News

News, announcements, policy updates, spotlighted websites, software updates and other info that may be of interest to practicing geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists, geophysicists, hydrogeologists and related professions.

Oregon digital geologic map interface
Available Resources

Oregon Releases Online Geologic Map Interface

June 15, 2009 rockman Comments Off on Oregon Releases Online Geologic Map Interface

At the end of last month, the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) issued this press release describing their new online interface for their statewide digital geologic map. The online version only covers […]

No Picture
Available Resources

UC Berkley GeoEngineering Lectures on YouTube

June 3, 2009 rockman Comments Off on UC Berkley GeoEngineering Lectures on YouTube

UC Berkley has a bunch of lectures online, including three geoengineering themed ones. It appears that they were all from lectures given as a part of the 27th Annual GeoEngineering Distinguished Lecture Series on May 8, 2009. So if you have an hour plus to kill per lecture (and I haven’t yet), you can check out one of the following.

[…]

Devil's slide repair of PCH 1 using
Geologic Hazards

Devil’s Slide Repair and Tunnel Bypass Presentation

May 28, 2009 rockman 1

Devil's slide repair of PCH 1 using [Updated Thursday May 29, 2009 – 1:00 PM PDT] Added a photo of the AIS Kaiser S2 excavator (spider excavator), and added photos of the Devil’s Slide debris dump where they have put the landslide material removed and the material from the tunnel excavation. [/Update]

Grant Wilcox, Geology Branch Chief with CALTRANS Office of Geotechnical Design West gave a presentation on the Devil’s Slide repair along PCH Highway 1 at the Southwest Geotechnical Engineer’s Conference on May 12 in Phoenix. I’ve posted about the project here before. When I saw Mr. Wilcox, I knew he looked familiar but I couldn’t figure out why. At the beginning of his presentation he made light of his being on You-Tube…then it clicked! He gave a nice overview of the history of the failures, the geology, and the tunnel project. What follows are a few quick tidbits from his talk based on my notes. (Photo via Caltrans site).

[…]

American Society of Testing Materials Logo - ASTM
Standards and Codes

ASTM Updates May 2009

May 26, 2009 rockman Comments Off on ASTM Updates May 2009

American Society of Testing Materials Logo - ASTM

In this month’s ASTM updates, there is a new standard for determining the laboratory density of soil specimens. Not having a standard for this item was a common problem for us in our practice. The lab would give us a density on ring samples by weiging, drying and weighing again using the known volume of the rings, but there was never any standard to go with it. Other updates this month include ones related to dimension stone, fiber reinforced concrete, sulfate content of soils, and calcium and magnesium content of water.

[…]

Video thumbnail of Rockfall protection installation
Geologic Hazards

Rockfall Protection Videos from G.T.S.

May 21, 2009 rockman 2

Video thumbnail of Rockfall protection installation More videos! French Company G.T.S. has posted some great videos on rockfall protection systems on their YouTube channel. I don’t speak French, so I can’t give you any more info on the company (although their website looks like it has plenty of info!). But the videos cover the preparation of, drilling for,  and installation or rockfall protection fences and barriers as well as a couple of general rockfall ones. They just have video with background music, so no worries about a language barrier. You can watch the installation video below.

[…]