GEOLOGY IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

Geology from the Greek “geo” (Earth) and “logos” (discourse) is that branch of physical sciences
which deals with the study of the earth, including the materials that it is made of, the physical and
chemical changes that occur on its surface and in its interior, and the history of the planet and its life
forms. It is important to civil engineering because all work performed by civil engineers involves earth
and its features. Fundamental understanding of geology is so important that it is a requirement in
university-level civil engineering programs.

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 geologists to examine rocks for important metals, oil, natural gas and
ground water.  

Importance of Geology to Civil Engineers

Every civil engineering works involve earth and its features. Geological information is necessary in
every stage of the project be it planning, designing or construction phase of the project. The importance
of geology in civil engineering may be briefly outlined as follows

1. Geology provides a systematic study of the structure and properties of construction materials
and their occurrence
2. The selection of a site is important from the viewpoint of stability of foundation and availability
of construction materials.
3. Geology helps to identify area susceptible to failures due to geological hazards such as
earthquake, landslides, weathering effects, etc.
4. Knowledge about the nature of the rocks is very necessary for tunnelling, constructing roads and
in determining the stability of cuts and slopes.
5. The foundation problems of dams, bridges and buildings are directly related to the geology of
the area where they are to be built.
6. The knowledge of groundwater is necessary for connection with excavation works, water supply,
irrigation and many other purposes.
7. Geological maps help in planning civil engineering projects. It provides information about the
structural deposition of rock types in the proposed area.
8. Geology helps in determining the earthquake-prone areas. If any geological features like faults,
folds, etc. are found, they have to be suitably treated to increase the stability of the structure.
9. The knowledge of erosion, transportation and deposition (ETD) by surface water helps soil
conservation, river control, coastal and harbour works.
10. A geological survey of a site before starting a project will reduce the overall cost.
 BRANCHES OF GEOLOGY

 Physical Geology - This is also variously described as dynamic geology, geomorphology etc. It
deals with:
I. Different physical features of the earth, such as mountains, plateaus, valleys, rivers,
lakes, glaciers, and volcanoes in terms of their origin and development.
II. The different changes occurring on the earth surface like marine transgression, marine
regression, formation or disappearance of rivers, springs and lakes.
III. Geological work of wind, glaciers, rivers, oceans, and groundwater and their role in
constantly molding the earth surface features
IV. Natural phenomena like landslides, earthquakes and weathering.

 Mineralogy - This deal with the study of minerals. Minerals are basic units with different rocks
and ores of the earth are made up of. Details of mode of formation, composition, occurrence,
types, association, properties use etc. of minerals form the subject matter of mineralogy. For
example: sometimes quartzite and marble resemble one another in shine, color and appearance
while marble disintegrates and decomposes in a shorter period because of its mineral
composition and properties.
 Petrology - Petrology deals with the study of rocks. The earth’s crust also called lithosphere is
made up of different types of rocks. Hence petrology deals with the mode of formation,
structure, texture, composition, occurrence, and types of rocks. This is the most important
branch of geology from the civil engineering point of view.
 Paleontology - This branch of geology focuses on how organisms evolve and their interactions in
their environment by studying fossil records often found in rocks.
 Structural Geology - Structural geology deals with the geometric relationships of rocks and
geologic features in general. The scope of structural geology is vast, ranging in size from
submicroscopic lattice defects in crystals to mountain belts and plate boundaries
 Hydrogeology - This branch of geology generally deals with water. It shows how groundwater is
transported and is distributed in the soil, rock and Earth’s crust.
 Soil Sciences - From the word itself, soil sciences is a branch of geology that deals with the soil. It
relates soil as a natural resource including their formation factors, classification, physical,
chemical and fertility properties.
 Stratigraphy - The climatic and geological changes including tectonic events in the geological
past can also be known from these investigations. This kind of study of the earth's history
through the sedimentary rock is called historical geology. It is also called stratigraphy.
 Paleomagnetism - Paleomagnetism is a branch of geology that deals on how to reconstruct
previous magnetic fields in rocks including the direction and intensity to explore pole reversals
in different time periods (past and future).
 Magneto Stratigraphy - This branch of geology shows how the sedimentary and volcanic
sequences are dated by geophysical correlating samples of strata deposited with the Earth’s
magnetic field polarity.
 EARTH STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION

Core, mantle, and crust are divisions based on

composition.

The crust makes up less than 1 percent of Earth by

mass, consisting of oceanic crust and continental crust is
often more felsic rock.

