THE ROLE OF SOIL MECHANICS IN ENVIRONMENTAL GEOTECHNICS

Geotechnical considerations are central to environmental control, restoration and enhancement. Principles of soil mechanics, as they relate to soil, contaminated ground water, and waste materials and to the design, construction, operation and maintenance of geo-environmental earth structures are among the most important of the several tools used in geo-environmental engineering. In particular, considerations of strength and stability, stress-deformation behavior, seepage and contaminant transportation, and seismicity and soil dynamics are required. Case history examples of waste landfills, tailings dams, and slurry walls are used to illustrate several principles and important roles of soil mechanics in environmental geotechnics.