Engineering Geology

(EG)

Suraj Kumar Bhagat

Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ton Duc Thang University,
Vietnam
surajenv@gmail.com
 Summary of course content
(The course includes the following main contents)
{updated}
Chapter 7: GEOLOGICAL WORKS

7.1 Phenomenon of flowing soil, flowing sand, underground

erosion
7.2 Landslide phenomenon
7.3 Earthquake phenomenon
7.4 Weathering phenomenon

"Water, Water, Everywhere..."

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 GEOLOGICAL WORKS
• Phenomenon of flowing soil,
• flowing sand,
• underground erosion

• Landslide phenomenon
• Earthquake phenomenon
• Weathering phenomenon

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 Phenomenon of flowing soil
• Soil liquefaction occurs when the effective
stress (shear strength) of soil is reduced to
essentially zero.

This may be initiated by either:

• Monotonic loading (i.e. a single, sudden
occurrence of a change in stress – examples
include an increase in load on an
embankment or sudden loss of toe support) Some effects of liquefaction after the 1964 Niigata
‘OR’ earthquake

• Cyclic loading (i.e. repeated changes in stress

condition – examples include wave loading or
earthquake shaking).
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 Phenomenon of flowing soil

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 Phenomenon of flowing soil

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 Phenomenon of flowing sand
• Directed Percolation (DP) is perhaps the simplest model that exhibits a non-
equilibrium phase transition between an “active” or “wet” phase and an
inactive “dry” one.

• In the latter phase the system is in a single “absorbing” state; once it reaches
the completely dry state, it will always stay there.

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 What's Quicksand?
• Quicksand forms when uprising water
reduces the friction between sand
particles, causing the sand to become
"quick.“
• Quicksand is an interesting natural
phenomenon
• The "quick" refers to how easily the
sand shifts when in this semiliquid
state.
• Quicksand is not a unique type of soil;
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 What's Quicksand?
• It is actually solid ground that has been liquefied by a saturation of water.

• It is usually just sand or another type of grainy soil.

• Quicksand is nothing more than a soupy mixture of sand and water.

• It can occur anywhere under the right conditions, according to Denise

Dumouchelle, geologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

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 Erosion
• Surface changes can be observed by engineers and geologists alike;
among them erosion is a dominant process.
• Erosion: which in time
• destroys coastal cliffs,
• reduces the height of continents, and
• transports the material
• So removed either to the sea or to inland basins of deposition.

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 Underground Erosion
• Underground erosion is technically a type of water erosion.
• When water soaks into the ground, and becomes groundwater.

• The water flows down, helped by gravity.

• The water picks up chemicals and turns into acid.

• The acid breaks down the rocks underground.

• The great Mammoth Caves were created this way.

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 Underground Erosion

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 Weathering
• Weathering is simply the chemical and/or physical breakdown of a rock
material
• Weathering involves specific processes acting on rock materials at or near the
surface of the Earth

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 Weathering
• In other rocks, minerals may slowly dissolve.
• Eventually the surface of ALL rocks crumbles, or
weathers.

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 Type of Weathering
1. Physical Weathering( mechanical)

Takes place when rock is split or broken into smaller pieces of the same
material without changing its composition.

Example: Breaking of a rock cliff into

boulders and pebbles

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 Type of Weathering
• Common weathering processes:

• Frost action

• Wetting and drying

• Action of plants and animals

• Loss of overlying rock and soil

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 Thank you

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