Engineering geosciences and military operations

ENCsINEERING GEOLOGY ELSEVIER

Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

Engineering geosciences and military operations 1 George A. Kiersch a,b a Professor Emeritus, Cornell University, Ithaca, N Y 14853, USA b Kiersch Associates, GeoScienee Consultants, 4750 Camino Luz, A Z 85718, USA

Received 29 April 1997; accepted 8 September 1997

Abstract

The earliest recorded use of geology for the terrain assessment of the battlefield occurred at Katzback in 1813 and contributed to the defeat of Napoleon's Army. Ever since, most major military operations have utilized geologic counsel to evaluate the terrain and features or execute battle actions. The value of geologic insight was recognized in books on the military applications of geology in 1859 and 1885 and the release of "Militargeologie" in 1913 by a German Army officer. During World War I, geologic data became available on specialized maps for: trafficability and movement of supplies, vehicles and personnel; identifying water and construction materials sources; planning and design of surface and underground fortifications; and guidance of underground warfare via tunneling. U.S. Forces (1917-18) prepared the first engineering geology maps for battlefield use and construction of field works. All participants acknowledged the importance of geology after the war for resources, strategy, and understanding battleground features for tactics and combat. A field manual for Military Geology (Wehrgeologie) was released by the German Army in 1938. The geologic assessment of potential battle areas and strategic features became increasingly important during World War II, for example, pre-war German terrain maps of North Africa with location of water sources and the wadis, steep-walled barriers to mechanized movements. The U.S. Military Geology Unit prepared geologic folios for the southern European operations and throughout the Pacific Island region. The British Military Geology Unit supplied maps and geologic counsel for the western European operations. Refinement of on-going geological practices aided such operations as: the selection of airborne landing sites and airfields, beachheads and assault landings; location and construction of surface and underground protective installations; as well as other works, for example, harbors for Normandy landings. Military geophysics became critical for naval purposes, for example, development of magnetic and acoustically active mines, tracking German U-boats and supplying maps of the sea bottom and sediments; aerial heat-sensing techniques identified Vietnam Era movements beneath the jungle cover. During the 1940s and 1950s, GeoScience principles and techniques were utilized on an unprecedented scale for military and engineering purposes. Tunneling, so successful by Union Forces in Civil War and by the British in World War II, became a major offensive weapon of the North Koreans in the 1950s. Infiltration tunnels exist today beneath the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and South Korea. The permanent Military Geology Branch, U.S. Geological Survey (1946), studied atomic test sites in the Pacific and Nevada. Research by U.S. Army Corps Engineers and R A N D Corporation led to the design and construction of underground installations by the 1960s. Geoscientists interpreted the Rainier (1957) nuclear detonations and ~In part from G.A. Kiersch; Geology and the Military in Underwood and Guth (1998). 0013-7952/98/$19.00 © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII S0013-7952( 97)00080-X

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discriminated between a nuclear explosion and a seismic event. This National Security project (1957 66) relied on many GeoScience principles and techniques, and the Plowshare program of the 1960s adapted this database for many potential military and industrial purposes. Geologic efforts during the Vietnam Era of widespread guerilla warfare required a shift flom the established approach of folios and terrain maps by a centralized geological unit. Geologic functions were largely rel\)cused from the army combat forces to the Defense Intelligence Agency by the 1970s. Many National Security projects serve the military establishment and are dependent on the principles of geoscience. :~) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

K(:),u'ords." GeoScience input: Military, Geopolitics and National Security projects, 1800 1980s; Battlefield Terrain, Tactics, Resources, Works: Mining-tunneling; Underground installations: Nuclear explosions: Combat-support: Defense-intelligence

I. Introduction

The earliest documented military operation using geologic guidance was in 1813 when Professor yon Raumer analyzed the terrain of Silesia for the Prussian General yon Blucher. A similar effort contributed to the 1843 French success in Luxembourg. Earlier, the American Revolutionary War campaigns in New York and New Jersey of 1776-77 had been impacted by geologic terrain features. Not surprisingly, the Military Academy introduced the instruction of geology in 1823. The Union Forces at the battle of Gettysburg { 1863) repelled the Confederate advances by utilizing the geologic features as a defense, and at Petersburg (1864) placed explosive charges in tunnels to destroy the Confederate fortifications. The first geologist attached to the U.S. Army was G.F. Becker during the Philippine Insurrection in 1899. Throughout the Russo-Japanese War (1904--5), Russian geologists served as advisors on military construction, while Japanese geologists accomplished a regional survey of Chosen (Korea) and utilized their findings. The first worldwide attention to military geology is credited to the German Army with release of Militargeolgie (Kranz, 1913). The Germans utilized this geologic guidebook in World War 1 to gain groundwater supplies and the construction of trenches and underground fortifications, for terrain classification, both troops and vehicles, and for sources of construction materials. The French refined the ancient study of military geography with training in the principles of geology. The British Army had two experienced geologists to

advise on water supplies and counter-mining and tunneling operations. Underground warfare became a major offensive activity by 1917 when the British geologists proceeded to undermine and simultaneously destroy 17 km of entrenched German lines on the Western Front, considered the most spectacular action of World War I. The U.S. Expeditionary Forces of 1917 18 had the service of two experienced geologists (Brooks and Eckel) with others by mid-1918. The U.S. Forces prepared engineering geologic maps ( 1:50 000) that were different from those of other armies; coverage was projected within enemy lines and provided the physical conditions and constraints for the construction of field works, suitable stream crossings and the assault of fortifications. After the war, all participants agreed on the importance of geologists in wartime, whether for resources, strategy and logistics, or understanding battlefield terrain features. The German Army re-established "'Wehrgeologie'" in 1935 as a formal Wehrmacht unit and released the classic military geology manual, Wehrgeologie, in 1938. The German Armed Forces had three geology-related agencies: the Mil-Geo of the Army (1938) prepared geographic/geologic handbooks and maps on nations and regions; the Forschungsstafl'el (Oberkomando der Wehrmacht, 1942) prepared specialized maps and texts on physical terrain features, vehicle tratficability and water supply: and the Mar-Geo group of Naval High Command (1942) prepared special maps of coastal areas. The German Armed Forces became noted for utilizing geologic guidance when constructing major works. such as U-boat pens both on the surface involving

G.A. Kierseh / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123-176

sensitive marine clays in the foundation and underground in a granitic complex, and the widespread design-construction of underground factories and direct military facilities. The U.S. Armed Forces entered World War II with a sketchy insight into the diverse geologic environs and hazardous processes that would impact their activities, which ranged from the permafrost phenomena of the Arctic to the weathered-karstic coral-reefs of equatorial regions in the Pacific to the jungle terrain of New Guinea and Burma. Allied Forces worldwide were assisted by a Military Geology Unit (MGU) of the U.S. Geological Survey organized in 1942. Besides providing geologic guidance to the strategic command, the MGU prepared folios and pre-invasion reports for North Africa, Southern Europe and Pacific Island regions. The accompanying maps covered terrain characteristics as well as trafficability, troop concealment, possible beachhead-inland combat areas, water supply, air strip sites and likely geologic "problems" of an area. Early on, geologists on duty as officers in field units (such as New Guinea) often served as members of small advance pre-landing parties to reconnoiter a proposed beachhead or facility location. By late 1944--45 the MGU's main activities were directed to the Pacific region and the establishment of forward bases. The British established a MGU in 1942, patterned after the U.S. MGU, to prepare folios for western Europe from the beaches of Normandy to Berlin. The British MGU's main contribution to the Normandy invasion was locating deep-water "entrances" to coastal harbors and identifying areas in Normandy of flat limestone terrain suitable for rapid construction of airfields. In contrast, the Russian Army employed a group of geological and hydrological specialists under the Army General Staff. Post-war studies of the sophisticated German and Allied presentations of geologic data on terrain maps aroused worldwide interest among military specialists. The advent of World War II brought forth a proliferation of applied geology for military works on a scale hitherto unimagined, and greatly advanced the acceptance of general engineering geology practice. Shortly thereafter, at least nine new engineering geology texts were released in Europe and North America. The success of applied

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geology in World War II led to the establishment of three new branches of the U.S. Geological Survey: Engineering Geology, Military Geology and Foreign Geology; and the Snow, Ice and Permafrost Research Engineering (SIPRE) group within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Furthermore, the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the Bureau of Ships began sponsoring research with an "Oceanographic Unit" in 1942. During the Korean War, the age-old technique of military tunneling beneath fortifications was used by the United Nations and Republic of Korea Forces. After the war, the North Korean Peoples Army constructed many clandestine invasion tunnels beneath the DMZ. The U.S. Military Geology Branch studied the geologic and hydrologic by-products of atomicnuclear test sites on several Pacific Island atolls and at the Nevada Test Site from 1957 to 1966. Research by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1947-49) and later the RAND (Research Applied to Natural Defense) Corporation established geologic guidelines for the design and construction of large-scale underground protective rock chambers. Since the 1960s, geologic barriers, underground hardened facilities (UHFs), have taken on a new meaning as protection from conventional weapons. Strategic geologic intelligence has become increasingly critical with respect to the hundreds of underground rock installations that have been built and operate throughout Europe. Three strategic U.S. Military Centers were built underground in the 1950-60s. In 1957, geoscientists successfully discriminated between an underground nuclear or chemical detonation signal and a natural seismic signal from an earthquake. This led to establishing the VELA UNIFORM projects (1959) to determine whether an unidentified seismic event was a natural event or an underground explosion. The Nevada Nuclear Test Site projects of 1957-66 made a significant impact on and contribution to GeoScience. Among the possible projects for national security were many peaceful uses of the Plowshare Program database, but due to testban treaties and public opinion the proposed projects were not undertaken. The Vietnam conflict, with widespread guerilla warfare, required a shift in the manner of utilizing

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G.A. Kiersch Engineering Ge()h)~y 49 (1998) 123 176

geologic counsel and input. The longtime approach of preparing folios and terrain maps by a central geological unit was disestablished: the Defense Intelligence Agency supported the combat forces directly with Intelligence Companies and Terrain Analysis Teams on-the-ground. Civilian contractor-geologists served the noncombatant construction-related field actions. Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence (CEWI) units of the late 1980s provide a multidisciplinary approach with geological interpretations to locate and define enemy targets. Many national security projects serve the military establishment and are strongly dependent on the principles of GeoScience~ for example, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a high-resolution satellite mapping of the earth's surface, and the geopolitical aspects of a proposed treaty or engineered works.

