Geology for Civil Engineers

Christian N. Bayangos
Instructor 1
cbayangos@mmsu.edu.ph

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

 Chapter 1
General Geology

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

GEOLOGY
-is the study of the solid Earth.
-It includes the investigation of the rocks forming the Earth
(petrology) and their constituents (mineralogy and crystallography).
Geochemistry
-is a study of the chemistry of rocks and the distribution of major
and trace elements in rocks, rock suites, and minerals.
The distribution of rocks at the Earth’s surface is found by making
a geological survey (geological mapping) and is recorded on geological
maps.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

 Knowledge of the Earth at the present time raises questions about
the processes that have formed it in the past: that is, about its history.
-The interpretation of rock layers as Earth history is called
stratigraphy, and a study of the processes leading to the formation of
sedimentary rocks is called sedimentology.
-The study of fossils (palaeontology) is closely linked to Earth
history.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

1.1 Geology in Civil Engineering
RELEVANCE OF GEOLOGY TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

Most civil engineering projects involve some excavation of soils and

rocks, or involve loading the Earth by building on it.
The feasibility, the planning and design, the construction and costing,
and the safety of a project may depend critically on the geological
conditions where the construction will take place.

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GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

-involves designing structures and solving problems related to earth

and its resources. It is concerned with mineral and energy resources and
exploration

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 Geological engineering is related to Civil engineering, Mining
engineering, Petroleum engineering and Environmental engineering

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ROLE OF THE ENGINEER IN THE SYSTEMATIC
EXPLORATION OF A SITE
The investigation of suitability and characteristics of sites in design and
construction is the main concern of Civil Engineers
Systematic exploration should be observed using the five stages of
procedures;
1. Preliminary investigation
2. A detailed geological survey
3. Applied geophysical survey
4. Boring, drilling and excavation
5. Testing of soils and rocks

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

GEOLOGY AND CIVIL ENGINEERING RELATIONSHIP
-Civil Engineering works are carried out either on site or within
the site.
Investigative questions should be considered in dealing with
designs applying geological considerations;
➢ Where is a geologically safe and economical engineering structure built?
➢ How to choose the communication and transportation infrastructure
route where geological conditions are convenient?
➢ How are the building bases constructed safely and economically in
terms of geological and geotechnical aspects?

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

➢ How to create slope both safely and economically?
➢ How is a safe tunnel and underground facility excavation done?
➢ How is location geological materials required for construction of dams
and road construction determined?
➢ What are the measurements and application methods for improvements
of ground conditions and controlling instability, infiltration, etc.?
➢ What are required geological and geotechnical conditions store urban,
toxic and radioactive waste?
➢ How are to identify, prevent or reduce geological hazards identified,
prevented and reduced?

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

APPLICATION OF GEOLOGY IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
PRACTICES
1. Mapping
2. Exploration
3. Project Planning
4. Surface Water
5. Groundwater
6. Slope Stability
7. Geological Structure
8. Tunnelling
9. Earthquake

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

1.2 EARTH STRUCTURE AND ITS COMPOSITION
ORIGIN OF THE EARTH
-born 4.60 billion years ago as a solidified cloud of dust and gasses
left over from the creation of Sun
The following theories are the most accepted theories regarding the
origin of the Solar System (and hence of the Earth);
1. The Nebular Hypothesis
2. The Tidal Hypothesis
3. The Gas-Dust Cloud Hypothesis
4. Hoyle’s Magnetic Theory

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

1. The Nebular Hypothesis
Oldest scientific explanation introduced by Kant (1775) and
Laplace (1796)
The planetary system is believed to have evolved from the
Nebula (an originally hot, rarefied, gaseous cloud) which surrounded the
primeval Sun.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

2. The Tidal Hypothesis

Most popular hypothesis during the first half of 20th century

Introduced by a British Astronomer named Jeans
States that planets were formed from gaseous filament that was
torn out from the Sun under the influence of another major star that
happened to pass through at a certain time quite nearer to the parent Sun
Gravitational pull is being considered as the dragged force used
by the passing star

