alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
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Cross-section through the GreatEscarpment north <strong>of</strong> Wollongongthat illustrates the l<strong>and</strong>forms,geology <strong>and</strong> slope retreat rates(from Wilson et al, 2005).A detailed underst<strong>and</strong>ing<strong>of</strong> the coastal geology <strong>and</strong>geomorphology was critical in theconstruction <strong>of</strong> the Sea Cliff Bridgenorth <strong>of</strong> Wollongong.A smaller number <strong>of</strong> engineering geologists continue to workfor government authorities such as State government transportdepartments. However in our experience these positions arecontinuing their long-term decline as more <strong>of</strong> this work isoutsourced to private consultancies. The hollowing out <strong>of</strong>geological experience from government departments needed tooversee <strong>and</strong> appropriately manage such outsourcing is <strong>well</strong>beyond the scope <strong>of</strong> this article. It is an issue likely to be <strong>of</strong>concern in the near future if the trend continues.TeachingOne fundamental grass roots element <strong>of</strong> engineering geology —academic teaching — is on death row. Over the past decade therehas been a flood <strong>of</strong> overseas-trained engineering geologists to<strong>Australia</strong> (particularly from the UK <strong>and</strong> to a lesser extent fromNZ) to satisfy dem<strong>and</strong> in the industry that cannot be addressedlocally. Many <strong>of</strong> these geologists have undergraduate training inengineering geology <strong>and</strong> geotechnical engineering. This differsfrom our experience in <strong>Australia</strong>n universities where engineeringgeology hardly rated a mention, <strong>and</strong> was certainly never a coursecomponent.The presence <strong>of</strong> the discipline in universities in <strong>Australia</strong>, <strong>and</strong>in many other countries around the world, is essentially now nonexistent.Greg McNally’s own departure from the School <strong>of</strong>Applied Science at the University <strong>of</strong> New South Wales (UNSW)was a final sad blow (<strong>and</strong> he is sadly missed in that role, althoughfortunately not lost to the industry). The School <strong>of</strong>Civil Engineering at UNSW still <strong>of</strong>fers the popular Master <strong>of</strong>Engineering Science degree <strong>and</strong> is at least one small source <strong>of</strong>some engineering geology training, although most graduateswould come from the engineering side. The AGS runs ‘Geologyfor Engineers’ <strong>and</strong> ‘Engineering Geology’ continuing pr<strong>of</strong>essionaldevelopment (CPD) courses in alternating years. This stemmedfrom the pioneering work <strong>of</strong> David Stapledon, <strong>and</strong> was taken upby Alan Moon <strong>and</strong> Fred Baynes. It is now run by Fred Baynes,Mark Eggers <strong>and</strong> Phil Flentje. These eight-day field courses arealways fully subscribed <strong>well</strong> in advance. There are others inacademia who run other short courses here <strong>and</strong> there (<strong>and</strong> thereis not space here to list them all) although in general it is truethat the discipline does not have a place in <strong>Australia</strong>n academiatoday <strong>and</strong> this is a very sad state <strong>of</strong> affairs. There is a fledglinggroup developing a nebulous epistemic Engineering GeologyGroup that will work towards restoring this imbalance. Interestcould be directed towards Flentje.An identity problem?What does an engineeringgeologist do these days?The nature <strong>of</strong> the work is very broad, increasingly so, reflectingthe diversity <strong>of</strong> clients <strong>and</strong> broad nature <strong>of</strong> projects. Unlike otherapplied specialities <strong>of</strong> geology, engineering geologists can findthemselves working practically anywhere <strong>and</strong> therefore must beable to draw on their knowledge <strong>of</strong> all disciplines <strong>of</strong> geology.Engineering geology remains founded on building an underst<strong>and</strong>ing<strong>of</strong> the geology <strong>of</strong> a site, including its ancient <strong>and</strong> recenthistory, to build an awareness <strong>of</strong> the geological influences onproposed engineering works, <strong>and</strong> to clearly pass this informationon to geotechnical <strong>and</strong> civil engineers <strong>and</strong> others for use indetailed design. The multidisciplinary work can include geological<strong>and</strong> geomorphological mapping, management <strong>of</strong> geotechnicalinvestigations, engineering characterisation <strong>of</strong> rocks <strong>and</strong> soilslikely to be encountered, identification <strong>of</strong> any materialsdeleterious to the proposed work <strong>and</strong> how they should bemanaged (eg, acid rock <strong>and</strong> soils, or natural occurrences <strong>of</strong>asbestos), aquifer investigations <strong>and</strong> management, carbonsequestration, coal seam gas issues, assessment <strong>of</strong> potential slopestability issues <strong>and</strong> the means to address <strong>and</strong> or mitigate them,examining <strong>and</strong> assessing the hydrogeology <strong>of</strong> the site <strong>and</strong> itseffect on proposed development, undertaking informedinvestigations <strong>of</strong> the impact <strong>of</strong> climate variability <strong>and</strong> our myriad<strong>of</strong> terrains, l<strong>and</strong>slide risk management <strong>and</strong> the myriad <strong>of</strong>TAG September 2012| 33