2. Early geologic concepts of warfare Early reports mention that two "'geologists" were attached to Napoleon's expeditionary forces when they invaded Egypt in 1798. The first documented military operation using geologic guidance was in 1813, when Professor K.A. von Raumer analyzed the terrain of Silesia for General yon Blucher, which was significant to his defeat of Napoleon's Forces there under General Jacques Macdonald in the battle of the Katzback River (Betz, 1984a). A similar geologic analysis of the terrain of Luxembourg led to the French battle successes of 1843 as reported by Marga (1885) and Barre (1897 1900). In 1826, Johann Samuel of the Freiberg Academy, Saxony, is credited with the first paper on ~Geology and Military Science" (Betz, 1975, p. 95). Interestingly, the Revolutionary War campaigns of New York and New Jersey in 1776 77 were influenced by relic glacial terrain features ( Fig. 1). For example, the Harbor Hill Drift, a terminal moraine of youngest Wisconsin glacial action, was distributed across central Long Island, the Narrows of Hudson River valley and Staten Island. This morainal feature is the geological topographic high and an ideal location for the New York

Harbor fortifications, Forts Hamilton and Wadsworth (Fig. 1). Perhaps the terrain lessons learned during the Revolutionary War campaigns influenced the U.S. Military Academy, America's first (1802) engineering school, to be among the first institutions to introduce the formal instruction of geology even though geology was only an embryonic science (Smith, 1964, p. 312). In America, the historic Battle of Gettysburg (1863) was critically and decisively affected by the terrain (Brown, 1961 ). Several strategic heights and commanding hilltop areas, such as Little Round Top and Cemetery Ridge (Fig. 2), are underlain by a diabase sill that occurs within the softer shales and sandstones of the Gettsyburg Triassic basin (Fig. 2: index map; Bromery, 1961 ). Consequently, the attacking Confederate troops from the west were unable to dislodge the Union defenders dug in along the diabase outcrops (Fig. 2) and boulder-felds at such localities as Devils Den, Plum Run, Round Top and Little Round Top. The Confederate Forces never recovered from the Gettsyburg defeat and were less successful thereafter. During the Union's seige of Vicksburg in May-July 1863, one of General Grant's options was to stop all Mississippi River traffic to the city and force the capitulation of the Confederate Forces, This effort included construction of the Williams Grant Canal at the Tuscumbia Bend of the Mississippi River situated at a cross-channel site south of Vicksburg. The canal would divert the main river flow away from the large meanderloop channel that served the Vicksburg water front (Fig. 3). The 1863 diversion effort was not fully implemented or successful. Yet within a few years the Mississippi River itself diverted naturally to a new channel close by the Williams-Grant alignment, which isolated Vicksburg from the main river-flow and traffic. More recently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged a connection between the Yazoo River and the old 1863 channel so that this tributary of the Mississippi River today flows past Vicksburg (Fig. 3). On 4 July 1863, another Union victory, the Tullahoma campaign under General William Rosecrans maneuvered the Confederate Army of Tennessee out of strong regional positions and

G.A. Kiersch I Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

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into its base in Chattanooga. Much of Rosecrans' success was due to their knowledge of geology and the rugged terrain over which troop movements were conducted (Brown, 1963a,b). Using an 1856 geologic sketch map of Tennessee, Rosecrans maneuvered within the fiat-stream valleys of the dissected Highland Rim country and its salient-

and-spur features. Suitable topographic maps were nonexistent for most areas and Rosecrans often utilized an ingenious tactic to supply critical terrain information. Union cavalry forces would fan-out in advance to reconnoiter the unknown terrain, a tactic many criticized as "useless" raids; they were not aware of the underlying purpose, to obtain

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badly needed topographic information in advance of infantry movements (Brown, 1963a,b). Rosecrans' activities were milestones in the history of pre-battle maps by U.S. Army topographic engineers (Terman, 1998). The subsequent Chickamanga campaign forced the Confederate Forces to evacuate their Chattanooga base, again a maneuvering based on the skillful and daring

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use of the geology and topography of rugged terrain (Brown, 1964, p. 1 ). In June 1864, Union Forces were engaged with well-entrenched Confederate Forces at Petersburg, VA. To advance, Colonel Henry Pleasants, a mining engineer with a group of volunteer Pennsylvania coal miners, proposed the construction of a tunnel system in the clay and sand clay beds beneath the

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

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Confederate fortifications (McPherson, 1989). The tunnel consisted of a main gallery 155 m (510') long with lateral openings for the explosive charges beneath the Confederate works (Fig. 4a). By 23 July the main gallery with a ventilation shaft was ready for placing explosive charges (Fig. 4b). The 3630 kg (8000 pounds) of gun powder were detonated at 4:45 a.m. on 30 July causing the earth to erupt catastrophically with a heavy loss of enemy

troops and equipment. The blast formed a crater 50m (170') long, 20m (60') wide and 10m (30') deep (Fig. 4b). Although the surprise attack caused a major break in the enemy lines, the Union Forces were not equipped or prepared to immediately overrun the steep-walled crater area and within a short time Confederate Forces regrouped and held on (Powell, 1989). A British soldier and geologist, General J.R.

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Geologic Section of Main Gallery- Tunneling beneath Confederate Fortifications, Battle of Petersburg July 15-2:5, 1864 Fig. 4. Cross-section (below) of tunnel gallery excavated beneath Confederate lortifications by' Union Forces at Battle of Petersburg, Virginia, in July 1864 (a). Map view (above) of the mine tunnels and the crater limits with a cross-section of the crater formed. Detonation of explosix.e charges destroyed the enemy forces and equipment and formed a large-scale crater at surface (b). This type of warfare was very common in World War I during the years of 1916 17.

Portlock o f the Royal Engineers, recognized in his 1859 edition o f Treatise on Geology that a knowledge o f geologic principles would be an aid to war (Portlock, 1859). French C o m m a n d a n t A. Marga (1885) in his two volumes on Geographic Militaire, recognized the influence o f the physical character o f soil and free-draining granite vs clay and argillites on t r o o p movements. Soon thereafter, French C o m m a n d a n t Q. Barre, an eminent geologist and soldier, lectured at the Ecole de Application de l'Artillerie et du Genie, and at Fontainbleau from 1897 to 1902 on the military importance ot" geology, physiography and the impact o f tectonic history on landforms. In Britain, Colonel Charles

C o o p e r King, geologist and artillery officer, lectured at the British Staff College from 1886-98: he was a m o n g the first to recognize the wide application of geology other than t o p o g r a p h y to military problems and operations (Brooks, 1920, p. 90). Following the Spanish--American War o f 1898, G.F. Becker o f the U.S. Geological Survey was sent to the Philippine Islands to make a geological study o f resources (M.F., 1899). The Philippine Insurrections in 1899 interrupted this work, and he became attached to the Bureau o f Military Information o f the U.S. Army. Becker undertook more than 14 major reconnaissance missions that

G.A. Kierseh / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

included repeated acts of gallantry; for this soldierly usefulness, Becker has been called the "First American military geologist" (Erdmann, 1943, p. 1177). During those years Professor William O. Crosby of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was gaining recognition as the "Father of Engineering Geology in North America" for his many projects in which geology was utilized for civil, mining and military engineered works (Kiersch, 1991, p. 44). The first large-scale use of geology for military operations apparently dates from the RussoJapanese War of 1904-5. The Russians used a number of geologists as advisors, particularly in constructing fortifications (Whitmore, 1954, p. 212). The Japanese took the war as an opportunity to perform a regional geologic survey of Korea (Chosen), and it is likely they utilized some of their findings for military purposes. Similarly, during the pre-World War I years, selected geologic maps of Germany and Austria appear to have been made by order of the military authorities to develop a database on water supply (Brooks, 1920, p. 91 ), including ground-water resources for military posts.

3. World War I

Little further attention was given to military geology in Europe or America until shortly before the outbreak of World War I. In 1913, Captain Walter Kranz, a geologist and artillery officer of the German Army, called attention to the importance of geology in war in his text Militargeologie (Kranz, 1913), in which he advocated its recognition as a special profession. But, surprisingly, few among the Germans, French or British heeded or acknowledged Kranz's warnings (Brooks, 1920, p. 91). 3.1. German Forces

The German Army began to develop the use of geology in warfare during 1915. Initially concerned with identifying and utilizing the underground water supplies of the Moselle Valley, geological activities broadened and by 1916 20 geologists were occupied with driving tunnels, advising on

131

fortifications, and locating construction materials (Brooks, 1920, p. 95). Professor Albrecht Penck, a prominent geomorphologist, was an advisor to the German General Staff on matters relating to geology and geography. By 1918, some 100 German geologists were contributing to the solution of military problems on the Western Front (Brooks, 1920, p. 96) that included terrain classification for troop and vehicle mobility, sitings for well borings and underground factories and mining-tunneling for underground warfare. 3.2. French Forces

By the outbreak of World War |, the ancient study of military geography had been refined by the French, and they recognized that regional geologic history and landforms were considered basic to any terrain analysis concerned with military operations (Brooks, 1920, p. 89). Furthermore, the French countryside had been mapped geologically and French military engineers had been trained in general geologic principles including the analysis of maps for water sources and the siting of trench dugouts (Fig. 5), which recognized a profound control on the performance of fieldworks by the ground-water level. Moreover, the French were leaders in the military application of hydrologic principles and they actively drilled and outfitted thousands of water wells in areas lacking surface supplies, such as in the Flanders region. Furthermore, lessons learned by the French in the Battle of Verdun (1916) had gained respect for the services rendered by geologists; 700 000 French and German soldiers were killed in this pivotal engagement of the war. The French organized a protective line at Verdun by interlocking the field works with natural barriers of limestone ridges, plateau scarps, ravines, cross-ridges and deep natural moats. This defense became more feared by the Germans than the masonry fortresses (Johnson, 1921, pp. 391-400). The geologic setting of the Verdun battlefield is shown in Fig. 6a. The region is underlain by a westward dipping sequence of thick limestones, interbedded marls and clays, and some clayey sandstone. Erosion by the major rivers, Meuse, Moselle and Aire, carved a distinctive topography

132

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consisting of high limestone sandstone plateaus that lack soil cover lk)r troop entrenchments, and the lowlands of Woevre carved in softer marls and clays (Fig. 6b). French positions on the east were limited by the width of the narrow C6tes de Meuse topographic belt, while German troops were exposed on the west by Woevre Plain (Fig. 6b). Several major German assaults in 1916 failed to fully dislodge the French and the French recaptured most of the fortifications/barriers by 1917. The Germans were defeated at Verdun by the skillful use of topographic barriers by the French. Springs and water-bearing zones are common throughout the Woevre Valley slopes, and German trenches along this frontline were easily flooded (Fig. 5). By 1918, several prominent French and Belgian geologists were attached to the Service Geographique to prepare "'tank maps", which delimited the physical conditions of future battlegrounds as imposed by the near-surface soils and materials (Brooks, 1920, p. 93 ). 3.3. Britivh Forces

The British Army attached two experienced geologists to the Chief of Engineer's Staff for the Western Front, Captain W.B.R. King of the British Geological Survey in 1915 to advise and develop water supplies and Lieutenant Colonel T.E. David in early 1916 as geologic advisor on underground mining and tunneling operations. The front lines of the Flanders battlefield had remained stationary throughout 1915 16, so the British planned a large-scale mining effort (Fig. 7) to dislodge the Germans from the

Messines-Wytschaetes region (Johnson, 1921, pp. 65 70: Brooks, 1920, pp. 93 94). Roads and rail lines were constructed in 1916 to transport supplies, followed by the excavation of 19 separate underground galleries for placing explosive charges beneath the ridge to demolish the German fortifications. The near-surface rock units ( Fig. 8a) were saturated with water and the Germans had experienced difficulty tunneling along the Messines ridge: they had overlooked the potential for large-scale mining efforts in the deeper Ypresion claystone (Fig. 8a). After 15 months of tunneling, charges were placed and detonated simultaneously on 17 June 1917 (Fig. 7). Many cite this action as the most spectacular in World War I. The shaking ground resembled an earthquake, and the city of Lille > 2 0 k i n (12 miles) behind German lines experienced sharp earthquake-like shocks. The hitherto impenetrable German lines were destroyed (Fig. 8a); large craters up to 140' in diameter developed, and engulfed defenders, the surface collapsed and quickly filled with water, and "'quicksand" flowed into railway cuts such as those at Hill 60 (Fig. 8b). A British artillery barrage followed, and troops quickly captured the fortresses and hills of Messines and Wytschaetes with comparatively light casualties ( King, 1919, p. 208): the German Forces retreated up to 5 km along a 17-km segment of the entrenched t¥ont lines. The British geologists perlbrmed their most notable service of the war by determining the areal and site-related features of subsurface rock units throughout the Messines Wytschaetes region of the Western Front (Fig. 7). Geologists David and King identified two sandy clay units, the greenish

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

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was delineated by correlating existing water-well logs and by drilling exploratory wells in the lesser k n o w n areas. In addition to determining the location o f the Ypresian Clay bed, the British geological study determined that thicknesses varied,

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Hoilandscbesch/q~uur, ~ e 2 / /

,,,,M"

(~

Peckham.~

S~,nb,oe~,.. , O

/ .,--

~ Wytschaete -'k~

)

~

t

~

~. "4

Ontario

}

,,re,,-=.-- -L-.',o~,

-'~

~o~,-

iNDEX MAP ~E"

~,a.7

T

AlignmentGeologic Section Arrows direction of view •, ~

D

~}\.

