Engineering Geology, Second Edition
Illustrating key points with diagrams and photographs, this book introduces the techniques that engineers will need to learn about and understand the geological conditions in which they intend to build.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Engineering Geology, Second Edition
Chapter 3: Surface Processes
All landmasses are continually being worn away or denuded by weathering and erosion, the agents of erosion being the sea, rivers, wind and ice. The detrital products resulting from denudation are transported by water, wind, ice or the action of gravity, and are ultimately deposited. In this manner, the surface features of the Earth are gradually, but constantly, changing. As landscapes are developing continually, it is possible to distinguish the successive stages of their evolution. These stages have been termed youth, maturity and senility. However, the form of landscape that arises during any one of these stages is conditioned partly by the processes of denudation to which the area is subjected, and partly by the structure of the rocks on which the landforms are being developed. Earth movements and type of climate also play a significant role in landscape development.
Weathering
The process of weathering represents an adjustment of the minerals of which a rock is composed to the conditions prevailing on the surface of the Earth. As such, weathering of rocks is brought about by physical disintegration, chemical decomposition and biological activity. It weakens the rock fabric and exaggerates any structural weaknesses, all of which further aid the breakdown processes. A rock may become more friable as a result of the development of fractures both between and within mineral grains. The agents of weathering, unlike those of erosion, do not themselves provide for the transportation of debris from the surface of a rock mass. Therefore, unless the rock waste...
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