Development of engineering geology in western united states

Development of engineering geology in western United States

George A. Kierscha,b,*

aProfessor Emeritus, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USAbKiersch Associates, GeoScience Consultants, 4750 Camino Luz, AZ 85718, USA

Abstract

Geologic concepts and scienti®c-technical guidance for the planning-design and construction of engineered works was

recognized in Europe by the 1800s and by the early 1900s in North America. This early geologic knowledge and experience

provided the rudimentary principles that guided practitioners of the 19th century in serving the emerging projects in western

United States. Case studies review the scienti®c-technical lessons learned and the legacy of geologic principles established in

the planning and construction of major civil, mining, and military engineered works in the western states. These contributions to

GeoScience knowledge and engineering geology practice include:

² Tunnels and aqueducts across active fault zones, beneath young volcanic features, groundwater-charged faults, and land

subsidence mitigation.

² Controversial foundation design, Folsom and Auburn dams, Golden Gate Bridge.

² Protective underground construction chambers, safety dependent geologic setting.

² Geologic mapping as database management leasing, maintenance railroad trackway.

² Causeway Great Salt Lake, geo-risks calculated, mitigated às-constructed'.

² Nuclear powerplants seismic design.

² Urban Land-Use, on-going processes, acceptable geo-risks.

² Dwelling Insurance, insuree's responsibilities.

² Selecting technique/method to mitigate risk, preferably based on extensive database, evaluation of characteristics and

historical origin adverse features/conditions that constitute a geo-risk.

q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Lessons learned Ð geoscience legacies; Principles of practice; Natural processes Ð acceptable geo-risks; Aqueducts/tunnels Ð

active faults; In¯ow groundwater; Dam foundations Ð concrete/earth®ll; Golden Gate Bridge; Nuclear plants; Land-use risks; Protective

underground construction; Railroad causeway; Calculated risks; Landslide destruction; Insuree's responsibilities; Drill-core Ð inadequate

interpretation; Impacts tunnel design; Mining method; Unit-bid prices; Safety

1. Introduction

1.1. Historical èngineered' works

The history of remarkable engineering construction

feats is as old as man's records that began with copper

mining on the Sinai Peninsula over 15,000 years ago

(Stone Age), and tunneling (adit) was started about

3500 BC.

Initially, `geologic' craft and lore was utilized to

evaluate natural sites and the remnants of remarkable

construction feats are a legacy to these early skills.

Use of `geologists` to evaluate natural risks and sites

for engineered works has a long history that

Engineering Geology 59 (2001) 1±49

0013-7952/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

PII: S0013-7952(00)00063-6

www.elsevier.nl/locate/enggeo

* 400 Prospect St., Apt. 234, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.

developed from the lore of our forefathers: Leonardo

da Vinci (Faul and Faul, 1983; Clements, 1981), Henri

Gautier (1721) and William Smith (Adams, 1938). In

North America early assistance, geological insight

and counsel for engineering purposes was fostered

by a small group of practitioners. However, any over-

view of these early efforts for projects in the western

states bene®ted from the substantial legacy of experi-

ence and knowledge acquired earlier by pioneers in

Europe and Asia.

The brief case-reviews of milestone engineering

projects and the rudimentary geologic principles and

concepts that follow are more fully described in the

recent Heritage volume (Kiersch, 1991). The emphasis

is on Ð `How and in what way have the efforts of

engineering geology practitioners resulted in scienti-

®c-technical advances in the GeoSciences, while

protecting the safety, health, and welfare of the public?'

1.2. Early concepts Ð engineers accept geologic

counsel

The concept that geologic conditions can in¯uence

the planning and construction of large-scale engi-

neered works, such as roads, canals, tunnels, and

water supplies, was recognized during the eighteenth

century in Europe and by the nineteenth century in

North America.

The application of geology for engineering

purposes played a small role in the early history and

expansion of the United States up to the 1880s, as

documented by Radbruch-Hall (1987). Accordingly,

America's westward expansion by the 1820s initiated

the construction of an improved network of roads and

canals. Yet suddenly in the middle of the century, road

and canal building was curtailed in favor of construct-

ing a nationwide railroad network (1850s±1870s).

This rush to western lands and the Paci®c region

required bold planning and unusual human efforts to

complete rail links with the central states.

Historically the early geologic concepts and

principles that assisted the builders of engineered

works in North America were largely due to the

accomplishments and scienti®c-technical advances

of European investigators in the eighteenth and nine-

teenth centuries. These European experiences and

proven principles were available to North American

geologists and engineers when called on to serve the

project demands of the mid- to the late-1800s. By the

1900s, the activities of applied geological practi-

tioners in North America were of a scope and

acceptance-level to their counterparts in Europe.

2. Early projects and practitioners

2.1. Introduction

Professor William O. Crosby of the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology offered the ®rst continuous

training with lectures and a syllabus text on geology

and engineering in 1893 (Kiersch, 1991, p. 23). The

®rst formal lectures on `Geology for Engineering

Students' were given in 1875±1876 by Theodore B.

Comstock at Cornell. Professor R.S. Tarr included the

subject in his Practical/Dynamic Geology course at

Cornell in 1894, and by 1898 with Heinrich Ries

they offered three geology courses for engineering

students. This led to the early Èngineering Geology'

text by Ries and Watson (1914, 1936).

Crosby became the leading practitioner and consul-

tant for engineered works (1893±1925) and is consid-

ered the `Father of Engineering Geology in North

America' (Kiersch, 1991, pp. 44±45). He was the

®rst to serve as a consulting geologist for: the US

Bureau Reclamation (Arrow Dam, Idaho); the US

Army Engineers (Muscle Shoals Dam, Tennessee);

the Board of Water Supply New York City; and for

some 50 other dams and tunnel projects in States, as

well as projects in Spain, Mexico, and Canada. In

California, Crosby served as a consultant for early

dams on the Feather River during 1920s, e.g. Big

Bend and Meadows Dams for Great Western Power

Co. (forerunner P.G.E.).

The innovative investigation of the Boston Harbor

environs by Professor W.O. Crosby a century ago

(1900±1903) warrants study by today's aspiring

practitioners (Cozort, 1981, pp. 203±212). The

proposed Charles River Dam, Boston was of deep

concern to the chief engineer, Freeman (1903).

Would damming the river estuary system allow the

preservation of the shoals and natural channels of

Boston Harbor, or conversely would the dam change

the harbor? Crosby's investigation of the Charles

River basin, other coastal estuaries, and offshore

islands concluded that surging of the tidal prism did

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 59 (2001) 1±492

more to shoal the harbor than deepen it. The dam

would not cause environmental changes and his

conclusions of 1903 have proved correct.

Gilbert (1884) was the ®rst modern geologist in

North America to relate the principles of mathe-

matics, physics, and engineering to the solution of

geological problems (Wallace, 1980); he seemed to

solve puzzles in the manner of an engineer. For

example, Gilbert (1909) was one of the ®rst to

investigate forecasting of earthquakes. His studies

of sediment transport in running water (Gilbert,

1914) and debris ¯ows as related to the mining

debris of the Sierra Nevada (1917) together estab-

lished engineering geology principles practiced

today. Even more fundamental was Gilbert's identi-

®cation of the subsidence and rebound phenomena

associated with loading and unloading of ancient

Lake Bonneville, a concept critical to the design-

operation of many engineered works (Yochelson,

1984). The physical properties of rock masses were

recognized in a very early paper concerning the need

for an accurate description and classi®cation of rock

units involved in engineering contracts (Hall, 1839)

and landslides (Mather and Whittlesey, 1838).

Professor Warren J. Mead, a pioneer in teaching the

applications of geology to engineering students at

Wisconsin and MIT, was known worldwide for his

research and geological expertise (Shrock, 1977, p.

692). His studies on rock properties and failure

mechanisms (Mead, 1925, 1930) established early

principles relative to stress and a rock mass which

constituted the forefront of thinking on `rock

mechanics' in the 1920s. As a consultant on Boulder

Dam, he demonstrated that minimal support only was

required throughout the four diversion tunnels

(Fig. 1), an early ®rst that lowered tunnel-construction

costs on many subsequent projects.

Kirk Bryan spent many years on ®eld-oriented

projects in the western states with the US Geological

Survey and was an early author on the `Geology of

reservoir and dam sites' (Bryan, 1929; AIME, 1929).

Later Bryan (1939), recognized that three distinct

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 59 (2001) 1±49 3

Fig. 1. Boulder (Hoover) Dam site under construction in the early 1930s. Note diversion tunnels in each abutment, and blasting for the keyway

of the dam in volcanic rocks (photo courtesy of the Heinrich Ries collection, Cornell University).

geologic uncertainties are critical to planning-

operating engineered works: (1) control of natural

agents, processes, and phenomena; (2) stability and

durability of rock masses; and (3) the control of

ground-water circulation, permeability and ¯ow of

¯uids. Similarly, Twenhofel (1932, 1939) was

another early contributor to the geological literature

for applied geologists with geological treatises on

sedimentation. These volumes described the proper-

ties of soft, unconsolidated, and soil-like deposits

common to engineering sites.

Other early consultants and engineering geology

practitioners in the Western States were prominent

contributors to the knowledge and growth of geology

for engineered works prior to 1940. This group

included: Professor John C. Branner who taught the

fundamentals of sur®cial geology to engineering

students at the Stanford University (Branner, 1898)

and consultant on St. Francis dam (1925). Later,

Professor Bailey Willis on numerous projects, e.g.

Golden Gate Bridge controversy. Professor Andrew

C. Lawson, UC-Berkeley served many engineering

related projects, such as the evaluation of San Francisco

earthquake damage in 1906; preparation of USGS folio

on City of San Francisco; construction UC-Memorial

stadium with inclusion of design for displacement of

foundation by the Hayward fault; and the stability

controversy serpentine rock surrounding Golden Gate

Bridge construction with A.E. Sedgwich, USC-Los

Angeles. Professor G.D. Louderback, UC-Berkeley,

was consultant on damsites for Federal and State agen-

cies as was Professor John P. Buwalda (Buwalda, 1951),


Fig. 2. The San Andreas fault zone, strike-slip movement of 1906 in Marin County, California is cited by Reid (1911) in his concept of elastic

rebound (from Heinrich Ries collection, Cornell University, in Kiersch, 1991, p. 33).

California Institute of Technology. Chester Marliave, a

private consultant served such projects as Folsom dam

and Broadway tunnel, San Francisco, and Haiwee dam

for Los Angeles Water and Power.

2.2. Urban planning Ð mapping of cities

Circa 1900, the US Geological Survey formu-

lated an ambitious program to topographically and

geologically map a group of major cities. The map

folios were released with supporting information

on the surface and subsurface ènvironmental'

features and provided a terrain evaluation database

for the expected urban expansion and construction.

This series began with such cities as the Sacramento

folio by Lindgren (1894) and the San Francisco folio

by Lawson (1914).

2.3. EarthquakesÐresearch and forecasting

World attention was directed to a major branch of

engineering geology interest by the great earthquake

disaster in San Francisco, California, on 18 April

1906. Reports by the US Geological Survey (Gilbert

et al., 1907) and the Carnegie Institution (Lawson,

1908) on this cataclysm are classic in their scope

and thoroughness. All geologic phases were covered

in the reports including the effects of shock intensity

on various rock and soil foundations. This event

awakened the engineering profession to the potential

importance of a natural phenomena and the need for

constraints which have commanded the attention of

many engineering geologists, e.g. the shock intensity

on marshlands and saturated, man-made ®ll are far

greater than on rocky hills and natural, well-drained

soils (Engle, 1952) and such engineered structures are

so modi®ed in design. Reid (1911) developed the

concepts of elastic rebound and strike-slip move-

ment from observation along the San Andreas

fault zone, a milestone in understanding the causes

of seismic events (Fig. 2). The widely circulated

photograph of a barn and manure pile torn apart

by lateral movement (Kiersch, 1991, p. 31) illus-

trates the slip-displacement common to the San

Andreas fault zone.

The historic record of earthquakes in California

dates back to 1769, but only since the early 1930s

have earthquake studies become oriented to the safe

and economical design of engineering structures

(Richter, 1966). An early major earthquake affected

a wide area around the San Francisco Bay area in

1868, but little is known or on record. Right-lateral

movement occurred along the now-designated

Hayward fault that destroyed the village of Hayward

as reported by George Davidson (US Coast Survey).

