Michael D. Campbell, P.G., P.H.


The environmental geology discipline, often called engineering geology, involves studies, investigations and reviews which normally include an interpretation and assessment of chemical analyses for:

environmental hazards
soil contamination
ground-water contamination
geologic samples


Subsequent evaluations may require:

- interpretation of surface conditions and subsurface lithology and stratigraphy in fault studies
- evaluation of local hydrogeologic conditions for dewatering of open-cuts and underground mines
- assessment of the potential impact of contaminants on the ground-water resources
- assessment of risk exposure & cost-benefit analyses of all remedial approaches to clean-up goals

In mining, environmental geology is used to determine potential environmental impact of mining operations or to evaluate subsurface conditions (e.g., ground-water quality and hydrogeologic parameters such as ground-water flow direction and rate, dewatering, etc.).

Original analyses, evaluations, or assessments may have been conducted in a biased manner, with inadequate or sloppy methods by untrained or inexperienced personnel and may contribute, in one extent or another, to unnecessary financial loss or injury to human health or the environment. This may also be loosely considered as a loss due to "errors and omissions."

Litigation may necessitate discriminating between the failure of an engineered structure resulting from improper design or construction or a natural subsurface conditions that altered the input assumptions for the original design. Other cases may involve shallow contamination in soil and underlying sediments or rocks as a result of leaking underground or aboveground tanks (USTs and ASTs) which leak a variety of petrochemical and industrial products, intermediates or solvents into the subsurface and the ground-water reservoir.

The likely source of such contamination must be sought, often in an urban environment where access may be limited or forbidden. Litigation is common in cases where a contaminant has reached the water table and has migrated beyond a property boundary. What damage has occurred? Who has been exposed and damaged and for what duration? Who is responsible for the damage and the cost of clean-up? These are all typical questions and elements encountered in many cases.

One of the sources of new technical information is the searchable database on environmental geology issues since 1972 by the National Ground Water Association. For the cost of membership only, more than 70,000 papers, publications and texts are now searchable by key words. Other valuable Internet and World Wide Web sources of technical information are also presented in the IET Technical Resources site.

For further information on the discipline, the Institute of Environmental Technology sponsors an Internet Resources Portal, click (here). For additional information on this discipline and associated technical support, see AEG-TX.ORG and AIPG-TX.ORG.


Note: The environmental field is multi-disciplinary by nature, and ELA incorporates input from complimentary disciplines whenever appropriate.