Failures
TVA Coal Ash Disaster
On December 22 of 2008, there was a massive failure of a fly ash landfill (tailings dam?) at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Kingston power plant. The failure caused a torrent of coal ash sludge […]
Articles by rockman
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GeoPrac.net Sponsors
GeoPrac.net wishes to offer our sincere thanks for the support of all our sponsors. Please be sure to check them out and let them know you saw them on GeoPrac. And if your business is […]
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Become a GeoPrac.net Sponsor
GeoPrac.net has sponsorship / advertising opportunities available for companies or organizations willing to support our ongoing efforts to provide useful, FREE website content to the geotechnical, geological and geo-construction industries. Sponsor banner locations are shown below. […]
Rockman's Ramblings
Top Content of 2008
Happy New Year to all GeoPrac.net members and visitors! I send you warmest wishes for a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2009. As is the custom on most blogs, I’ve taken a look at the most popular items on the site from 2008. I define popularity as highest average hits/day, not just the most hits, otherwise it biases things towards those articles that have been posted longer. I also break down the most read articles of 2008 including those published earlier, and the most popular items published in the last quarter. Click through for the lists.
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Commenting on Posts
The goal of this blog is to be a useful resourse for geotechnical engineers and engineering geologists in their practice. I hope that through the commenting system, readers of GeoPrac.net can build off of the […]
Giveaways and Contests
GeoPrac.net Giveaway – Space Navigator!
[Update 2009-01-12] The deadline for this contest has been extended to 11:59PM CST on January 31, 2009. Get your comments in to win the Space Navigator! [/Update]
Announcing the first of what I hope will be many giveaway contests at GeoPrac.net! The first prize up for grabs is the Space Navigator from 3D Connexicion. Use it to fly through 3D worlds such as Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, increase productivity in AutoDesk apps or just use it to play Second Life! How can you win? Leave a comment with a valid email address on any GeoNews blog post or Article…even old ones. See full rules and more info on the Space navigator after the break.
Available Resources
BMPs for Geotechnical Drilling and Well Drilling
Stormwater Pollution Prevention regulations require the use of best management practices (BMPs) for any project involving site disturbance of over an acre. Usually for geotechnical drilling and well drilling, the sites are much smaller, so […]
Standards and Codes
ASTM Standards December Update
This month there are a number of changes to standards relating to masonry units, bricks, dimension stone, etc. There are also some changes to a few standards related to asphalt paving, and groundwater testing. ASTM D6453 – Standard Guide for Format of Computerized Exchange of Soil and Rock Test Data was withdrawn. Read on for the full list.
Geoarchaeology
Crack Monitoring in Ancient Roman Galleries
I came across an interesting case study involving the installation of several vibrating wire crack monitors and data collection equipment at the 1st century B.C. to 1st century A.D., Roman built galleries beneath Lisbon, Portugal. […]
Geologic Hazards
SR 87 Landslide Coverage and Update
Back in March of 2008 there was a landslide that closed SR 87 in between Phoenix, Arizona and Payson. It’s been of great interest to me since it is in my state and affected a highway. I was hoping my firm (NCS Consultants, LLC) might be asked to work on the remediation through our on-call contract but it didn’t happen. Its probably for the best, it sounds like it’s been a troublesome geotechnical engineering problem. Fast forward to last week, and the slide area was in the news again because the slope is still moving and apparently causing some additional deformation of the roadway. (Photo by ADOT)
I had heard about this a while ago through our ADOT contacts, but I make it a policy not to take advantage of my contacts through my day job for GeoPrac.net content (not without permission anyway). So I didn’t want to blog about it until it hit the mainstream media. Last week, the Arizona State Geologist blogged about the SR 87 slide moving again, as did Ken through his AEG Arizona Section blog. It was even covered on one of my favorite blogs, Dave’s Landslide Blog. I finally have a chance to wade through these blog posts and some of the reports and videos to present a summary of the situation, available information and offer my own perspective. (More after the break)