CONTENTS

Page

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iiiForeword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 2 Geologic Terminology andClassifications for GeologicMaterials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Established References for GeologicalTerminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Geologic Classification of Materials . . . . . . . 4Engineering Classification of Geologic

Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Application and Use of Standard Indexes,

Terminology, and Descriptors . . . . . . . . . . 9Units of Measurements for Geologic Logs

of Exploration, Drawings, and Reports . . 12Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 3 Engineering Classification andDescription of Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Classifications of Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Abbreviated Soil Classification Symbols . . . 39Description of the Physical Properties

of Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Narrative Descriptions and Examples . . . . . 48Use of Soil Classification as Secondary

Identification Method for MaterialsOther Than Natural Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Chapter 4 Classification of Rocks andDescription of PhysicalProperties of Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Rock Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

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Chapter 4 Classification of Rocks andDescription of PhysicalProperties of Rock (continued)

Page

Description of Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Example Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Chapter 5 Terminology and Descriptionsfor Discontinuities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Indexes for Describing Fracturing . . . . . . . . 94Description of Fractures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Descriptions of Shears and Shear Zones . . . 114Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Chapter 6 Geologic Mapping and Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Responsibilities of the Engineering Geologist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Development of a Study Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Specific Mapping Requirements . . . . . . . . . . 133Global Positioning System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Site Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Dozer Trench Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Backhoe Trench Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Construction Geologic Mapping . . . . . . . . . . 167Large Excavation Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Steep Slope Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Canal and Pipeline Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Underground Geologic Mapping . . . . . . . . . 171Underground Geologic Mapping Methods . . 185Photogeologic Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Analysis of Aerial Photographs . . . . . . . . . . 198

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Chapter 6 Geologic Mapping and Documentation (continued)

Page

Photoanalysis for ReconnaissanceGeologic Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Availability of Imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Chapter 7 Discontinuity Surveys . . . . . . . . 205General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Chapter 8 Exploration Drilling Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Preparation of Drilling Specifications

and Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Chapter 9 Groundwater Data AcquisitionMethods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Design and Installation of Observation

Wells and Piezometers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229Methods Used to Measure Groundwater

Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Methods and Techniques Used to Estimate

Flows from Seeps, Springs, and SmallDrainages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Computer-Based Monitoring Systems . . . . . 242Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

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Chapter 10 Guidelines for Core Logging . 249General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Format and Required Data for the Final Geologic Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Method of Reporting Orientation of Planar Discontinuities and Structural Features . 284Core Recovery and Core Losses . . . . . . . . . . 285Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287Core Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288Equipment Necessary for Preparing

Field Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291Instruction to Drillers, Daily Drill Reports, and General Drilling Procedures . . . . . . . . 294

Chapter 11 Instructions for Logging Soils 313General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313Formats for Test Pits and Auger Hole Logs 325Format of Word Descriptions for Drill Hole Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333Exceptions to Test Pit and Auger Hole

Format and Descriptions for Drill Hole Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Equipment Necessary for Preparing the Field Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Example Descriptions and Format . . . . . . . . 349Laboratory Classifications in Addition to

Visual Classifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349Word Descriptions for Various Soil Classifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351Reporting Laboratory Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351Special Cases for USCS Classification . . . . . 363Reporting In-Place Density Tests . . . . . . . . . 364Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

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Page

Chapter 12 Hazardous Waste Site Investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367Common Terminology and Processes . . . . . . 368Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369Contaminant Characteristics and

Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375Classification and Handling of Materials . . 381Field Sampling Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383Sample Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402Safety at Hazardous Waste Sites . . . . . . . . . 405Sample Quality Assurance and

Quality Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406Sample Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410Decontamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

AppendixAbbreviations and Acronyms CommonlyUsed in Bureau of Reclamation Engineering Geology and Related toHazardous Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

TABLES

Table Page

2-1 Ground behavior for earth tunneling with steel supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2-2 Useful conversion factors— metric andEnglish units (inch-pound) . . . . . . . . . 14

3-1 Basic group names, primary groups . . . 26

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TABLES (continued)

Table Page

3-2 Basic group names, 5 to 12 percent fines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3-3 Criteria for describing dry strength . . . 313-4 Criteria for describing dilatancy . . . . . . 323-5 Criteria for describing toughness . . . . . 333-6 Criteria for describing plasticity . . . . . . 343-7 Identification of inorganic fine-grained

soils from manual tests . . . . . . . . . . . 363-8 Criteria for describing angularity of

coarse-grained particles . . . . . . . . . . . 413-9 Criteria for describing particle shape . . 423-10 Criteria for describing moisture

condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433-11 Criteria for describing reaction

with HCl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433-12 Criteria for describing consistency of

in-place or undisturbed fine-grainedsoils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

3-13 Criteria for describing cementation . . . 443-14 Criteria for describing structure . . . . . . 453-15 Particle sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463-16 Checklist for the description of soil

classification and identification . . . . . 483-17 Checklist for the description of in-place

conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494-1 Igneous and metamorphic rock grain

size descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704-2 Sedimentary and pyroclastic rock

particle-size descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . 714-3 Bedding, foliation, or flow texture

descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744-4 Weathering descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774-5 Durability index descriptors . . . . . . . . . 79

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TABLES (continued)