German Entrenched Lines beginning1916

-/

~:~ ' ~

Brussels

German Fallback Lines after 19 Powerful British Mines fired and Attacked June7, 1917

Alfweg

Moedel I stede4

"''"~

~./

EXPLANATION

/

..aF Bois I

~x~./3 ~"

Chergeof 51Tons with Location incline/gallery

Chargeof 16-28 Tons Charge of under 16 Tons Area of Map

Modified after Van Oulow, el al., 1938, Ft~.65

Gro~nlZ'~ / 0 L.A.K,

I 2 kilometers

3

"-,,

IZZ ~5.l Graben " ~ 6 . r St. Yves

( /

Fig. 7. Plan map of entrenched German lines on 7 June 1917 south of Lille, I-:rance. The location of British lines and the 19 separate underground galleries constructed are shown where charges were placed and fired that demolished fortifications of Ontario Ridge, St. Ella, Hill 60, and Peckham areas. Note the German tailback line up to 5 km away alter the attack on 7 June.

because of erosion in ancient times, and that safe tunneling and mining required knowing what was immediately ahead of the progressing tunnel face (Fig. 8b). The German geologists seemed unaware of the total subsurface section of hard clay stone at depth overlain by the soft water-bearing sand units, and that the thick horizon of Ypresian Clay beneath the Messines-Wytschaetes fortification system was suitable for tunneling (Figs. 7 and 8). When British Forces later occupied the city of Lille, near the Belgium border ( Fig. 7: index map), Professor M.Ch. Barrois, eminent geologist of the University of Lille, related that the Germans, beginning with Captain W. Kranz in 1915, had used his lecture halls in Lille throughout the war

for geological purposes, and 30 60 geologists under Captain Karl Regelman were active on the Western Front. The morning after British General Harvey blew up Messines Ridge and captured the system of fortifications, a German general with his staff appeared at the lecture hall. The contingent of geologists was assembled, and the general proceeded to curse them vigorously, because they had not known about or had not informed him of the British mining-tunneling driven beneath the German lines and fortifications (Fig. 8a). He then ordered all geologists over 40 years old to Berlin, and all younger geologists were assigned to the front. Perhaps the moral was, two experienced geologists with the British Forces were superior to

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123- 176

British Shaft • , 1 Roilwoy ohgnmGn, - ,incut

. . . .

Germon Positions on Hill 60 [ l ~ $ ' . :~ ' : ' : Crater ' - : Formed "

"

t 35

EXPt.,e~IATION

_

l~risellon S o n d

with Cloy

Sea Level

BrltWn

Mlr~ l~Calarpillor Chorge ~)8,5T

~) C~loglc Section of Hill 60 omo with locotion of britlsh tunnel goUery,--42Om, in Length

Gerrnon Line ~

~,

Line

PerchedWoter-Toble

BritishGallery__ t ~ k ~ 2 ~ 2 . ~ . ~ [ I - ~ ~ GermonLineoflerAtlock ~ _ "z ~ ~o( - j ~; ' i n~:'-; -:.'.'?~ eW . . .o. .X. .t . . .m . . . ~. .-. . . .b. . ' e o ~ r i " n l,g

---r q II -~ -- - -- -" -- ~ - - - -

L4K

--------------

:-- -------

--

]

PoniselionSond

]

BosolCloy

]

7"presionSond

[]

YpresionCloy

]

Alluvium

Modifted offer

--

Von Oulow, of ol 193B Figs. 66 8 67"

(a) Schemofie C~ol~. ic Section of Wy~choet~-IVlesslnes F~gion Showslocofion flrihr,h mining- tunnelinggollerie~,

Fig. 8. (a) Schematic geologic section of Wytscheates-Messines region (Fig. 7) showing location of British mining-tunneling galleries at depth beneath the German lines and unknown to them. Alignment of section is along one of the 19 galleries loaded with explosive charges ( Fig. 7). (b) A geologic section of Hill 60 area (Fig. 7) showing location of British tunneling gallery 420 m long beneath German lines. Alignment is along one of the galleries exploded on 7 June. Note large surface crater that formed demolishing the German positions and collapsed open-cuts of adjacent railroad.

> 20 German geologists with an incomplete knowledge of the areal geology. 3.4. Southern Front, Italy-Austria/Hungary

The karstic plateaus of the Isonzo River Valley along the eastern boundary of Italy and Austria (Slovenia today) are classical field occurrences of dissolved and cavernous limestone terrain pitted with sinkholes and underground caves; the plateaus tower to 1000' above the valley lowlands. This cruel, flat-lying countryside of the Carso and Bainsizza Plateaus (Fig. 9) with deep valleys that dissect the surface terrain had been cleverly fortified by the Austrian Army; trenches, galleries connected by tunnels, quarried-out gun emplacements, and underground living quarters were interconnected and supplied by water. The wide Wippach Valley separated the two gigantic rockwalled fortresses whose guns controlled the countryside and crossings of Isonzo moat (Johnson, 1921 ). This natural defensive terrain with caverns, cam-

ouflaged sinkholes and concealed tunnels became an impregnable fortress along the Isonzo barrier when attacked by the Italian Army in its first battle of Isonzo in 1915. The later battles of August 1916 and May 1917 successfully resisted the Italian's most violent assaults. The fourth battles of August 1917 included aerial bombing with artillery that overran some of the Austrian fortifications, but they largely held the Carso and Bainsizza Plateau. The Austrian slogan was upheld: "We have but to retain possession of a terrain fortified by nature to win". 3.5. U.S. Forces

The U.S. expeditionary forces had two experienced geologists attached to the staff of general headquarters in France in September 1917, Lieutenant Colonel A.H. Brooks of the U.S. Geological Survey and Major E.C. Eckel, a wellknown engineer-geologist. Additional geologists that arrived in mid- to late 1918 included M.F. La Croix, C.H. Lee, R.S. Knappen, T.M. Smithers,

136

G.A. Kier,~ch En~,ineermL, Geolo~.v 49 ( 199bCj 123 176

Fig. 9. The lsonzo Valley, a boundary between Italy and Austria. was Ihc location of lbur battles during 1915 17. The Austrian Army cleverly fortitied the karstic terrain and features of tile Carso and Bainsizza Plateaus where the steep, cliff walls towered above the valley lowlands. Mountain strongholds al Mouut Sabotino and Podgora, Monte Santo, San Bagriele and San Daniele of the Bainsizza region and Mount San Michele on the crest of Carso were impregnable (Johnson, 1917, p. 137).

H.F. Crooks, Kirk Bryan, Wallace Lee and A.W. Distort. The geologic maps for terrain analysis prepared by the U.S. Forces differed from those of the G e r m a n , British or French armies. Termed engineering geologic maps (at 1:50 000), the areas

covered were projected far within the enemy lines and provided the physical c o n d i t i o n s and constraints for c o n s t r u c t i o n of field works (Fig. 10), st distinct value even though they were based on earlier French hachured base maps a n d only

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123-176

1. _

_

- -0

~

•

DESCRIPTION

Silt, m~l, mind, and I r a ve l . wi t h some day

~

.~..~. ~ x . , ~ , , ~ . ~ , ~

~ , ~ i~. . a ~ . thedrTmmL "lrl~l~m f w t h u , ~ t l~rt

m ~i~uwt~uinul -.,.~ m Lmu~u ~ F rkm~m ~w~ ~#m~r~ ~mmm~ m m m y ~

dut.i~ nm~. b~¢ m mom~

3 Yd~el~r s

Z

O F FORMATIONS

Sandy clay soil with wmthered w~dstone 1 to 3 meten; m~lium-~rd mmclsto~e ~ o n t ~ i n g some clay below

Clay 1 to 3 meten thielt resting on limy shale

~

~. m ~

tl~um~ae~mnuis n ~

Gm~l ~ - , r e d l y

137

w m ut~mml, aad

w~51~3 w 4 ~

d m-l~ce.

wtv~ al~ntsi~tll~ ~d ~ u~lly w a t ~ l ~ a i n ¢ Th~m m n ~ ~'abm~'~ ~ u ~ l l ~ u n d v~tl" skNId aJw'a~be d4~mntN4 LAsdy~et ol ~sv~

hn~ .1~

S~daone ~1 ~

~ t b e r e d to I d e l ~ M ~nlyl4 t a l e r or led

and neell ~ l e ~ rwet,~ml, ea,e d~elw~ ma 5e built *ely ,d,sm tl,i. t w n ~ pw~."U a m i m ~ tmMb, " "lt~ aurlIse~ d O~ ~ is ~ i d t ,rd

i~,d~l~,,~l~

I.

h ~ l ~ m i ~ , e h

High Ita'~v~land sand d~auils with some clay ~ t o 20 ~ thick) Will d r a h ~ l m r a~rfl~e but ~ t ~ t i n nm~h w a i s t a~ ~l~Cg

u~ually Arm, ev~ durin¢ ~ t we~.l~.

w i t h tome shaTlebeds drained, but mine water m y ~.~r

limestone ~%w,

S.;'f~e ~

~

(Ot'l~bWIo AlelD m No~ fet~

MILITARY

8 Line of dido~tion (fault) W~ta- is likely to eemr aleeg thwe IMp. d~e to t~e ,onw.

dUl~alt m e~su'~,i but i'e~ake Iitllle F~-nmti~ is lavul.mh~ to ~v~ al~lt~u but ~ k , , ~ I ~ - ~ l t ~ v l a i o ~ and wlm~ rusk is fraetu~l ~avy

GEOLOGIC

nmd fmmd c~ I ~

I~ep e~lb wh~

MAP

ot

OF

C S l q ~ g Inlb.

CIREY,

FP~kNCE,

x AND

Quarr~ (in ~ al~ndon~l~ Sand a~d gr~vel pit

VICINITY.

Fig. 10. Typical engineering geology military map at scale of 1:50 000 prepared for the U.S. Expeditionary Field Forces in 1918. The map text describes the characteristics of surficial sediments and near-surface rocks and the location of springs and seepage areas in vicinity of Cirey, France, together with a description of terrain features, suitable locations for trench/fieldworks and sources of construction materials and water [from Brooks (1920) plate XV1 ]. a p p r o x i m a t e ( B r o o k s , 1920, p. 110). By the fall o f 1918, the m o s t suitable l o c a t i o n s for river a n d stream crossings b e c a m e i m p o r t a n t geological

tasks when armies were a d v a n c i n g r a p i d l y ( B r o o k s , 1920, pp. 114-115; Lee, 1920). A related effort involved the t r a i n i n g b y P r o f e s s o r W a r r e n

138

G.A. Kiersch En~,,meeriH~,~GeohL~,(v49 (1998) 123 176

J. Mead at the University of Wisconsin of > 1500 students in military mapping and principles of geology relevant to military works (Kiersch, 1991, p. 33). By the end of World War I, the participants and industrialized nations had come to recognize the importance of geologists in wartime (Smith, 1918; Cross, 1919) and their contribution to three major branches of activities: economic geology/resources and war materials; geographic applications related to strategy and logistics; and disposition of armies involving battle areas, zones of combat, maneuvers and the extent that geologic conditions can control the physical features of a battleground or tactic. Geological activities briefly reviewed herein are mainly focused on the third branch of service, Military Engineering Geology (Erdmann, 1943, p. 1175).

