P. G. Fookes writes: I was very pleased to see in the recent edition of The Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology the short paper by Professor M. G. Culshaw, on ‘The First Engineering Geological Publication in the UK?’ The paper draws attention to the memoir, entitled ‘Soils and Subsoils from a Sanitary Point of View; with especial reference to London and its Neighbourhood ’, by H.B. Woodward of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, first edition 1897; second edition 1906. I, for one, was completely unaware of the existence of the memoir and, despite the somewhat unprepossessing title, Culshaw shows it to be a little gem and worth drawing to our attention.
The question mark in at the end of the paper's title indicates Professor Culshaw's sensible decision to question whether it was the first publication in engineering geology. He does not define engineering geology but, for the purposes of this discussion, I use the following definitions taken from the box on page 294 of Fookes (1997),
‘Geology for engineers’
Geological practice carried out for civil engineers. A branch of applied geology, which is the application of geology to industrial needs and is the particular discipline applied to civil engineering, especially related to the design, construction and performance of engineering structures interacting with the ground. This does not necessarily imply the use of engineering geology skills or practice in the identification or resolving of geological problems in engineering.
‘Engineering geology’
This is more than geology that is simply useful for civil engineers. It differs from geology for engineers in that its practitioners have training and experience in ground problems that arise in civil engineering and in the investigation, classification and performance of soils and rocks related to civil engineering situations; and a working knowledge of basic soil mechanics, rock mechanics and …
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