Why is Geology important for engineers, one may ask, but to first answer this question, we must

define engineering Geology which is, according to the Association of Engineering Geologists;
Engineering Geology is defined by the Association of Engineering Geologists as the discipline
of applying geologic data, techniques, and principles to the study both of a) naturally occurring
rock and soil materials, and surface and sub-surface fluids and b) the interaction of introduced
materials and processes with the geologic environment, so that geologic factors affecting the
planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of engineering structures (fixed
works) and the development, protection and remediation of ground-water resources are
adequately recognized, interpreted and presented for use in engineering and related practice.
We also need to understand a brief history in order to further understand the definition stated
above. The interest in geology often stems from a need to know basis. Engineers are confronted
with problems which could only be solved with the help of both a knowledge and understanding
of the ground conditions with which they were confronted. In the nineteenth century both
geology and engineering advanced, with geology becoming a more-or-less respectable natural
philosophy forming part of the education considered suitable for well brought up young ladies.
Engineering, characterized by the canal and railway construction carried out by the navvy, on
the other hand, remained as an eminently practical subject. The theoretical understanding of
engineering was driven by practical engineering problems. The geological knowledge of the
engineer, confronted by increasingly difficult engineering challenges, did not progress as rapidly
as geology, advanced as a science under the leadership of geologists such as James Dana (1813
1895) in America, Albert Heim (18491937) in Switzerland and Sir Archibald Geikie (1835
1924) in Britain. Thus, by the end of the nineteenth century the majority of civil engineers knew
relatively little about geology, and very few geologists were concerned about, or interested in, its
engineering applications.This widening division between geology and engineering was partly
bridged in the nineteenth and early twentieth century by the development of soil mechanics by
engineers such as Charles Coulomb and Macquorn Rankine, who developed methods of
calculating the deformations of earth masses under the stresses imposed by engineering works.
The great leap forward may be considered to have taken place with the publication of
Erdbaumechanik by Karl Terzaghi in 1925, which brought together old knowledge, and added
new theory and experience to establish soil mechanics in its own right as a discipline within the
field of civil engineering. Subsequent publications by Terzaghi and others have continued to
recognise a clear understanding of the fundamental importance of geological conditions in civil
engineering design and construction.However, this appreciation has not proved to be universal
and many engineers continued to rely on inadequate geological knowledge, or over-simplified
ground models. Failures of engineering works in particular, such as that of the Austin Dam in
Texas in 1900 and the St. Francis Dam in California in 1928, showed that there was often a lack
of appreciation of the importance of geological conditions in engineering design.

(Picture showing failure of the St. Francis Dam, California)
Some of the reasons for the failure of the dam were that sedimentary rocks on the west of the
dam lost strength when they became saturated with water; the fault separating the west and east
rock formations started to leak water and lastly the Schist on the east increased pore pressure and
lost shear strength after being saturated.This failure led to a flood wave 140ft deep, which swept
down the canyon killing at least 420,179 bodies of which were never recovered, also costing the
city of Los Angeles $14 million in damages.
Such failures emphasized the need for expert assessment of geological conditions on civil
engineering sites and there was, by the 1940s, a trend for civil engineers to employ geologists in
an advisory capacity. However, while certain gifted individuals, such as Charles Berkey in the
United States (Paige 1950) and Quido Zaruba in Czechoslovakia (Zaruba and Mencl 1976),
performed this function very well it was not always a successful liaison. Few geologists had
sufficient engineering knowledge to understand the requirements of the engineer and few
engineers had more than the most superficial knowledge of geology. Despite these problems the
recognition that liaison was required slowly brought to the fore a new breed of earth scientist, the
engineering geologist. Engineering geology may exist under, or be a part of, other titles, such
as geological engineering, geotechnical engineering, earth science engineering,
environmental geology and engineering geomorphology.
In a nutshell, engineering geology contributes to the task of providing a level of understanding of
ground conditions that ensures the engineering works are constructed to estimates of time and
cost. In addition, such works should not fail as the result of any misunderstanding or lack of
knowledge about the nature of the ground conditions. Engineering failures may cost lives and
cause injuries, will certainly cost money, and will result in consequential delay which needs first
priority attention. To prevent such failures and incidents occurring, the influence of the geology
of the site on the design and construction of the engineering work must be determined,
understood and clearlyexplained.
So why does Engineering Geology matter? It serves civil engineering to provide information in 3
most important areas: resources for construction such as aggregates, fills and borrows; finding
stable foundations since the present is the key to the past in geology and the past is the key to the
future in engineering; and lastly, the mitigation of geological hazards such as identifying
problems, evaluating the costs and providing information to mitigate the problem. If geology
isnt understood properly, engineers cant look to the future as all structures require the earth as a
basic foundation.