The mantle is hot and represents about 68 percent of

Earth’s mass.

The core is mostly iron metal. The core makes up about

31% of the Earth.

There are two very different types of crust:

Oceanic crust is composed of magma that erupts on
the seafloor to create basalt lava flows or cools
deeper down to create the intrusive igneous rock
gabbro. Sediment is thickest near the shore where it
comes off the continents in rivers and on wind
currents. Continental crust is made up of many
different types of igneous, metamorphic, and
sedimentary rocks. The average composition is
granite, which is much less dense than the mafic
igneous rocks of the oceanic crust. Because it is
thick and has relatively low density, continental
crust rises higher on the mantle than oceanic crust, which sinks into the mantle to form basins.
When filled with water, these basins form the planet’s oceans. The lithosphere is the outermost
mechanical layer, which behaves as a brittle, rigid solid. The definition of the lithosphere is
based on how earth materials behave, so it includes the crust and the uppermost mantle, which
are both brittle. Since it is rigid and brittle, when stresses act on the lithosphere, it breaks. This is
what we experience as an earthquake.
 Mantle

The two most important things about the mantle are:

I. it is made of solid rock, and

II. it is hot.

Scientists know that the mantle is made of rock

based on evidence from seismic waves, heat flow, and
meteorites. The properties fit the ultramafic rock
peridotite, which is made of the iron- and magnesium-
rich silicate minerals.

Mantle is extremely hot because of the heat

flowing outward from it and because of its physical
properties. Heat flows in two different ways within the
Earth: conduction and convection. Conduction is defined as the heat transfer that occurs through
rapid collisions of atoms, which can only happen if the material is solid. Heat flows from warmer to
cooler places until all are the same temperature. The mantle is hot mostly because of heat
conducted from the core. Convection is the process of a material that can move and flow may
develop convection currents. Convection in the mantle is the same as convection in a pot of water
on a stove. Convection currents within Earth’s mantle form as material near the core heats up.

Core

Scientists know that the outer core is liquid

and the inner core is solid because S-waves stop
at the inner core. The strong magnetic field is
caused by convection in the liquid outer core.
Convection currents in the outer core are due to
heat from the even hotter inner core. The heat
that keeps the outer core from solidifying is
produced by the breakdown of radioactive
elements in the inner core.

At the planet’s center lies a dense metallic

core. Scientists know that the core is metal for a
few reasons. The density of Earth’s surface layers is much less than the overall density of the planet,
as calculated from the planet’s rotation. If the surface layers are less dense than average, then the
interior must be denser than average. Metals such as iron are magnetic, but rock, which makes up
the mantle and crust, is not.
 ELEMENTARY KNOWLEDGE ON CONTINENTAL DRIFT AND PLATE TECTONIC

Theory of Continental Drift

The continental drift hypothesis

was developed in the early part of the
20th century, mostly by Alfred
Wegener. Wegener said that
continents move around on Earth’s
surface and that they were once joined
together as a single supercontinent.
While Wegener was alive, scientists did
not believe that the continents could
move.

Alfred Wegener proposed that the

continents were once united into a
single supercontinent named Pangaea,
meaning all earth in ancient Greek. He
suggested that Pangaea broke up long
ago and that the continents then
moved to their current positions. He
called his hypothesis continental drift.

Evidence for Continental Drift

 Identical rocks of the same type and age are found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Mountain ranges with the same rock types, structures, and ages are now on opposite sides of
the Atlantic Ocean. 
 Ancient fossils of the same species of extinct plants and animals are found in rocks of the same
age but are on continents that are now widely separated. Wegener suggested that the
organisms would not have been able to travel across the oceans. For example, the fossils of the
seed fern Glossopteris were too heavy to be carried so far by wind. The reptile Mosasaurs could
only swim in fresh water. 
 Grooves and rock deposits left by ancient glaciers are found today on different continents very
close to the equator. This would indicate that the glaciers either formed in the middle of the
ocean and/or covered most of the Earth. Today glaciers only form on land and nearer the poles.
Wegener thought that the glaciers were centered over the southern land mass close to the
South Pole and the continents moved to their present positions later on.
 Coral reefs and coal-forming swamps are found in tropical and subtropical environments, but
ancient coal seams and coral reefs are found in locations where it is much too cold today.
Wegener suggested that these creatures were alive in warm climate zones and that the fossils
and coal later had drifted to new locations on the continents. Although Wegener’s evidence was
sound, most geologists at the time rejected his hypothesis of continental drift.

