The Economic Aspect of Geology Part 45

TUNNELS

The digging of tunnels for transportation purposes, for aqueducts, and for sewage disposal requires careful a.n.a.lysis of geologic conditions in regard to both the rocks and the underground water. Knowledge of these conditions is necessary in planning the work, in inviting bids, and in making bids. It is necessary during the progress of the work. Too often in the past disastrous consequences, both physical and financial, have resulted from lack of consideration of elemental geologic conditions.

The building of the great New York aqueducts and subways through highly complex crystalline rocks has been under the closest geological advice and supervision. The detailed study of the geology of Manhattan Island through a long series of years has resulted in an understanding of the rocks and their structures which has been of great practical use. In the aqueduct construction the kinds of rock to be encountered in the different sections, their water content, their hardness, their joints and faults, were all platted and planned for, and actual excavation proved the accuracy of the forecasts. An interesting phase of this work was the tunneling under the Hudson at points where the pre-glacial rock channel was buried to a depth of nearly a thousand feet by glacial and river deposits,--this work requiring a close study of the physiographic history of the river.

SLIDES

Slides of earth and rock materials, both of the creeping and sudden types, have often been regarded as acts of Providence,--but studies of the geologic factors have in many cases disclosed preventable causes. A considerable geologic literature has sprung up with reference to rock slides, which is of practical use in excavation work of many kinds.

The cause of such movements is gravity. The softer, unconsolidated rock materials yield of course more readily than the harder ones, but even strong rocks are often unable to withstand the pull of gravity. The relative weakness of rock ma.s.ses on a large scale was graphically shown by Chamberlin and Salisbury,[66] in a calculation indicating that a ma.s.s of average hard rock a mile thick, domed to the curvature of the earth, can support a layer of only about ten feet of its own material. The structural geologist, through his study of folds, faults, and rock flowage, comes to regard rocks essentially as failing structures.

Disturbances of equilibrium, resulting in rock movements under gravity, may be caused by local loading, either natural or artificial. Natural loading may be due to unusual rainfall, or raising of water level, or increased barometric pressure. Artificial loading may come from construction of heavy buildings or dams. Movement may also result from excavation, which takes away lateral support--and such excavation again may be caused by natural processes of erosion or by artificial processes involved in construction. Movement may be caused by mere change in the moisture content of rocks, or by alterations of their mineral and chemical character, affecting their resistance to gravity. In still other cases, earthquakes are the initiating cause of movement.

In unconsolidated rocks, a frequent cause of movement is the presence of wet and slippery clay layers. The identification and draining of these clay layers may eliminate this cause. In certain sands, on the other hand, water may actually act as a cement and tend to increase the strength of the rock. Planes of weakness in the rock, such as bedding, joints, and cleavage, are also likely to localize movement.

Earth materials, and even fairly hard rocks, may creep under gravity at an astonishingly low angle. The angle from the horizontal at which loose material will stand on a horizontal base without sliding is called the angle of rest or repose. It is often between 30 and 35, but there is wide variation from this figure, depending on the shapes and sizes of the particles and on other conditions. It has been suggested that even the slight differences in elevation of continents and sea bottoms may, during long geologic eras, have caused a creep of continental ma.s.ses in a seaward direction.

In problems relating to slides, the geologist is concerned in determining the kinds of rocks, their s.p.a.ce relations, their structures and textures, their metamorphic changes, their water content and the nature of the water movement, their strength, both under tension and compression, and other factors.

In the digging of the Panama Ca.n.a.l, a geological staff was employed in the study of the rock and earth formations to be met. However, had more attention been paid to geologic questions in the planning stages, this great undertaking, so thoroughly worked out from a purely engineering standpoint, would have avoided certain mistakes due to lack of understanding of the geological conditions. It is a curious fact that in these early stages no strength tests of rocks were made, and that no thorough detailed study was made of the geologic factors affecting slides and their prevention. It was only after the slides had become serious that the geological aspects of the subject were intensively considered. The results of the geologic study, therefore, are useful only for preventive measures for the future and for other undertakings.

One of the interesting features of this investigation was the discovery that certain soft rock formations were rendered weaker rather than stronger by the draining off of the water. It had been more or less a.s.sumed that the water had acted as a lubricant rather than as a cement.

SUBSIDENCE

Not the least important application of geology to slides is in relation to deep mining operations. While the mining geologist has been princ.i.p.ally engaged in exploration and development of ores, he is now beginning to be called in to interpret the great earth movements caused by the sinking of the ground over mining openings. For instance, the long-wall method of coal mining has resulted in a slow progressive subsidence of the overlying rock, affecting overlying mineral beds and surface structures over great areas. Detailed studies have been made of this movement, in order to ascertain its relation to the strength and structure of the rocks, its relation to the nature of the excavation, its speed of transmission, and the possible methods of prevention.

German scientists have perhaps gone further with this kind of study than anyone else. In an elaborate investigation of subsidence over a coal mine in Illinois,[67] unusually complete data were obtained as to the nature, direction, and speed of the transmission of strains through large rock ma.s.ses, and as to their effect in producing secondary rock structures.

