COURSE NAME: PRINCIPLES OF ENGINEERING GEOLOGY

COURSE NUMBER: GLEN 223

TUTORIAL QUESTIONS

1. Why are the silicate minerals the most common minerals in the earth's crust?

2. Give an alternative name for each of the following groups of silicates (a)
nesosilicates, (b) double island silicates, (c) cyclo-silicates, (d) inosilicates, (e) sheet
silicates.

3. Name the two most abundant minerals found in rocks.

4. What is Engineering Geology? )

5. Explain why in Engineering Geologic practices there is the need to distinguish

between rock material and rock mass.

6. Why are faults important in engineering geologic studies?

7. What accounts for the low density values of the tektosilicates?

8. Which of the following underlying ground conditions in Figure 1 will present the
most unfavorable foundation conditions for the dam?

Figure 1 Underlying ground conditions of a dam

9. Which of the underlying ground conditions in Figure 1 will present the least
foundation problems to the dam?

10. List the types of problems that each illustration in Figure 1 will encounter.

11. The inosilicate minerals possess well-defined prismatic cleavages characteristic

of the amphiboles and pyroxenes. What accounts for this property?

12. Why are rock masses not continuous?

13. Most plutonic rock masses are homogeneous in composition and texture as
compared to sedimentary or metamorphic rocks. Why is this phenomenon true?