ROCKS

Will be covered in this lecture

Unit -1
General Geology: Importance of
ENGINEERING Engineering Geology applied to Civil
Engineering Practices, Weathering,
definition, types and effect, Geological
GEOLOGY works of River, Wind, Glaciers as agents of
Erosion, Transportation & Deposition,
resulting features and engineering
Course Outcome importance.
CO Title Level
Number

Students will be able to explain the fundamentals of the Rocks & Minerals: Minerals, physical
CO1 Engineering properties of Earth materials, minerals, properties of minerals, formation and
various types of rocks. structures, their identification igneous,
sedimentary & metamorphic rocks,
Students will be able to examine the role of geologists classification of rocks for engineering
CO2 in Civil Engineering projects and overcoming problems purposes. Objective, Methods of rock
related Geological Engineering. exploration, direct penetration, Core
boring; Core recovery, Rock quality
Study will develop knowledge of using mitigation designation (RQD)
CO3 techniques for a given range of stress, rock mass and
scale condition.
2
ROCKS
An aggregate of one or more
minerals; or a body of
undifferentiated mineral matter
(e.g., obsidian); or of solid
organic matter (e.g., coal)
ROCK TYPES
◼ Igneous
◼ Form by solidification of molten rock (magma)
◼ Sedimentary
◼ Form by lithification of sediment (sand, silt, clay, shells)
◼ Metamorphic
◼ Form by transformations of preexisting rocks (in the solid state)
IGNEOUS ROCKS

Intrusive
Extrusive
INTRUSIVE (PLUTONIC)

 Form within the Earth

 Slow cooling

 Interlocking large crystals

 Example = granite
 EXTRUSIVE (VOLCANIC)
 Form on the surface of the Earth as a result of volcanic eruption

 Rapid cooling

 Glassy and/or fine-grained texture

 Example = basalt
Basalt: igneous extrusive
Intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks
EXAMPLES OF IGNEOUS ROCK
TABULAR CLASSIFICATION – IGNEOUS ROCK
EXAMPLE – IGNEOUS ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
EXAMPLES OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
ORIGIN OF SEDIMENT
 Produced by weathering and erosion or by precipitation from solution

 Weathering = chemical and mechanical breakdown of rocks

 Erosion = processes that get the weathered material moving

 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
• Form when loose sediment (rocks, sand) is deposited by
water, compacted, and cemented together.
• Form as a chemical reaction in the water that leaves a
chemical deposit, usually on an ocean bottom.
• Form along beaches, by rivers, or under the water in
lake or oceans.
SEDIMENT TYPES

 Clastic sediments are derived from the physical deposition of particles produced by

weathering and erosion of preexisting rock.

 Chemical and biochemical sediments are precipitated from solution.

 Clastic

Chemical/biochemical
LITHIFICATION

The process that converts sediments into solid rock

 Compaction

 Cementation
Cemented sandstone
Example - Sedimentary Rock
METAMORPHIC ROCKS
 METAMORPHIC
• Form when igneous, sedimentary, or other metamorphic rocks are heated and/or squished, forming
a new rock type.
• Usually has interlocking crystals and layers (called foliation)
• Metamorphic is a type of rock which has been changed by extreme heat and pressure. Its name is from
'morph' (meaning form), and 'meta' (meaning change). The original rock gets heated (temperatures greater
than 150 to 200 °C) and pressured (1500 bars).
METAMORPHIC
• This can either happen underground or above
ground.
– Underground: high pressure and heat
– Above ground: volcano erupting
• .
Regional and contact metamorphism
conglomerate

metaconglomerate
granite

gneiss
The Rock
Cycle
THE ROCK CYCLE
Rock Exploration
 Why we need it?