Earth’s Tectonic Plates

When the concept of seafloor

spreading came along, scientists
recognized that it was the
mechanism to explain how
continents could move around
Earth’s surface. Scientific data and
observation now allow us to merge
the ideas of continental drift and
seafloor spreading into the theory of
plate tectonics. Seafloor and
continents move around on Earth’s
surface, but what is actually moving?
What portion of the Earth makes up
the “plates” in plate tectonics? This
question was also answered because
of technology developed during the
Cold War. The plates are made up of
the lithosphere. During the 1950s
and early 1960s, scientists set up
seismograph networks to see if
enemy nations were testing atomic
bombs. These seismographs also
recorded all of the earthquakes around the planet. The seismic records could be used to locate an
earthquake’s epicenter, the point on Earth’s surface directly above the place where the earthquake
occurs. Earthquake epicenters outline these tectonic plates. Mid-ocean ridges, trenches, and large
faults mark the edges of these plates along with where earthquakes occur. The lithosphere is
divided into a dozen major and several minor plates. The plates’ edges can be drawn by connecting
the dots that mark earthquakes’ epicenters. A single plate can be made of all oceanic lithosphere or
all continental lithosphere, but nearly all plates are made of a combination of both.  Movement of
the plates over Earth’s surface is termed plate tectonics. Plates move at a rate of a few centimeters
a year, about the same rate fingernails grow.

How Plates Move

 If seafloor spreading drives the plates, what drives seafloor spreading? Picture two convection
cells side-by-side in the mantle. Hot mantle from the two adjacent cells rises at the ridge axis,
creating new ocean crust. The top limb of the convection cell moves horizontally away from the
ridge crest, as does the new seafloor. The outer limbs of the convection cells plunge down into the
deeper mantle, dragging oceanic crust as well. This takes place at the deep-sea trenches. The
material sinks to the core and moves horizontally. The material heats up and reaches the zone
where it rises again.

Tectonic Plate Boundaries

Divergent plate boundaries - the two plates move away from

each other.

Convergent plate boundaries - the two plates move towards

each other.

Transform plate boundaries - the two plates slip past each

other.
 EARTH PROCESSES

On the outside is a layer of gases – our atmosphere. Next comes a liquid layer of water – seas
and oceans. Below this lies the Earth’s crust which, in places, rises through the water to produce
the continents and islands we recognize today. This sits on top of an enormously deep layer of semi-
molten rock – the mantle – that surrounds the Earth’s core. The core is made of metal, mainly iron,
and divided into a solid inner core and a liquid outer core. Currents circulating in the outer core
generate the Earth’s magnetic field

The Earth’s crust is divided into several pieces, or plates that slide around on the upper part of
the mantle. There are two kinds of crust. The ‘continental crust’ we live on floats high in the mantle
but there is a denser, heavier crust that sits lower down. The depressions caused by this crust fill
with water to form our oceans, and we call this crust ‘oceanic crust’.

COMMON EARTH PROCESSES CHANGES

Earth changes in its own natural ways. Some changes are due to slow processes, such as:

 EARTHQUAKES
 ERUPTIONS
  ASTEROID IMPACTS
 THE MOTION OF CURRENTS
 THE WATER CYCLES
 WEATHER PROCESSES

WEATHERING

Weathering describes the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the surface of

the Earth. Water, ice, acids, salts, plants, animals, and changes in temperature are all agents of
weathering.

Once a rock has been broken down, a process called erosion transports the bits of rock and
mineral away. No rock on Earth is hard enough to resist the forces of weathering and erosion.
Together, these processes carved landmarks such as the Grand Canyon, in the U.S. state of Arizona.
This massive canyon is 446 kilometers (277 miles) long, as much as 29 kilometers (18 miles) wide,
and 1,600 meters (1 mile) deep.

Weathering and erosion constantly change the rocky landscape of Earth. Weathering wears
away exposed surfaces over time. The length of exposure often contributes to how vulnerable a rock
is to weathering. Rocks, such as lavas, that are quickly buried beneath other rocks are less
vulnerable to weathering and erosion than rocks that are exposed to agents such as wind and water.

Weathering is often divided into the processes of mechanical weathering and chemical
weathering. Biological weathering, in which living or once-living organisms contribute to weathering,
can be a part of both processes.

