ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces civil engineers to some basic geology and outlines the broad concepts of the subject.
Geology is concerned with the science of the Earth and the materials comprising the Earth. This includes physical geology or geomorphology (the surface form of the Earth), palaeontology (study of fossils), stratigraphy (the chronological sequence of rocks), mineralogy (study of minerals), petrology (study of the composition of rocks) and structural geology or tectonics (the broad structure of rocks). Together with newer and closely related branches such as geochemistry, geophysics or mathematical geology, and applied and biological aspects, the whole subject is rapidly developing and is now generally being called Earth Science.