Lawson in 1908 reported that authorities at the time

feared the release of data on the earthquake and the

severity of damage would hurt the reputation of the

San Francisco Bay area and suppressed the report. No

copies of a report on this Hayward-fault event are on

record. At UC-Berkeley campus the Hayward fault

crosses beneath the Memorial football stadium

which was built in two separate halves; the structure

can shift laterally without major damage should

movement occur on the fault. The regional geologic

processes active in the San Francisco Bay area have

been studied for decades; risks from geologic and

man-made conditions are summarized in Fig. 3A

and B and show a correlation between the 1906 and

1989 earthquake damage (Fig. 4) in the Marina

District of San Francisco.

Much progress in the ®eld of engineering seismol-

ogy is due to the efforts of scientists and engineers in

California; they founded the Seismology Society of

America in 1907 and committees of American Society

of Civil Engineers reported on earthquake effects

from 1907 to 1925. The major Santa Barbara earth-

quake occurred in California on 1 July 1925, soon

after the Congressional Act of January 1925, which

authorized the US Coast and Geodetic Survey to make

investigations and release seismological reports. This

milestone act was the beginning of our current meth-

ods of earthquake engineering studies in the United

States. Since another major earthquake in 1933 at

Long Beach, California, research in earthquake engi-

neering has advanced at an ever-accelerating pace.

The ®rst records of strong earthquake movements

obtained from the Long Beach earthquake (Neumann,

1952) led to the strengthening the building codes, e.g.

the Field act.

2.4. Railroads across western territory, 1850s±1870s

The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in California

in 1848 sparked a frenzied migration across the

nearly trackless western territories that was with-

out precedent in this country's history. So rapid


was the settlement of the West Coast, with a hub

city on the San Francisco Bay, that railways were

proposed to cross the entire continent. The rail

lines would not only serve the population on the

coast, but also aid in the settlement of selective

broad regions between the Mississippi River and

Paci®c Ocean; a brief summary after Radbruch-

Hall (1987) follows.


Fig. 3. (A) An early seismic zonation map of the San Francisco area, based on relative intensities felt throughout the city during the 1906

earthquake. (B) Note the correspondence between sur®cial materials and felt intensities (from Borcherdt, 1975).

2.5. Land grants

The federal government gave land grants in 1850 to

the states of Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama to

encourage construction of railroads; grants had gone

to 12 states by 1862 (DeFord, 1954, p. 4). The ®rst

western land grant was made to the Union Paci®c and

Central Paci®c Railroads on 1 July 1862, to build a


Fig. 3. (continued)

G.A

.K

iersch/

En

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eering

Geo

logy

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49

8

Fig. 4. Vertical velocities during a magnitude 4.6 aftershock of the Loma Prieta earthquake of 17 October, as recorded 21 October 1989, at the three temporary seismograph stations

in the Marina district of San Francisco. Note comparative ampli®cation of ground motion in damaged (LMS) and undamaged (PUC) areas, and areas of bedrock (MAS) (modi®ed

from Plafker and Galloway, 1989 in Kiersch, 1991, p. 374).

transcontinental line from the Missouri River to the

Paci®c Ocean via Nebraska and Wyoming (UP) and

connect with a line (CP) across California, Nevada,

and Utah (Fig. 5). A Congressional Act, 25 July 1866,

granted the Central Paci®c Railroad a right-of-way

and alternate odd sections of land for 20 miles on

each side of the railroad from Roseville, California

to the Oregon border; and a second act on 27 July


Fig. 5. Grant lands and associated areas of California, Nevada, Utah, mapped by regional geologic survey of the Southern Paci®c Corporation,

1955±1961. Extent of the original Central (Southern) Paci®c land grants of 1862±1871 is inferred; parts disposed of prior to 1949 are based on

a 1909 survey (from Kiersch, 1991, p. 369).


1866, granted the Southern Paci®c Railroad a similar

strip from Needles, California, to San Jose, via

Coalinga. Another act of 1871 granted alternate

odd-section holdings to the Southern Paci®c Railroad

from the Tehachapi Pass near Mojave, California

southward to Yuma, Arizona (Fig. 5). Similar grants

were made to the other western railroads in 1864, 1866,

and 1871; Santa Fe Railroad across northern New

Mexico and Arizona, the Northern Paci®c Railroad

across Dakotas, Montana and Washington State. Only

lands with coal and iron were retained by the govern-

ment (Henry, 1945). The land grants and rail lines

across the barren `wastelands' of that day enhanced

their value and the tax revenue from railroad real estate

became a major source of local income.

By 1867, developing industries in America were

making radical demands on the nation's natural

resources. Congress reacted and funded western geolo-

gical explorations. The Fortieth Parallel survey, was

authorized in 1867, to explore routes for the transcon-

tinental railroad (UP/CP) under direction of Clarence

King and the US Army Engineers. An earlier survey

(US War Department 1856) explored several routes for

a railroad from Mississippi River to Paci®c Ocean in

1853±1854. After three successful years the King

survey was placed under the Secretary of the Interior

in 1870 (King, 1880). Three other surveys followed,

led by F.V. Hayden, Lt. George Wheeler, and Major

John Wesley Powell's exploration of the unknown

Colorado River Canyonlands. All four surveys were

under the control of Congress by 1874, which led to

establishing the US Geological Survey in 1879.

2.6. Geological survey Ð Southern Paci®c lands

1909±1920s

The western railroad land grants of 1862±1871

initiated little controversy over mineral rights and

land values until 1900s when industrial development

brought railroad land holdings into the spotlight. As

an outgrowth, a far-sighted geological and mineral

evaluation of the Southern Paci®c grant lands was

undertaken in 1909 under D.T. Dumble, formerly

a professor of geology at the University of Texas

and Director Third Texas Geological Survey

(1888±1894).

The principal objective of the survey was to select

all lands for patent that were considered nonmineral

and negotiate the release of known mineral-bearing

lands. Although the survey was active between 1909

and 1925, SPCo had organized an active geological

group in 1897 under consultant E.T. Dumble to

oversee operation of Rio Bravo Oil Company and

other coal and oil interests. The geological staff

were responsible for many pioneering ®rsts in the

application of geology for industrial exploration that

included: techniques for geological logging of core-

hole cuttings; correlation of subsurface data between

wells within a ®eld; use of micro-paleontology as an

exploration tool, and other techniques in the 1910s

(Underwood, 1964). Many well-known California

geologists served on this early survey: J.T. Taff,

S.H. Jester, F.S. Hudson, D. Clark, L. Melhase,

W.L. Moody, and C.L. Cunningham.

The survey identi®ed the Coalinga region of

California by 1920 as lands with an excellent potential

for petroleum. These SPCo lands were subsequently

acquired by a rising new company, Standard Oil of

California (Chevron today), and the Coalinga area

became its principal producing ®eld for over two

decades. Several geologists associated with SPCo's

survey became the nucleus of Standard's exploration

staff; and S.H. Jester became chief geologist, serving

into the 1940s.

2.7. Aqueducts for Los Angeles area

During the 1900s, a major water-supply system was

undertaken for the greater Los Angeles area. The ®rst

Owens River aqueduct was constructed in 1907±1913

by the Department of Water and Power, Los Angeles

(LADWP). These works accomplished many `®rsts'

in engineering geology practice with respect to

tunneling and excavation through active fault zones,

as did the later construction of the Mono Basin exten-

sion between 1934 and 1940 (Fig. 6). Los Angeles


Fig. 6. Map of the Los Angeles Aqueduct system, Los Angeles to Owens River sector completed in 1913. Mono Basin extensions northward

completed in 1941 with intake at Lee Vining. The Second Aqueduct project completed in 1969 parallels the original aqueduct system, begins

with an intake south of Owens Dry Lake/Olancha. This water-supply network of tunnels, canals, dams, and powerhouses crosses many active

fault zones in the eastern Sierra Nevada and Los Angeles region (from Kiersch, 1991, p. 27).

purchased 307,000 acres in Inyo and Mono Counties

to protect the water rights that supplied the aqueduct.

The drama, intrigue, and legal maneuvers by the land-

owners to retain the water and by the builders

(LADWP) to gain the water rights and the right-of-

way for construction were depicted in the movie

Chinatown in the 1970s. The Second Los Angeles

aqueduct, constructed in 1965±1970, increased

water delivered to city by 50% (Fig. 6).

The ®rst aqueduct of 375 km tapped the fresh

waters of the Owens River that ¯owed into saline

Owens Lake; the later Mono Basin extension (1940)

extended the system 170 km northward for a total of

545 km (Fig. 6). This system of engineered works

consists of more than 100 tunnels (120 km), many

dams and powerhouses, and more than 400 km of

con®ned, or open canal ¯ow. The tunnels and canals

have required continued maintenance owing to the

numerous fault zones crossed and the varied/contrast-

ing rock conditions.

The Elizabeth tunnel, part of the original 1913

aqueduct, carries water from the Fairmount Reservoir

across a ridge and the San Andreas fault zone and

discharges into a canyon for hydroelectric plants

downstream. The horseshoe-shaped pressure tunnel,

8 km long, is mainly in granitic rock that varies

from a hard to an altered and thoroughly crushed

rock mass. The active San Andreas fault zone (about

1.5 km wide) is crossed orthogonally by the tunnel,

another early `®rst' in applied geology. This sub-

surface exposure of the active fault zone has been

widely used for scienti®c research; no signi®cant

movement or damage to the tunnel has been reported

to date (Wilson and Mayeda, 1966; Proctor, 1999).

The Mono Craters tunnel of 1934±1940 experi-

enced a series of different geological problems, as

described by Wilson and Mayeda (1966). The tunnel,

18 km long (3 m diameter), pierces the volcanic necks

that underlie the Mono Craters and some 20 inactive

volcanic pumice cinder cones between Mono Basin

and Long Valley. Excavation required ®ve and a half

years from six headings; 67% of the tunnel is

supported due to the wide variety of rocks penetrated,

i.e. mainly rhyolite, tuff, volcanic ash, granite, meta-

morphics, sandstone, glacial deposits, lake beds, and

alluvium. Nearly every serious dif®culty inherent to

tunneling occurred: exceptional volumes of water

under high pressure with ¯ows to 35,000 gpm; a

high ¯ow of carbon dioxide gas in an area of calcar-

eous rocks (nearby volcanic activity); and squeezing

and ¯owing ground at the fault contacts between

metamorphic and granitic rocks where the deeply

weathered material air-slaked on exposure.

2.8. Western dams

The Reclamation Act of 1902 authorized the

federal government to start a reclamation and irriga-

tion program in the western United States under the

Reclamation Service, an agency separated from the

US Geological Survey Hydrologic Branch in 1907,

and designated the Bureau of Reclamation in 1923.

One of the earliest irrigation projects to be authorized

was the development of the Salt River in Arizona, of

which Roosevelt Dam (1906±1911) was the ®rst

project. The principal investigation of the site was

by drilling several holes in the channel section; the

good-quality foundation of sandstone and quartzite

required very little excavation. Roosevelt Dam and

most of the other early dam projects had little

occasion to call on geologic counsel Ð the good-

quality, natural sites available accommodated the

moderate-height dams. Interestingly, Roosevelt Dam

was an early Òld Dam' to undergo rehabilitation and

modi®cation in 1988 (Fig. 22).

The Arrow Dam in Idaho was another early Bureau

of Reclamation project that was followed by many

large-scale dam projects of 1920s±1980s. The most

widely known Boulder/Hoover Dam on Colorado

River near Las Vegas, Nevada was a professional

milestone in the acceptance of geologic guidance for

planning and construction of major engineered works.

2.9. Boulder/Hoover dam

On 12 March 1928, the dramatic and complete

failure, within a few minutes, of the St. Francis

dam near Saugus, California, was a convincing

disaster in the history of large engineering struc-

tures. One repercussion was a symposium (AIME,

1929) to consider problems of dam and reservoir

geology, that directed attention to the importance

of adequate geological investigations and counsel

in erecting dams. The results, which were widely

publicized, focused attention on the importance of

geology as an indispensable aid in civil engineer-

ing (Kiersch, 1955, p. 23).


Reverberations of the St. Francis disaster intensi-

®ed the differences of opinion and uncertainties

concerning construction of a proposed high dam at

Boulder Canyon on the Colorado River. Finally, to

appease all parties concerned, Congress, on 29 May

1928, authorized the Secretary of the Interior to

appoint a board of ®ve eminent engineers and geolo-

gists to examine the proposed site of the dam and

advise as to matters affecting the safety, economic

and engineering feasibility, and adequacy of the

proposed structure (USBR, 1950, p. 11). The two

geologists on this board were Charles P. Berkey and

Warren J. Mead. The board's recommendations are

now history, yet, ironically, it required an engineering

failure and catastrophe (St. Francis dam) to gain due

recognition of the importance geologic conditions

may attain in large-scale construction projects.

