Geotechnical references? Where do you find good references for desk studies?

[Richard Dennis]

Hi all, is there anywhere you can find some references for geological properties to help out with desk studies? I see in the UK there is the BGS survey database to search for boreholes and it sometimes has some references to properties. I also discovered a lot on www.tunnels.ai recently which is pretty useful for finding geotech and tunnelling references. But is there any other public sources of information?

 

[GeoEnvGuy]

Yes there are public sources of information and it is based on your area of interest and typically from government agencies. In Ontario Canada this is provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources in the US there is the US geological society.

 

[1503-44]

General soil classifications are available.
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE and local State Agricultural departments.
Such as this one,

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/harrisTX1976/gsm.pdf

Change the last two letters to list the soil surveys in the state of interest.

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/surveylist/soils/survey/state/?stateId=IL

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/surveylist/soils/survey/state/?stateId=CA

 

[geotechguy1]

Resources depend on where you are, for example. in Alberta, Canada, there are many good geological maps published by the Alberta Geological survey, which provide information on surficial geology, drift thickness, glacial geomorphology, etc. There is also a database of records of groundwater wells kept in Alberta - something similar might exist in other regions. Some geotechnical consultancies will also either maintain their own internal databases, either electronically, or stored in the heads of managers / experienced staff.