. Landslides can be triggered by the shaking of the ground.
4. Permanent displacement of the land surface may be the result
of movement along a fault.
5. Aftershocks are small earthquakes that follow the main
shock. Although aftershocks are smaller than the main
quake, they can cause considerable damage, particularly to
structures previously weakened by the powerful main shock.
1. Ground motion is the trembling and shaking of the land that
can cause buildings to vibrate.
2. Fire is a particularly serious problem just after an earthquake
because of broken gas and water mains and fallen electrical
wires.
3. Landslides can be triggered by the shaking of the ground.
4. Permanent displacement of the land surface may be the result
of movement along a fault.
5. Aftershocks are small earthquakes that follow the main
shock. Although aftershocks are smaller than the main
quake, they can cause considerable damage, particularly to
structures previously weakened by the powerful main shock.
6. Foreshocks are small quakes that precede a main shock and
are less damaging.
Tsunami:
This is a huge ocean wave produced by displacement of the sea
floor; also called seismic sea wave. The sudden movement of the
sea floor upward or down during a submarine earthquake can
generate very large sea waves, popularly called tidal waves but
the Japanese term Tsunami is preferred by geologist.
Tsunami:
Volcanoes
A volcano is a fracture in the crust that allows magma to escape to
the surface. Magma is a mixture of melted rocks, solid fragments
and dissolved gases
Parts of a volcano:
There are three different materials that can erupt from an active
volcano:
Lava: is magma erupting from a volcano. It can be fluid (it causes
flows of lava, and therefore, not very explosive volcanoes) or
viscous (as lava solidifies quickly in the vent it usually form a
dome which obstructs the crater generating a high pressure, and
consequently, very dangerous explosive volcanoes).
 Pyroclasts: are fragments of rock ejected from the volcano. When
pyroclasts accumulate around the crater, the volcanic cone is
formed. Pyroclasts are classified according to size in bombs (the
largest), lapilli and ash (the finest).
Gases: The main gases are water vapour, carbondioxide, sulfuric
gases,etc.They are very toxic.