4. World War !!

4.1. German Forces Following World War I, the German Army continued an interest in geology (Kranz, 1927); between 1932-39 they re-established the Wehrgeologie, a German Army geology (Kranz, 1927 ) group ( Whitmore, 1954, p. 213 ) and released several publications on military engineering geology (Sonne, 1936). Two of the most significant were Wehrgeologie by Wasmund (1937) and Wehrgeologie by yon Bulow et al. (1938). The latter was a widely studied field manual that included a quantitative classification of earth materials (Table I ) and a summary of the basic principles of geology useful to troops in the field. From these studies and others, the Germans became aware of many previously unrecognized possibilities for using geology in warfare: some hitherto untried applications would help promote the type of war they were planning (Erdmann, 1943, p. 1180). The American military was impressed by the manual of von Buiow et al. (1938), and in 1943 geologist Kurt E. Lowe, City College New York, translated the text lbr the Intelligence Branch, Office of the Chief of Engineers. The German Armed Forces had three top-level, geology-related agencies (Smith and Black, 1946).

The Mil-Geo of the Army established before 1939 was the largest and best-known group. This unit initially prepared Mil-Geo handbooks on the countries of Europe, Asia, North Africa and ultimately the Indian Ocean region; by the end of 1943, 102 volumes were prepared covering 39 areas. Special maps were prepared (1:500000) with a compact descriptive text on the natural features of landscape and vegetation, and selected maps of coastlines (1:200 000) were prepared after 1942. Apparently, the group had reconnoitered and assembled charts on the inland bays, harbors and numerous drowned river valleys of the Atlantic coastal region from New York to Georgia; these accessible waterways were used in 1942 43 as overnight rest stops by German U-boats that preyed on the Atlantic shipping lanes. The Forschungsstaffel of Supreme Command ( O K W ) developed into one of the most focused and successful of the German MGUs. The concept was established by a small expedition to the Amazon in 1935-37, and the war-time group was formed in 1942. Its first assignment, to investigate the Egyptian-Libyan Desert relative to troops moving from the south or west. This resulted in a three-volume atlas of 18-maps (1:200000) and text, which was completed in 1943 by field-experienced geologists and other specialists. Details were provided on major physical features, water supply, terrain characteristics and vehicle trafficability. The location and extent of such topographic features as wadis were delimited and each wadi described relevant to its underground-water potential and as a steep-walled canyon-like feature that would be a natural barrier 10-30 m deep (25-100') to largescale mechanized movements. This knowledge of the terrain was critical to the early successes of the German North African campaign in the 1940s. Reportedly tens of geologists were attached to all levels of the field forces from the army command to battalion and company-sized units (Professor Georg Knetch, University of Wi~rzburg, a senior geologist with the Afrikan Korps, personal communication, 1962). The Mar-Geo group was established by the Naval High Command in late 1942 to prepare special nautical geologic maps of selected coastal areas showing landforms, soil and vegetation patterns, and the underwater conditions, for example,

(b) Thickbedded, platy. jointed (a} Steeper slopes. otherwise as above (b) Like sandstone Like sandstone

(a) Knobs, hills, plateaus (terrace topography)

(a) Occurrence and land forms (bJ Jointing

Slate

1 I11 (gj

I 111

1 11t (g)

Stability b

IV 111

3 5

1 IV(g)

Very variable. Very- variable. Very variable. 1 111 mostly 111 I mostl3~ IV 11 mostly I1 V (h)

I11 V

l l - l l l : reason 4 5 same as above

4 5

Sandy. loamy,often quite thick Stony

11-111

Loosing facility, work ability~

Mostly IV V 4 5 Percolation in joints

11 Ill

Water Filtering permeability, b abilityb

Stony. not IV V very thick. only seldom actually loamy

Sandy or loamy. depending on cement of sandstone

Condition of weathered rock mantle in horizontal position"

(a) Hilly Loamy. partly IV V topography: sandy, mostly upland quick thick surfaces with steep valleys (b) Cleavable in one or more direction

(b) Thickbedded to irregular. depending on geologic structure

Conglomerate. (a) Like breccia quartzite

Graywacke

Quartzite

Sandstone

Sedimentao'rocks

Rocks

n 1v

II IV

I 111

1 111

1 111

Structural roof strengthb

II I11

11 111

l II

1 I1

11 I11

tl

I [1

I

1 II

11

I n IV (i)

II V

I

II I l l

IV

Construction Compacted site b sub-grade b

Loading Suitability for: capacity b

11 111

11 111

V

Road metal b

v

11 111 (h) V

111 IV Breccia

Conglomerate Conglomerate 111 IV. Breccia Ill V Breccia mostl3, V II II1 11 Ill

I II

I Ill

11 IV

Pavement ~

1 111 (hi V

IV V

I1 111

1 111

V

Crushed rock b

v

11 111 (h)

(gl Sometimes danger of sliding when dipping tiJ Fragments should be placed on edge

( hl Loosely cemented breccia. easily loosed: after screening. suitable for road metal. crushed rock. concrete aggregate 11| IV

(g/ Sometimes danger of sliding when dipping

(g) Same as sandstone

If mixed with sufficiently fine-grained material I1 111

Fill ~

11 Ill

I 11

111 IV

Concrete aggregate b

Remarks

Table 1 Chart of common rocks for construction by von Bulow et al. (1938), giving the principal rock types and their physical properties and characteristics relative to military construction and operations [reprinted from Whitmore in Trask (1950), pp. 638 641]

ta.a

I

"~

~"

2"

5.. ~,~ ~.

~.j

(a) Like sandstone hui more subdued: depressions ill Ihe inotult alllS. etc

Marl. shale shal} m a r l hldurat ed n/~ll I

(ira~eL cobbles and

Sand

\o]can~c lutf>

(J}psuni-~ ckk

I\

\

L~uall3 in ~er$ \hill bedcalcel'ou> loan13

IX I1

IO Like sand

Ston,, soil

l

III

l\

Ill \

I[[

l {o)

II Ill

\

t)\~mg io lh< nunlel ou> !oh/t> u l , > l h \ I\

I\

\\'atel h ilteling perme ibild~ ~ ubililx ~

( alccl cou~ 11 IX loam,. : oflen xer3 thick
Loam) oi Inarly-cla}e?,. also of plasnc COllSlstenc}

( onddioll ol v+eathcrcd lock mantle ili horizontal position ~

I b I Jointed hone3,comhed ~ d h actlG!ies (gl) V¢15 Mos[[ 3 ~OHT[} II IX ~aried. massi~ e o, stratilied porou~ la) Ri~cr Loam) sand [ l \ i11) banks, p l a i n , .~omefinles often m folm hard residual of knobc soil rising fi'om level topograpll 3

(a) {Jsuall} hail'ell hill>

Ih) Shal 3 ~, lanlinaled Limes[one (a) Knobs. doIomitic hills, ridges linleqonc m:llble caves. ~inkholc> phllea us I h ) Thick b e d d e d pNtl3 jointed

(a} Occurrence and lalld tbrms ( b t Jodlling

Rock~

Table l (continued)

2 ~

2

<

4

4 <

Loosmg facilii) ~ork aN]d 3"

\(k~

I\

\

III 1\

Ill I\

III IX

t IIlill

l\

SLIbiht3 h

III

I\

I\

III IX

Ill \

I I11

I\

~{r tic[ tt121] ioof sliength"

Illq)

II Iql

I l l IX

III I\

II

[l(q)

II Iql

III

Ill \

III

Ill

I11

\

L olTMrtic {ion ( Olllpacled "llt:~ MJh gl ;alo~

Loading Suiiabilit } tot cap~Jcib ~

\

\

Paxcmcn~ ~

II [11

\

II \ Im)

\

Road utcLlI ~

II Ill

\

\

trush¢d lock h

liil

I IpJ

\

11 I I I h,
\

(on,Tote ~lggl.egatel

I\

IX

till'

(n) Ri~c~ ~dh il]q rCdSll}g graln size l o l hlCTCa,e, ~ith decleasmg grain size (pj If tlec from loam diid cki) (requires washing) (n) Rise~

( g ) %%hen lateral displaccmcn/ is m/pos~ibk'

(11 When dipping. I t sonletimc. dangel ot sliding fm) Dolonlili~ limestone 11Ol suhable iol railroad constructlol;

(k) Sometm/c~ dangel ~,1 sllidmg ~hcn dippmg and ariel rHHI[ II

Remal k~

i..a

Plains, plateaus. slopes

Like loam

[ oess

Marl

Like loam

Wet. raw h u m u s (peat) Tough. impervious soil

L o a m soil, partially containing lime Calcerous humus

As above

Thick loam soil. free from stones

As above. stony

Loam soil

11 111

V

11 111 (w)

Iv V

1 II

I 11

1 II

1 11

l II

II IV

V

2 3

11

111 v (t)

111 V

2

111 IV, also V 11 1 (s)

I ~ d - 3

2 3

2-3

2

2

2

IV V

Stony loam or 1 sand soil

IV

IV-V

V

111 V

llV

I l k when wet: V

II1: when wet: V

IV

V

V

IV

IV

11

II 111: when IV wet: IV V

11 111: when IV wet: IV V

II V

V

IV V

n II1

111 IV

11[ IV

II I V ( t )

ll-lll

l[ IV

--

n

111: v, hen l i e when wet: wet: IV V IV V

V

IV V

11 111

111: when dipping: IV V

Ill: when dipping: IV V

II I V ( t 1

11-II1

I[ | V

av.: I n

11 I l l

--

II I11

II I11

V I V (z)

V

Ill IV

III V Iv)

111 V (v)

Ill IV i t )

111 IV ( t t

av.: I11

(z) C a n be used for clay cores (u) Waterproofing material

(u) Waterproofing material (v) C a n n o t be used fro hydraulic construction /~) C a n n o t be used fro hydraulic construction (w) Decreases with rise in clay content

( f ) Cavities ft~rm easily ( t l Cavities form easily

(s) Rises with increasing sand content

The data above refer to fresh, unweathered rock. aThe rock mantle becomes thin along the slope and disappears altogether at scarps. bScale applicable to all other properties: I, excellent; I1, good; 111, adequate or fair; IV, poor or usable only in emergency; V, inadequate, unsuitable or absent. cClasses of workability: 1, with shovel and spade; 2, pick and shovel; 3, mattock, crowbar and iron wedge; 4, compressed-air drill and repeated blasting; 5, compressed-air drill and continuous blasting, together with crowbar, iron wedge, chisel, spade and pick. dWhen wet, best worked with hoe or drainage spade.