Oddly, these events led to the ®nal authorization and

construction of the world's highest dam (726 ft) at

that date. The major recommendations of the board

members in 1928 proved engineering wise and

economically sound, and many `®rsts' in engineering

geology were recorded at Boulder dam, among them

was F.A. Nickell the ®rst resident geologist, on a

Bureau project. The St. Francis dam catastrophe

and public's concern resulted in State of California

establishing an of®ce, Supervisor of Safety of Dams

in 1929.

The USBR constructed the Grand Coulee dam on

Columbia River, Washington (1933±1942) in a glacial

scoured, complex geologic environs of extensively

jointed/fractured fresh granitic rock and associated

glacial deposits (Irwin, 1938). They also undertook

construction of Parker dam downstream from Boulder

dam on Colorado River. This project became the

deepest concrete dam below the riverbed (233 ft. to

bedrock) and only 87 ft. above; the concrete experi-

enced an early case of cement-aggregate reaction and

sur®cial cracking.

Subsequently, the USBR undertook construction of

Shasta Dam on the upper Sacramento River in

northern California (1938±1943) a key unit of

Bureau's California Central Valley plan. The dam

foundation of intruded metamorphic rocks is traversed

by a variety of faults and shear zones with associated

joints and altered materials. During this period the

Friant Dam on San Joaquin River east of Fresno was

undertaken. It is the southern link in the Bureau's

Central Valley plan along with the Delta±Mendota

Canal that moves San Joaquin River water southward

from a pumping station near Tracy for irrigation usage

in the Mendota-region.

The US Army Corps of Engineers was authorized

to build ¯ood control dams and related works in many

western states by the Flood Control Act of 1936.

Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, Oregon-

Washington was a major early project followed by

other dams upstream. A series of ¯ood control dams

were built in Central California on rivers ¯owing into

the Central Valley beginning in 1940s with: Pine Flat

dam on the Kings River; Isabella Dam on Kern River;

Success Dam on Tule River at Porterville; and the

Folsom project east of Sacramento on the American

River. Folsom was the ®rst joint-undertaking by the

Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation for

¯ood control and power generation facilities under

the `Folsom Formula' legislation in 1949 (exploration

and construction geology described below).

2.10. Attitudes change among engineers re: geology

By the 1930s, the civil engineering profession

realized the need for greater geological input and

guidance for major works. Unfortunately, geological

science did not respond immediately to the requests of

the civil engineers for an improved knowledge of the

physical properties of rocks and/or soft, unconsolidated

sediments and soils. Consequently, civil engineers

themselves began to provide input. A leader among

the group of concerned engineers was Karl Terzaghi,

an early specialist in earth materials. He worked for

the US Reclamation Service from 1912 to 1915, but

returned to Europe to advance the combined ®elds of

soil mechanics and geology for engineered works as

professor at Roberts College, Constantinople and the

Technical Hochschule, Vienna. He returned to America

as Professor of Foundation Engineering at Harvard

(1938±1963) and served as a prominent consultant for

engineered works in North America. Terzaghi based his

soil mechanics techniques on sound geological

knowledge (Terzaghi, 1955) and believed every soil-

mechanics specialists (`geotechnical' today) should be

half geologist; a combination he acknowledged later had

not been followed by his successors, and was a major

professional disappointment (Terzaghi, 1963). Reviews


of Terzaghi's accomplishments are given by Goodman

(1999) and Shlemon (1999).

During the early 1900s, Homer Hamlin ®rst

engaged in geology and then in engineering for

several large California municipalities, and became

one of the early engineer-geologists. Ultimately, his

studies for municipalities on control of the Colorado

River culminated in a 1920 proposal to put a dam in

Boulder Canyon Ð a site later used for Hoover Dam

(Nickell, 1942). Another early geologist involved

with the investigation of dam sites along the Colorado

River in the 1920s was Sidney Paige, who became an

eminent practitioner of engineering geology from the

1930s to 1950s (Paige, 1950).

2.11. Highway construction materials Ð early

investigations

The use of geologists to locate sources of adequate

materials and provide guidance in planning routes for

the developing nationwide highway system became a

major category of applied geology in the early 1900s.

By the year 1918, some 50 papers on geology as

applied to highway engineering had been published

in America (Huntting, 1945). This included the road-

material sources of 24 states and reports on the

relation of mineral composition to the engineering

characteristics of the rock. An early report by Pearson

and Loughlin (1923) of a concrete failure traced the

cause to a cement-aggregate reaction from a source in

San Gabriel Mountains, California. Reactive-aggre-

gate became a serious problem in highway pavements

and caused cracking on concrete surfaces at Parker

Dam on Colorado River. Soon thereafter methods

were devised to counteract the causes (McConnel et

al., 1950).

2.12. Hetch Hetchy aqueduct, 1927±1934

Another early water supply project, the Hetch

Hetchy aqueduct serving San Francisco, in¯uenced

engineering geology practice. The alignment required

a Coast Range tunnel 46 km long, the ®rst long-bore

tunnel driven in the Paci®c Coastal region. Very dif®-

cult rock conditions were encountered in tunneling

from near Wesley in Central Valley to the outskirts

of Livermore that included: active rock stresses in

which parts required realignment due to the highly

contorted and sheared sediments; the clayey matrix

of some sandstones induced swelling and squeezing;

and dif®culty dealing with substantial quantities of

methane and sulfuretted hydrogen gas (McAfee,

1934). These problems served to develop the use of

gunite as a sublining to control-support in squeezing

ground. Some faults traversed by the tunnel are now

known to be active.

2.13. Broadway tunnel, Berkeley Hills, 1935±1937

Another early northern California tunnel that also

in¯uenced engineering geology practice was the twin-

bore highway tunnel through the Berkeley Hills that

links the Orinda and Walnut Creek areas to the East

Bay and San Francisco Bay bridge. Benjamin M.

Page, of Stanford, served as geologist for the contrac-

tor and described the tunneling dif®culties largely due

to the unexpected geological conditions encountered

(Page, 1950). The Miocene±Pliocene rocks involved

consist of sandstone, shaley sandstone, shale,

mudstone and conglomerate. Part of the tunnel

cross-cut an overturned limb of a syncline and the

folded beds with dips up to 608 were fractured and

displaced by the many associated faults.

Although a pre-construction geologic investigation

and report was made by a prominent Berkeley

geologist, it re¯ected no serious concerns. In reality,

the às-encountered' tunneling conditions presented

serious dif®culties and work stoppages owing to:

lateral pressures active at the southwest portal;

instability and `running ground' with `cave-ins';

unstable contacts between some bedded rock units;

and treacherously weak and altered plastic diabase

dikes. The construction contract by The Six Companies

(builders Boulder Dam), was canceled by the California

Highway District due to slow progress in 1936, and

the tunnel was completed in 1937 by a replacement

contractor. This action led to a major lawsuit in which

`Six Companies' contended that the inaccurate pre-

construction geologic report was a major cause of

their slow progress (unexpected adverse rock condi-

tions). The California Highway District contended

they assumed no responsibility for the accuracy or

views of the geologist. The Court accepted this

proviso (no accountability) and `Six Companies'

was denied any consideration for the misleading

pre-bid report and thus lost the suit.

This pioneer tunnel in the East Bay Hills provided


extensive geologic information and a database of

great assistance in planning-design of the Bay Area

Rapid Transit (BART) system tunnel built nearby in

1960s.

2.14. San Jacinto tunnel of Colorado River aqueduct,

1934±1936

The San Jacinto tunnel driven through the San

Jacinto Mountains experienced serious setbacks in

the early stages of construction due to geologic condi-

tions largely unknown to the contractor (Henderson,

1939). This experience emphasized the seriousness

and challenges associated with driving a large-size

tunnel through a highly faulted mountain range with

known active faults and minimal às-is' geologic

information. Some fault zones caused costly delays

and experienced enormous water in¯ows, from 7500

to 16,000 gpm at one location. The San Jacinto

experience con®rmed the necessity for a suitable

pre-construction geological investigation to establish

the least hazardous tunnel alignment and a construc-

tion plan. For example, approaching the fault zone

from the hanging-wall side can control the ground-

water in¯ow from a fault zone into an advancing

tunnel heading. This allows a more gradual in¯ow

of water at the tunnel face to drain from the inter-

connected fractures of the zone, before the tunneling

advances and passes through the fault zone. The

original San Jacinto alignment was changed after

detailed geologic mapping located and evaluated 21

fault zones; the new alignment intersected only 11

zones. Other measures used to reduce risks and

tunneling costs included: drilling `feeler' holes

ahead of face; placing small pioneer bores ahead of

main face in dangerous `grounds'; grouting off water

ahead of face; and using gunite techniques on fresh

exposures (Thompson, 1966, pp. 105±107).

Another critical groundwater principle was learned;

a low annual precipitation in an arid region is not

necessarily indicative of a dry tunnel in a highly

faulted terrain. The water drained from the numerous

faults cross-cut by the tunnel depleted the ground

water supply to surface springs and wells. An assess-

ment of the damage to local ground-water supplies

was further complicated because no systematic data-

base on the ¯ow of springs and wells was made before

construction. This resulted in costly litigation for

more than a generation (Henderson, 1951, oral

communication; Proctor, 1999).

2.15. Golden Gate Bridge controversy, 1931±1934

Engineers were aware of the need for geological

input into the planning and design of major works

by the 1930s. Yet, this guidance could interject

confusion and adverse effects into the planning

and construction, if the geological conditions were

misinterpreted. Often meddlesome or adversarial

approaches to planning a project are advanced by an

intervenor/group, who have invested minimal tech-

nical effort to support their concepts and accusations.

Such intervention can require the project's owner to

perform additional exploration, prepare arguments

and special reports to counter the criticism; frequently

public hearings are held to resolve the issues Ð a

costly and time-consuming effort for the project

sponsor. Use of scienti®c and engineering concepts

by intervenors became popular in the 1950s±1980s

during the construction and/or licensing of nuclear

power plants in North America.

A much earlier case of intervenor opposition

occurred in the exploration for and design of the foun-

dation for the South Pier of the Golden Gate Bridge,

San Francisco, during 1931±1934 (Lutgens et al.,

1934; Strauss, 1938; Schlocker, 1974). Opposition

to the Golden Gate Bridge was supported by some

San Francisco area corporate interests and citizen

groups alike with public challenges in the 1920s and

early 1930s which delayed the construction.

One accusation contended that foundation condi-

tions for the South Pier were unsafe and a redesign

was required. The pier was located within a body

of serpentine rock at a depth of 100 ft below the

channel surface (Fig. 7). The consulting geologists

Andrew C. Lawson (UC-Berkeley) and Allan E.

Sedgwich (USC-Los Angeles), after further review

in 1932, concluded that the foundation, as designed,

was safe and beyond question (Lutgens et al., 1934).

Although this argument was temporarily dropped,

the opposition took a different tack. They chal-

lenged the legality of the Bridge District to ®nance

construction based on plans for marketing bonds at

a 5.25% rate of interest, when district approval was

only at a 5% rate. This maneuver was defeated

when A.P. Giannini, Chairman of the Bank of


G.A

.K

iersch/

En

gin

eering

Geo

logy

59

(2001)

1±

49

16

Fig. 7. The south pier of Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, was the focus of a geological controversy in 1930s to redesign its foundation. A contention that faults occurred in a

poor-quality serpentine foundation rock led geologist Bailey Willis to challenge ®ndings of the consulting geologists A.C. Lawsen and A.E. Sedgwich. The differences of

interpretation are shown on subsurface sections of the south pier (from Kiersch, 1991, p. 35).

G.A

.K

iersch/

En

gin

eering

Geo

logy

59

(2001)

1±

49

17

Fig. 8. Geologic map of south pier area and subsurface section showing location of `faults' believed by Bailey Willis to occur and endanger the integrity of south pier foundation

(from Kiersch, 1991, p. 36).

America (originally Bank of Italy) pledged his

bank's support Ð and quickly sold $3 million

worth of district bonds at 5%. New bids were

tendered on 14 October 1932, and construction

began on 5 January 1933.

