LECTURE-01

CE-312
ENGINEERING GEOLOGY & SEISMOLOGY

Instructor:
Engr. Muhammad Tufail

Department of Civil Engineering, Campus III Bannu

University of Engineering & Technology Peshawar
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 Outlines of the Presentation

1. Introduction to Geology & Seismology

2. Branches of Geology
3. Engineering Geology as a Vital Tool for Civil Engineers
4. Origin of Earth
5. Interior Structure of Earth
6. Plate Tectonics
7. Plate Boundaries

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 What is Geology?
• Geology is from Greek language in which:
– Geo means earth
– Logos means science

• A science of studying earth

– Earth’s interior
– Earth’s exterior

• Study of earth
– Its origin, structure, composition and history.

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 What is Geology?

• Earth’s Dynamic Nature

➢ Planet earth, and particularly its crust, is highly dynamic with
reference to time.
➢ Geology studies the magnitude and nature of these changes.
➢ Study of changes to earth’s crust allows us to consider conditions of
the future

• Study of Rocks
➢ Process through which these rocks were formed.
➢ Modeling of earth’s surface, from past-to-present.

• Study of Earth’s Interior

➢ Which helps us understand the hazards that underlay the surface on
which we live (Earthquakes).

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 What is Seismology?
• Seismology is science dealing with all aspects of
earthquakes:

• OBSERVATIONAL SEISMOLOGY
◆ Recording earthquakes
◆ Cataloguing earthquakes
◆ Observing earthquake effects
• ENGINEERING SEISMOLOGY
◆ Estimation of seismic hazard and risk
◆ Aseismic building
• ‘PHYSICAL’ SEISMOLOGY
◆ Study of the properties of the Earth’s interior
◆ Study of physical characteristics of seismic sources
• EXPLORATIONAL SEISMOLOGY (Applied seismic methods)

• Multidisciplinary science, links physics with other geosciences (geology,

geography)
• Very young science (second half of the 19th century)
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 Branches of Geology

• Physical Geology
Study of natural processes that modify the earth’s surface.
• Petrolog`y
Study of composition, structure and origin of rocks.
• Mineralogy
Study of mineral composition, structure, appearance and occurrence.
• Structural Geology
Study of rock structures in earth’s crust.
• Stratigraphy
Study of description and classification of strata in sedimentary rocks.
• Paleontology
Study of fossils in rocks.
• Mining Geology
Application of Geology to Mining engineering.
• Engineering Geology
Application of Geology to Civil engineering.

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 Engineering Geology

Engineering Geology is defined by the Association of Engineering Geologists

as:

The discipline of applying geologic data, techniques, and principles to the

study both of :

a) Naturally occurring rock and soil materials, and surface and sub-surface
fluids and;

b) The interaction of introduced materials and processes with the geologic

environment, so that geologic factors affecting the planning, design,
construction, operation and maintenance of engineering structures (fixed
works) and the development, protection and remediation of ground-water
resources are adequately recognized, interpreted and presented for use in
engineering and related practice.

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 Engineering Geology
• Engineering geology is the application of geological data, techniques and
principles to the study of rock and soil surficial materials, and ground
water.

• This is essential for the proper location, planning, design, construction,

operation and maintenance of engineering structures such as dams,
tunnels, bridges and buildings.

• Engineering geology complements environmental geology, or

hydrogeology.

• What does Engineering Geology study?

- ROCK, SOIL AND WATER

• The interaction among these three constituents, as well as with
other engineering materials and structures (Bridges, buildings,
tunnels, dams etc.)

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 Philosophy of Engineering Geology

1. All engineering works are built in or on the ground.

2. The ground will always, in some manner, react to the construction of the
engineering work.

3. The reaction of the ground (its “engineering behavior”) to the particular

engineering work must be accommodated by that work.

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 Role of Geology in Civil Engineering

Engineering Geology serves civil engineering to provide information in three

most important areas:

✓ Resources for Construction

▪ Aggregates, fills and borrows.