As its smoothers rough, sharp rock surfaces, weathering is often the first step in the production
of soils. Tiny bits of weathered minerals mix with plants, animal remains, fungi, bacteria, and other
organisms. A single type of weathered rock often produces infertile soil, while weathered materials
from a collection of rocks is richer in mineral diversity and contributes to more  fertile soil. Soils types
associated with a mixture of weathered rock include glacial till, loess, and alluvial sediments.

 Chemical weathering - Chemical weathering is caused by rain water reacting with the
mineral grains in rocks to form new minerals (clays) and soluble salts. These reactions occur
particularly when the water is slightly acidic.
 Weathering and People - Weathering is a natural process, but human activities can speed it
up. For example, certain kinds of air pollution increase the rate of weathering.
Burning coal, natural gas, and petroleum releases chemicals such as nitrogen oxide and
 sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. When these chemicals combine with sunlight and
moisture, they change into acids. They then fall back to Earth as acid rain. 
 Mechanical weathering - Mechanical weathering is the process of breaking big rocks into
little ones. This process usually happens near the surface of the planet. Temperature also
affects the land. The cool nights and hot days always cause things to expand and contract.
That movement can cause rocks to crack and break apart. Roots and plants also push into
the rocks and break them apart. They act like wedges and push the rocks apart. Little
animals also help by burrowing and digging through the ground.

WORK OF RIVERS

The erosional work of streams / rivers carves and shapes the landscape through which they flow.

3 functions of rivers;

a. Erosion - A river may erode in 4 ways

1. Abrasion/corrasion - Load carried by a river will grind against its bed and sides. This
process slowly wears the bed and sides away.
2. Attrition - When thrown against the sides and bed of rivers, the load gets broken
into smaller pieces.
3. Hydraulic action - The work of turbulence in the water. Running water causes
friction in the joints of rocks in a stream channel Joints may be enlarged Loosened
fragments of rocks get swept away.
4. Solution/Corrosion - Certain minerals in rocks like limestone can be dissolved in
water. Rocks are then eroded.

5. Relationship of velocity and sediment size to erosion

b. Transportation
1. Traction - Larger and heavier rocks/gravels are dragged or rolled along the bed.
 2. Saltation (saltim: by leaps/jumps) - Smaller and lighter rock fragments and sand hop
and bounce along the river bed. At times, the distinction between traction and
saltation may be difficult to determine.
3. Suspension - Some of the load like silt and clay (fine-grained) will float along. They
may only be deposited when stream velocity reaches near 0. Turbulence in the
water is crucial in holding a load of sediments.
4. Solution - Some minerals are transported in dissolved form. Especially chemical
solution derived from minerals like limestone or dolomite.
c. Deposition
1. A river will drop its load when:
2. Volume decreases
3. Speed decreases

A river’s volume decreases when

1. Dry season

2. Dry region with high evaporation

3. Presence of permeable rocks

4. Receding flood waters

A river’s speed decreases when

1. It enters a lake

2. It enters a calm sea

3. It enters a gently sloping plain

The work of a river depends on its energy. Energy a function of:

a. Volume of water

b. Speed of water flow (dependent on gradient)

 WORKS OF WIND

Air in motion is called Wind. Wind is one of the three major agents of change on the surface of
the earth, other two being river and glaciers.

Wind act as agent of erosion, as a carrier for transporting particles and grains so eroded from one
place and also for depositing huge quantities of such windblown material at different places. There are
three modes of activities i.e., erosion, transportation and deposition by wind

 Deflation - Wind possess not much erosive power over rocks the ground covered with
vegetation. But when moving with sufficient velocity over dry and loose sand it can remove or
swept away huge quantity of the loose material from the surface. This process of removal of
particle of dust and sand by strong wind is called deflation.
 Wind Erosion - Wind performs the work of erosion by at least three different methods:
deflation, abrasion and attrition 
 Attrition - The sand particles and other particles lifted by the wind from different places are
carried away to considerable distances. The wear and tear of load particles suffered by them
due to mutual impacts during the transportation process is termed as attrition
 Abrasion - Wind becomes a powerful agent for rubbing and abrading the rock surface when
naturally loaded with sand and dust particles This type of erosion involving rubbing, grinding,
polishing the rock surface by any natural agent is termed as abrasion.

SEDIMENTATION TRANSPORT BY WIND

Wind possesses not much erosive power over rocks the ground covered with vegetation. But
when moving with sufficient velocity over dry and loose sand it can remove or swept away huge
quantity of the loose material from the surface. This process of removal of particle of dust and sand by
strong wind is called deflation.