As construction progressed into 1934, safety of

the South Pier became the opposition's sole

argument for delaying the bridge. Bailey Willis,

professor emeritus at Stanford University, began a

concerted drive to discredit the consulting geolo-

gist's interpretation of geologic conditions surround-

ing the pier's foundation (Fig. 8). Willis submitted

his ®rst report on 7 April 1934, to the Bridge District

and later sent a report to Chief Engineer J.B. Strauss

on 22 August 1934. He recommended that construc-

tion be stopped until his geologic contentions were

clari®ed. Additionally, on 19 October 1934, Willis

(1934) published a two-page discussion and his

technical points with diagrams and a model of the

site. He contended the serpentine foundation rock

was an inadequate and treacherous material that

would swell and decompose and large-scale fault

movement would occur along the faults (as no. 3,

Fig. 8). Again Willis requested the district to stop

construction and redesign the South Pier of the

bridge; his solution was a foundation on the `sand-

stone mass' at a depth of some 250 ft beneath the

às-constructed' level (shown Figs. 7 and 8). This

proposal would greatly increase construction costs.

After an extensive hearing in which each argu-

ment by Willis `was carefully scrutinized and

found erroneous as to fact or inference,' the Building

Committee concluded: a `sandstone mass' did not

occur at depth nor did a fault plane beneath the

pier site (Fig. 8), and furthermore, the serpentinized

rock mass was a competent body, when con®ned, to

carry the static load imposed by the bridge. The

Building Committee recommended the directors

disregard the arguments and recommendations of

Professor Willis on 27 November 1934 (Lutgens et

al., 1934, p. 16). The long, sometimes bitter, and

costly battle over geological arguments/concerns

that the Golden Gate Bridge design was unsafe was

closed. The bridge was open to vehicular traf®c on

27 May 1937; the construction costs and bond were

fully repaid on 1 July 1971 and over time no stability

problems have been experienced in spite of several

strong earthquakes.

3. Growth of engineering geology-practice

3.1. Overview

The advent of World War II (1939±1945) brought

about the proliferation of applied geology on a scale

hitherto unimagined. Among the many new phases,

the applications of geology to military operations as

developed in Europe and South Paci®c were among

the most important advancements in engineering

geology of the mid-century (Kiersch, 1955, 1998).

Additionally, applications of marine geology and

sedimentation principles were developed for naval

operations, such as, the use of underwater sound,

marine mining, installation of underwater equipment,

shore installations, and amphibious operations

(Russell, 1950). Aerial-detection and geophysical

techniques developed for naval and army warfare

have been modi®ed and successfully adapted for a

wide range of geological-geophysical exploration

purposes (Bates et al, 1982; Kiersch, 1998). Trask

(1950) reviewed the importance of soft rock and sedi-

ments in the major areas of geological practice, for

civil and military works.

The post-World War II period witnessed the growth

of applied geosciences and a substantial improvement

in the professional status of engineering geology

practice. The greatly increased demand for geologists

to plan and participate in the construction of the major

engineering works approached the number of applied

geologists participating in the discovery and exploita-

tion of mineral resources in western states. This was a

dramatic change in practice for the Geoscience

community (Betz, 1984, p. 241). These changing

demands required a modi®cation of emphasis for

professional practice of engineering geologists. The

new concerns were more focused on the scienti®c

aspects that included: the natural physical processes;

dating of tectonic and associated events; reaction of

the environs to operating works and man-induced

actions; and the geologist's responsibilities to protect

the health, safety, and welfare of the public (Kiersch,

1955, 1991).

After World War II state agencies became more

active in addressing a wide range of engineering

geology problems, particularly in connection with

highways, water supply, urban zoning, ¯ood plains

and conservation measures. Typical of the trend was


the planning and development of statewide water

projects by the California Division of Water

Resources under the chief geologist E.C. Marliave

in the 1950s and L.B. James in the 1960s and 1970s

when more than 100 geologists were engaged with the

many phases of the California State Water Project.

Oroville dam and power facility on the Feather

River, a key installation of State Water Project,

supplies the California Aqueduct that moves water

southward to the Los Angeles area and the Mojave

high-desert east-branch to the San Bernadino region.

The aqueduct alignment crosses an extensive region

underlain by hydrocompactable soils/sediments in the

San Joaquin Valley. Areal land subsidence became a

serious geologic problem/risk due to both (a) heavy

groundwater withdrawal at depth; and (b) collapse of

the low-density near-surface deposits when saturated.

This high-risk, probability was eliminated by using

ponds along the alignment to presubside and stablize

the canal foundation (James, 1991; Borchers, 1998).

The land subsidence phenomena are also common in

parts of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.

Concurrently, the California Division of Mines and

Geology under Ian Campbell (1958±1969) initiated

geologic mapping that de®ned the surface features

and the potential geo-risk of active processes during

a period that witnessed a burgeoning of concerns for

the environmental and engineering applications of the

geosciences (Oakschott, 1985, p. 332). This attention

to practical geologic concerns has continued since the

1970s under the current chief of CDMG, James F.

Davis.

Employment of engineering geologists by the

1960s was mainly in one of the two categories: on a

large-scale focus related to regional/areal features and

how they might impact the planning-construction of

engineered works; or on a detailed scale, con®ned to

small areas and site-speci®c geology that included the

construction of works.

Underground rapid transit systems were being

installed or planned in a number of cities throughout

the States by 1960; most projects required large-scale

geological investigations for the planning-design with

an on-going input during construction. The Bay Area

Rapid Transit (BART) was built in 1966±1973

(Taylor and Conwell, 1981). The BART tube to the

East Bay region beneath the San Francisco Bay

became the only direct connection between the area

cities after the Loma Prieta earthquake of 17 October

1989, damaged and closed the Bay Bridge (Fig. 9).

Subsequently, Caltrans embarked on a statewide

seismic retro®t program and by 1997 concluded that

the East Span of Bay Bridge, Yerba Buena Island to

Oakland mole, should be replaced. Geologic investi-

gations were undertaken in 1998 and planning has

progressed for the replacement structure SFOBB

East Span project (McNeilan et al., 1998).

Since the World War II, airport programs have

created demands for larger sites with greater bearing

capacities that created enormously expanded

construction-material needs. Creating similar

demands have been the expansion of state and federal

conservation measures, urban developments, reclaim-

ing marginal lands, and military planning involving

air, land, and underwater applications of geology. In


Fig. 9. San Francisco Bay Bridge, Oakland East Bay span showing

the failed section caused by the Loma Prieta earthquake of 17 Octo-

ber 1989 (photo courtesy US Geological Survey/H. Wilshire, in

Kiersch, 1991, p. 59).


the 1960s, demands required the active participation

of applied geologists in lunar and planetary explora-

tion (Green, 1962).

The deterioration of highways during World War II

emphasized the realization they are defense lines which

caused highway construction to dramatically expand

with improved design standards. Freeways and inter-

state highways became the trend, and by design

required a greater use of geologic guidance for planning

and construction. In 1955, the US Congress supported a

far-sighted nationwide interstate highway system for

construction over a 10-year period. This activity

engaged a large group of applied highway geologists

throughout the western states in state and local agencies

and private consulting and engineering ®rms.

Eight major dams failed around the world between

1959 and 1964. Two reservoir±dam failures in 1963,

Vaiont, Italy (Kiersch, 1964, 1988), and Baldwin

Hills, California, (James, 1968), coming after the

earlier failure at Malpasset, France in 1958, initiated

a period of reconsideration and evaluation of dam

safety. This led to mandatory inspections of dams

and reservoirs by the 1970s and frequently such

modi®cations as improving the stability of reservoir

slopes (James and Kiersch, 1988). The need for

increased electrical generating capacity could not be

met by more hydro-projects and contributed to the

large-scale planning and construction of nuclear

power plants.

By the late 1960s, concern was building for

protection of the natural environment and the impact

of proposed or operating engineered works. The 1969

leakage of an operating oil well in Santa Barbara

Channel, California focused nationwide attention on

the spill and led to enactment of many federal laws

and regulations such as the National Environment

Policy Acts (NEPA) of 1969, the US Environmental

Protection Agency (USEPA) of 1970, and the Water

Quality Improvement Act of 1970. Many other

national, state, and local regulations followed in the

1970s and 1980s and overall become the major

guidelines for the practice of applied geosciences

relevant to the environment. Speci®c projects

expected to have a serious environmental impact

were disposal and deep burial of nuclear waste,

disposal of garbage and refuse in land®lls, the health

concerns of trace elements and contaminating in

ground-water supplies, and the safety of ¯ood plains

and ¯ood-hazard zoning of these lands. Two new

areas of specialized practice emerged: the identi®ca-

tion and mitigation of `geologic risks' (Fig. 10)

spurred by safety concerns and notable failures of

large-scale engineered works; and the disposal of

waste and deep burial projects that focused on ground

water as a contaminant carrier.

4. Some representative major projects Ð since1948

4.1. Underground protective construction

Realization of the destructive force of the atomic

bomb in 1945, and later the hydrogen bomb, created

concern that defense against their effects was nearly

impossible. In response, the US Corps of Engineers

and government-sponsored research groups made

tremendous strides in the design of protective

construction to resist large-scale blasts. This approach

relied on knowledge of the geologic environs and

properties of rock masses. Developments in destruc-

tive weapons dictated some underground locations for

military command centers and storage facilities; two

strategic installations were built by the 1960s, the

Omaha, Nebraska, Command Control Center and

the NORAD Center in Cheyenne Mountain near

Colorado Springs, Colorado. Geologic principles

relevant to the location, construction, and operation

of subterranean installations to resist modest-scale

subsurface explosions were reviewed by Kiersch

(1949, 1951) and O'Sullivan, (1961).

The underground Explosion Test Program of US

Corps of Engineers with engineers, geologists, and

technical staff of Sacramento District performed

®eld studies at sites in Utah and Colorado. Under-

ground chambers were constructed at various depths

in sandstone and granite followed by live-detonations

to test scale models (1947±1950). Further research by


Fig. 10. The common natural geologic-hydrologic phenomena/geo-risks; man-induced phenomena/geo-risks; and natural atmospheric-hydro-

logic phenomena/hazards (from Kiersch, 1991, p. 55).

Engineering Research Associates (ERA), Minneapolis

(1952±1953) emphasized the principal geologic factors

that impact on the design of a large-scale underground

protective chamber (ERA, 1952a,b). The Rand

Corporation sponsored an underground construction

symposium (1959) that recorded the `state of knowl-

edge' on the design and construction of underground

protective chambers (USCE, 1961).

4.2. Broadway tunnel, San Francisco, 1945±1952

The Broadway tunnel project under the historic

Russian Hill area was approved in 1946 and

Morrison±Knudsen Company began construction in

May 1950. The tunnel consists of two bores, 28.5 ft

wide and 35 ft apart, to provide a traf®c artery from

downtown San Francisco to the northwestern part of

the city and the Golden Gate Bridge (Fig. 11).

The city of San Francisco had previously engaged a

consulting engineer/geologist in 1944 (Hyde Forbes)

to supervise the drilling of cored-borings to tunnel-grade

and interpret/evaluate the site area and geological

exploration data for planning-design and bid-contract

purposes. Subsurface investigations were critical to

evaluating the expected rock and soil-overburden condi-

tions along the urbanized, built-over tunnel alignment

(Cooney, 1952). The consultant's feasibility study

reported the occurrence of many small faults, some

breccia and shear zones, and considerable deformation

of the Franciscan rock mass. Unfortunately, the full

geological implications and meaning of the boring

data, both physical and `fugitive,' were not realized

and the in-place rock conditions were incorrectly

interpreted (Forbes, 1945). Evaluation of the low-core

recovery (under 50%) was erroneously attributed to

some natural fracturing but mainly excessive mechan-

ical grinding, blocking, and overruns by the driller.

Insuf®cient attention was paid to the highly fractured

conditions of the recovered core as an indication of

rock-in-place. Forbes' (1945; 1951) description of the

expected rock conditions in¯uenced the contractor to

bid his costs on a full-face mining method.

Tunneling quickly revealed a more extensively

fractured and less-healed rock mass than expected,

and deterioration of rock by weathering was serious

and widespread. Surprisingly, the consultant had not

studied the surface outcrops near the tunnel alignment

as an aid in evaluating the characteristics of the


Fig. 11. Broadway Tunnel alignment through Russian Hill provides a low-level traf®c artery from downtown San Francisco to Golden Gate

Bridge. Note Ð location coincides with topographic saddle between Nob and Russia Hill (from Wadsworth, 1953).

sandstone and shale units at tunnel-level (Marliave,

1951), a serious error of geological judgment. The

alignment largely coincides with the topographic

saddle between Nob and Russian Hills (Fig. 11),

which commonly indicates faulting in Franciscan

bedrock. Moreover, the east portal area of Russian

Hill was inadequately investigated; instead of

bedrock, the area was an old, back-®lled stream

channel with no bedrock. This condition required

use of costly Type-A steel supports.