✓ Finding Stable Foundations

▪ Present is the key to the past –Geology
▪ Past is the key to the future –Engineering

✓ Mitigation of Geological Hazards

▪ Identify problems, evaluate the costs, provide information to mitigate
the problem

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 Role of Geology in Civil Engineering

1. Systematic knowledge of construction materials, their structure and

properties.
2. Information about Erosion, Transportation and Deposition (ETD).
3. Idea about nature of rocks helps in tunneling, road construction and slop
stability
4. Problems with foundations of structures.
5. Knowledge of ground water.
6. Study of geological features like faults, joints, beds, folds etc. helps in
stability of structures.
7. Pre-geological survey of the area concerned reduces the cost of
engineering work.

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 Role of Geology in Civil Engineering

Bridges

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 Role of Geology in Civil Engineering

Tunneling

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 Role of Geology in Civil Engineering

What happens when civil engineers ignore geology as an

essential tool?

Dam Failure

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 Role of Geology in Civil Engineering

What happens when civil engineers ignore geology as an

essential tool?

Land Sliding

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 Origin of Earth
Two broad approaches have been adopted to define origin of our solar
system.
• Evolutionary Theories
These theories suggest that during evolution of the sun, planet
formation was a resulting mechanism.
• Catastrophic Theories
As the name suggests, these theories consider some catastrophes as
the mechanism of formation of the solar system. These catastrophes
can be close approach of two massive stars or their collision.

Most widely followed theories regarding origin of earth are:

1. Nebular Hypothesis.
2. Planetesimal Hypothesis.
3. Gaseous Tidal Hypothesis.

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 Origin of Earth
1. Nebular Hypothesis
– This hypothesis was put forward by Karl, a German scientist in 1755
and endorsed by Laplace, a French mathematician in 1796. Salient
features of this hypothesis are:

• The solar system was formed from a disc-shaped Nebula (A vast

cloud of hot gas).
• It states that the origin was in the form of a large, hot and gaseous
Nebula which rotated about its axis.
• Radiation caused the gas to lose energy which resulting in lowering
of temperature of the Nebula thus reducing its size.
• In line with law of conservation of momentum, the rotation of the
disc about its axis had to increase hence causing an increase in
the centrifugal force causing a bulging out of the Nebula at the
equatorial zone.
• Cooling and contraction continued over time till the centrifugal force
exceeded the gravitational attraction of the Nebula thus causing it
to break apart and scatter.
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 Origin of Earth
1. Nebular Hypothesis
• The above process kept repeating with time and successive rings
of gaseous material was thrown off from the central core.
• Solidification of these gaseous rings resulted in formation of
planets, while in the gaseous phase, planetoids were formed as a
result of similar processes occurring in these planets.
• The central mass solidified into sun.

– OBSERVATIONS ON NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS

• This theory fails to explain energy distribution within the solar
system. Sun being the biggest part of the solar system ( having a
mass of 99.9% of the solar system) should have attained a
maximum angular momentum. However the maximum angular
momentum is distributed in the planets (98%) while the sun has
only 2% of angular momentum thus casting doubts over this theory.
• There was not enough mass in the separated rings to have caused
solidification of the planets because of lack of gravitational force of
attraction.
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 Origin of Earth

1. Nebular Hypothesis

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 Origin of Earth
2. Planetesimal Hypothesis
– This hypothesis was proposed by Chamberlin and Moulton in 1904 and
its main points are:

• The sun was present before formation of the solar system.

• A large star passing close enough to the sun subjected the sun to a
strong gravitation pull and caused large chunks of masses to get
separated from the sun. These large chunks of the sun fragmented
into smaller pieces upon cooling and solidified (Planetesimal).
• These planetesimals revolved in orbits around the sun and in the
process of collision and gravitation attraction formed planets.
– OBSERVATIONS ON PLANETESIMAL HYPOTHESIS
• The angular momentum imparted to the planets by the passing star
is less than what actually is observed.
• Space is vast and probability of a close approach of a star to sun is
highly unlikely.

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 Origin of Earth
3. Gaseous Tidal Hypothesis
– This hypothesis was proposed by Jeans and Jefferys in 1925 and is
stated through the following.
• A very large star progressively moved closer to the sun and the
immense gravitational pull of this star caused a gaseous tide to
emerge from the sun.
• When the star continued on its journey, this gaseous tide got
detached from the sun.
• This gaseous tide got divided into ten pieces, nine of which formed
planets while the tenth further subdivided to form planetoids.

