Page 1 of 15 First Next Previous Last

Geology in Practice. Presidential Address Section 3, Geology, ANZAAS Meeting

Geology in Practice*

By D. G. Moye

The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd., Melbourne, Victoria

I deeply appreciate the honour of being your President. I think that perhaps the election of a non-academic person, practising geology in industry, may reflect the changing composition and character of the geological profession in Australia. Not so many years ago most geologists were attached to the Universities and the Geological Surveys. Now more than half are in industry, and the proportion is rising rapidly.

As a group, geologists in industry are relatively non-communicative and more reticent in publishing the results of their work than are their colleagues in the universities and surveys. Their contributions to society are to be judged by the tangible results flowing from their participation in the creation of useful things such as dams and power stations, new mines and quarries, oil and gas fields. They are primarily concerned with practical applications of geological science, rather than with the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. But this is no barrier to good scientific work, and geologists in industry also are making major contributions to the advancement of their science.

It seems particularly appropriate to consider the role of geology in practice in Australia at this time when the profession is stretched to its limits to meet the unprecedented and still rising demand for its services.

Geologists are deeply involved in the most fundamental way with the discovery and assessment of Australia’s basic natural resources of water, fuel and minerals and with bringing them into use.

The future progress of Australia depends greatly on the development of these resources and Australian geologists have the heavy responsibility of ensuring that their share of the work is done well.

The present sharp upsurge in activity is dominated by mineral exploration, and is superimposed on an earlier and still very active interest in oil and gas exploration. But in addition to these spectacular advances, the past 20 years have seen a steady development of engineering geology—the application of geology to the planning, design and construction of a wide range of public works, especially dams and tunnels, to the design of large underground mine openings, to strata control in coal mines, and to the search for underground water supplies.

Of the various fields in which geologists are playing an active role, I propose to discuss mainly engineering geology and mineral exploration.

Geology in Engineering

It is logical that geology should be applied to the development of large engineering projects of the kinds which are founded on rock or soil, or are located within surface and underground excavations, or which make use of rock and soil as construction materials.

During the post-war period this has been generally recognized by the engineering organizations responsible for the development of irrigation and hydro- electric projects involving large dams,

*Presidential Address to Section 3, Geology, ANZAAS Adelaide Congress.

Details for this article:

Geology in Practice

X

Author: Moye, D.G. (1970)

Article Title: Geology in Practice. Presidential Address Section 3, Geology, ANZAAS Meeting

From: Australian Journal of Science 32(12)

Other Available Articles

Engineering geology for the Snowy Mountains Scheme

Moye, D.G. (1955)

Engineering geology for the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

J.I.E.Aust., Vol. 27 No.10 pp287–298

Rock Mechanics in the Investigation and Construction of T.1 Underground Power Station, Snowy Mountains, Australia

Moye, D.G. (1958)

Rock Mechanics in the Investigation and Construction of T.1 Underground Power Station, Snowy Mountains, Australia

In Engineering Geology Case Histories No.3 123–54 Geological Society of America 69 (12) p.1617

Existence of high horizontal rock stresses in rock masses.

Moye, D.G. (1962)

Existence of high horizontal rock stresses in rock masses.

Proc. Third Australia-New Zealand Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. pp 19–22

Seismic Activity in the Snowy Mountains Region and its Relationship to Geological Structures

J. R. Cleary, H. A. Doyle, D. G. Moye (1964)

SEISMIC ACTIVITY IN THE SNOWY MOUNTAINS REGION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURES

Journal of the Geological Society of Australia

Unstable rock and its treatment in the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

Moye, D.G. (1965)

Unstable rock and its treatment in the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

Proc. 8th Commonwealth Mining and Metallurgical Congress, Australia & New Zealand. Vol. 6, p. 423–441.

Diamond drilling for foundation exploration

Moye, D.G. (1967)

Diamond drilling for foundation exploration.

Paper 2150 presented at I.E.Aust. Site Investigation Symposium, September 1966. In Civil Engineering Transactions, with Discussion, April 1967.

Geology in Practice

Moye, D.G. (1970)

Geology in Practice. Presidential Address Section 3, Geology, ANZAAS Meeting.

Australian Journal of Science, 32 (12) June, p454–461.

* This paper was presented when Dan had been Director of Exploration of BHP for 3 years.

Field and Laboratory Tests in Rock Mechanics

Alexander, L. G (1960)

Field and Laboratory Tests in Rock Mechanics

Proceedings, 3rd Australian-New Zealand Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Sydney Australia, 1960, pp. 161–168.

Discussion at Technical Session No. 9—Rock Mechanics

Alexander, L. G. Moye, D. G. (1960)

Discussion at Technical Session No. 9—Rock Mechanics

Proceedings, 3rd Australian-New Zealand Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Sydney Australia, 1960, pp. 254–250