As the tunnel progressed, geologic conditions

continued to be very different than expected by the

contractor from the bid documents, and Chester

Marliave was engaged by contractor to make a geolo-

gical investigation. By mid-1951 the city of San

Francisco was also concerned and sponsored two

separate studies; one by consultant John P. Buwalda

of Caltech (1951), and the other by consultant Karl

Terzaghi of Boston. In addition, the as-encountered

geologic conditions throughout the tunnel were

mapped by US Geological Survey personnel (M.G.

Bonilla and co-workers). All three consultants and

the USGS investigators concluded that the geologic

setting of the tunnel site had not been fully evaluated


Fig. 12. Broadway Tunnel, San Francisco. Geologic cross section of station 18 1 08 of the southbound lane. The typical conditions encountered

in the Franciscan rock complex are represented, along with a plot of faulted and sheared rock units and mining methods (after ®eld notes M.G.

Bonilla, 1952; US Geological Survey Library, in Kiersch, 1991, p. 53).

nor adequately correlated with the cored-boring data

for either the design or bidding purposes.

4.2.1. Changed conditions

The Broadway tunnel project became the center of

a long public controversy between the contractor and

the city during 1951 and the às-is' rock conditions.

The contractor contended the original consulting

report of 1945 was misleading, and substantially

changed conditions were encountered because the

bid documents stated or implied there were: (1) no

bedding planes in sandstone unit, no faults occur

parallel to tunnel alignment, and all faults healed

with rock mass generally intact; (2) no slickenside

features or swelling noted in the cores (implied for

mass), and no indication of swelling ground; (3) no

air-slaking materials known from cores and shales of

limited extent; and (4) no ground-water in¯ow is

expected.

The contractor was convinced that a top-heading

or a full-face tunneling method as planned was

impractical. The rock mass varied from hard to

soft, the highly weathered, sheared, and fractured

rocks air-slaked on exposure, and large slabs

could be air-spaded or chipped off easily, and blast-

ing was controlled and used sparingly.

Consequently, the contractor changed mining

methods to the plumb-post method (Cooney, 1952)

after driving the north bore 178 ft from the east portal.

Mining progressed from two header foot-block drifts

9 ft wide on each side at the base of the tunnel section

(Fig. 12). The remaining 60% of the face excavation

were removed with a breast-board machine. A design

controversy immediately arose because the contractor

had originally recommended the stronger Type-B (full

circle) tunnel support in sectors of the tunnels with

soft-weak rock conditions but the city rejected this

proposed change in design.

4.2.2. Overview

The Broadway tunnel experience emphasizes the

importance of an accurate interpretation of drill core

data, and the ability to distinguish geologic defects in

the rock mass from mechanical ¯aws created by drilling

operations. Such ability is largely a matter of good

judgment by an experienced applied geologist.

4.3. Folsom dam, 1948±1956

The multi-purpose Folsom dam and reservoir

project east of Sacramento, utilized geologic guidance

for the site selection, planning-design and construc-

tion phases. The 4.8 miles of dams consist of a high

concrete gravity dam with earthen wing embankments

on the American River and nine saddle dams on small

tributaries. The Mormon Island auxiliary earth®ll dam

was built across the ancestral Blue Ravine channel of

South Fork American River.

The main dam and most saddle embankments are

founded on extensively fractured/sheared and

weathered quartz diorite; on-site òutcrops' were

usually residual weathered boulders underlain by

erratic depths of highly weathered rock. The stages

of weathering Ð slight, moderate, highly Ð were

established by their respective petrographic and

physical properties. This classi®cation strengthened

the geologist's ability to estimate depths to suitable

foundation rock. Conventional subsurface explora-

tion techniques investigated the main dam with

cored-borings, geophysical surveys, bore hole

camera photography, down-hole logging of man-

sized openings, and 48-in. auger/calyx holes.

Foundation excavation for the main dam

progressed in three separate contract stages, based

on the design investigations. Extensively weathered

rock at each successive excavation-level veri®ed the

limitations of small-diameter cored boring data to

clarify the complexity of a weathered rock mass.

Additional exploration was required prior to the

second and third stages of excavation, by shallow

percussion drill holes, shafts, adits, and man-sized

holes. The degree and extent of weathered rock at

excavation-levels are shown on three-dimensional

diagrams as are faults delineated in foundation rock

and zones requiring dental treatment (Fig. 13).

Core trenches of earth®ll and saddle embankments


Fig. 13. Three-stage block diagram of excavation, right abutment (west) Folsom dam that illustrates the diverse weathering characteristics of

foundation rock and associated geologic features. Conditions exposed at each level aided in predicting the extent and type of weathered rock at

subsequent levels and the ®nal foundation elevation (Kiersch and Treasher, 1955).


were grouted on a split-method pattern. Grouting the

permeable, highly weathered quartz diorite was

dif®cult due to the abundance of clayey-®lled

fractures. Impervious earth®ll was `borrowed' from

areas of highly weathered quartz diorite; permeable

®ll was supplied from alluvium deposits. Full details

on Folsom project are given elsewhere by Kiersch and

Treasher (1955, pp. 271±310).

The powerhouse was placed in a deep excavation

250 ft below the river channel for additional power

head. The Mormon Island auxiliary dam is founded

on metamorphic rocks that underlie the auriferous

gravels of Blue Ravine Channel. The Folsom project

was constructed prior to knowledge of any seismic

history in region. Since, the State of California has

re-evaluated and declared the project susceptible

to seismic activity (Sherburne and Hauge, 1975).

Consequently the Mormon Island dam received

remedial upgrading treatment in 1990s by the US

Corps of Engineers.

4.4. Geological mapping SPCo lands Ð related

engineered works, 1955±1961

The most ambitious private geological mapping

project of its day was completed between 1955 and

1961 by the Southern Paci®c Corporation (SPCo), a

geological survey and evaluation of its landholdings

in California, Nevada, and Utah (earlier studies 1909±

1925; Fig. 5). The broad-based geologic mapping and

related special projects were designed to provide

technical guidance and a comprehensive database

to manage the SPCo lands for the ensuing 50-year

period. The SPCo Board of Directors authorized a

geological survey with exploration and evaluation

of company lands in 1954 for guidance in their

management as well as assistance to the industrial

and resources departments and related SPCo engi-

neering projects of railroad and pipelines.

The survey was operating at full strength by late

1955 and consisted of ®ve regional/areal mapping

crews in ®eld plus supporting researchers and of®ce

staff of professionals along with a separate special-

projects staff that investigated prospects and resource

development in the follow-up phase. Some 22,000

miles, the equivalent of 93, 15 min quadrangles,

were mapped (scale of 1:24,000) on standardized

SPCo-prepared two-township base maps. All lands

within the 40-mile strip were mapped for geologic

trends and features that could project onto or impact

SPCo holdings. The alternate odd-numbered sections

of Southern Paci®c's land-grant holdings, were 38%

of the area investigated (Kiersch, 1958, 1959; Fig. 5).

The geological survey utilized all the principles and

geological techniques available in the 1950s and

followed the broad steps outlined in Stages 1±6

(Fig. 14). Parts of the survey mapping were incorpo-

rated into the 1959±1969 edition of the Geologic

Atlas and Map of California (Jennings, 1969) and

an early edition of the Geologic Map of Nevada

(Webb and Wilson, 1962).

The large-scale geologic mapping combined with a

systematic inventory of known or potential resources

served a host of uses for new construction, mainte-

nance of engineered works, the railroads trackway,

land management, and a means of attracting new

industry and developments for rail service. Resources

data on minerals, fuels, water, soils, or engineering

materials became an asset, whether for maintaining

the railroad trackways in dif®cult and slide-prone

terrain, or providing additional freight and/or lease

revenue from untapped deposits. `Nonmineral' lands

were managed exclusively for their surface value or

ground-water without concern for possible future

mineral leasing. This approach provided a suitable

understanding of geologic conditions and their rele-

vance to agriculture, grazing, timber, recreation, and

commercial plant sites, as well as guidance for litiga-

tion and claims ®led against SPCo. The geological

database was also utilized to select new sites for

major industrial developments and provide guidance

on geological problems arising from operation of the

railroad system and the SPCo oil-supply pipeline,

such as, mitigation of slides, earthquake damage,

and tunnel failures. The Alta landslide is one such

use of the survey's database.

4.4.1. Alta landslide, trans-continental railroad

The major slope failure and debris slide of April 1958

near Baxter, California, blocked the main west-east

transcontinental railroad and temporarily closed US

Highway 40. The ®nancial losses sustained by SPCo

approached $1 million/day. Geological data collected

earlier by the SPCo survey from nearby lands provided

a knowledge of ground-water conditions and physical

properties of the unstable tuffaceous Tertiary rock units


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Fig. 14. Flow chart for the regional/areal approach to geoscience investigations for site selection and design of engineered works (from Kiersch, 1958, 1964).

that caused the trackway collapse, and the subsurface

conditions downslope from the railroad that affected

and temporarily closed Highway 40 (Fig. 15A and B).

Fortunately, the immediate cause of failure was

temporarily mitigated within four days and the main

line returned to one-way traf®c, which avoided some

of ®nancial loss. Long-term stabilization was

achieved only after an extensive geologic investiga-

tion of the site in the fall of 1959 outlined the total

slide mass. This effort included obtaining cored-

boring data, installing horizontal drains along hillside

of trackway, and evaluating a joint effort for long-time


Fig. 15. (A) Alta slide of 14 April 1958. Looking westward along outer track that was undercut and destroyed by caving. Note: Toe of slope

intact; area later impacted by the surcharge of waste debris removed for track widening. Shows steep cliff of case-hardened tuff beds with

contact between rock units near track-level. For downhill extension of total slide area see (B); pilings indicated area of original caving/sliding

(source: Kiersch 4-14-58, 1962). (B) Alta slide California Ð looking uphill from future I-80 Highway alignment in October 1959 after the cut

in tuff beds above railroad grade was benched and stabilized. Note: pilings for marker shown Fig. 15-A and the original small-slide that

subsequently spread down slope and triggered large-scale movement. Recent ®ll in foreground shows extensive movement that impacted US

Highway-40 immediately downhill. Stabilization required deep drains located in the underlying Tertiary gravels. The slide mass of low-shear

strength was saturated 30±40 ft below the surface and monitored by a network of borings and water-¯ow test holes (source: Kiersch 10-14-59, 1962).

stability of the slide with the California Department of

Highway. This led to construction of an extensive

drain-system downslope of the SPCo trackway

(Fig. 16) to stabilize the area for construction of

the I-80 freeway that replaced the damaged Highway 40

(Kiersch, 1962, pp. 135±144).

4.4.2. Railroad causeway Ð SPCo, Great Salt Lake,

Utah

An outstanding example of a calculated risk is the

design and construction of a Southern Paci®c railroad

embankment across the Great Salt Lake to replace the

12-mile-long timber trestle that was built at the

beginning of this century (inset, Fig. 17). The new

®ll, which was built during 1956±1959, started from

the old ®ll sections and ran parallel to the trestle,

located 1500 ft to the north. This ensured that

construction of the ®ll would not endanger the trestle

(Casagrande, 1965).

Preconstruction laboratory strength tests on undis-

turbed samples of the soft and sensitive silty clay and

Glauber's salt units, which underlie the lake to a great

depth (Fig. 17) and the foundation for the causeway,

indicated the design would involve great uncertainties.

The Glauber's salt varies greatly in thickness and

strength and underlies the ®ll for many miles, with

its upper surface at a depth of 20±30 ft below lake

bottom. This seriously complicated the design and

construction of the ®ll (Fig. 17); several design stages

for the cross section on soft clay (no salt layer) are

given by Casagrande (1965).

To achieve an economical design it became neces-

sary to build full-scale test ®lls and induce failures;

these ®eld tests developed data on the in situ strength

of the foundation units. Particularly impressive were

the failures of ®ll founded on the Glauber's salt layer

(Fig. 17). For practical purposes the salt had to carry

the entire lateral thrust of the ®ll. When the salt

buckled, the ®ll sank into the soft clay with extra-

ordinary speed. Even the most pessimistic initial

assumptions of the consultants did not prepare them

for the very low in situ strength of the soft clay, gained

from the analysis of the test section failures and other

®ll sections. Although the consulting board ®rst

recommended construction of full-scale test sections

for design data, they soon learned that a test ®ll could

be built only by mobilizing most of the expensive

equipment needed for construction of the entire

embankment. Consequently, the às-built' causeway

became the `test section,' which was closely moni-

tored and modi®ed according to the às-encountered'

foundation units. This resulted in successful comple-

tion of the project one year ahead of schedule

(Casagrande, 1965). Success would not have been

achieved however, if the consultants had known

before construction the às-is' strength of the Glauber's

salt and clay beds would control the stability of the

embankment. Moreover, Southern Paci®c probably

would not have authorized the project. Based on the

às-built' knowledge of the foundation units, the

conventional factor of safety required would have

forced a design ®ll costing far in excess of the 1955

estimate and $50 million limit established by the

Board of Directors of Southern Paci®c Corporation.

