Environmental Geology

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Environmental geology, like hydrogeology, is an applied science concerned with the practical application of the principles of geology in the solving of environmental problems. It is a multidisciplinary field that is closely related to engineering geology and, to a lesser extent, to environmental geography. Each of these fields involves the study of the interaction of humans with the geologic environment, including the biosphere, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and to some extent the atmosphere. Environmental geology includes managing geological and hydrogeological resources such as fossil fuels, minerals, water (surface and ground water), and land use. This knowledge of the past is important because it helps them to get a better idea of what types of geologic events repeat themselves, with what frequency they might occur, and what types of damage occurred because of those events. This is different than what a paleontologist (someone who studies fossils) would do, because environmental geologists are concerned with how the past is relating to the present.