Engineering geomorphology: A UKuk perspective

Engineering geomorphology has developed at a rather disappointingly slow rate in the UK since publication of the earlier applications in the 1970’s. Among the more notable contributions of geomorphological techniques and expertise to civil engineering have been the various landslide mapping surveys carried out for road construction projects overseas and in the UK. However, while geomorphological mapping has proved to be a useful tool for landslide assessment and the planning of geotechnical ground investigations there are four main constraints that currently limit the professional application of engineering geomorphology to civil engineering practice. First, the subject has not received universal acceptance by civil engineers who often see it as too academic and not directly applicable to engineering design. Second, when geomorphological mapping has been used it has often been applied at the beginning of a project and frequently continual geomorphological interpretation is not allowed to take place as the geotechnical ground investigation and design take place. Third the technique of geomorphological mapping is the most familiar geomorphological tool known to the civil engineer and the valid and often cost-effective contributions that geomorphologists can make to other civil engineering studies using different techniques are frequently not recognised. Finally, so-called engineering geomorphologists trained in the UK often do not have sufficient knowledge of engineering design criteria to be gainfully employed on civil engineering projects. Some of these problems may be resolved by a reconsideration of the training given to potential engineering geomorphologists in the UK, possibly by the British Geomorphological Research Group and the Engineering Group of the Geological Society, and a greater awareness among civil engineers of the full potential that engineering geomorphology can offer.