Although the initial misinterpretation of subsurface

units and their inherent strengths allowed the project

to get underway, the adoption of ®eld test data and

evaluation of the risk as construction progressed

resulted in its successful completion.

A ®ll built on normally consolidated clay has its

lowest factor of safety against foundation failure

during construction or immediately after its comple-

tion. Since the new railroad causeway was put in

operation (1959) the rate of settlement has gradually

decreased in a consistent pattern that re¯ects a

steadily increasing strength of the clay.

The Great Salt Lake causeway project is a good

example of what Karl Terzaghi liked to call the

òbservational approach,' i.e. the continuous evaluation

of observations and new information for redesigning

as needed while construction is in progress. It also

illustrates Terzaghi's belief à design is not completed

until the construction is successfully completed'

(Casagrande, 1965).

The calculated risks involved in this project would

not be complete without mentioning another risk. The

`sand and gravel' used for the main body of the under-

water ®ll was largely a silty sand. The question of its

stability under dynamic stresses was of serious

concern to the consultants and a calculated risk

which could have defeated the design and ultimate

construction.

4.5. Auburn Dam controversy, 1948±1979

Major geological and geotechnical investigations



were carried out in the 1950s±1970s in support of the

design and construction of the authorized Auburn

Dam at a site on the North Fork of American River,

upstream of Folsom project. This long and expensive

controversy is a classic case of `differing professional

opinions' concerning the safety and design-costs of

`the world's largest thin-arch, double-curvature high

dam' proposed east of Sacramento, California.

Authorized in 1948, the US Bureau of Reclamation

(USBR) spent years and millions of dollars conduct-

ing technical and scienti®c investigations to support

the dam's construction and operation (Gardner et al.,

1957). Yet the ®ndings of the USBR's investigations,

interpretation of the data, and conclusions became

questionable, when evaluated by other experienced

technical groups, after the Oroville earthquake of

August 1975. This event ruptured the ground surface

of the Cleveland Hill fault, a strand of the Sierra

Nevada Foothills fault system, and con®rmed the

region was more seismically active than previously

believed (Sherburne and Hauge, 1975). Subsequently,

additional site-speci®c and regional investigations

were carried out by the USBR, other governmental

agencies, and respected consulting ®rms (Borcherdt

et al., 1975; USBR, 1977, 1978; Woodward-Clyde,

1977). They collectively expressed concern that

faults, known within the foundation area, are poten-

tially àctive' and the dam had to be re-designed to

withstand the ground displacement of an active fault

(Davis et al., 1979).

The diverse and strong differences of opinion

concerning the Auburn damsite features were based

on geological data gained from subsurface-trench

exposures of datable sediments overlying bedrock

faults, either displaced or unbroken (Shlemon,

1985). Separate agencies or consultants emplaced

trenches side-by-side, yet often arrived at different

conclusions. The myriad of trenches at and near the

damsite resembled a World War I battle®eld. Tech-

nical controversy abounded concerning the `safety' of

project and hearings were conducted before various

regulatory agencies, both for and against the site and

project design. Ultimately the controversies led to a

`deferral' of the proposed dam at the 1948 site. Public

interest in a dam on the North Fork has continued;

other nearby sites and dam designs have been

proposed, particularly after ¯oods caused damage

to urban areas downstream (after Shlemon, 1999

(written communication)).

Despite the strong diversity of technical opinion,

the Auburn controversy provided valuable bene®ts

to the engineering±geology community, even though

the investigations and arguments took place when

environmental concerns were increasing in popularity;

perhaps the dam was a `victim' of the 1970s trend.

The various types of investigations and techniques

used to ascertain the relative activity of faults at the

damsite substantially improved the local geologic and

geotechnical standard-of-practice (Shlemon et al.,

1992).

4.6. Nuclear power plants

Increasing electricity demands triggered the plan-

ning for construction of nuclear power plants in late

1950s. Each plant design required seismotectonic

investigations to establish the recent last movement

on fault zones within the region/area. This Federal

requirement advanced the scienti®c techniques/

methods for dating tectonic events that included a

sequential history of multiple alluvial units, dating

the associated minerals, and a correlation with

tectonic and geomorphologic features. Soil science

techniques proved basic to dating Quaternary sedi-

ments (Shlemon, 1985), and classi®cation of fault

zones as active, potentially active, and/or dormant.

In early years the associated geologic features/

processes were seemingly not as critical than in later

years to the designers, constructors, and regulatory

agencies. Early geological investigations for plant

sites (1950s±1960s) pioneered the licensing proce-

dures and ultimate technical requirements leading to

termination or delay of four California projects,


Fig. 16. Plan View Ð corrective measures that stabilized `lower' Alta slide involving the Interstate I-80 alignment. Lowering water table

required 30 in. diameter wells installed on 8 ft centers between the highway and railroad alignment and shown as drainage galleries. The wells

are inter-connected at the bottom and the galleries are joined to the transverse stabilization trenches which are spaced on 8 ft centers and are

30 ft deep and 12 ft wide at bottom with 1 1/4:1 side slopes (modi®ed after Cauley, 1962).

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Fig. 17. Southern Paci®c Railroad, Great Salt Lake causeway. Embankment construction and the reaction of subsurface geologic units, particularly near-surface bed of Glauber's

salt. The section shows typical exploration holes and the composition of the lake beds to depths of more than 200 ft at Lucin, Utah (after Haley and Aldrich Co., personal

communication; Currey and Lambrechts, personal communications; Kiersch, 1991, p. 552).

Bodega Head, Malibu, and Diablo Canyon, and the

Vallecito test reactor.

By the 1970s, siting work required a more sophis-

ticated appreciation of geologic constraints such as

earthquake impact, subsidence, slope stability, and

foundation integrity (Hatheway and McClure, 1979).

The concerns for hazardous constraints were initially

formalized by the US Atomic Energy Commission

(AEC, 1971) in Siting Criteria for Nuclear Power

Plants and after modi®cation released in the Code

of Federal Regulations (1977). Based on historical

seismicity, regional geology, and site-foundation

conditions, the seismologist provided a reasonable

estimate of the safe-shutdown earthquake.

The required federal license to construct and

operate nuclear power plants is awarded through a

demanding process and high level of assurance as to

suitability of the site. Consequently, applicants for

permits and operating license usually organized

large teams of scienti®c and technical personnel to

compile the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report

(PSAR) required for each plant. Geologists were a

key part of any team both for the site-speci®c and

regional assessment of the environs. To avoid costly

delays, many owners initiated a regional geological

study as the ®rst step toward identifying candidate

areas/sites (Kiersch, 1991, pp. 357±361). The licensing

organization assessed the risk associated with the

safety-related, geologic aspects of sites, and coped

with any intervenors who raised real or imagined

safety concerns. The Final Safety Analysis Report

(FSAR) included an evaluation of the site and geo-

logical `®ndings' during construction.

Many key geological issues identi®ed in the siting

or licensing phases of the 1960s and 1970s were

analogous to problems confronting researchers in

applied geosciences today, e.g. evaluation of remote

imagery, proof of subsurface stratigraphic continuity,

evaluation of potential fault activity (Wallace, 1986),

recency of fault movement that may involve datable

minerals or marker paleosols (Shlemon, 1985),

ground-water conditions of site, and the subsidence

potential, including dissolution of the foundation

material. Both classical and engineering geology

principles and practices are invariably required to

resolve such critical issues.

The overriding goal of each nuclear plant applicant

was Ð construct a safe power plant within budget.

However, it became ìmpossible' to maintain

construction schedules by the late 1970s within the

allotted funds. This reality and a decreased demand

for electricity resulted in the termination of many

nuclear projects by 1980. The lesson learned was Ð

èffective management and judgment requires ef®cient

communication and the coordinated input of both

scienti®c and technical data to achieve cost-ef®cient

licensing'. An average of 10±13 years were required

to satisfactorily resolve all issues and start up a new

generating facility (McClure and Hatheway, 1979;

Fig. 2).

4.6.1. Bodega Head nuclear site

This nuclear project was the ®rst site in the United

States for which active faults were an important

consideration (Bonilla, 1991, pp. 253±256). The

Bodega Head site 82 km north of San Francisco is

about 0.3 km from the western edge of 1906 San

Andreas fault trace (Fig. 18). During excavation of

the shaft for the reactor, a slip surface was found in

the unconsolidated sediments overlying the quartz


Fig. 18. Map showing relation of Bodega Head nuclear reactor

site to San Andreas fault zone. The 1906 surface rupture on

San Andreas fault was near the northeastern edge of the fault

zone (modi®ed from Schlocker and Bonilla, 1964; Bonilla in

Kiersch, 1991, p. 253).

diorite bedrock. The slip surface and its characteristics

raised several debated questions Ð was it truly a

tectonics `fault', or merely the edge of a landslide in

unconsolidated sediments? These questions led to a

thorough review of all surface ruptures accompanying

the 1906 earthquake (Schlocker and Bonilla, 1964).

Siting investigations that began in 1958 were

terminated in 1964 (Novick, 1969) after US Atomic

Energy Commission (1962, p. 3510) stated that a

nuclear reactor should not be placed `closer than one-

fourth mile from the surface location of a known active

earthquake fault'. This ambiguous criterion was later

modi®ed (US Regulatory Commission, 1977, p. 413)

to `movement at or near the ground surface at least

once within past 35,000 years or of a recurring nature

within past 500,000 years in de®nition of a capable

fault'. The US Atomic Energy Commission (1964)

concluded that `Bodega Head is not a suitable location

for a proposed nuclear power plant' on 30 October 1964,

and the Paci®c Gas and Electric abandoned their plans

three days later (Novick, 1969).

4.6.2. Malibu reactor site

This site lies within the Malibu coast zone of

deformation and just south of the Malibu coast thrust

fault, 45 km west of Los Angeles, California. The major

east±west fault experienced principal movement

between late Miocene and late Pleistocene. Investiga-

tions related to the project showed that a fault of

unknown age traversed the proposed location of the

reactor containment vessel and that several late Pleisto-

cene faults existed in the Malibu coast zone outside the

plant site (Yerkes and Wentworth, 1965). In addition to

these local conditions, the regional setting was an

important factor in evaluation of this site which lies in

an east±west belt of moderate seismicity that contains

the Malibu coast zone. A combination of local and

regional evidence led to the conclusion that the east±

west structural zone containing the nuclear reactor site is

tectonically active (Yerkes and Wentworth, 1965;

Marblehead Land Company, 1966). The existing data

relating fault length to earthquake magnitude were used

to some extent in estimating the size of potential earth-

quakes near the Malibu site (Benioff, 1965; Albee and

Smith, 1967).

At Malibu, faults whose most recent displacement

was between 10,000 and about 180,000 years ago

were nevertheless considered capable of surface rupture

for purposes of reactor design (Atomic Safety and

Licensing Board, 1966; US Atomic Energy Commis-

sion, 1967). This ®nding resulted in the Atomic Energy

Commission deciding the Malibu reactor would have to

be designed for fault displacement. The Los Angeles

Department of Water and Power withdrew their

construction permit on 30 May 1973. The State of

California later formally zoned the Malibu coast fault

as àctive' based on site-speci®c trenching and dating

(Drumm, 1992; Rzonca, et al., 1991).

4.6.3. Diablo Canyon nuclear power station

The discovery of an offshore fault after the Diablo

Canyon project was under construction (1968) caused

many delays and greatly increased the overall costs.

The plant site on the central California Coast is 20 km

southwest of San Luis Obispo. In 1971, a petroleum

publication noted an unnamed fault a short distance

offshore from plant site (Hoskins and Grif®ths, 1971).

This information triggered an investigation by US

Geological Survey that con®rmed the fault existed

(named Hosgri fault) and earthquakes had occurred

along its length (Wagner, 1974). The US Geological

Survey concluded a magnitude 7.5 earthquake could

occur on Hosgri fault within 5 km of nuclear plant.