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COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering
3. The Gas-Dust Cloud Hypothesis

Fundamental assumption of these concept is that the planets have

evolved out of a cold cloud of gas and dust
The idea was put forward independently by a German Physicist,
Weizascker and a Soviet mathematician Q.J. Schmidt in 1943.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

4. Hoyle’s Magnetic Theory

Introduced by Prof. F. Hoyle (1958)

Concerned with the origin of protoplanetary cloud which was
created due to fast rotation of the nebular mass with the aid of magnetic
coupling.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

THE EARTH
• third planet from the sun
• Earth shape is commonly described as spheroid
• equatorial diameter of 12,757.776 km and a polar diameter of
12,713.824 km
• density of earth is approximately 5.517g/cm3
• volume is 1.083x1027 cm3

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EARTH SYSTEM AND ITS COMPONENTS

The earth system is itself an integrated system, but it can be

subdivided into four main components, sub-systems or spheres:
1. atmosphere
2. geosphere
3. hydrosphere
4. biosphere

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

1. Atmosphere
• The outer gaseous part of the earth starting from the surface and
extending as far as 700 km and even beyond.
• It is made up of a mechanical
mixture of gases.

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 2. Geosphere
• stony part of the earth
(also known as lithosphere,
litho=stone) which includes all the
Solid material composing the Earth
from surface downward.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

3. Hydrosphere
• It is the collective name for all the natural water bodies occurring on
or below the surface of the Earth.
• It makes 0.03% of mass of the Earth.
• In some classifications, the
hydrosphere is sub-divided into
the fluid water systems and
the cryosphere (the ice systems).

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

4. Biosphere
• It is also called as the Earth’s ecosystem which includes earth’s surface
and subsurface to depths of a few kilometres and life occupies an
extreme range of environments (life interaction=ecology)

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

SEISMOLOGY
• is a branch of geophysics that deals with the study of elastic or
seismic waves generated within the earth during earthquake (Greek,
“seismo”= shaking)
• Earthquakes are caused by sudden movements in the Earth’s crust.
The sudden release of enormous energies sends out shock waves which
radiates out from the “focus” of the ‘quake’.
• shock waves are detected and recorded by a seismometer

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SEISMOGRAPHS
-An instrument used to record the motion of the ground during
an earthquake

SEISMOMETER
- The internal part of the seismograph, which may be a pendulum
or a mass mounted on a spring

SEISMOGRAM
- The recording of the ground shaking at the specific location of
the instrument.

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COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering
SEISMIC WAVES
• One ingenious way scientists learn about Earth’s interior is by looking at
how energy travels from the point of an earthquake. These are seismic
waves that travels outward in all directions from where the ground
breaks at an earthquake.
A. Body waves - travel through the interior of the Earth.
1. P-waves 2. S-waves
B. Surface Waves - propagate only at the interface between Earth and
atmosphere.
1. L-waves 2. R-waves

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A. Body waves - travel through the interior of the Earth.

1. P-waves
-(primary waves) are fastest, traveling at about 6 to 7 km per
second
-move in a compression/expansion type motion,
squeezing and unsqueezing earth materials as they travel
-can travel though liquid and solids

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

2. S-waves
-(secondary waves) are about half as fast as P-waves,
traveling at about 3.5 km per second
-move in an up and down motion perpendicular to the
direction of wave travel.
-cannot travel through liquid.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

B. Surface Waves - propagate only at the interface between Earth and
atmosphere.

1. L-waves
-(love surface waves)
-They are largest at the surface and decrease in amplitude
with depth.
-Love waves have transverse horizontal motion,
perpendicular to the direction of propagation and generally parallel to the
Earth's surface

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

2. R-waves
-(Rayleigh surface waves) have its motion both in the
direction of propagation and perpendicular (in a vertical plane)
-Rayleigh waves are dispersive and the amplitudes generally
decrease with depth in the Earth.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

1.3 EARTH’S PROCESSES
Geologic process affect every human on the Earth all the time,
but are most noticeable when they cause loss of life or property. Such
life or property threatening process are called natural disasters.
Among them are:
Earthquakes Eruption of Volcanoes
Tsunami Landslide
Subsidence Floods
Droughts Hurricanes
Tornadoes

