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About engineering geology

Humans exist and lead their lives on Earth. Just as humans possess a universal nature as humankind and each one of us has an individual character, the Earth possesses a universal nature with each region having peculiar characteristics.
Given that geoscience (geology) is the discipline of investigating the universal nature and regional characteristics of Earth, the role of applied geology is to make use of the knowledge obtained by geoscience for recommending ways for humans to wisely lead life on Earth in their respective regions.
Engineering geology is one of the disciplines of applied geology, which conducts wide-ranging research concerning land use, encompassing civil engineering and construction, geologic hazards and disaster prevention, and conservation of groundwater and other geoenvironments, except for the use of underground resources.
Specifically, engineering geology is one of the disciplines of land use studies, and includes studies for the better life of people.
Every year, natural disasters occur in various places throughout Japan due to the weak ground and severe meteorological conditions of the country. Behind the scenes, there are thousands of engineering geologists and engineering geology technicians working to make people’s lives safer by developing, maintaining, and managing infrastructure such as roads, rivers, dams, and erosion control works, as well as implementing disaster prevention and environmental conservation.
The Geology Team of the PWRI supports these groups of experts for protecting people’s lives by conducting research and development, implementing systematization and standardization, providing technical assistance, and disseminating technologies in the field of engineering geology, as well as by representing these groups whenever necessary.

Engineering geology is defined in major encyclopedias and dictionaries as follows:

Shinban Chigaku Jiten (Encyclopedia of Geology, New Edition), Association for the Geological Collaboration in Japan (AGCJ) ed., Heibonsha Limited, Publishers, 1996 (in Japanese):
“A discipline of geology which contributes mainly to civil engineering construction through, for example, site selection, designing, work execution, and maintenance of civil engineering structures. Although closely related to rock mechanics and soil mechanics, engineering geology is not bound by these disciplines, because natural environmental conditions and geologic history of respective regions must be considered. When the focus is on engineering, this discipline is called geotechnics. In a broad sense, engineering geology is almost synonymous with applied geology which includes hydrogeology and hazard geology. [Akira Iwamatsu]”

Doboku Yogo Daijiten (Dictionary of Civil Engineering Terminology), Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) ed., Gihodo Shuppan Co., Ltd., 1999 (in Japanese):
“A discipline to point out, examine, and evaluate, as well as make recommendations for, problems concerning the planning, designing, and implementation of construction, disaster prevention, and environmental conservation from the viewpoint of geology. Engineering geology finds answers to the following themes: 1) the geology (geological structure), formation processes, and nature of particular areas; 2) correlation between the geological morphology and ongoing phenomena; and 3) how the present geological conditions will change when modified by humans. To address these themes, geological viewpoints are important, i.e., 1) to view subjects as integrated groups (units) and clarify their hierarchy; and 2) to consider subjects based on historical and developmental viewpoints. This will allow future conditions to be predicted to some extent.
Up to the 1950s, applied geology used to be synonymous with mineral deposit geology; however, it has recently come to include a wider variety of disciplines, including engineering geology and environmental geology. Of these, engineering geology constitutes the central part of applied geology.”

Chishitsu Kogaku Yogo Jiten (Dictionary of Geotechnics), S. H. Somerville and M. A. Paul, Naotaka Hatakeyama trans., Ohmsha, Ltd., 1986 (Translated into Japanese from the original English version published in 1983):
“Applied use of geological theories and methods for resolving geotechnical problems. In particular, engineering geology pursues the use of geological data for compiling engineering geological maps in consideration of the impact of geological structures and with the aid of on-site investigations, for use in large-scale technological undertakings. As an academic discipline, engineering geology is different in nature from geotechnical engineering and rock engineering.”

Oyo Chishitsu Yogoshu (Dictionary of Terminology in Applied Geology), Japan Society of Engineering Geology (JSEG), 2004 (in Japanese):
“A study to comprehensively analyze and examine, from the viewpoint of geology, various problems concerning the ground in the process of planning and proceeding with civil engineering works.”


As defined above, engineering geology is an engineering discipline that supports civil engineering by investigating and evaluating the ground, and by applying mainly geology based on science and engineering. Note that a knowledge of geology alone is not sufficient for pursuing engineering geology, as it provides support for resolving various problems in civil engineering based on multidisciplinary viewpoints and sophisticated experience in the fields of geoscience, including geography, geomorphology, geodesy, geophysics, seismology, volcanology, pedology, and geohydrology, as well as the fields of geoengineering, including geotechnical engineering, slope engineering, and exploration geophysics. This helps supplement the knowledge of civil engineers when they lack background knowledge of these disciplines. Engineering geology thus comprehensively encompasses engineering technologies.
Engineering geology has played an important role in building infrastructure such as dams and roads by the government, led by the former Ministry of Construction (MOC) and the present Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), and it will continue to play an important role.
Tight financial circumstances today require reduction of the cost of basic investigations and designing of the ground, so it is necessary to further streamline, enhance, and systematize the technologies for geological investigations and assessments to prevent problems in construction works due to insufficient or inappropriate geological investigations and assessments, changes in designs, unexpected deformation and hazards, and increase in construction costs and maintenance and management expenses due to these problems.
In addition, engineering geology must contribute to today’s diversified administrative needs for environmental conservation, disaster prevention, and maintenance and management of structures.
New systems of technologies and investigations and new frameworks of undertakings therefore need to be developed by, for example, standardizing, creating, and utilizing engineering geological maps, geoenvironmental property maps, hazard maps, and ground soil databases based on interadministrative partnerships and government-academia-industry collaboration, while enhancing technologies for ground investigations and assessments.
Clearly, further development of engineering geology (mainly by academia) and geological investigation technologies (mainly by the private sector) will be essential; however, the technology administration (the government) should take the lead in planning and managing the entire framework, ranging from the development to use of technologies, by enhancing the development of technologies, systematizing the developed technologies based on guidelines, and eventually passing on the benefits of the outcomes to the people through the administration and technological experts.
 
Based on this comprehensive standpoint, the Geology Team of the PWRI continues to conduct research on the ideal way and the role of engineering geology with long-term perspectives.

Geology ReseachTeam,Geology and Geotoechnical Engineering Research Group
Public Works Research Institute

1-6, Minamihara, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8516 Japan TEL: +81-29-879-6769 FAX: +81-29-879-6734

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