The suggested magnitude of 7.5 earthquake and

associated ground-motion parameters were much

larger than considered in designing the plant and an

extensive re-analysis and modi®cations were required

(Lawroski, 1978; Piper, 1981) at several times the

original cost estimate.

4.6.3. Vallecito nuclear reactor

An incorrect evaluation of the geologic environs of

a major engineered works can cause the project to be

unjustly terminated. Such a case involved the Vallecito

nuclear test reactor (GETR) near Pleasanton, California

(Fig. 19) with a devastating effect on an operating


Fig. 19. The Verona fault and controversy relative to the Vallecito, General Electric nuclear reactor facility. The plan map shows the

distribution of postulated thrust faults and headscarps of landslides. The section shows an interpretation of landslide slip surfaces and fault

slip surfaces in the vicinity of the GETR facility (after Rice et al., 1979; Earth Science Associates/R.C. Harding; in Kiersch, 1991, p. 520).


industry. The case became controversial due to the

possible implications of the àctive' Verona fault on

the test reactor.

Vallecito, a small facility of General Electric

Company, was the ®rst US-licensed commercial

reactor in 1959; the neutron-radiography facility

produced one-half of the free world's medical radio-

isotopes. In 1977, the US Geological Survey reviewed

the geology and seismology of the reactor area, as

required for renewal of the operating license.

Extensive trenches and exploration in the vicinity

of the GETR revealed at least three northwest-

trending, thrust-like faults bracketing the reactor site

(Fig. 19). The fault zones exposed in the trenches are

similar to each other in minor structural features and

age of displacement; none intersected the GETR

foundation (Fig. 19). All rupture planes displace

Plio±Pleistocene Livermore Gravels and younger

colluvium and paleosols. The attitudes of the rupture

planes and their relation to local topographic features,

together with other geologic evidence, suggested two

plausible origins; tectonic thrust movement (Herd,

1977); or large-scale landslides (Rice et al., 1979).

The mapped length of Herd's Verona fault is less

than 6 miles, and placed the potentially active Verona

fault close to the reactor (Herd, 1977); the 1958 map

(Hall, 1958) and basis for the construction license,

showed a fault about 2800 ft from the reactor.

After many technical investigations by US

Geological Survey and the owner's consultants,

Earth Science Associates and Richard Jahns, and

hearings over a 5-year period, the US Nuclear

Regulatory Commission ruled in 1982 the zone was

not a hazard to operation of the commercial reactor

and accepted the arguments for landslide features.

However, the 5-year shutdown over geological issues

destroyed a pro®table business which could not be

revived by General Electric and the unit was

abandoned.

4.7. Urban land-use risks, San Francisco Bay area

A regional geologic investigation to initially

evaluate the natural hazards and potential risks

throughout the San Francisco Bay region was initiated

by the US Geological Survey in 1947. The ®rst

mapping projects were organized under Clifford

Kaye and consisted of the San Francisco North

quadrangle by Bonilla, Schlocker, and Radbruch

(Schlocker, 1974), followed by San Francisco South

(Bonilla, 1960), and the Oakland West and East

Quadrangles by Radbruch-Hall (1957, 1969). These

mapping activities extended into the 1960s and

included attention to ongoing construction projects,

such as the Broadway tunnel, described earlier. The

areal mapping provided both surface and subsurface

information critical to understanding common urban

land use risks in the Bay region such as landslide

susceptibility (Bonilla, 1960; Brabb et al., 1972) and

land use for a housing subdivision (Kachadoorian,

1956).

McGill, in his mapping in Los Angeles area, made

some of the ®rst age classi®cations of the common

landslide features so widespread in the Palos Verdes

peninsula area and other parts of the region. Further-

more, he speci®ed the on-going state of risk of each

slide feature, based on its origin and recency of move-

ment. McGill later designated the study of geology

related to city areas as ùrban geology' (McGill,

1964, 1968).

Brabb and others initiated a San Francisco Bay area

study in the 1960s on a wide range of potential urban

`risks' and related geologic conditions that affected

the growth, population, and cost of construction.

Subsequently in the 1970s, these investigations were

concentrated on a broad `Landslides and Seismic

Zonation Study of San Francisco Bay Region'

(Brabb, 1979). Additional detailed studies on seismic

zonation of the Bay Region were described by Borch-

erdt (1975), wherein he outlines an excellent set of

guidelines for similar surveys. As recognized earlier,

the seismic zonation based on the 1906 earthquake

events were closely correlated with the areal distribu-

tion of the principal geologic materials (Fig. 3A and

B). The Loma Prieta earthquake of 17 October 1989

afforded further opportunities to demonstrate the

impact/in¯uence of geologic materials on the ampli-

®cation of ground motion throughout the Bay area

(Plafker and Galloway, 1989).

5. Geologic processes, constraints, and resources

Another urban project to evaluate the `risk' potential

of geological phenomena/processes active in the San

Francisco Bay Region (SFBRS) was a cooperative



Fig. 20. Fault traces in the San Francisco Bay region that may undergo recurring movement and cause damaging earthquakes with surface

displacements. Most of the faults are members of the San Andreas fault system (modi®ed from Borcherdt, 1975, in Kiersch, 1991, p. 372).

effort by the US Geological Survey and the US

Department of Housing and Urban Development

(HUD. The SFBRS study utilized USGS expertise in

geology, geophysics, geochemistry, hydrology, and

cartography and HUD expertise in planning. The ®nd-

ings were focused toward planners and decision

makers with an expectation of increasing the use of

geology for resolving urban and regional development

problems in environmentally sensitive areas. The

database assembled provided guidance and practical

techniques to the scienti®c, engineering, and planning

professions who advise on urban developments

(Brown and Kockelman, 1983). For instance, because

major faults of the San Francisco Bay region are

active and may experience recurring movement and

thus earthquake damage, a classi®cation of their

potential for surface displacement (Fig. 20) can be

correlated with areas in the region likely to experience

such common occurrences as seismically induced

shaking, ¯ooding, liquefaction, and landsliding.

The aim of the HUD study was to demonstrate the

occurrence of these geologic processes and their

manner of constraint relative to urban and regional

planning (Little, 1975), and thereby improve on the

safety of urban planning techniques in a real-life

situation (Laird et al., 1979). An overview of this

bench-mark project reminds decision-makers of the

intimate relation between the natural on-going

processes and land use with widespread impact from

the estuaries and bay-water terrain to the coastal bluffs

(Brown and Kockelman, 1983).

5.1. Residential dwellings Ð insurance

Frequently the most common and costly area of

alleged liability for applied geologists and geotechnical

engineers are related to residential construction. Tens

of millions of dollars in damages are alleged each year

by home and building owners who contend their

structures were damaged by swelling or subsiding

foundations, slope failures, wet basements, or fault

movements. Such cases are generally quite similar;

damages to residences occur years after the structures

are built. Frequently the question of who is truly

responsible is circumvented; a ®nancial settlement is

based on who has the most effective lawyer or the

deepest pocket. Consequently applied geologists

who accept work involving the siting and construction

of residences or similar structures should be aware of

the potential for being held responsible later for

controversial damages, regardless of how thorough

the geologic work. To avoid such litigation, all

geological reports and opinions on residential

construction should be properly quali®ed relative to

the potential for and nature of possible foundation

dif®culties or slope failures.

5.1.1. Landslide insurance Ð Pfeiffer case

The Pfeiffer precedent-setting litigation illustrates

how geologic facts, events, and terminology can be

central to a settlement between the insured and

the insurer. Gravity sliding damaged the dwelling of

the insured. Geological investigations ascertained the

causes, possibility of recurrence, and the inherent risk

of rebuilding on the site. Geological and engineering

testimony was judicious as to whether there was negli-

gence on the part of the builder or the insurance

company; neither realized the geologic setting was a

`risk'. Geologic facts con®rmed that the causes were

visible. Gravity sliding was foreseeable; and the

extensive damage to Pfeiffer property could not be

passed over by the insurance company as àn act of

God' (Kiersch, 1969).

The main issue of Pfeiffer case concerned `whether

an insurance policy that insures a dwelling against the

perils of a landslide includes restoration of the sub-

surface foundation beneath the home, as well as the

surface building (house structure) itself'. This crucial

point had not been clari®ed by a court decision prior

to the Pfeiffer litigation in 1960. Customarily

insurance companies declared no responsibility for

the subsurface foundation of the dwelling, and

award damages for repair of the surface building only.

The Pfeiffer dwelling is situated on the slope of a

northwest-trending ridge of the Berkeley Hills at

Orinda, California (Fig. 21). The area is underlain

by rocks of the Orinda Formation, mainly alternating

beds of siltstone, soft, ®ne-grained sandstone and

conglomerate, clay shale, and clays. The rocks dip

as much as 458 at the site and generally parallel to

the natural slopes of 20±408. The soft, fractured, and

saturated Orinda beds are overlain by as much as 10 ft

of colluvium. Details of the gravity sliding movement,

as determined by surface and subsurface investiga-

tions and borings, are described elsewhere by Kiersch

(1969).



Fig. 21. Geologic map of landslide and associated features, Pfeiffer property and vicinity, Orinda, California. Dwelling displaced and damaged;

foundation sheared, distorted, and subsurface moved (sources: Kiersch 1969, 1991, p. 569).

Sliding began soon after Robert J. Pfeiffer

purchased the newly constructed home in December

1957. An insurance policy written by the General

Insurance Corporation insured the dwelling against

hazards of ®re, and an attached endorsement provided

protection against natural events such as landslides.

Major gravity sliding began in the soil and bedrock

upslope from the dwelling on 3 April 1958; the

building was partially distorted and twisted, and the

subsurface foundation sheared/moved. Within two

days the house was unsafe for occupancy, and the

family moved out. Sliding continued intermittently

for several months and damage to the dwelling

increased until the garage section was demolished;

the house structure was further damaged, and the

foundation additionally weakened and unstable

because of being fractured, deformed, and displaced

by the sliding.

The multiple landslides shown in Fig. 21 were caused

by a series of events, both ancient and recent, that

combined to induce sliding in April 1958. The natural

and man-induced factors responsible included the slide-

prone characteristics of the weathered Orinda rocks, the

occurrence of an old, active landslide within the 1958

slide mass, the heavy in¯ow of surface runoff and a high

ground-water level, the construction activities on Hall

Drive and near the Pfeiffer dwelling affected the toe of

natural slope, and surface water in®ltrated the hillside

slope from a broken water main on Hall Drive, owing to

earlier sliding (Fig. 21).

The General Insurance Corporation refused to

accept responsibility for the total damage to the dwell-

ing. Rather, they only agreed to repair the house struc-

ture, at a cost up to $8000, and adamantly refused to

accept responsibility for repair of the damaged

subsurface foundation area, a part of the active land-

slide mass. Moreover, after repairing the housing

structure, the insurer would likely cancel the

insurance policy, an action and attitude contrary to

Pfeiffer's interpretation of the all-physical-loss-

coverage that included landslides.

The Pfeiffer litigation recovered the maximum

amount set forth in the policy for landslide damage

to their dwelling. They were awarded $31,000 in a

court judgment of August 1960 for repair of their

dwelling, and return to the às-built' conditions of

house and foundation prior to the landslide damage.

Other cases that preceded the Pfeiffer opinion had lent

authority of precedent for an insurance company to

cancel a policy. Nevertheless the Pfeiffer ruling estab-

lished that henceforth an insurance company can not

cancel a policy when sliding and/or land movement is

ongoing. The Pfeiffer property was stablized, house

repaired and dwelling safely re-occupied ever since.

5.2. Other sources Ð western projects

There are a number of recent publications that

concentrate on the selective GeoScience principles,

phenomena, innovative techniques, and claryifying

case histories of western projects that are basic to

the application of GeoScience theory and practice of

Environmental/Engineering Geology, Hydrogeology,

Geological and Geotechnical Engineering, and related

disciplines. These special volumes are on: State of

Washington (Galster, 1989); Southern California

(Pipkin and Proctor, 1992); State of Oregon (Burns,

1997); Landslides (Turner and Schuster, 1996) and

Land subsidence (Borchers, 1998).

6. Future Ð practice

The most suitable geologic practitioners for

guidance or counsel on geoscience for engineered

works are those who have a broad training in

geoscience and supporting subjects, a background of

diverse ®eld experience, and a practical bent. Such

geoscientists are likely to have an in-depth knowledge

of the physical and chemical processes, which invari-

ably have a critical long-term impact on the regional

climate, tectonics, historical events, and rock materi-

als. Competent applied geoscientists will be needed

for a multitude of challenges to advance both ®eld and

computational skills concurrently with developing

public policies.

