地质学专业英语

English Reading Material for Geology, Hydrogeology, Engineering geology and Environmental Geology

Department of Resources, Environment and Engineering Shijiazhuang University of Economics

Content

Unit One: The Earth通用____________________________________________________1

Unit Two: The Atmosphere环________________________________________________4 Unit Three: Oceans通用_____________________________________________________8 Unit Four: Groundwater通用_______________________________________________13 Unit Five: Minerals地_____________________________________________________17 Unit Six: Rocks通用_______________________________________________________21 Unit Seven: Weathering and Erosion通用______________________________________28 Unit Eight: Geological Structures通用________________________________________32 Unit Nine: Earth History通用_______________________________________________37 Unit Ten: Continental drift地_______________________________________________42 Unit Eleven: Plate Tectonics地______________________________________________46 Unit Twelve: Earthquakes and Seismic Waves地_______________________________50 Unit thirteen: Introduction of Igneous Geochemistry地__________________________54

Unit Fourteen: Using trace element analysis to determine the tectonic setting of basic volcanic rocks地_________________________________________________________59

Unit Fifteen: Geophysical Prospecting地、工___________________________________64 Unit Sixteen: Water水_____________________________________________________68 Unit Seventeen: Character of Groundwater水、环_______________________________71 Unit Eighteen: Parameters of Groundwater Flow水_____________________________76 Unit Nineteen: Hydrogeological Investigations水_______________________________81 Unit Twenty: Soils水、环____________________________________________________84 Unit Twenty-one: Mechanical behavior of rock and soil工________________________88 Unit Twenty-two: Reservoirs水、工___________________________________________92 Unit Twenty-three: Dams工________________________________________________96 Unit Twenty-four: Excavation and Support工_________________________________100 Unit Twenty-five: Slope S tability and Downslope Movement工、环__________________________105

Unit One: The Earth通用

Introduction

The Earth is a very large spherical body. The science of geology is concerned with the Earth and the rocks of which it composed, the processes by which they were formed during geological time, and the modeling of the Earth’s surface in the past and at the present day. Earth is not a static body but is constantly subject to changes both at its surface and at deeper levels.

Surface changes can be observed by engineers and geologists alike; among them erosion is a dominant process which in time destroys coastal cliffs, reduces the height of continents, and transports the material so removed either to the sea or to inland basins of deposition. Changes that originate below the surface are not so easily observed and their nature can only be postulated. Some are the cause of slow movements of continents across the surface of the globe; others cause the more rapid changes associated with volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

The surface of the Earth

Dimensions and surface relief

The radius of the Earth at the equator is 6370km and the polar radius is shorter by about 22km; thus the Earth is not quite a perfect sphere. The planet has a surface area of 510´106m2, of which some 29 per cent is land. If to this is added the shallow sea areas of the shelf which surrounds the continents, the total land area is nearly 35 per cent of the whole surface. In other words, nearly two-thirds of the surface is covered by deep ocean.

Fig.1 A sketch profile of continental margin

Surface relief is very varied (see fig.1); mountains rise to several kilometers above sea level, with a maximum of 8.848km at Everest (珠穆朗玛峰). The average height of land above sea level is 0.875km and the mean depth of the ocean floor is about 3.73km. In places the ocean floor descends to much greater depths in elongated areas or trenches; the Marianas Trench (马里亚纳海沟) in the N.W. Pacific reaches the greatest known depth, 11.034km. The extremes of height and depth are small in comparison with the Earth’s radius, and are found only in limited areas. The oceans, seas, lakes and rivers are collectively referred to as the hydrosphere; and the whole is surrounded by a gaseous envelope, the atmosphere.