Underground construction on engineering geological terms: A fundamental necessity for the function of metropolitan environments and Man's survival

Morfeldt, C.-O., 1993. Underground construction on engineering geological terms: A fundamental necessity for the function of metropolitan environments and Man's survival. In: M. Langer, K. Hoshino and K. Aoki (Editors), Engineering Geology in the Utilization of Underground Space.Eng. Geol., 35: 149–165.     

Landscaping with waste

For centuries back, man has searched for and utilised geological material resources for many different purposes. These efforts have left many, large wounds or “eyesores” in bedrock and soil strata, that have destroyed the appearance of the original landscape, and which now often serve as waste dumps and scrap sites. Worked-out gravel and sand pits, as well as extinct quarries and open-pit mineral mines, can extend over wide areas of land and reach considerable depths. Depths which subsequently have become particularly attractive as waste storage sites, especially when these offer short transport distances to suppliers in major, built-up areas and communities.

This paper gives some examples as to how Stockholm has replaced worked-out overburden and rock masses from eskers and rock strata with waste masses, simultaneously restoring land formation into its original condition through landscaping. Specific engineering-geological survey methods, control systems, as well as risk and sequel analyses, relating to long-term interplay between rock, soil strata and groundwater, with particular consideration to surface construction and property development planning and isostatic uplift, will be presented.