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

 A variety of process acts on and within the Earth and the following
are responsible for natural disasters:
1. Melting. Responsible for creating magmas that result in volcanism.
2. Deformation. Responsible for earthquakes, volcanism, landslide, and
subsidence
3. Isostatic Adjustment due to buoyancy. Responsible for earthquakes,
landslide and subsidence.
4. Weathering. Responsible for landslide and subsidence.
5. Erosion. Responsible for landslide, subsidence, and flooding.
6. Atmospheric Circulation. Responsible for hurricanes, tornadoes and
flooding.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

EARTH’S STRUCTURE
The Earth is made up of core, mantle and crust and is constantly
changing as a result of processes taking place on and below its surface.
Core. The inner most zone with solid inner and molten outer core.
Inner Core – large ball of solid iron & nickel at the center caused by
huge pressure.
Outer Core – hot liquid which is largely a mixture of the metals iron
and nickel.
Mantle. Rigid outer part of the solid rock which contains asthenosphere
(melted and pliable rock)
Crust. The outermost zone which underlies the continents.

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COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering
TWO CLASSIFICATIONS OF CRUST
-thin oceanic crust, and thicker continental crust

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 Continental Crust (underlies the Oceanic Crust (underlies the
continents) ocean basin)

less dense, older and thicker more dense, younger and thinner
Average rock density about Density about 3.0g/cm3
2.7g/cm3 Average thickness 7-10 km
Average thickness 35-40 km Mafic Composition
Felsic Composition Average rock type is
Average rock type is Granite basalt/Grabbo

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

TECTONIC PLATES
A tectonic plate is a massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock,
generally composed of both continental and oceanic lithosphere
The lithosphere is broken into plates because it is brittle when
heated, pressure and convection beneath it has broken into plates

THREE TYPES OF PLATE BOUNDARIES

1. Transform Boundary Features
2. Convergence Boundary Features
3. Divergent Boundary Features

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1. Transform Boundary Features
Transform Fault – two plates are sliding next to each other and
release energy resulting to earthquakes. One of the biggest transform
fault is found in California; the San Andreas Fault

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

2. Convergence Boundary Features
Convergence plate boundary – two plates smash into each other.
Earthquakes that occur at convergent faults may cause a tsunami.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

3. Divergent Boundary Features
Divergent plate boundary – two plate boundaries move apart
from each other that results into mid-ocean ridges and sea floor
expansion, also it can create Rift Valley

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

1.4 GROUNDWATER
- Groundwater is the largest reservoir of liquid fresh water on
Earth and is found in aquifers, porous rock and sediment with water in
between.

- The residence time of water in a groundwater aquifer can be from

minutes to thousands of years. Groundwater is often called “fossil water”
because it has remained in the ground for so long, often since the end of
the ice ages.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

TYPES OF GROUNDWATER
1. Meteoric Water
-water originating from rainfall. Most ground water are meteoric
2. Connate Water
-water trapped in the interstices (opening or void spaces in rocks
capable of holding water) of sedimentary rocks at the time of deposition
3. Magmatic/Juvenile Water
-water formed through chemical reactions in geological
processes and brought into the hydrological system for the first time

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Department of Civil Engineering

SOIL STRUCTURE
-refers to how particles of soil are grouped together into
aggregates (also called peds). They are cemented or bound together by
physical, chemical, and biological processes.

AQUIFER
-is an underground formation of permeable rock or loose
material which can produce useful quantities of water when tapped by a
well.
To be a good aquifer, the rock in the aquifer must have a good:
porosity - small spaces between grains
permeability - connections between pores

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THE WATER TABLE
-The top of the stream is the top of the water table

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GROUNDWATER USE
-Groundwater is an extremely important water source for people.
-it is a renewable resource and its use is sustainable when the water
pumped from the aquifer is replenished.

Uses of Groundwater:
1. Domestic Use
2. Crop Irrigation
3. Industries
4. Mining

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