Our increasing population requires the settlement of

more and more hostile arguments regarding what is the

de®nition of a geo-risk (hazard) or an untenable

environment? What constitutes a terrain with acceptable

geo-risks, manageable geologic constraints or active

processes, yet when compared to other destructive

geologic processes can be documented as acceptable-

safe.

Moreover, future practitioners must be practical

and objective in analyzing the potential risk of such

destructive natural processes and events as


earthquakes, widespread ¯oods, areal subsidence,

mass wasting/slope failure, volcanic activity, and

¯uvial or coastal erosion. The current belief among

Federal, State, and most County agencies is that many

natural geologic processes and their expected impact are

invariably a risk or dangerous to the safety, health, and

well-being of mankind. This standard-practice evalua-

tion has been discussed by Shlemon (1999) and all to

often raises a warning that is out-of-proportion and

unrealistic to the inherent/danger levels of a `geo-risk'.

Most natural geologic processes and many man-

induced events that affect the near-surface are not

`life-threatening'. Dangers, yes, but they constitute

reasonable and acceptable-levels of risk, particularly

when compared with major natural events such as:

hurricanes, tornadoes, drought cycles, volcanic

eruptions or tsunamis (Fig. 10). The mature, ®eld-

experienced geologist is usually a realist and not a

social extremist. Consequently, the frequent map

and descriptive classi®cation of many geologic

processes and features as `hazardous' is a disservice

to èxperienced geologic judgment'. Many of today's

major engineered works occupy sites in areas affected

by one or more on-going geologic processes (`risks' to

the inexperienced). Typically, during the planning-

construction phases troublesome or potentially risky

geologic conditions are mitigated by modi®cations

to the engineering design that upgrades the natural

site to a suitable geologic setting. Nevertheless,

there are some geographic areas with a particularly

high-level of risk that will require attention by future

practitioners.

Today, engineering geology is an interdisciplinary

®eld of practice that is primarily concerned with the

physical processes, phenomenology, and principles of

the geosciences as they pertain to engineered works,

applied sciences, and the needs of mankind. The prac-

titioners are mainly associated with the construction

efforts of engineers, scientists, and technical-

specialists; together they comprise a complex and inter-

dependent assemblage of sub®elds that support the

profession's generalists. Brief comments on several

sub®elds of practice in the twenty-®rst century follows.

6.1. Water resources

6.1.1. Geopolitical

Common to many natural resources, groundwater

knows no political boundaries. A single aquifer

system can underlie several political entities; the

recharge area in one jurisdiction and the discharge/

pumping area in another (e.g. US±Mexico; Libya±

Egypt; Colorado±Nebraska). Transboundary ground-

water resources have and will continue to generate

acrimony between nations, states, and Indian reserva-

tions (Navajo±Hopi).

Water is power and as practiced today in Middle

East can be a tool of foreign policy. Turkey has an

abundance of water harnessed by dams on the Upper

Euphrates River of eastern Turkey. Some of this water

is distributed by controlled ¯ow to both Syria and Iraq

downstream and in future probably to Jordan, Israel,

and Cyprus. Many experts believe this regional distri-

bution demonstrates why the twenty-®rst century will

be the century of water (Kinzer, 1999). GeoScience

insight can be bene®cial in advocating and promoting

a sharing of a common groundwater resource between

political jurisdictions.

Groundwater laws have been modi®ed in selected

regions (intermontane basins) due to advances in

geoscience knowledge (Mann, 1969). A recent

decision will lead to changes in the groundwater

laws in California, such as Acton vs Blundell (Grover

and Mann, 1991. The improved factual geologic

circumstances, along with the economic and social

conditions can undergo a change, as can the inherent

physical properties with time when impacted by

engineered works.

Recent studies con®rmed the transmissivity-rate of

groundwater movement in a faulted/fractured aquifer

may be controlled by the inherent stress ®eld of rock

mass (Ferril et al., 1999). Thus, contamination of a

site in stressed environs may accelerate instead of

inhibit the ¯uid ¯ow.

6.1.2. Bay±delta system

The CALFED, Bay±Delta System is a proposed

solution to the water management and environmental

problems of the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento Ð

San Joaquin Delta region of channels and tributaries

(CALFED, 1999). This complex, ecologically sensitive

maze of waterways and islands is a major contributor to

the water supply of the region and southern California;

it provides two-thirds of in-state drinking water and

irrigates farmlands that produce one-half of the nation's

fruits and vegetables.


Over the years competing and diversi®ed interests

have fought for a share of the limited natural

resources; this action reduced the water quality,

deteriorated the levee system, and threatened the

infrastructure of private property and water quality,

while the island lands experienced subsidence

(Deverel et al., 1998).

The CALFED program began in 1995 and the

planners expect to restore the regional ecosystem

over a 10-year period. Technical experts, state and

federal of®cials, and stakeholders have worked

under CALFED to establish a long term solution to

the problems, of which many are GeoScience-

oriented (CALFED, 1999; Madigan, 1999).

6.1.3. DamsÐreservoirs

The construction of dam projects in western states

underwent a major shift in policy by Federal and State

agencies by 1990s. Today the major concerns involve

the upgrading of existing dam structures.

² Some long-standing structures are being breached

in anticipation the ®sh-run will return.

² Dams are being rehabilitated and modernized;

reservoirs ¯ushed to increase storage and hydro-

generating capacity, consistent with environmental

guidelines (Jansen, 1988; Collier et al., 1996;

World Press, 1997; USCOLD, 1999). For example,

the Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, completed in 1911

underwent modernization in 1988 with the dam

height being raised, and highway shifted from the

crest dam to a suspension bridge built upstream

(Fig. 22).

² Seismic risk design upgraded to meet seismic

`threat' previously unknown, e.g. Folsom project

Ð Morman Island earth®ll dam (Kiersch and

Treasher, 1955; Allen, in press).

The decline in building dams and related water-

supply projects has been offset in parts of western

states by increasing the purchase of water from

the storage basins beneath former ranches and

state or federal lands (e.g. San Diego municipali-

ties import water from storage basins of El Centro

region California).

6.1.4. Nuclear power plants

An increase in the global warming effects have been


Fig. 22. Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River, Arizona was the ®rst major irrigation project in western United States and has been operating since

1911. Beginning in 1988 the dam underwent rehabilitation and the capacity of reservoir was increased 20% by raising height of dam 77 ft. This

required removing the highway from crest of dam and erecting suspension bridge upstream across an arm of reservoir completed in 1990 (photo

courtesy of Department of Transportation, State of Arizona/Walter Gray, 1988).

attributed to the buildup of greenhouse emissions in the

atmosphere. The causes, according to the environmental

community, is the release of excessive carbon dioxide

emissions by fossil-fuel burning power generation

plants. Such plants are known to account for one-third

of the greenhouse emissions reportedly linked to global

warming.

The well-publicized nuclear plant mishaps at Three

Mile Island, in Russia and Japan contributed to the

cessation of new plants by 1980s in USA. However,

the rebirth of nuclear power plants has been advocated

by prominent environmentalists (John Holden,

Harvard; Mary L. Walker, former US Department of

Energy of®cial and others); they believe there is no

alternative. Advocates for future nuclear plants

propose mid-sized, standard design reactors in

600 MW range with a passive safety system;

construction would be assured with removal of federal

obstacles. This alternative to burning natural gas to

generate electricity in the twenty-®rst century would

meet the increasing demands for power while

reducing air pollution and greenhouse emissions.

GeoScience input and counsel has been a critical

part of the licensing through construction phases of

nuclear power plants with similar input for nuclear

waste repositories (e.g. Yucca Mountain, Nevada,

and the Department of Energy's operating site in

New Mexico).

6.1.5. Flood levels

The `probabilistic' methods of forecasting the

anticipated runoff at 100±500 year maximum levels

of recurrence requires revision, as evident by the

recent experiences and impact of Èl Nino' rainfall

(Kelley, 1989; Mount, 1995). A more realistic

approach to an improved forecast is recorded in the

geologic history of past events, e.g. sedimentological

and geomorphological evidence of extraordinary

paleo-¯ood hydrology. Geologic evidence of former

high runoff levels, as recorded in sediments and

features of a river valley or drainage, can supply the

historic ¯ood-levels and events that are lacking

from the more recent stream gauging techniques

(Baker, 1987, 1989). Today the US Bureau of

Reclamation and other Federal and State agencies

focus on paleohydrology for assessment of `100-

year' ¯oods.

6.1.6. Military

Specialized weapons and launching platforms of

the future will embrace new GeoScience challenges.

For example, the multidisciplinary Global Informa-

tion System (GIS) technology will be adapted for

many worldwide industrial, civil and public-interest

projects, as well as vital national security issues.

Emerging public interest projects are frequently

dependent on GeoScience guidance and counsel

(Neal, 1997; Kiersch, 1998).

6.1.7. Hindsight

Many critical geologic lessons must be learned

more than once and by ®rst-hand experience only.

The importance of geological counsel and guidance

for engineered works is relearned whenever an unan-

ticipated geo-related condition is encountered.

However, when geologic monitoring is on-going, it

is likely that an unexpected problem may be realized

before costly delays or litigation has incurred. A more

complete understanding of geologic processes and a

`deterministic' approach to the natural systems will

allow the geoscientist to communicate more explicity

with the client, members of the technical team, and

with the public-at-large.

7. Conclusion

Future practitioners will assess and mitigate yet

unknown adverse geologic conditions and hostile

environs associated with major infrastructure facil-

ities such as: dams and reservoirs, tunnels, aqueducts,

power stations, interstate highway systems, major

water transfer works, military protective-construction,

and National Geopolitical issues. Such capabilities

will require practitioners with a suitable background

in GeoScience and a practical bent. Their focus must

be unfeigned when analyzing the public's safety

regarding such destructive natural processes and

events as earthquakes, widespread ¯oods, areal

subsidence, mass wasting/slope failure, volcanic

activity, and ¯uvial or coastal erosion. The widely

held belief that many natural geologic processes

and their expected impact are invariably a high-

level risk and dangerous to the safety, health, and

well-being of mankind is too often a trendy,

layman's analysis unsupported by critical ®eld


data. Such a `standard-practice evaluation' frequently

raises a warning (Shlemon, 1999) that is out-of-

proportion and unrealistic to the actual levels of the

`geo-risk' when analyzed.

Most natural geologic processes and many man-

induced events that affect the near-surface are not

`life-threatening'; most often they constitute a

reasonable and acceptable-level of risk, when

compared with such major natural events as:

hurricanes, tornadoes, drought cycles, volcanic

eruptions or tsunamis (Fig. 10), which cannot be

`harnessed' or mitigated by geo-engineering techni-

ques or actions.

The mature, ®eld-experienced geologist is

usually a realist and not a social extremist. Conse-

quently, the frequent mapping and descriptive

classi®cation of most geologic processes and

features as `hazardous' is a disservice to èxperi-

enced geologic judgment'. Many of today's major

engineered works are in areas affected by one or

more geologic processes (`risks' to the layman).

Typically, during the planning-design-construction

phases any troublesome geologic or potentially hazar-

dous conditions are inherently mitigated by engineering

design modi®cations that upgrade the natural site into a

safe and suitable geologic setting. Nevertheless, there

are some areas that particularly require attention by

future practitioners.

Engineering Geology practice today consists of:

any geoscience work relevant to the civil and mili-

tary engineering activities and National Security

Projects that impact the well-being of mankind; this

includes any adverse effects on the environs by the

design and operation of such engineered works.

GeoScience denotes the interrelated disciplines of:

Geology, Seismology, Hydrology, Geophysics, and

Oceanography. Moreover, Engineering Geology is a

specialization of professional practice that is predo-

minately concerned with Physico-geology, or the

physical processes, features, ¯uids, and geologic

events past and present as they relate to civil, mining,

military, and environmental engineering practice

(Fig. 23).

Acknowledgements

This broad summary paper has been improved and

strengthened by the editing and technical review of Roy

J. Shlemon, and the comments of Frank C. Kresse.


Fig. 23. Golden Gate Bridge. Engineers and geologist inspect the conditions and quality of the serpentine foundation rock at bottom of the

excavation for the south pier, 108 ft below the channel surface, circa 1934 (photo courtesy of Heinrich Ries Collection, Cornell University, in

Kiersch, 1991, p. 148).

Preparation of the text from many earlier reports and

sources has been accomplished and artfully assembled

by Jane L. Hoffmann of Roadrunner Press, Tucson,

Arizona.

Additional References

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