The Caribbean with all its splendor and sights to behold has become one of the most popular
tourist destinations worldwide with its lush green islands, brilliantly white sand and wonderful
warm seas which befits the title heaven on earth. The Caribbean itself is a region that consists
of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and the surrounding coasts, situated largely on the Caribbean
Plate, the region comprises more than 700 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. The Caribbean islands,
consisting of the Greater Antilles on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south and east
(including the Leeward Antilles), are part of the somewhat larger West Indies grouping, which
also includes the Lucayan Archipelago (comprising the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands)
north of the Greater Antilles and Caribbean Sea. These islands generally form island arcs that
delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea. The formation of these islands are
nothing short of amazing as you will see as we discuss further on the formation of these beautiful
islands.
We start our journey of discovery and wonder with the Lesser Antilles. The Lesser Antilles is an
island arc formed in the Caribbean which separates the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean.
It consists of the Leeward Islands in the north which starts east of Puerto Rico and reaches
southward to Dominica, and the Windward Islands in the south which continues the arc south to
Trinidad and Tobago. There are a number of processes responsible for the existence of the
arbitrary island placements. A major contributor to the formation of the island arc constituting
the majority of the Leeward and Windward Islands is the presence of the Lesser Antilles
Subduction Zone to the east of the arc. Another contributor is the deformed southern edge of the
Caribbean Plate which intersects with the northern edge of the South American Plate.
The subduction zone at the edge of the Caribbean Plate subducts the dense oceanic crust of the
South American Plate underneath the Caribbean Plate at a rate of about 20 mm/year. Over time
as the Caribbean Plate is pushed eastward by a thick section of the South American Plate called a
cratonic keel which is a section of plate three times thicker than its surroundings, the
convergence, collision, and compression of the two plates is responsible for the resulting
volcanic activity which built up the volcanic island arc over 50 million years by repeated
eruption. As the area of the South American Plate being subducted is oceanic, the crust is
saturated with water and this water escapes from the slab as it is being melted by the surrounding
magma. This lowers the temperature of mantle rocks enough to produce the volcanoes of the
Lesser Antilles. Extreme heat and pressure gradually force water-containing magma to rise into
the earths mantle and fuel the numerous active volcanoes in the Caribbean region. The water in
the magma is critical for the eruption of the volcanoes as the water is heated into steam and
builds pressure. The pressure cannot be contained for long and the volcanoes erupt explosively.
The intensity of the explosion is magnified by the viscosity of the magma in the Caribbean area.
Figure 1 below shows the direction of the subduction and how it has pushed the island arc
eastwards by the cratonic keel.

(Fig. 1- Diagram showing the Lesser Antilles Subduction Zone)
The subduction taking place in the Caribbean removes some of the sediment from the subducting
plate, i.e. the South American plate. This sediment accretes onto the Caribbean plate over time
and, due to the tectonic convergence occurring at the subduction zone, has formed the Barbados
Accretionary Prism. This is composed of mlange, which is a mappable body of rock
characterized by a lack of continuous bedding and the inclusion of rock fragments of all sizes,
contained in a fine grained deformed matrix. The tectonic activity compresses the sediment into
limestone and then elevates it at a rate of 25mm per 1000 years. In Fig. 2 below, the crust or
lithosphere is shown subducting under the lighter plate into the asthenosphere and is dragged
downwards by secondary convection currents while sediment is scraped off the subducting crust
and accretes on the ocean floor, while the subduction of the denser plate compresses and elevates
the sediment. The asthenospheric mantle is also shown partially melting as a result of the
presence of water in the oceanic lithosphere. The melted mantle then fuels volcanoes.

