CE 25: Geology for Civil Engineers

Topic 1
General Geology

Einstine M. Opiso
Department of Civil Engineering
Central Mindanao University
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Week 2 Learning Contents

 Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics

 Earthquake

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Plate Tectonics
Introduction
 When one looks at a globe, it is easy to visualize how the
continents at one time in the Earth’s history could have been
bound together.
 North and South America seem to fit into Europe and Africa in a
slight s-shaped curve.
 Alfred Wegener proposed that the continents were at one time part
of a super continent, called Pangaea
 Wegener further hypothesized that the continents had moved apart
during the history of the Earth by what is called continental drift
• (A)Normal position of the
continents on a world map. (B)
A sketch of South America and
Africa, suggesting that they
once might have been joined
together and subsequently
separated by a continental
drift.
Plate Tectonics
– Recall that the crust floats on the more liquid mantle and is
buoyed up by its density.
– Recall also that the mantle is molten, which gives it great pressure
and temperature.
– Given these lines of thought, it is not hard to see how the
continents, already floating on the magma which is at great
pressures, could be forced apart at certain areas where perhaps
the crust was weaker or could be forced to break (fault).
Evidence from the Ocean
– The ocean contains chains of mountains called oceanic ridges.
– The ocean also contains long, narrow trenches that always run
parallel to the continents, called oceanic trenches.
Driving mechanism for plate tectonics

Plate Tectonics is the surface

expression of the mechanism by which
heat escapes the Earth’s interior

Origin of heat in the Earth’s interior

1. radioactive decay
2. residual heat from Earth’s formation
and to a lesser extent, heat contribution from
the growth of the inner core which drives the
convection in the outer core
Pressure, Temperature, Composition
Plate Tectonics
– Three kinds of observations started scientists to wonder
in the direction that allowed an explanation for
Wegener’s continental drift.
• All submarine earthquakes that were found and
measured were found to occur in a narrow band
under the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• There is a long valley that runs along the crest of the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge, called a rift.
• There was a large amount of heat escaping from this
rift.
The Mid-Atlantic
Ridge divides the
Atlantic Ocean
into two nearly
equal parts.
Where the ridge
reaches above
sea level, it
makes oceanic
islands, such as
Iceland.
Plate Tectonics
– It was thought that the rift might be a crack in the
Earth’s crust.
– This lead to the formation of the Seafloor Spreading
hypothesis
• Hot, molten rock moved from the interior of the Earth
to emerge alone the rift, flowing out in both
directions to create new rocks along the rift.
The pattern of seafloor
ages on both sides of the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
reflects seafloor
spreading activity.
Younger rocks are found
closer to the ridge.
Lithosphere Plates and Boundaries

– Plate tectonics states that the lithosphere is broken into

fairly rigid plates that move on the asthenosphere.
– Some plates contain part of a continent and part of an
ocean basin, while others contain only ocean basins.
– Earthquakes, volcanoes, and the most rapid changes in
the Earth’s crust occur at these plate boundaries.
The major plates of the lithosphere that move on the
asthenosphere. Source: After W. Hamilton, U.S.
Geological Survey.
Plate Tectonics
– Three kinds of plate boundaries that describe how one
plate moves relative to another.
• Divergent boundaries.
–Occur where two plates are moving away from
each other.
–This forms a new crust zone, where the magma
flows as the plates separate releasing the pressure
on the.
»This forms new crust material
A divergent boundary is a new crust zone where molten
magma from the asthenosphere rises, cools, and adds
new crust to the edges of the separating plates. Magma
that cools at deeper depths forms a coarse-grained
basalt, while surface lava cools to a fine-grained basalt.
Note that deposited sediment is deeper farther from the
spreading rift.
Plate Tectonics
• Convergent boundaries.
–Occurs where two plates are moving toward each
other.
–Old crust is returned to the asthenosphere where
the plates collide forming a subduction zone.
–The lithosphere of one plate is subducted under
the other plate.
Ocean-continent plate convergence. This type of plate
boundary accounts for shallow and deep-seated
earthquakes, an oceanic trench, volcanic activity, and
mountains along the coast.
Ocean-ocean plate convergence. This type of plate
convergence accounts for shallow and deep-focused
earthquakes, an oceanic trench, and a volcanic arc
above the subducted plate.
Continent-continent plate convergence. Rocks are
deformed, and some lithosphere thickening occurs,
but neither plate is subducted to any great extent.
Plate Tectonics

• Transform boundaries.
–Occur where two plates are sliding past each
other.
–This produces the vibrations that are commonly
felt as earthquakes, such as those felt in California.
Plate Tectonics
Present-day Understandings
– Currently the most commonly accepted theory of plate
movement is that slowly turning convective cells in the
plastic asthenosphere drive the plates.
– Hot materials rise at the diverging plate boundaries.
– Some of this material escapes and forms new crust, but
some spreads out under the lithosphere.
– As it moves it drags the overlying plate with it.
– Eventually it cools and sinks back inward to the subduction
zone.
Not to scale. One idea about convection in the mantle
has a convection cell circulating from the core to the
lithosphere, dragging the overlying lithosphere
laterally away from the oceanic ridge.
Forces acting on the plates
What is Engineering Geology?

Engineering geology is the application of geological data,

techniques and principles to the study of rock and soil surficial
materials, and ground water. This is essential for the proper
location, planning, design, construction, operation and
maintenance of engineering structures.

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What is Engineering Seismology?
Seismology is study of the generation, propagation and recording
of the elastic waves and the source that produce them.

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Variation of P and S Wave Velocities within the Earth
Evidence from Seismic Waves

Seismic Waves
A vibration that moves through the Earth.
Body waves
Seismic waves that travel through the
Earth’s interior, spreading outward from a
disturbance in all directions.
Evidence from Seismic Waves
– Two types of body waves
• P-waves
–A pressure wave where the material
vibrates back and forth in the same
direction as the wave movement.
–Can pass through rock.
–Can pass through a liquid
Evidence from Seismic Waves

S-waves
–A sideways wave in which the disturbance
vibrates material side to side, perpendicular to
the direction to the wave movement.
–Can pass through rock.
–Can not pass through a liquid
(A)A P-wave is illustrated by a
sudden push on a stretched
spring. The pushed-together
section (compression) moves
in the direction of the wave
movement, left to right in the
example.

(B) An S-wave is illustrated by

a sudden shake of a stretched
rope. The looped section
(sideways) moves
perpendicular to the direction
of wave movement, again left
to right.
Evidence from Seismic Waves
Surface Waves
– Seismic waves that travel on the Earth’s surface.
Seismograph
 The velocity of both S- and P-waves is determined by the
density and rigidity of the material.
 Waves travel faster in denser more rigid material.
 Waves are reflected at boundaries where elastic properties
differ.
 If the reflected waves reach the surface, they can be measured
by a seismograph.
 Wave refraction can also be used to determine properties of
the interior of the Earth.
– Waves are refracted (bent) when they pass from a layer
with higher density to a layer with lower density.
Seismic waves require a certain time period to
reflect from a rock boundary below the surface.
Knowing the velocity, you can use the time
required to calculate the depth of the boundary.
(A)A seismic wave
moving from a
slower-velocity
layer to a higher-
velocity layer is
refracted up.

(B) The reverse

occurs when a
wave passes from
a higher-velocity to
a slower-velocity
layer.
(A)This illustrates the curved path of seismic waves
between an explosion and a recording seismograph van.
The curved path is caused by increasing seismic velocity
with depth in uniform rock. (B) This illustrates increasing
seismic velocity with depth in uniform rock. The waves
curve out in all directions from a disturbance.
END