– OBSERVATIONS ON GASEOUS TIDAL HYPOTHESIS

• The passing star may be able to detach a gaseous tide from the
sun owing to its gravitation pull but it will be unable to impart the
angular momentum to this gaseous tide, thus putting a question
mark on validity of this hypothesis.
• The gaseous mass is more likely to get dispersed into the universe
instead of cooling off and forming the planets.
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 Interior of Earth
• Knowledge of Earth’s interior is based on very few direct investigations
that have been carried out through boring into the earth’s crust. These
bore have been drilled to depths of a few kilometers.
• These bore hole data has been supplemented with extrapolation
techniques to other depths in addition to more studies on heat-flow
characteristics, geostatic pressure and earthquakes (seismology).
These studies reveal characteristics of earth’s interior to great depths.
• Based on these studies, the earth’s interior has been mapped as show
in the figure in the next slide.

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 Interior of Earth
• The Three Major Chemical Radial Divisions
1. Crust
2. Mantle
3. Core

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 Interior of Earth
• Crust
▪ The crust is much thinner than any of the other layers, and is
composed of the least dense calcium (Ca) and sodium (Na)
aluminum-silicate minerals. Being relatively cold, the crust is rocky
and brittle, so it can fracture in earthquakes.

▪ The shell of the earth, the crust, can be said to have two different
thicknesses.

▪ Under the oceans, it is relatively thin. It varies in thickness from 5 to

8 km. Under the land masses, it is relatively thick. The thickness of
the continental crust varies from 10 to 65 km.

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 Interior of Earth
• Crust
▪ The total weight of the continental crust is less than 0.3% of the
weight of the earth.

▪ Variations in the crust thickness are compensated by the weight of

the water and the differences in the specific gravities of the crust
under the oceans (3.0 to 3.1) and under the continents(2.7 to 2.8).

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 Interior of Earth
• Mental
▪ The mantle can be thought of having three different layers. The
separation is made because of different deformational properties in
the mantle inferred from seismic wave measurements.

I. Lithosphere

II. Asthenosphere
III. Mesosphere

Lithosphere

▪ The upper layer is stiff. It is presumed that if the entire mantle had
been as stiff, the outer shell of the earth would have been static.
This stiff layer of the mantle and the overlying crust are referred to
as the lithosphere. The lithosphere is approximately 80-km thick
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 Interior of Earth
• Mental
Asthenosphere

▪ Beneath the lithosphere is a soft layer of mantle called the

asthenosphere.

▪ Its thickness is inferred to be several times that of the lithosphere.

Mesosphere

▪ Mesosphere is the lowest layer of the mantel

▪ The thickness of the mantel is not well known

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 Interior of Earth
• Core
▪ At a depth of approximately 2900 km, there is a large reduction (on
the order of 40%) in the measured velocity of seismic waves. The
boundary between the mantle and the core is assumed to be at this
depth.

▪ Because no S-wave has been observed to travel through the

material below this boundary for a thickness of approximately 2300
km, it has been inferred that the core comprises two layers.

▪ The 2300-km thick outer layer which is in a molten state and an

1100-km thick inner layer which is solid.

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 Plate Tectonics
PLATE TECTONICS theory is very young (1960-ies)
It provides answers to the most fundamental questions in seismology:
➢ Why earthquakes occur?
➢ Why are earthquake epicenters not uniformly distributed around the globe?
➢ At what depths are their foci?

TECTONIC FORCES
• The interior of the Earth is dynamic. It cools
down and thus provides energy for
convective currents in the outer core and in
the astenosphere.
• Additional energy comes from radioactive
decay.
• Convection in the astenosphere enables
tectonic processes – PLATE TECTONICS
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 Plate Tectonics

◼ Tectonic plates

➢ Tectonic plates are large

parts of litosphere
‘floating’ on the
astenosphere.

➢ Convective currents move them around with velocities of several

cm/year.
➢ The plates interact with one another in three basic ways:

1. They collide (Convergent Boundaries)

2. They move away from each other (Divergent Boundaries)
3. They slide one past another (Transform Boundaries)
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 Plate Boundaries

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 The End

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