(Fig. 2- Diagram of an accretionary wedge)
The southern edge of the Caribbean Plate is deformed by the El Pilar-San Sebastian strike-slip
fault system running along the northern and north-western coast of South America as shown in
Fig. 3. It is an area where the Caribbean Plate is subducted underneath the South American Plate.
The archipelago formed here is mainly a result of this interaction, but includes a component of
compression. Its formation is similar to that of Barbados and the volcanic island arc except that
the islands are not volcanic. As the Caribbean Plate subducts, sediment is scraped off from the
Caribbean Plate and accumulates on the sea floor. The constant collision and compression of the
plates squeezes the sediment into limestone, and then the tectonic movement uplifts it into the
islands of the archipelago off the coast of Venezuela. However, Trinidad and Tobago are unique
as it is not formed from compression or volcanic activity but because the edge of the Caribbean
Plate currently bisects Trinidad. Trinidad was once part of the Venezuelan mainland until
approximately 11,000 years ago and Tobago is part of a sunken mountain chain related to the
continent but tectonic activity severed it from Venezuela, and this is evident by similar flora and
fauna in both Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

(Fig. 3- Picture showing El Pilar-San Sebastian strike-slip fault system)
In the island arc, the process of subduction, introduction of water in the mantle and pressure
release of steam is an ongoing process in modern times, as evidenced by recent eruptions in
Martinique by Mont Pele, which erupted several times over the last few centuries. There have
also been other eruptions of Caribbean volcanoes, such as Soufriere Hills in Montserrat in 1995
and 1997. In Barbados, the process continues today as the South American Plate is constantly
underriding the Caribbean Plate. Sediment is scraped off of the South American Plate as it
subducts and this sediment is deposited on top of the subduction zone, and the compression of
the two colliding plates raise the compressed sediment. In the archipelago in the southern
Caribbean, the plates are constantly subducting, as proven by recent studies, which state that the
archipelago is accreting to South America through plate movements.
In concluding our journey of wonder and mystery we need to keep in mind that the Earth and its
tectonic plates are very dynamic and change constantly. Proof of this constant motion can be
seen by volcanic activity and earthquakes along with the occasional volcanic eruptions which
dont deal too nicely to the islands bearing that load. The subduction of plates releases magma
and also compresses sediment into accretionary prisms or wedges. Because we have concluded
from observations of tectonic activity that the plates are always in motion, we can assume the
following will happen over the course of several million years: the island arc will continue to
display eruptions and this in turn will deposit new layers of lava on the surface of the islands and
this will serve to raise the general height of the land; Barbados will continue to get higher as a
result of the compression below it as sediment scraped from the subducting South American
plate builds up and is compressed into limestone and elevated; and the archipelago which hugs
the Venezuelan coastline will become part of the mainland through the same process which is
associated with Barbados- sediment is scraped from the subducting Caribbean plate and
accumulates, and this is compressed upwards.




















REFERENCES

Eddleston M, Walthall S, Cripps J, Culshaw MG (eds) (1995) Engineering geology of
construction. Geological Society of London (Engineering Geology Special Publication
No. 10)

Fookes PG (1997) Geology for engineers; the geological model, prediction and
performance. Q J Engineering Geology

Knill JL (2003) Core values: the first Hans-Cloos lecture. Bulletin of Engineering
Geology and the Environment


Legget RF, Karrow P (1982) Handbook of geology in civil engineering. McGraw-Hill,
New York

Geography for CSEC - Katherine J James, Adrian Wyllie, Knola Oliphant, Simon Ross,
Paul Guinness, Alison Rae, John Rutter, Garrett Nagle, Judy Rocke

Longman Geography for CSEC - Ms Marolyn Gentles, Ms Jeanette Ottley