Clay (u)

Lowlands

Shore lines. swampy meadows

Slopes, margins of flood plains

Loess-loam

Calcerous and marly weathering crusts (caliche): bog lime and clay: oozes M o o r and peat

As above, but not o n flood plains

Bou der clay tu) (Boulder marl )

Compacted (a) In level moraine material topography: erratics terminal moraine ridges, terrain with small knobs Loam (at Plains, subdued hill topography, flood plains, lower slopes

(rl If free from loam and clay ( Washing ) and if containing only few shaly fragments

t.~ I

5

5'

142

G.A. Kiersch . L)1#meermk, Geolok~v 49 (1998) 123 176

the rock platform and related swampy areas along the Normandy coast. Besides the coasts of France, maps were made of coastal areas of Italy, Greece, Norway, Denmark and coasts of the North and Baltic Seas. The Mar-Geo worked closely with Mil-Geo and Forschungsstaffel units when concerned with coastal works, construction, fortifications or floodability potential, as when British bombing breached the Walchern dikes in northern Germany and the Netherlands. The German Army and Navy became noted lbr utilizing geological guidance when planning and constructing major field works, whether fortifications, underground installations and factories, airfields, military bases or secret command facilities. Two separate projects that were confronted with adverse geological conditions, yet were successfully constructed and operated, illustrate the geologic insight and on-site guidance of the German geologists and engineers. The German Navy located U-boat bases on the northern coast of Norway and decided early on to construct bomb-proof, submarine pens at Bergen, Trondheim and Narvik. Two massively thick above-ground concrete-block pens (Dora 1 and 2), were constructed on the shore of the bay in downtown Trondheim, Norway, by the German construction group, "Organization TODT,'" with prison labor from a number of countries (Pedersen, 1996). Beach sands and weak, sensitive, clayey marine sediments, treacherous materials for construction, were encountered at both sites. German Army geologists and engineers, after a detailed investigation of the geological conditions, successfully utilized the electro-osmotic technique and sheet-walls to harden and stabilize the sensitive marine clays and sand-silt sediments at Dora 2: this provided stability to the open cuts and access to adequate foundation at depth for the massive concrete structures. Stabilization depended on an ideal natural clay-silt ratio and water content of the clayey sediments (Casagrande, 1952). Although Germans experienced difficulties with a layer of sensitive clay at the Dora I site, electroosmosis was not utilized (Grande, 1995). The Norwegian military was unable to destroy and remove the massive structures with a roof section 5 m thick after the war. They had been

converted into a small-ship military base in 1959 when the writer was allowed to enter in a Norwegian naval vessel, dock and study the interior features of Dora 1. One borehole drilled inside the pen reportedly extended to - 5 2 m (BSL) (Grande, 1995), probably into bedrock. The structures are intact today and Dora 1 has been converted into a downtown parking area (roof) and office building. Numerous attempts to duplicate the Trondheim stabilization success at sites in North America generally failed, reportedly because the clayey-silt and water content ratio were incorrect. A second electro-osmosis project by Germans at Trondheim failed. They were unable to stabilize the sensitive clays at the southwest entrance of a railway tunnel being constructed by State Railways (Norges Statsbaner) to decrease the vulnerability of the critical junction where the Norwegian northern and southern rail systems meet at Trondheim (Grande, 1995). A second project for submarine pens involved the excavation and stability of large-scale underground chambers in the granitic complex of the coastal area at Narvik, Norway. There underground cavities were located and aligned so that the openings compensated for active residual stresses and associated rebound-relief structures that formed because of the areal/regional relaxation phenomenon. The glacial rebound and tectonic history of the Narvik region were additional factors in forming the prominent joint-and-sheet structure pattern, according to Kieslinger (1958, 1960), geologist for the planning and the construction of the submarine pens. Alignments of the pen chambers were positioned relative to the pattern of major rebound-relief structures that parallel the steep granitic outcrops along the seacoast. This positioning was critical to retaining the wide-span, open-chamber stability of these large underground openings within the granitic rock mass. German geologists had encountered an unexpected, strong pattern of rebound-relief structures parallel to the ancient canyon walls of the incised Salzach River in the late 1930s, during construction of the underground Festival Hall at Salzburg, Austria (Fig. 11). This earlier experience became invaluable when designing the Narvik submarine pens ( Kieslinger, 1960; A. Kieslinger, personal corn-

G, A.

Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123-176

143

EXPLANATION

¢':' "I,L(~d / /o

m

Relaxation- rebound joints/structures inherentto canyon walls (dashed whereexcavated)

/'//:

//~ / •

/, '//: I

SALZACH RIVER

I

I,

./

I,/

I/z//.,

/,///

•,••,fl..•.4..

•

.

nj/l

Sediments- debris backfilling inner channel

Excavation- Entrance to Hall Area

•

"

HALL -t..~

• ~ • ..........

Yr.

11154~'-;

o

5 !o 15 z o

Ie o e e o "1" Excavation• r o-J Foundation Area; L - °.~ stabilizationrequired

meters

GEOLOGIC

SECTION

FESTIVAL HALL, SALZBURG, A U S T R I A Showing distribution Relaxation Structures that impacted construction Fig. 11. Site of Festival Hall, Salzburg, Austria, showing the pattern and distribution of relaxation or relief-rebound structures in the ancestral, inner and outer canyon walls of the Salzach River. This was the site of the music festival shown in The Sound of Music, a film made in the 1960s [after Kieslinger (1960), Fig 5]. The principles learned during this large-scale excavation project in the mid-1930s were effectively utilized to locate and design underground submarine pens in the granite complex at Narvik, Norway, in 1941 42.

munication, 1963). The pattern of relaxation structures in granite could be recognized and mapped after knowing their origins, and the axis of underground chambers were aligned accordingly. 4.2. U.S. Armed Forces

The U.S. Armed Forces entered World War II in 1941 with only a sketchy insight into the many diverse geologic environs that would impact the war's activities, even though Mead (1941), in a 50-year review of formal engineering geology practice, had emphasized the value and importance of geology to military operations, as an area of growing professional practice. Most important

were the many hazardous physical processes inherent to the more remote and unfamiliar worldwide environments from the Arctic to the deserts of North Africa, the coral environs of the Pacific, and the equatorial jungles of Burma and New Guinea, that were destined to become battlegrounds in 1942-45. For instance, the permafrost phenomena of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands were a major hazard and seriously impacted the construction and operation of the Alaskan Highway built in 1942 by 10000 U.S. engineer troops in 8 months, when the Japanese landed in the Aleutians. The 29th Engineer Topographic Battalion established the pioneer alignment just ahead of the fast-moving constructors; if survey

144

G.A~ Kier,sch ,, L)tg#teermg Geology 49 f 1998) 123 176

teams were awakened by bulldozers while resting at night, they were to break camp and push ahead immediately. Typical problems encountered were the destruction of a highway bridge (Fig. 12) due to seasonal melting of ice-rich permafrost with failure by heaving of wooden piles, the impact of irregular subsidence on an airfield runway (Fig. 13, dark areas are high ground and light areas are low swales between), and the more pronounced subsidence of a railroad trackway ( Fig. 14); others are reviewed by Muller (1945). Throughout the Central and South Pacific island region, an equally important geologic hazard, the widespread coral reefs frequently affected assault landings and the rapid construction of airfields and base facilities in 1942-45. Most important was the wide physical variability in hardness, toughness, texture and case-hardening properties of the older, uplifted coral-reef deposits and the associated soft to weathered, clayey muds and sands. Much of the coral materials encountered at coastal sites invariably impacted the base facilities negatively, due to its poor quality as a building material, subgrade or foundation. Fresh-appearing, young coral such as that at the Mokerang airfield, Admiralty Islands (Fig. 15b) is a quality foundation rock for roads or airfields, and when crushed the rock particles self-cement; similarly, massive coral on Guam was an effective riprap on breakwaters. In contrast, the older weathered and karstic

deposits with an inherent high clay content ( Fig. 16) are usually unsatisfactory as a foundation (SEG, 1945, E. Aberdeen, p. 586; Whitmore, 1950, p. 648), particularly during wet seasons, for example, 25" of rain in 1 month ( Fig. 17). The uplifted and terraced coral-reefs found at base and airfield locations on the northern coast of New Guinea, for example, Finschhafen, Saidor, and Hollandia ( Figs. 15a and b), have undergone major physical changes due to weathering processes, even though they appeared usable as foundation rock when first reconnoitered (Figs. 16, 18 and 19). In sectors of very swampy and soft ground where suitable rock fill was unavailable, the age-old military-log road (Fig. 20) was built (USCE, 1951, p. l l l). Misinterpretation of pre-landing data gained from aerial photographs of coral-reef terrain and beaches on occasion caused major difficulties for assault landing forces and planned air-base construction. The Morotai Island base in the Halmahera Islands (Fig. 15b), was such an example. Whitish coral sand covered a gently sloping, hard coral rock-shelf, and was evaluated as a suitable amphibious invasion beach. Instead, on landing the troops encountered a sticky white mud overlying weathered coral. The treacherous terrain slowed down the Morotai invasion landing when heavy equipment was hopelessly mired in the sticky mud. Consequently, the invasion was halted (the landing

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Fig. 12. Destruction of a highway bridge along roadway near Big Delta, Alaska due to ground freezing thawing. The foundation failure, heaving of wooden piles, is associated with seasonal impact on near-surface, ice-rich permafrost at depth [after P6we ( 1991 )].

G.A. Kierseh / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123-176

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Fig. 13. Permafrost effects on the U.S. Army Northfield airfield buildings and runway located along Alaskan Highway; Northfield was a major supply point during the highway construction in 1942. Thousands of lend-lease military aircraft sent to Russia in World War 11 were flown via the several Alaskan airfields serviced by the highway. The airfield was built on a "permafrost" lake bed, and the construction and operational activities caused the underlying frozen ground to melt with an irregular subsidence of groundrunway surface; note the dark high-ground areas and the light-colored low swales along the rolling runway surface. All surface works were of temporary war-time construction and had collapsed by 1947 (courtesy of T.L. Pewe).

was not under attack), while other beach areas were quickly reconnoitered. The landings were ultimately shifted to a more favorable beach where sand was available to build the ramps needed to bring the equipment ashore (USCE, 1951, pp. 272-273). The steady advance of U.S. Army and ANZAC Forces from Papua, New Guinea, in early 1942 to the Philippines landings of October 1944 was accomplished by a pattern of step-by-step assault landings followed by the engineering construction of airfields and supporting base facilities. Each new base (Figs. 15a and b) became the springboard for the next advance. Some of the troublesome geologic features and conditions encountered at landing sites mentioned herein are discussed in more detail by members of the U.S. Geological Survey unit elsewhere (Underwood and Guth, 1998). U.S. Marine Corps Forces, supported by naval construction battalions (Seabees), climbed the outer ladder of islands and atolls from the Midway Island battle of June 1942 to Okinawa,

which was invaded in 1945 by joint army-marine corps forces. By early 1942, the home-front in the U.S.A. was being seriously impacted by German U-boat activity along the east coast shipping lanes; substantial coastal traffic was being destroyed off Virginia and the Carolinas. This U-boat action was aided by historical geologic processes and events that deepened and broadened the ancient Tertiary stream channels of the Atlantic coastline; during the last glaciation the sea-level had fluctuated as much as 100 m lower and an incised valley-fill system had developed. The natural, deep, inland bays and coastal harbors of today are drowned river valleys that were reconnoitered earlier by the Germans (Fig. 21). The U-boats used the inland channelways for seclusive, fresh-air rest stops and nightrecharge of quiet-run batteries. Adequate topographic maps and geodetic ground-control stations throughout this coastal region were lacking for a precise determination of the German hide-outs. The U.S. Army 30th

146

G.A. Kier,~ch Engineering Geo/oAU'49 (1998) 123 176

10-member field party surveying on the barrier island north of Cape Lookout (Fig. 21 ) was captured by the Marines patrolling the coastline, believing they were German infiltrators that had landed from a U-boat during the night and planned to move inland.

4.3. Military Geology Unit

IFig. 14. Differential subsidence of tile roadbed along the military railroad near Valdez, Alaska. causing it to be abandoned. The fine-grained sediments underlying the roadbed were disturbed during construction and the ice-rich permafrost began 1o tha~, causing ground subsidence as well as lateral displacement, Alaska's only railroad was built and operated by the U.S. Army [photo (1960) courtesy of T.L. Pewe].

