Geological and Environmental Sustainability

Geology in Civil Engineering

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Civil engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with the design, construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, large buildings, airports, ports, subways, dams, mines and other large scale developments. For a civil engineering project to be successful, the engineers must understand the land upon which the project rests. Geologists study the land to determine whether it is stable enough to support the proposed project. They also study water patterns to determine if a particular site is prone to flooding. Some civil engineers use geologist to examine rocks for important metals, oil, natural gas and ground water.

The value of geology in mining has long been known but its use in civil engineering has been recognized only in comparatively recent years. Geology provides a systematic knowledge of construction material, its occurrence, composition, durability and other properties. Example of such construction materials is building stones, road metal, clay, limestone and laterite. The knowledge of the geological work of natural agencies such as water, wind, ice and helps in planning and carrying out major civil engineering works. For example the knowledge of erosion, transportation and deposition helps greatly in solving the expensive problems of river control, coastal and harbour work and soil conservation. Geology & Soil Science is the study of the Earth and its neighbours in space. It is an exciting science with many interesting and practical applications. Many different sciences are used to learn about the earth, however, the four basic areas of Earth science study are geology, meteorology, oceanography and astronomy.