Sources of sediments
 Wind is an active agent of sediment transport in nature. Materials of fine particle size such as
Clay, silt and sand occurring on surface of the earth are transported in huge volumes from one place to
another in different regions of the world.

The transport power of wind

The transporting power of wind depends on its velocity as also on the size, shape and density of
the particles. The amount of load already presents in the wind at a given point of time also determines
its capacity to take up further load.

Methods of Transport:

The wind transport is carried out mainly by two distinctly different processes:

 Suspension: The light density clay and silt particles may be lifted by the wind from the ground
and are carried high up to the upper layer of the wind where they move along with the wind.
This is called transport in suspension.
 Siltation: the heavier and coarse sediments such as sand grains, pebbles and gravels are lifted up
periodically during high velocity wind only for short distance. They may be dropped and picked
up again and again during the transport process Siltation is therefore, a process of sediment
transport in a series of jumps.

Deposition of sediment

The sediments get dropped and deposited forming what are known as Aeolian deposits.
Sediments and particles once picked up by the wind from any source on the surface are carried forward
for varying distances depending on the carrying capacity of the wind. Wherever and whenever the
velocity of wind suffers a check from one reason or another a part or whole of the wind load is
deposited at that place. These winds made deposits may ultimately take the shape of landform that are
commonly referred as aeoline deposits.

There are two types of Aeolian deposits:

 Sand dunes: Sand dunes are huge heaps of sand formed by the natural deposition of windblown
sand sometimes of characteristics and recognizable shape. Such deposits are often found to
migrate from one place to another due to change in the direction and velocity of wind.
 Loess- The finest particles of dust travelling in suspension with the wind are transported to a
considerable distance. When dropped down under favourable conditions these have been found
to accumulate in the different constituents the form of paper-thin laminae, which have
aggregated together to form a massive deposit known as Loess.
 WORKS OF OCEAN

Marine water is spread over more than two third of the earth’s surface and is classed among the
most powerful geological agents operating on the earth. Marine geology is fast acquiring the status of a
separate branch of geology where the study of oceans, as said above has become the domain of specific
branch of science. Like other geological agencies, seawater also acts as an agent of erosion, transport
and deposition. Since seawater is almost confined within boundaries and broadly standing in nature
unlike river that flows downwards, the mechanism of geological work of sea differs in detail from that of
river. All the geological work performed by marine water is due to regular and irregular disturbances
taking places in the body of water. Mostly in the surface layer and distinguished as waves and currents.

Marine Erosion

Marine water erodes the rocks at the shore and elsewhere with which it comes in contact in a
manner broadly similar to that of stream water. The work of erosion is accomplished in three ways.
Hydraulic action, abrasion, and corrosion.

 Hydraulic Action - This is the process of erosion by water involving breaking, loosening and
plucking out of loose, disjointed blocks of rocks from their original places by the strong forces
created by the impact of sea waves and currents.
 Marine Abrasion - This involves the rubbing and grinding action of seawater on the rocks of the
shore with the help of sand particles and other small fragments that are hurdled up again these
rocks.
 Corrosion - It is the solvent action of seawater which is particularly strong in environment where
the shore is of vulnerable chemical composition.

FEATURES OF MARINE EROSION

 Sea Cliffs - A Sea cliff is seaward facing steep front of a moderately high shoreline and indicates
the first stage of the work of waves on the shore rocks. There may be a number of sea cliffs seen
 on a shore line. They are outstanding rock projection having smoothened seaward sloping
surface.
 Wave-Cut Terraces - Shallow shelf type structure, carved out from the shore rocks by the
advancing sea waves. The waves first of all cut a notch where they strike against the cliff rock
again and again. The notch is gradually extended backward to such a depth below the overlying
rock that the latter becomes unsupported from below. The cliff eventually falls down along the
notch. A platform or bench is thus created over which the seawater may rush temporarily and
periodically.

Marine Deposition

Seas are regarded as most important and extensive sedimentation basins; this becomes evident
from the fact that marine deposits of practically of all the geological ages. These deposits are exposed at
many places in almost all the continents.

The marine deposits are conveniently classified into two groups:

 Shallow Water (Neritic Deposits) - These include marine deposits laid down in neritic zone of the
sea, which extends from the lowest tide limit to the place of the continent shelf where the slope
becomes steeper.
 Deep Water Deposits - These deposits consist mostly of Mud and oozes and are called as pelagic
deposits. The oozes that form bulk of some such deposits consist of small organisms known
collectively as planktons. Death and decay of these organisms and plants followed by their
accumulation in regular and irregular shapes These deposits are commonly called as reefs.