Engineer Topographic Battalion's field Company A was stationed in Wilson, NC, and a detachment of 80 skilled surveyors established a first-order geodetic network of ground stations in the Carolinas in 1941-43. to aid in tracking the U-boats. The National Geographic Explorer Series, a TV-program of the 1990s, documented the daring east coast ventures and successes of one U-boat led by Commander Hardigan, who penetrated some of the harbors and inland channels and attacked coastal shipping. The writer was the detachment officer for the 30th Engineer's 80-man field survey group in 1942--43 and witnessed some of the U-boat actions, especially in the vicinity of Cape Lookout and its barrier island off North Carolina. In one incident of July 1943. a

The M G U was organized in 1942, largely with U.S. Geological Survey personnel, to assist Allied Forces worldwide concerned with all types of terrain. Its activities have been reviewed by Hunt (1950, 1982), Erdmann (1944), MGU (1945), Russell (1950), Whitmore (1954) and Terman (1998). The unit reported to the Office of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, providing geologic guidance at the strategic level of military planning as well as preparing folios and pre-landing reports. Each of the folios and reports had maps covering terrain characteristics or the physical environment and its effect on trafficability, movement, concealment of troops and supplies, possible beachhead and/or battlegrounds areas, water supplies, roads and construction materials, sites for airfields and military works at forward bases, and possible geologic problems to be expected in a given area (Hunt, 1950). By 1943, the American military realized that geology could be important or even critical to the planning and field operations of the Army, Navy and Air Force. After the American MGU prepared studies for the invasion and combat in North Africa, folios were instituted as a product and became the basis for terrain intelligence for the rapid conquest of Sicily. Thereafter, in a basic agreement at the headquarters of Allied Powers, Europe gave the British military geologic responsibilities for the western European Theater and the Americans the same for the Pacific Theater and Italy-southern Europe. The unit's folio on eastern Sicily ot" 15 separate 1:100 000 scale quadrangle maps and accompanying tables on all types of terrain and construction information won the unit immediate recognition and launched the broader Stage 2 phase (Hunt,

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Fig. 16. Shoreline exposure of a tectonically uplifted coral reel" that demonstrates the highly broken internal conditions of a reef that has undergone weathering. Besides being a fragmental mass of coral, another cause of construction difficulties is the high clay-mineral content inherent to the karstic weathering process. Such materials are usually unsatisfactory for construction, particularly in the wet season (photo courtesy of Arthur L. Bloom).

Fig. 17. An ahnost impassible sector of main coastal road at Saidor. New Guinea. during tile wet season, January April 1944 I Fig. 15a). This road was founded oll weathered coral-reef material and required constant scraping and blading of the deep mud generated by traffic. Similar conditions were encountered at Base F-Finschhafen, along main road from the harbor to airfield, in late 1943 and 1944. Such treacherous coral materials may be stabilized with improved drainage and a thick base coarse layer of crushed aggregate (up to 8" sizes). However, sources of suitable crushed aggregate were often not available, and the location of roads, hospitals and material storage areas were shifted to higher elevations and stable ground, with major savings in man-hours and maintenance (USCE, 1951, p. 203).

1982, p. 13). So many new requests for geologic guidance followed that M G U personnel doubled to 50 and later to over [00 members (Hatheway,

1993 ). The success of military geology folios, with the likely terrain problems to be encountered, became in direct proportion to the amount of basic

149

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

Fig. 18. Tectonically uplifted terraces underlain by coral materials along the north coast of New Guinea, with the Finschhafen harbor in the distance. The oldest terrace is in center of photo, with the younger ones on the left, and the most recently uplifted terrace in the distance near coastline. The older coral-reef masses are invariably intermixed with gravels and alluvial materials and thus of varied physical strength. Such deteriorated coral materials, when disturbed or impacted by the rainy season, become a soft to sticky mud and are difficult to stabilize for military base constructions such as that shown in Fig. 16 [photo USCE, 1951 ), p. 185].

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Fig. 19. A series of uplifted beaches underlain by coral reefs near Madang, New Guinea (Fig. 15a). The kunai grass covered terrace is typical of a younger relic beach deposit. Although the coral material appears suitable for construction, when impacted by the wet season the difficulties shown on Fig. 16 can be expected. The sequence of raised-beaches throughout the distant slopes is common along the north coast (photo courtesy of Arthur L. Bloom). m a p p i n g d a t a a v a i l a b l e o r c o m p l e t e d in a d v a n c e (Betz, 1984a, Betz, 1984b; H u n t , 1950; R u s s e l l , 1950; W h i t m o r e , 1950). T h i s is d e m o n s t r a t e d by the set o f b a s i c g e o - d a t a m a p s in Fig. 2 2 b - d . A

f u r t h e r insight i n t o w a r f a r e as a g e o g r a p h i c p h e n o m e n o n was l a n d s c a p e as r e p r e s e n t e d o n m a p s , for example, "Map Interpretation with Military A p p l i c a t i o n s " by M G U m e m b e r W i l l i a m C.

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G.A. Kier.~'ch / Engineering G'e~)k~Kv49 (1998) 123 176

Fig. 20. Construction of a military corduory-log road in a swampy area in the vicinity of Milne Bay, New Guinea, in 1942.

Putman (1943), published as a text for training military students. By 1945 the MGU unit had completed 140 folios and reports (25-200 pages), on potential and actual major combat areas (southern Europe and Pacific). Personnel had increased to > 100 geologists, hydrologists, soil scientists and other specialists (SEG, 1945; k. Dryden, p. 589). Some 75 unit members were sent overseas, both to the Pacific and to Europe, in 1944-45 for short assignments to assist tactical planning, base construction, and re-construction problems (Sommers, 1945). The M G U unit provided many technical services besides terrain intelligence folios, and one assignment involved scientific sleuthing. The Japanese had sent incendiary ballons over the Pacific coast states which caused some small-scale incidents. The Air Force requested M G U to identify the source of beach sand ballast to guide retaliatory actions. The sand lacked corals, and to Julia Gardner indicated a northernly latitude, while Kenneth Lohman discovered diatoms of western Pacific species. H.F. Ferguson encountered magnetite grains that contained much titanium and almost certainly came from one of two localities on Japan's east coast. The combined evidence pin-pointed the south side of the harbor of one locality (Hunt, 1982, p. 5). Stage 3 of the activities of the M G U was directed to the southwest Pacific Theater of Operations in May 1944, when five members were attached to

the Engineer Intelligence Division (Fox, 1949, p. 7); three members (reportedly including Philip Shenon and John Hack) participated in the Philippine landings at Leyte and did field work under fire (Hunt, 1982, p. 14). In 1943 44 trained geologists serving with field troops often were included as members of three- to five-man, advance pre-landing parties that reconnoitered a proposed beachhead, airhead, supply route or other areas for military facilities. Such a reconnaissance, behind-the-lines, provided a "ground-truth" evaluation of the geologic environs and physical features shown on available sketchy maps. Frequently, the ground evaluation changed the proposed plans for an installation or shifted a landing. Sometimes a member or the entire reconnparty was "lost", which happened with the prelanding team of early April at Hollandia, N.G. As a result, troop landings on 22 April experienced surprises. The landing at Tanahmerah Bay, 25 miles northwest of the main Japanese base, encountered misleading or incorrect map data (Fig. 23). Instead of capturing a road system leading into the interior from the beachhead, assault troops discovered an uncharted river immediately beyond the narrow beachhead 200 yards wide and < I mile long. As there were no bridges to advance inland, the 24th Army Division's personnel, equipment, gasoline and ammunition were confined to the narrow landing beach for 2 days while heavy

G.A. Kierseh / Engineering Geo&gy 49 (1998) 123 176

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Fig. 21. The Atlantic coastline region from Chespeake Bay, MD, to South Carolina is largely protected by a chain of offshore barrier islands. The large water bodies and sounds formed with the mainland provide direct access to the many drowned river valleys and adjacent lagoons, estuaries, and shoreline swampy areas [from Atwood (1940) Fig. 24].

equipment was unloaded and river crossings were constructed (Smith, 1996). A secondary landing at Red Beach 3 miles south discovered that the reported track road leading inland 12 miles to

three Japanese air strips was largely a trail and only usable as a jeep track with difficulty (Fig. 23). Luckily, there was only minimal Japanese resistance.

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The Japanese Tami air dome, located 5 miles east of Humboldt Bay (Fig. 23), was captured on 29 April 1944; the three main air strips: Hollandia; Cyclops; and Sentani; were captured earlier on 26 April. The Tami air strip had undergone extensive damage from effective Allied air attacks. Poorly designed, the air strip was founded on a sub-base of sands, clays and some coral materials, and overlain by a 6-8" surface layer of topsoil and humus. This topsoil material should have been removed by the Japanese and was a source of soft spots and drainage problems as evident in Fig. 24. Restoration of the air strip required 1 week of construction and maintenance work before the runway could be used by fighter aircraft. This work included removing the top soil/humus layer, providing adequate runway drainage, placing an 8" layer of crushed limestone and schist throughout the air strip and storage areas, and sealing the surface with bitumen and limestone chips for an all-weather operation (USCE, 1951, pp. 230-231 ). "Ground-truth" activities were also critical to the June 1944 Normandy Beach landings. The Beach Intelligence Service of the Beach Erosion Board began studies in 1942 of the coastal beaches

155

of France from Cherbourg to Dunkirk and, later, of numerous Pacific beachhead areas. Operational reports with emphasis on trafficability characteristics of beaches were prepared in coordination with the MGU (SEG, 1945, C.S. Edmunds, p. 590) and served a joint Army and Navy intelligence group. The U.S. M G U was not responsible for preparing folios inland from the beaches of Normandy and throughout western Europe. The British had established a MGU at Oxford, U.K., in 1942, patterned after the MGU; reportedly, they were impressed by the MGU's trial-run report on Madagascar, which demonstrated the breadth and substance of information that could be provided in advance of operations (Hunt, 1982). Coordinated British-U.S. geologic activities included the Navy Hydrographic Office for anchorages and the U.S. Army Engineer Beach Erosion Board for landing areas and beaches. Only near the end of the war (MGU Stage 4) did U.S. geologists participate in reviewing European resources, underground factory installations, and reconstruction problems. Military installations and many critical manufacturing plants were relocated underground by the Axis powers throughout

Fig. 24. Aerial photo of the Tami air dome as captured 29 April 1944 and extensively damaged by pre-landing bombing attacks. Note the soft top soil with humus, evident by tire tracks and low undrained areas that required removal. Air strip restored and in use by fighter planes within one-week [photo USCE (1951) p. 231].

156

G.A. Kiersch Enk,incering (;eo/o.e.v 49 (1998; 123 176

Europe during the war. Among them, one wartime plant utilized the physical characteristics of the site rock, a thick loess deposit in the Danube River valley a short distance north of Linz, Austria (Fig. 25). The underground facility utilized a modified room-and-pillar system (Kiersch, 1949, Fig. 3) with large interconnected rooms up to 5 m (16') high: the facility housed a German aircraftparts assembly plant. The plant-site withstood aerial bombing attacks because the soft-to-spongy loess deposit effectively dissipated the shock waves of conventional explosions (Kieslinger, 1963, oral communication). Edwin B. Eckel and others from the M G U , prepared reports on many of the German factory sites in late 1945-46 [Eckel (1945) reviews four major types of Facilities]. 4.4. British A r m y

A review of British military geology activities (1939 45) is provided by Rose and Pareyn, "Operation Overlord---Battle of Normandy, 1944" in Underwood and Guth (1998). One feature inherent to the geological setting contributed to the successful Normandy invasion: pre-landing investigations delimited some deep-water entrances

to coastal harbors and the location of suitable sites tbr 20-fighter airstrips near the front lines ( King, 1951, pp. 106-107). Some of the deep-water harbors along the coast are a consequence of its late glacial history. Water in the English Channel had been lowered 100 m and older beach deposits had undergone erosion during the last glacial stages. Deep canyons were carved in the former off-shore, wave-cut rock plattbrm and dunes, swamps and fen peat formed on or behind the wave-cut platform. As the sea returned to present-day level, the peats and swampy forests were submerged. Pre-invasion maps of Normandy beaches indicated some such sectors were unsuitable for assault vehicles; an assessment by commandos evaluated the on-site conditions prior to invasion. Professor Shottom a geologist of the 21st Army Group, was largely responsible for delimiting the deep-water entrance to "Mulberry" harbor, an erosional gap or canyon in the old wave-cut platform. The initial plan to land on beaches of the Cotentin Peninsula in the Cherbourg area was dropped: this hilly area with its small fields, banks and hedges was not suitable tbr a large number of airstrips (Rose and Pareym 1998). In contrast the

Fig. 25. A German underground factory site of World War II located ill an unusual rock mass, loess deposits of the Danube River valley north of Linz, Austria. The soft-to-spongy loess effectivelydissipated shock waves generated by the explosion of conventional bombs. One of the entrances to the abandoned underground system of large-scale interconnected openings is at lower right; the entrance, as shown, was largely closed off [photo Kiersch (1963)].

