17/09/2019

Lecture 8

THE GEOLOGICAL
ENVIRONMENT
(Recap)

EARTH: An active planet in

constant state of change
• Geological processes
continually modify the Earth’s
surface;- destroy rocks,
create new rocks & add to the
complexity of the ground
conditions
• LAND – mainly erosion &
rock destruction
• SEA – mainly deposition;
forming new sediments
• U/GROUND – New rocks
created & deformed

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• According to the GEOLOGICAL TIME scale,

the earth is approx 4bn years old and has
evolved continually to its present form
• Most rocks encountered by engineers are
10 - 500 million years old; have been
deformed and displaced over time and
some are eventually exposed to the surface
due to erosion
• Most landforms today have been carved out
by erosion within the last few million
years!!

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Rocks and Minerals

• ROCK – made up of different minerals –
with variable properties
• MINERALS – natural inorganic units
(compounds of elements) with fixed
properties
• Thus Rock Properties broadly depend on:
– Strength & stability of constituent minerals
– Interlocking or weaknesses of mineral
structure
– Fractures, bedding & rock structure
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Minerals: - Their Properties

1. Have more or less constant chemical

composition which can be expressed by a
chemical formula
2. Have definite atomic structure, i.e. atoms
making up the mineral substance are arranged
in a regular pattern which is the same for all the
samples of that mineral species
To give a complete description of a rock, one must
be able to recognise the main rock forming
minerals

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Composition of Rock-forming minerals

99% of rocks in the earth’s crust are made up

of only eight (8) elements – shown here in
order of abundance
ELEMENT % age by WEIGHT
Oxygen (O) 47
Silicon (Si) 28
Aluminum (Al) 8
Iron (Fe) 5
Calcium (Ca) 3.5
Sodium (Na) 2.8
Potassium (K) 2.6
Magnesium (Mg) 2.0
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Combination of these elements are found in

different rock-forming minerals.
Most rock-forming minerals are SILICATES,
examples are shown in the table below:

CHEMICAL PRINCIPLE COMMON IN

MINERAL
CLASSIFICATION ELEMENTS

Igneous, Sedimentary &

Quartz Silica, SiO2 Si, O
Metamorphic Rocks

Igneous, Sedimentary &

Feldspar Silicate Si, O, Al, Na, Ca, K
Metamorphic Rocks

Si, O, Al, Fe, Mg, K, Igneous, Sedimentary &

Mica Silicate
OH Metamorphic Rocks

Olivine Silicate Si, O, Fe, Mg Igneous Rocks

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• All silicate minerals

possess the silicate
oxyanion.
• This oxyanion
resembles a
tetrahedron in outline
with a silicon atom at
the centre and four
oxygen atoms at the
corners.
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• Silicates containing iron and magnesium as essential

elemental constituents are generally dark coloured
• Light-coloured silicates contain aluminium and
alkalis.

Strength of Rock – rough guideline

STRONG ROCKS WEAK ROCKS

UCS > 100 MPa UCS < 10 MPa

Little fracturing Fractured & bedded

Minimum weathering Deep weathing

Stable foundation Settlement problems

Stand in steep faces Fail on low slopes

Aggregate resource Require engineering care

Natural ground materials (rocks & soils) cover a wide

range of strengths; e.g. Granite is 4000 times
stronger than Peat.
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• Assessment of ground conditions must

distinguish:
– INTACT Rock strength – strength of an
unfractured small block in terns of UCS
– ROCK MASS strength – properties of a large
mass of fractured rock in the ground
• Ground conditions also vary greatly due to
purely local features, e.g. u/ground cavities,
artificial disturbances, shear surfaces, etc
• In general, rock properties show extreme
variations. However, three main ‘rock
families’ can be distinguished, each with
broadly definable origins

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Rock Families
IGNEOUS SEDIMENTARY METAMORPHIC
Material Origin Crystallised from Erosion debris on Altered by heat &
molten magma earth’s surface or pressure

Deposition Underground & Deposition basins, Mostly deep

Environment as lava flows mainly sea beds inside mountain
(from volcanic chains
eruptions)
Rock Texture Mosaic of Mostly granular & Mosaic of
interlocking cemented interlocking
crystals crystals
Rock Structure Massive Layered, bedded, Crystal orientation
(structureless) bedding planes due to pressure

Rock Strength Uniform, high Variable, low; Variable , high;

strength planar planar
weaknesses weaknesses
Major Types Granite, Basalt Sandstone, Schist, slate
limestone, clay 12
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• Engineers are often more interested in the

properties of the rock than the correct
geological name.
• Classification for engineering purposes may
therefore be simplified
• The rock to be identified / classified is best
seen in an outcrop or as a large fragment
showing broken surfaces (discontinuities).
• The first step is to decide whether the rock is
igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic.

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• Igneous and
metamorphic rocks are
crystalline;
– some crystals show
geometric forms.
– crystal surfaces reflect
light,
– Igneous rocks show no
sharp layer boundaries
and are massive

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• Metamorphic rocks
show layering, often
bounded by wavy
surfaces, and are then
described as “foliated”.

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• Many sedimentary
rocks are “clastic”,
– mostly composed of
mineral grains cemented
together
– gaps between the grains
may be filled with
‘cement’ or may be open
in which case the rock is
porous.
– May show “bedding
planes” marking
boundaries between
sediment layers.
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• Some sedimentary rocks, such as the

evaporates and some limestones, may be
crystalline.
• Evaporates such as gypsum and rock salt are
easily scratched with a fingernail, while the
mineral calcite of which most limestones are
formed can be scratched with a knife and gives
off gas bubbles if dilute hydrochloric acid is
applied to it.

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Engineering geological classification for rock

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