EARTHQUAKE

are usually caused when rock underground suddenly breaks along a fault. This sudden release of
energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. When two blocks of rock or two plates
are rubbing against each other, they stick a little. They don't just slide smoothly; the rocks catch on each
other. The rocks are still pushing against each other, but not moving. After a while, the rocks break
because of all the pressure that's built up. When the rocks break, the earthquake occurs. During the
earthquake and afterward, the plates or blocks of rock start moving, and they continue to move until
they get stuck again.

Focus and Epicenter

An earthquake originates in one place then spreads out in all directions along the fault plane.
The focus is the point in the Earth where the earthquake energy is first released and is the area on one
side of a fault that actually moves relative to the rocks on the other side of the fault plane. After the first
slip event the area surrounding the focus experiences many smaller earthquakes as the surrounding
rocks also slip past one another to even out the deformation caused by the initial earthquake shock. The
epicenter is the point on the Earth's surface that lies vertically above the focus.

Body Waves can travel through the earth's inner layers. Body waves arrive before the surface
waves emitted by an earthquake. These waves are of a higher frequency than surface waves. It has two
kinds, the P-wave and S-wave.

Surface Waves can only move along the surface of the planet like ripples on water. Surface
waves are of a lower frequency than body waves, and are easily distinguished on a seismogram as a
result. Though they arrive after body waves, it is surface waves that are almost entirely responsible for
the damage and destruction associated with earthquakes. This damage and the strength of the surface
waves are reduced in deeper earthquakes

The first kind of body wave is the P wave or primary wave. This is the fastest kind of seismic
wave, and, consequently, the first to 'arrive' at a seismic station. The P wave can move through solid
rock and fluids, like water or the liquid layers of the earth. It pushes and pulls the rock it moves through
just like sound. waves are also known as compressional waves, because of the pushing and pulling they
do. Subjected to a P wave, particles move in the same direction that the wave is moving in, which is the
direction that the energy is traveling in, and is sometimes called the 'direction of wave propagation'.

The second type of body wave is the S wave or secondary wave, which is the second wave you
feel in an earthquake. An S wave is slower than a P wave and can only move through solid rock, not
through any liquid medium. It is this property of S waves that led seismologists to conclude that the
Earth's outer core is a liquid. S waves move rock particles up and down, or side-to-side--perpendicular to
the direction that the wave is traveling in (the direction of wave propagation).

Earthquakes: Occurrence

As we have seen, earthquakes are caused by the reshaping of Earth through the movement of
Earth's tectonic plates. Most earthquakes occur along tectonic plate boundaries, along cracks in the
lithosphere called faults, or along the mid-oceanic ridges but the majority of the seismic energy released
in the world is from earthquakes occurring along the plate boundaries, particularly around the Pacific
Rim or the so-called Ring of Fire where there is a particularly intense tectonic activity that causes
Tsunamis on a regular basis.

The most occurring earthquake in the world are tectonic earthquakes which originate at depth
not more than tens of kilometers. An earthquake is called shallow focus earthquake if it occurs at a
depth of less than 70 km. if the range of focal depth is from 70 to 300 km them it is known as mid focus
or intermediate depth earthquake. At greater depth ranging from 300 km to 700 km deep focus
earthquakes occur.
 Earthquakes also occur in volcanic regions due to tectonic fault as well as by the movement of
magna in volcanoes. This type of earthquake gives an early warning of volcanic eruption, sometimes a
series of earthquakes occur in a sort of earthquake storm, where the earthquakes strike a fault in
clusters, each triggered by the stress distribution of the previous earthquake.

PROSPECTING

It is the search for mineral deposits in a place, especially by means of experimental drilling and
excavation. Seismic prospecting has its basis in the classical physical principles of transmission,
reflection, refraction, and scattering of elastic waves in a layered solid half-space. The great increase in
application of the methods and the continual effort to improve them since 1925 have resulted in
elaboration and refinement of instruments, field methods, and interpretation techniques. It is the most
expensive method of geophysical prospecting, but also the most powerful. In many areas it can map
beds many thousands of feet deep and detect depth variations of the order of a few feet.

GROUND WATER IMPORTANCE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in
the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it
can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock
become completely saturated with water is called the water table. 

Groundwater is water that exists underground in saturated zones beneath the land surface. The
upper surface of the saturated zone is called the water table. Contrary to popular belief, groundwater
does not form underground rivers.