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123-176

flat-lying Normandy terrain of Jurassic limestone provided large, open areas covered by loess-like loam, an ideal geologic setting for the rapid construction of airstrips. The partially weathered limestones at depth afforded rapid surface drainage and the loess-like loam at the surface dried quickly to a firm soil in summer months (King, 1951, pp. 106-106). Following the Battle of Falaise in Normandy in mid-1944, the Allied armies moved quickly across France. Geology did not enter into most problems until the front lines were in Holland and at the German frontier in Spring 1945 (King, 1951, p. 107).

4.5. U.S.S.R. Forces From the beginning of World War II the Russian Army employed a large body of geological specialists; German intelligence reported thousands were employed in military geology activities. In Russia as in France, geology was part of an officer's education. Hydrotechnical divisions, small units of geological specialists operated under the Army General Staff, were responsible for all matters pertaining to water supply, geo-data maps, construction materials, and transport routes (Fox, 1949, p. 3).

4.6. Japanese Forces The Japanese military openly exchanged geodata with other major countries until 1937, when the practice stopped in preparation for open conquest of Asia. They were particularly focused on botanical data as a guide to ground conditions (Smith, 1964, p. 319).

5. Post-World War II

Ingenious presentations of geologically related data on terrain maps both by the German and Allied Forces, aroused interest among military specialists worldwide when analyzed after the war (Smith and Black, 1946; Wilson, 1948). Within the unique and very successful German Wehrmacht organization, the Forschungesstaffel (Research

157

Department) special unit concentrated on terrainevaluation maps with special attention to trafficability for armored vehicles. These maps incorporated concepts developed by a team of physical geographers, plant ecologists, geologists, soil scientists, foresters, meteorologists and others. The geological data base utilized aerial photographs and aerial reconnaissance combined with "groundtruth" sources to produce sophisticated terrainevaluation maps. The advent of World War II (1939-45) brought about a proliferation of applied geology on a scale hitherto unimagined. Of these broadened activities, the application of geology to military operations, as developed in the European and Pacific regions, was the most important advancement in engineering geology during the 1940s and 1950s (Kiersch, 1955, pp. 29-30). Many important textbooks and publications that advanced the principles of engineering geology practice and military geology were released during or shortly after the war; they included Geology for Engineers (Blyth, 1943); Ingenieugeologie (Bendel, 1944); Geology for Engineers, (Trefethen, 1949); Geology for Engineering Practice (Paige, 1950); Applied Sedimentation (Trask, 1950); Research Needs in Engineering G e o l o g y (Eckel, 1951); Ingenieurgeologie und Geotechnife (Keil, 1954); Engineering Geology (Kiersch, 1955); and Geology in Engineering (Schultz and Cleaves, 1955).

5.1. Geo-military branches/USGS- USCE The success of applied geology in serving World War II activities, both military and civil, led to establishing two new related branches of the U.S. Geological Survey: the Engineering Geology Branch in late 1944 under E.B. Eckel, which began functioning in 1946; and the Military Geology Branch in 1946 under C.B. Hunt and later E.S. Larsen and Frank Whitmore, a formalization of the earlier M G U (1945). A third new branch, the Foreign Geology Branch, was established in 1946 under William Johnston, and included many of the geologists who served in Europe obtaining resources and related information for MGU. Functions of the Military Branch were closely coordinated with the Central Intelligence Agency,

158

G.A. Kiersch ~ ~)tgineermL, Ge~h~,~v 49 (1998) 123 176

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Army Map Service. In addition, the Alaskan Highway experience with permafrost and related difficulties led to the SIPRE within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for enhancement of construction of all kinds in Arctic regions (P6w6, 1991, pp. 277 298: Weeks and Brown, 1991, pp. 333 350). Typical of the post-war Stage 4 MGU's activities in the Pacific region was a study of the Fukui earthquake on 28 June 1948 in Okinawa. This event provided an unusual opportunity to assess complex geological sites of varied rock units and tectonic structures. The study provided insights for the design of earthquake-resistant structures (Collins and Foster, 1949).

5.2. Military oceanography The U.S. Navy, through the Office of Naval Research and the Bureau of Ships, began financing an oceanographic unit in 1942 to quantitatively forecast the sea, swell and surf; chart ocean currents in the Pacific Theater: and sponsor coursework in military oceanography at the Scripps Institution, La Jolla, CA. These investigations, along with a focus on the principles of submarine geology and ocean sedimentation, were utilized for planning amphibious operations and control of beach erosion. After the war, the naval unit in cooperation with specialists of the U.S. Geological Survey (e.g. paleontologists, stratigraphers and geochemists) undertook an in-depth investigation to ascertain the characteristics of Bikini and other coral atolls of the Marshall Islands in 1947 48, site of a National Security project on atomic bomb tests (Russell, 1950, p. 662 ).

5.3. Militarv geophysics Military-oriented geophysics has been reviewed by Bates et al, (1982) relative to both naval and army applications. An early military use of geophysical principles was undertaken by Professor E.L. Nichols of Cornell University in 1919, when he conceived of a mine-firing mechanism that triggered hostile mines by a magnetic field. Magnetic mines were standard equipment in 1939,

and subsequently acoustically activated and pressure-magnetic mines were developed during World War II. • German U-boats in World War lI were tracked and hunted by Allied electronic devices that included "high-frequency direction finding" sets that obtained a bearing and distance on the U-boat's transmission to headquarters, rapid development of ship-mounted and airborne radar, and the deciphering of German radio messages (Bates et al., 1982, p. 70). • Naval projects have relied on geophysical techniques and measurements to ascertain sediment characteristics of the ocean floor that affect many naval activities [alter Russell (1950), pp. 656 665]: Underwater sound (SONAR) equipment in undersea warfare can identify a hard, smooth bottom that reflects sound beams both forward and backward, while a soft-bottom mud reflects minimal sound as also occurs in deep water. Moreover, background noise influences the range of detection, such as the biological noise of "snapping shrimp", common worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters. The shrimp are usually confined to rocky and coral bottoms at depths under 180' (30 fathoms): Underwater equipment for detection and floating mine installation both require stable underfootings, a reflection of sea-floor materials, currents and wave conditions; Operation of naval vessels requires detailed topographic maps of the sea bottom; submarines frequently must lie on the bottom to avoid detection or effect repairs. Consequently knowledge of the firmness and topography of the bottom is important. • During World War II, the "sound and flash" of field artillery was tracked and effectively located German gun positions in the mountainous terrain of Cassino Front, Italy, in 1944: • Metallic mine detectors are of limited use when landing-beach sands include magnetite grains, This was a major disadvantage for the landing proposed on Sagami Bay beaches by the Allied invasion-assault on the Tokoyo Plain in 1945 ( Whitmore, 1950, p. 653). • During the Vietnam conflict, aerial heat-sensing techniques were able to identify hostile troops

(7. A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123-176

and movements beneath the thick jungle cover of the countryside. Since then, this technique has been used for such civil purposes as mapping the effluent patterns of power plants, sewage outfalls and river mouths (Bates et al., 1982, p. 97). Many science historians label World War II as the "War of the Physicist", but others believe the high level of capability and success attained by aerial mines had essentially closed down the Japanese economy by mid-1945 and made the use of nuclear weapons unnecessary (Bates et al., 1982, p. 77). Offensive aerial mine warfare was highly successful throughout the Pacific Theater and over 12 000 magnetic and acoustic mines were dropped into every important harbor and waterway in Japan from March to July 1945, Moreover, 1000 mines were laid in the Shimonoseki Straits and Inland Sea alone, which denied all shipping to southern Japan by August, where an Allied landing-assault appeared imminent (Bates et al., 1982, p. 68). Applied geophysics came of age during the war years of 1941-45. Thousands of young people learned the excitement of utilizing geophysical principles for military and civil purposes, and many continued their careers in the field. The Division of Oceanography was established within the U.S, Navy Hydrographic Office in 1946, as was the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL) at Point Barrow, AL, 1948-80 (Bates et al., 1982, pp. 77-96). These initial acts inspired an era of unprecedented growth and expansion of geophysical research and related activities by government agencies, scientific committees, academies and oceanographic institutions, and the Geophysical-Year program of 1957-58. The Korean War of 1950-52 was largely served by members of the U.S. MGU on duty in regions of Japan, Okinawa, and the Pacific Islands, and has been reviewed elsewhere by Cameron (1998) and Terman (1998). Tunneling beneath fortifications as an invasion technique was again used by the North Korean Forces and this offensive threat continues today.

5.4. Underground facilities The use of subsurface warfare offensively was successful during the U.S. Civil War with tunnels

159

beneath Confederate Forces at Petersburg (Fig. 4) and in World War I to counter-attack strongly fortified German positions (Figs. 7 and 8). Yet interest in geologic barriers (UHFs) did not become widespread among the armies of the world until World War II. Since then, the design and construction of underground chambers or deeply buried military facilities (UGFs) have involved a small segment of the military community ( Kiersch, 1951; O'Sullivan, 1961). More recently, with the proliferation of precision-guided missiles, geologic barriers have taken on a new meaning relative to the vulnerability of an underground facility to conventional weapons, as demonstrated by Gulf War bombing films in 1991. The future role of strategic geologic intelligence in planning warfare is increasingly critical, as reviewed by Eastler et al. (1998). After 1945, realization of the destructive force of the atomic bomb and later the hydrogen bomb created concern that defense against their effects was nearly impossible. In response, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and government-sponsored research groups made tremendous strides in the design of protective construction to resist largescale blasts, relying on knowledge of geologic environs and the physical properties of rock masses. Developments in destructive weapons dictated attention to underground locations for some military command centers and storage facilities. Any relocation of vital manufacturing plants must be highly selective and based on military importance, geology of alternate sites, safety, economic factors and the operational needs of the facility. Since the 1940s, several hundred post-war underground rock installations have been built in Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Italy and other European countries. Today there are > 20 different kinds of underground installations being built in hard-rock formations, as shown in Fig. 26 and described by Morfeldt (1983). Broad geologic principles, and their application to the location, construction and operation of subterranean installations designed to resist modest-scale subsurface explosions of the early 1950s, were reviewed by Kiersch (1949, 1951 ). The Underground Explosion Test Program of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1947-49; McCutchen,

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G.A. Kicrsch , Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