Exploration Rocks is the single most important and very first phase of mining.
Exploration begins by firstly gathering any possible data available on the resource, area,
local geology usually from the geological survey, from satellite imagery as well as previous
scientific work.
W H AT A R E T H E OB J ECT IV ES IN R OCK
EX P LOR AT ION ?
Establish baseline/background conditions
Find alteration zones
Find ore body
Determine if ore can be mined or leached
Determine if ore can be processed
Determine ore reserves
Locate areas for infrastructure/operations
Environmental assessment
Further understand uranium deposits
Refine exploration models
M ET H OD OLOG IES
Spontaneous potential (SP)
Magnetic surveys
Borehole geophysics
Electromagnetic (EM, EMI), electromagnetic
sounding Satellite imagery
Direct current (DC) Imagery spectrometry
GPR (Ground penetrating radar potential) ASTER (Advanced space-borne thermal
emissions reflection radiometer)
Seismic
AVIRIS
Time-domain electromagnetic (TEM)
PIMA
Controlled source audio-magnetotellurics
(CSAMT) SFSI
Radiometric surveys LIBS
Induced polarization (IP) SWIR
Multispectral
DRILLING AND SAMPLING OF ROCK
SITE INVESTIGATION BOREHOLE
 Percussion drilling
◼ soils/soft clay rocks
◼ core recovery
 Rotary coring
◼ soil or rock >100m
deep
◼ core recovery
 Rock probing
◼ rotary percussion rig
◼ soil or rock
◼ no core recovery
STANDARD DIAMOND DRILL
CORE SIZES

Designation AQ BQ NQ NQ2 NX HQ PQ

Dia. (mm) 27 36.5 47.6 50.5 54.7 63.5 85.0

Direct penetration
Core boring
CABLE (PERCUSSION) RIG
SHELL
ROTARY RIG
Core bit
Core drilling
ROCK CORE
ROCK CORING METHODS
 Conventional equipment or wireline

 Drill bits for cutting rock

 Different core barrels for sampling rock

 Drilling fluids and casings.

 Observations noted during drilling.

 Logging of recovery and rock quality

 Layne Rock Drilling
Rock Coring Methods
 DRILLING AND CORING BITS
 Diamond bits are the best and hardest, producing high quality
core. Fastest cutting rates. Expensive

 Synthetic bits. Less expensive. Generally good quality

cores.

 Tungsten carbide. Least expensive. Slower coring rates.

TYPES OF CORING BITS
ROCK CORING

Recovery Ratio

Rock Quality
Designation,
RQD
CORE RECOVERY
 Cores should be stored in either wooden boxes or
corrugated cardboard box.
 Box marked with boring number, depth of core run, type
core, bit type, core recovery (CR), rock type, RQD, and
other notes.
 Core operations should be documented:
◼ Loss of fluid, rates, sudden drop in
• rods, poor recovery, loss of core
CORE RECOVERY
 Core Runs taken in either 5- or 10-
foot sections (1.5- or 3-m sections).
 Log the amount of material
recovered.
 Core Recovery is percentage
retained.
CORE RECOVERY
ROCK QUALITY DESIGNATION (RQD)
 The RQD is a modified core recovery.
 Measure of the degree of fractures, joints, and discontinuities
of rock mass
 RQD = sum of pieces > 100 mm (4 inches) divided by total
core run.
 Generally performed on NX-size core
ROCK QUALITY
D E SIG N AT ION
 TOTAL CORE RECOVERY (R)
Summed length of core recovered
R=
Length drilled

Depends upon:
 quality of the rock mass?
 stability of / lack of vibration in, the drill rig
 choice of core barrel / skill of the operator
Calculate RQD
 O U TCOM ES OF TOP IC ….
Students will be able to explain the fundamentals of the engineering properties of
minerals, various types of rock exploration.
Students will be able to examine minerals and overcoming problems related to it.
Study will develop knowledge of using exploration techniques for a given rock outcrop.
 FAQ’S

Expound minerals, its properties and its formation & structure.

Explain Rock exploration and the various objectives of doing the same.
What is the objective of rock exploration and list the methods of rock
exploration? Explain core boring in detail
Enlist the different properties of rocks and explain each one in brief. Depict
lithological classification of rock in brief.

Expound the various types of boring.

Depict rock exploration by direct penetration of material. Classify rocks on
the basis of origin and explain.
Expound with a sketch RQD in brief. Render the various methods of rock
exploration. Explain any two in detail

69
 REFERENCES

Engineering Geology: Parbin Singh

Engineering Geology : D.S Arora

NPTEL

Images From Google Images

Slide share

70
THANK YOU