RAILWAY BUILDING

In railway building, the planning and estimation of cuts and fills is now receiving geologic consideration, in order to make sure that no geologic condition has been overlooked which will affect costs, the stability of the road, or the accurate formulation of contracts. The location of best sources of supply for ballast is also a geologic problem (see pp. 90-91).

The physiographic phases of geology also are finding important applications to railroad building. The physiographer studies the surface forms with a trained eye, which sees them not as lawless or heterogeneous units but as parts of a topographic system, and he is able to eliminate much unnecessary work in the location of trial routes.

Further study of some of the older railroads from this standpoint has led to considerable improvements. Physiographic study has also been applied to railway bridge construction, in the appraisal of the difficulties in surmounting stream barriers. A still broader use of physiography or geography, not popularly understood, is ill.u.s.trated in the case of certain transcontinental railroads, in the study of the probable future development of the territory to be served--many features of which can be predicted with some accuracy from a study of the rocks, soils, topography, conditions of transportation, and natural conditions favoring localization of cities. The location of new towns in some cases has been based on this kind of preliminary study.

In locating an Alaskan railway close to the end of a momentarily quiescent glacier, troubles were not long in appearing, due to the fact that the glacier was really not as stable as it seemed to the layman. A specialist on glaciers, knowing their behavior, their relations to precipitation, their relations to earthquakes, the speed of their movement, and the periodicity of their movement, was ultimately called into consultation on the location of the railroad.

ROAD BUILDING

Road building in recent years has become a stupendous engineering undertaking, which is requiring geologic aid to locate nearby sources of supply for road materials. A considerable number of geologists are now devoting their attention to this work. It relates not only to the hard-rock geology but to the gravel and surface geology. Certain northern states are using specialists in glacial geology to aid in locating proper supplies of sand and gravel.

GEOLOGY IN ENGINEERING COURSES

Many engineering courses include elementary geologic studies, in recognition of the close relationship between geology and engineering.

Men so trained, though not geologists, have been responsible for many applications of geology to engineering. With the increasing size and importance of operations, calling for more specialization, the professional geologist is now being called in to a larger extent than formerly. A logical trend also is the acquirement of more engineering training on the part of the geologist, for the purpose of pursuing these applications of his science.

FOOTNOTES:

[64] Excellent texts on this subject may be found in _Military Geology and Topography_, Herbert E. Gregory, Editor, prepared and issued under the auspices of Division of Geology and Geography, National Research Council, Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 1918, and _Engineering Geology_, by H. Ries and T. L. Watson, Wiley and Sons, New York, 2d ed., 1915.

[65] Atwood, W. W., Relation of landslides and glacial deposits to reservoir sites in the San Juan mountains, Colorado: _Bull. 685_, _U. S.

Geol. Survey_, 1918.

[66] Chamberlin, T. C., and Salisbury, R. D., _Geology_, vol. 1, 1904, pp. 555-556.

[67] Schultz, Robert S., Jr., _Bull. Am. Inst. Mining and Metallurgical Engrs._ In preparation.

CHAPTER XXI

THE TRAINING, OPPORTUNITIES, AND ETHICS OF THE ECONOMIC GEOLOGIST

Economic geology is now an established and well-recognized profession, but there is yet nothing approaching a standardized course of study leading to a degree in economic geology. There are as many different kinds of training as there are inst.i.tutions in which geology is taught.

Within an inst.i.tution, also, it is seldom that any two persons take exactly the same groups of geologic studies. This situation allows wide lat.i.tude of training to meet ever changing requirements, but in other respects it is not so desirable.

PURE VERSUS APPLIED SCIENCE

In no inst.i.tution are all the applied branches of geology taught. There is constant pressure for the introduction of more applied courses; this seems to be the tendency of the times. The economic geologist, fresh from vivid experiences in his special field, is often insistent that a new course be introduced to cover his particular specialty. Any attempt, however, to put into a college course a considerable fraction of the applied phases of geology would mean the crowding out of more essential basic studies. To yield wholly to such pressure would in fact soon develop an impossible situation; for, on the basis of time alone, it would be quite impossible to give courses on all of the applied subjects in a training period of reasonable length.

On the other hand, the failure to introduce a fair proportion of applied geology, on the ground that the function of the college is to teach pure science and that in some way economic applications are non-scientific, seems to the writer an equally objectionable procedure,--because it does not take into account the unavoidable human relations of the science, which vivify and give point and direction to scientific work. The development of science in economic directions does not necessarily mean incursion into less scientific or non-scientific fields. It is true that many of the economic applications of geology are so new and so constantly changing that they are not yet fully organized on a scientific basis; but this fact is merely an indication of the lag of science, and not of the absence of possibilities of developing science in such directions. There is today a considerable tendency among geologists of an academic type, whose lives have been spent in purely scientific investigation and teaching, to a.s.sume that anything different from the field of their activities is in some manner non-scientific, and therefore less worthy. Many economic geologists have been made to feel this criticism, even though seldom expressed openly. For the good of geologic science, this tendency seems to the writer extremely unfortunate. The young man entering the field of economic geology should be made to understand that his is the highest scientific opportunity; and that if parts of his field are not yet fully organized, the greater is his own opportunity to partic.i.p.ate in the constructive work to be done.

