INTRODUCTION TO GEOLOGY

For the first time, geologists were brought in to solve specific construction problems in the second half of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, when work on the construction of railways was widely launched in Russia. As the volume of construction and development in Central Asia, Siberia, the Volga region, and the Far East increased, new tasks were assigned to geologists, since engineering and geological conditions became more complicated, builders met with new dangerous geological processes: floods, permafrost, heaving, earthquake-prone areas and etc. It took a study of the engineering and geological conditions of large areas and forecasts of their changes under the influence of human activity for a long time. Engineering geology, landscape geology and the study of the neosphere gave rise to the development of a new direction in the study of the geological environment - engineering geoecology.

A major contribution to the development of engineering geology as a science was made by the largest geological scientists — N. S. Shatsky, F. P. Savarensky, V. A. Priklonsky, I. V. Popov, N. V. Kolomensky, E. M. Sergeev, and others

Engineering geology as a science develops under the influence of differentiation and synthesis and is associated with other sciences - geological and non-geological. In addition, the development of engineering geology is associated with technical and socio-economic sciences (Figure 1).

Engineering geology

Figure 1 - Relationship of engineering geology with natural, technical and socio-economic sciences (according to EM Sergeev).

Geology (Greek “geo” - earth, “logos” - teaching) is one of the most important sciences about the Earth. It studies the composition, structure, history of the Earth’s development and the processes occurring in its depths and on the surface. Modern geology uses the latest achievements and methods of a number of natural sciences - mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography. Significant progress in these areas of science and geology was marked by the emergence and development of important frontier earth sciences - geophysics, geochemistry, biogeochemistry, crystal chemistry, paleogeography, which provide data on the composition, state and properties of the substance of the deep parts of the earth's crust and the Earth’s envelopes below. Of particular note is the multilateral relationship of geology with geography (landscape science, climatology, hydrology, glaciology, oceanography) in the knowledge of various geological processes occurring on the surface of the Earth. The interrelation of geology and geography is especially evident in the study of the relief of the earth's surface and the laws of its development. Geology in the study of terrain uses data from geography, just as geography relies on the history of geological development and the interaction of various geological processes. As a result, the science of relief - geomorphology is actually also a frontier science. According to geophysical data, several shells are distinguished in the structure of the Earth: the Earth's crust, the mantle and the core of the Earth. The subject of direct study of geology are the crust of the earth and the underlying solid layer of the upper mantle - the lithosphere (Greek. "Lithos" - stone). The complexity of the object under study has caused a significant differentiation of geological sciences, the complex of which, together with the frontier sciences (geophysics, geochemistry, etc.), allows to get coverage of various aspects of its structure, the essence of the processes, history of development, etc. One of several main directions in geology is the study of real composition of the lithosphere: rocks, minerals, chemical elements. Some rocks are formed from igneous silicate melt and are called igneous or igneous, others - by sedimentation and accumulation in marine and continental conditions and are called sedimentary; Third, due to changes in various rocks under the influence of temperature and pressure, liquid and gas fluids are called metamorphic. The study of the material composition of the lithosphere is carried out by a complex of geological sciences, often combined under the name of the geochemical cycle. These include: petrography (Greek “petros” - stone, rock, “grafo” - writing, describing), or petrology — the science that studies magmatic and metamorphic rocks, their composition, structure, conditions of formation, degree of change under the influence of various factors and patterns of distribution in the earth's crust. Lithology (Greek "Lithos" - stone) - the science that studies sedimentary rocks. Mineralogy is a science that studies minerals — natural chemical compounds or individual chemical elements that make up rocks. Crystallography and crystal chemistry are engaged in the study of crystals and the crystalline state of minerals. Geochemistry is a generalizing synthesizing science about the material composition of the lithosphere, based on the achievements of the above mentioned sciences and studying the history of chemical elements, the laws of their distribution and migration in the bowels of the Earth and on its surface. With the birth of isotope geochemistry in geology, a new page was opened in restoring the history of the geological development of the Earth.