Abstract
The British Geological Survey (BGS) formally incorporated engineering geology as one of its key activities by creating the Engineering Geology Unit (EGU) in 1967. From 1968 an engineering geological survey of the proposed site of the new town of Milton Keynes in the south Midlands of England was carried out, as part of a government initiative to build new towns to accommodate an increasing population. This involved analysis of extensive site investigation data and the production of an engineering geological map and a table of summarized geotechnical data for each geological formation. This work led to a much more extensive project for the then proposed Third London Airport in the estuary of the River Thames in South Essex, in south east England and two further mapping projects in development areas adjacent to the Firth of Forth and Cromarty Firth in Scotland. These projects were completed during the 1970s and early 1980s. The experience gained on these projects was then used in a series of urban geological/engineering geological mapping projects in urban areas of England, Scotland and Wales. The paper discusses the engineering geological mapping techniques developed in the first two decades of engineering geological survey and research at the BGS and where this work led in subsequent years.
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Culshaw, M.G., Northmore, K.J., McCann, D.M. (2019). A Short History of Engineering Geology and Geophysics at the British Geological Survey—Part 2: Engineering Geological Mapping. In: Shakoor, A., Cato, K. (eds) IAEG/AEG Annual Meeting Proceedings, San Francisco, California, 2018 - Volume 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93124-1_6
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