Under war requirements many geologists were called upon to extend their efforts to bordering fields of endeavor. In some quarters these activities were regarded as non-scientific, and as subtracting from efficiency in purely geological work,--and yet out of this combined effort came a wider comprehension of new scientific fields, between the established sciences and between sciences and human needs. It is inevitable that in the future these fields, now imperfectly charted, will be occupied and developed, perhaps not by the men who are already well established in their particular fields of endeavor, but by coming scientists. In this light, it was a privilege for geologists to partic.i.p.ate in the discovery and charting activities of the war.

Still another attempt to discriminate between scientific and non-scientific phases of geologic effort has been the a.s.sumption by certain scientific organizations with reference to standards of admission,--that work done for practical purposes may be regarded as scientific only if it leads to advancement of the science through the publication of the results. There is by no means any general agreement as to the validity of this distinction. On this basis, some of the most effective scientific work which is translated directly into use for the benefit of civilization is ruled out as science, because it is expressed on a typewritten rather than on a printed page.

While applied phases of the geologist's work may be truly scientific in the broader sense, it is undoubtedly easy in this field to drift into empirical methods, and to emphasize facility and skill at the expense of original scientific thought. The practice of geology then becomes an art rather than a science. This remark is pertinent also to much of non-applied geologic work in recent years. A considerable proportion of this empirical facility is desirable and necessary in the routine collection of data and in their description; but where, as is often the case, the geologist's absorption in such work minimizes the use of his constructive faculties, it does not aid greatly in the advancement of science.

Geology is by no means the only science in which there has been controversy as to the relative merits of the so-called pure and applied phases; but as one of the youngest sciences, which heretofore has been pursued mainly from the standpoint of "pure science," it is now, perhaps more than any other science, in the transition stage to a wider viewpoint. In the past there was doubt about the extension of chemistry toward the fields of physics and engineering, and of physics toward the fields of chemistry and engineering, and of both physics and chemistry toward purely economic applications; but out of these fields have grown the great sciences of physical chemistry, chemical engineering, and others,--and few would be rash enough to attempt to draw a line between the pure and applied science, or between the scientific and non-scientific phases of this work. This general tendency means a broadening of science and not its deterioration.

COURSE OF STUDY SUGGESTED

There are almost as many opinions on desirable training for economic geology as there are geologists, and the writer's view cannot be taken as representing any widely accepted standard. On the basis of his own experience, however, both in teaching and in field practice, he would lay emphasis on the fundamental branches both of geology and of the allied sciences,--general geology, stratigraphy, paleontology, physiography, sedimentation, mineralogy, petrology, structural and metamorphic geology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology.

After these are covered, as much attention should be given to economic applications as time permits. The time allowance for training, at a maximum, is not sufficient to cover both pure and applied science.

Subsequent experience will supply the deficiencies in applied knowledge, but will not make up for lack of study of basic principles.

It is safe advice to a student wishing to prepare for economic geology that there is no royal road to success; that his best chance lies in the effort to make himself a scientist, even though he cover only a narrow field; that if he is successful in this, opportunities for economic applications will almost inevitably follow. To devote attention from the start merely to practical and commercial features, rather than to scientific principles, brings the student at once into compet.i.tion with mining engineers, business men, accountants, and others, who are often able to handle the purely empirical features of an economic or practical kind better than the geologist. In the long run the economic geologist succeeds because he knows the fundamentals of his science, and not because he has mere facility in the empirical economic phases of his work. Of course there are exceptions to this statement,--there are men with a highly developed business sense who are successful in spite of inadequate scientific training, but such success should be regarded as a business and not a professional success.

Geology is sometimes described as the application of other sciences to the earth. This statement might be made even broader, and geology described as the application of all knowledge to the earth. In the writer's experience, the best results on the whole have been obtained from students who, before entering geology, have had a broad general education or have followed intensively some other line of study. Whether this study has been the ancient languages, law, engineering, economics, or other sciences, the results have usually been good if the early training has been sound. To start in geology without some such background, and without the resulting power of a well-trained mind, is to start with a handicap in the long race to the highest professional success. It follows, then, that intensive study of geology should in most cases not begin until late in the undergraduate course, and preferably not until the graduate years. Two or three years of graduate work may then suffice to launch the geologist on his career, but so great is the field, and so rapid the growth of knowledge within it, that there is no termination to his study. It is not enough to settle back comfortably on empirical practice based solely on previously acquired knowledge. Each problem develops new scientific aspects. It is this ever renewing interest which is one of the great charms of the science.

However, whether the student has a general training in geology, a specialized knowledge of certain branches, or takes it up incidentally in connection with engineering and other sciences, he will find opportunities for economic applications. The frequent success of the mining engineer in the geological phases of his work is an indication that even a comparatively small amount of geological knowledge is useful.