Table Page

4-6 Rock hardness/strength descriptors . . . 835-1 Fracture density descriptors . . . . . . . . . 975-2 Fracture spacing descriptors . . . . . . . . . 1025-3 Fracture continuity descriptors . . . . . . . 1025-4 Descriptors for recording fracture ends

in joint surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035-5 Fracture openness descriptors . . . . . . . . 1045-6 Fracture filling thickness descriptors . . 1045-7 Fracture healing descriptors . . . . . . . . . 1075-8 Fracture roughness descriptors . . . . . . . 1095-9 Fracture moisture conditions

descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106-1 U.S. State plane coordinate systems –

1927 datum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1376-2 U.S. State plane coordinate systems –

1983 datum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14311-1 Checklist for the description of soils in

test pit and auger hole logs . . . . . . . . 32612-1 EPA recommended sampling containers,

preservation requirements, and holding times for soil samples . . . . . . 385

12-2 Summary of soil sampling devices . . . . 38812-3 Common laboratory testing methods . . 404

FIGURES

Figure Page

3-1 Modifiers to basic soil group names . . . 223-2 Flow chart for inorganic fine-grained

soils, visual method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

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FIGURES (continued)

Figure Page

3-3 Flow chart for organic soils, visual method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3-4 Flow chart for coarse-grained soils,visual method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3-5 Plasticity chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353-6 Sample of test results summary . . . . . . 534-1 Field classification of igneous rocks . . . 604-2 Field classification of sedimentary

rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614-3 Field classification of metamorphic

rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624-4 Field classification of pyroclastic rocks . 634-5 Charts for estimating percentage of

composition of rocks and sediments . 644-6 Descriptor legend and explanation

example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674-7 Permeability conversion chart . . . . . . . . 875-1 Rock Quality Designation (RQD)

computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965-2 Comparison of true and apparent

spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015-3 Examples of roughness and waviness of

fracture surfaces, typical roughnessprofiles, and terminology . . . . . . . . . . 108

5-4 Uniform shear zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1155-5 Structured shear zone (two zones or

layers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1165-6 Structured shear zone (three layers) . . 1165-7 Uniform shear zone with veinlets . . . . . 1165-8 Uniform shear zone (composite) . . . . . . 1175-9 Standard descriptors and descriptive

criteria for discontinuities . . . . . . . . . 121

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FIGURES (continued)

Figure Page

6-1 Process of engineering geology mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

6-2 Sample trench log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1606-3 Sample completed trench log . . . . . . . . . 1656-4 Tunnel mapping form with key

alphanumeric descriptors and mapping data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

6-5 Tunnel mapping form with blocks for title and geologic data . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

6-6 As-built summary geology tunnel map . 1796-7 Full periphery mapping method

layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1866-8 Full periphery geologic map example . . 1886-9 Map layout of a tunnel for geologic

mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1916-10 Relationship of planar feature trace to

map projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927-1 Equatorial equal area net . . . . . . . . . . . 2097-2 Discontinuity log field sheet . . . . . . . . . 21010-1 Drill hole log, DH-123 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25310-2 Drill hole log, B-102, for Standard

Penetration Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25510-3 Drill hole log, DH-SP-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25910-4 Drill hole log, SPT-107-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 26110-5 Drill hole log, DH-DN/P-60-1 . . . . . . . . . 27010-6 Daily drill report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29210-7 Water testing record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29910-8 Use of half-round to protect core . . . . . . 30110-9 Standard N-size core box . . . . . . . . . . . . 30310-10 Log of concrete and rock core . . . . . . . . . 30811-1 Log of test pit or auger hole . . . . . . . . . . 31411-2 Clean coarse-grained soils . . . . . . . . . . . 315

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FIGURES (continued)

Figure Page

11-3 Fine-grained soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31611-4 Soil classifications based on laboratory

test data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31711-5 Auger hole with samples taken . . . . . . . 31811-6 Reporting laboratory classification in

addition to visual classification . . . . . 31911-7 Undisturbed soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32011-8 Coarse-grained soils with fines . . . . . . . 32111-9 Coarse-grained soils with dual

symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32211-10 Reporting in-place density tests and

percent compaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32311-11 Soil with measured percentages of

cobbles and boulders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32411-12 Field form - soil logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32911-13 Soil with more than 50 percent cobbles

and boulders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33411-14 Borderline soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33511-15 Test pit with samples taken . . . . . . . . . 33611-16 Disturbed samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33711-17 Two descriptions from the same

horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33811-18 Drill hole advanced by tri-cone

rock bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34011-19 Log showing poor recovery . . . . . . . . . . . 34211-20 Log of landslide material (a) . . . . . . . . . 34311-21 Log of landslide material (b) . . . . . . . . . 34411-22 Log of bedrock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34511-23 Geologic interpretation in test pit

(sheet 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35011-24 Geologic interpretation in test pit

(sheet 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

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FIGURES (continued)

Figure Page

11-25 Geologic interpretation in test pit usinga geologic profile (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

11-26 Geologic interpretation in test pit(sheet 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

11-27 Geologic interpretation in test pit(sheet 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

11-28 Geologic interpretation in test pit usinga geologic profile (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

11-29 Geologic interpretation in test pit(sheet 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

11-30 Geologic interpretation in test pit(sheet 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

11-31 Geologic interpretation in test pit(sheet 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

11-32 Geologic interpretation in test pit(sheet 8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

11-33 Geologic interpretation in test pit usinga geologic profile (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

12-1 Aquifer types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37912-2 Typical monitoring well construction for

water quality sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . 39912-3 Soil and water sample identification

labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41212-4 Chain-of-custody record . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41312-5 Custody seal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415