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1949) and research by Engineering Research Associates, Minneapolis (ERA, 1952-53), established the guidelines and principal geologic t:actors that impact the design of a large cavity. The R A N D Corporation's underground construction symposium in 1959 reviewed the state of the art regarding the design and construction of protective chambers (O'Sullivan, 1961), and stresses earth's crust (Judd, 1964). A natural homogeneous medium, capable of dissipating energy equally in all directions from a subsurface blast, is essentially nonexistent in nature. Reaction of a rock mass to blast-induced stress is complicated by the rock's heterogeneity

and inherent structural weaknesses that transmit stress unequally. Furthermore, an intact, hardrock mass (whether limestone, igneous or metamorphic) can retain a high residual stress, so that the physical characteristics of an otherwise ideal rock mass may react differently to a conventional subsurface blast. At depth, the elastic limit of the rock is overcome by natural stresses (Fig. 27). Cavities excavated below a critical depth are situated in the zone of instability: stresses are active and openings require supports. Depth to the zone of instability varies with the rock type {Fig. 27): the "'shear" strength of an average homogeneous sandstone may be exceeded at 530 m (1750'), while

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 ( 1998J 123-176

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that of an average homogeneous plutonic rock can be exceeded ca. 1980m (6500'). A substantial residual or active stress can render a site uneconomical. The ideal cover for an underground installation may be a combination of competent high-velocity rock, separated by low-velocity, weak rock. Formational boundaries in the overlying rock mass partially dissipate the explosive energy (Kiersch, 1951 ). Principles of underground design and construction, including the ability of a rock mass to

resist explosive pressures, were reviewed by Duvall (O'Sullivan, 1961, pp. 313-335) and the USCE (1961), and represent the state of the art in 1960. The current state of research on new designs to resist large-scale military blasts is discussed by Eastler et al. (1998). Three strategic U.S. military command-and-control centers were built underground in the 1950s and 1960s; the Strategic Air Command Control Center is located in the thick sedimentary beds beneath Omaha, Nebraska region. The N O R A D

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G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geoh)gy 49 (1998) 123 176

(North American Air Defense) Center is in the granitic rock mass of Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs, CO, and the Fort Richey installation is in Maryland near Washington, DC. Such critical projects required that particular attention be given to the regional geology, because of the inherent site conditions and the large size of the underground chambers (Lane, 1971 ). Since the Korean War, much attention has been focused on the underground activities and tunneling by North Korean Forces. They are known to have constructed several clandestine infiltration tunnels beneath the DMZ of South Korea, such as Tunnel 2 and Tunnel 3 in the 1970s, driven in granodiorite and gneiss bedrock (Cameron, 1998). In 1989, Tunnel 4 was discovered in a granodiorite rock mass by the use of cross-hole geophysics, site characterization by geologic mapping and fracture analysis. Additional tunnels are suspected by some (Uldrich, 1994) and presumably have been built to assist in the infiltration southward of the DMZ to and under the city of Seoul and nearby military installations (Uldrich, 1994, p. 2). Moreover. Allen W. Hatheway, an Army Reserve Engineer officer in the field on five occasions, believes there are likely >50 such prepared invasion tunnels (Hatheway and Stevens, 1998).

5.5. Nuclear detections--deJense During the 1950s, geoscientists of the U.S. Geological Survey and Air Force Terrestrial Science Laboratory successfully discriminated between an underground nuclear or chemical detonation signal and a natural seismic signal from an earthquake (Eckel et al., 1957: Haskell, 1957, 1959). This major advancement for military intelligence subsequently led to establishing the VELA UNIFORM research project in October 1959 for determining whether an unidentified seismic event was a natural event or an underground explosion, and, if the latter, whether it was chemical or nuclear. Two companion activities were the VELA SIERRA program to detect high-altitude nuclear detonations by earth-bound instruments and the VELA HOTEL program to detect high-altitude nuclear detonations by means of satellite-borne instruments (Bates, 1961). Other projects of the Air Force Terrestrial Science Laboratory during

the 1950 to 1970s are reviewed in papers by former director Colonel Louis DeGoes, Lieutenant Colonel James T. Neal and D.B. Krinsley in Underwood and Guth (1998). The Arctic regions of northern Alaska, Ellesmere Islands, and northern Greenland acquired great military importance during the cold war as the shortest route between the U.S.A. and the former U.S.S.R. for military aircraft and delivery of nuclear-armed missiles. Consequently, high priority was given to airbase construction, dispersal of aircraft and an early warning electronic system in the Arctic. The first monitoring stations were established in the 1950s with substantial geologic guidance. An aerial geologic reconnaissance of the candidate site-areas was followed by the air-drop of Colonel L. DeGoes, a geologist, and his support team at a preferred location. The potential site-area was reconnoitered on-the-ground and a location chosen for the year-around station, which required an adequate foundation, elevated-view for aerial tracking instruments, and access to air-landing. After establishing each site according to station plans, a landing strip was prepared for the team's rescue by an Air Force Transport (equipped with skis). The aerial reconnaissance and the team's landing and site selection sequence was repeated several times until all the stations for the DEW LINE warning system were chosen and construction underway (DeGoes, 1998). This warning system functioned until replaced by global satellites in the 1980s. The free world's first deep underground nuclear explosion (Rainier) took place at the Nevada Test Site on 19 September 1957. GeoScience played a significant part in the design and operation of this test (Fig. 28). Geologic counsel included the choice of site, design of workings, means of predicting the seismic effects both on and off the Test Site, and assessing any chance of contaminating ground-water supplies. This input was more than a challenge to apply geologic principles to military engineering problems: moreso it was an opportunity to analyze and test selected fundamentals of GeoScience such as the study of seismic waves caused by a large underground energy source at a precise place and time and man's first attempt to produce a large magma body for later study (Eckel et al., 1957, pp. 5 and 14).

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The many geologic and hydrologic by-products and phenomenology of the Nevada Test Site projects of 1957-66 (Rainier, Logan, Blanca, Bilby and others) made a significant impact and contribution to GeoScience. This enormous growth of knowledge was released in a set of 27 symposium

papers by U.S. Geological Survey personnel (Eckel, 1968). An immediate outgrowth of the scientific contributions by the test site projects was an understanding of nuclear explosions and strong support for its peaceful uses in the Plowshare Program (Teller et al., 1968; Bacigalupi, 1959).

164

G.A. Kiersch : EnL,ineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

Among the many possible projects for national security and industrial uses of nuclear explosions were a new sea-level canal (Fig. 29) in Central America (Panama or Columbia), project Carryall, with large-scale excavations through a granitic mountain mass for the re-alignment of the Santa Fe railroad and Highway 1-40 in the Mojave Desert west of Needles, CA, and the heating or liquefying of deeply buried Athabasco Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada (75' thick and 10% oil) for a major source of petroleum fuels. Because of the nuclear-test ban and political reasons, the experiments have never been performed (Neal, 1998).

6. Vietnam era-conflict

Military actions of the 1960s to 1970s throughout parts of South Vietnam, North Vietnam,

Cambodia and Laos were more a war of movements in many separate areas than most historic hostilities, The Military Geology Branch, U.S. Geological Survey, was largely augmented during the Vietnam Era by other agencies, especially the Department of Defense and civilian contractor's geologists, and military terrain analysis teams that served Field Army and subordinate Corps commands. The Military Geology Branch was essentially disestablished in the early 1970s (Eckel, 1982) likely due to unpopularity of the military in the 1960s. The branch reverted to a "special projects" organization responding to highly classified assignments from Defense Department level. These remnants of nontactical projects such as the testban treaty and sites of foreign underground installations have no meaning or application to U.S. Army tactical commands, leaving such commanders without military geologic counsel.

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G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

6.1. Geological intelligence--army The widespread guerilla warfare in Vietnam mainly took place in a hostile, semi-tropical environs and a terrain of weak rock, residual soils and many rice fields. The primitive roads became deep mud during the long rainy seasons so movement of personnel and battle actions were commonly by air-transport helicopters and gunships. During dry season, dust from the friable laterite soils damaged helicopter engines (Krinitzsky et al., 1976). This battleground environment required substantial changes and modifications to the GeoScience investigations and intelligence gathering performed and their dissemination to field forces as described by Patrick and Hatheway (1992). Geological efforts during the Vietnam era and since have strayed from the former proven approaches for World War II and the Korean conflict, namely, geologic folios and battlefield terrain maps by a centralized group. Military geology functions of the U.S. Geological Survey shifted from the army combat forces to the Defense Intelligence Agency. The Army of the 1980s utilized Intelligence Companies and Terrain Analysis Teams to provide a terrainoriented form of scientific counsel; this was mainly without military geologic background information, for combat-support activities (e.g. troop units and missions directly behind lines of fighting). Civilian contractor-geologists have undertaken specific construction and obstacle related tasks. Terrain intelligence for combat-support remains with the Corps of Engineers as a function of Army Topographic Battalions, along with Military Geographic Intelligence (MGI) and Military Intelligence (MI) for strategic and tactical purposes. The latter, a formal overt branch of the Army since 1962, collects and processes electronic warfare (EW) intelligence in close association with Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence (CEWI) battalions of the Signal Corps. The shift in emphasis to CEWI mainly serves as "combat multipliers" to locate and define enemy targets, and routinely utilizes techniques suitable for high geological interpretation such visual observation reconnaissance by aircraft, side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) with air-to-ground data transmission link

165

and thermal infrared (IR) imagery. The training of aerial observers, as officers of the Armored Cavalry, was discontinued in 1963 [Colonel A.W. Hatheway, March 1997, personal communication (Colonel Hatheway served in that capacity in the 1960s)]. These intelligence collection and interpretation functions are now performed cooperatively by MI and Engineer Battalions in the field using assets of Army Aviation Companies. The Army's reduction in size and strength has been offset by the advantage of American technological strengths, a critical factor in the success of controlling hostile actions in the 1990s. Trained geologist-officers are not present in the force structure (Hatheway and Stevens, 1998).

6.2. Terrain-strongholds The Isonza battles of World War I on the Southern Front (Italy-Austria) in 1915-18 involved classic military actions in which the karstic terrain features of the countryside became natural defensive barriers for the Austrian Army. During the Vietnam conflict a similar use of karstic terrain features was utilized effectively by guerilla fighters on a reduced scale. The unique and critical karstic features of some northern-latitude regions of Vietnam and Laos impacted hostile activities. The extensively dissolutioned and cavernous limestone terrain was characterized by prominent topographic ridges and spectacular pinnacle-like features. These erosional relics of the karstic Rat Buri Limestone and other formations (Fig. 30) were commonly occupied in Laos and other regions as military strongholds by the Pathet Lao and Viet Cong guerilla fighters. Generally, the natural strongholds were a network of dissolutioned openings and interconnected passageways at different levels in the rock pinnacle's as shown in Fig. 30b (a location in southern Laos). The pinnacles or relic outcrops of tilted limestone beds commonly rise hundreds of feet above the countryside of weathered and deteriorated "flat" sandy mudstone and limestone beds. Guerilla fighters could control the surrounding countryside from these natural strongholds.

166

G.A. Kiersch Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

Fig. 30. Erosional pinnacle of Rat Buri Limestone near the Pa Mong site, Laos-Thailand; guerilla outposts were in naturally-protected caverns and surface features throughout the pinnacle-ridges formed by solution-action in limestone. Trails and access paths to outposts were along tilted bedding planes and inherent structural features [photo by Kiersch (1968)].

6.3. Geological contractors private The operation and performance of contractorgeologists in the Vietnam theatre encountered a mixed reception and frequently serious impediments to fulfilling the needs of Army Divisional and Corps commands. One such example was a contract to reconnoiter the South Vietnam countryside for critically needed quarry sites to provide additional sources of durable crushed rock. Similar problems impacted a search for sand and gravel sources from the bars, meanders and flood plain features throughout the Mekong Delta and other rivers. The needs for such efforts were not appreciated or aided by the local military commanders. Often, the Army or Corps field commands restricted access by contractor-geologists in their area to the available geologic maps on South Vietnam. Apparently they feared an intelligence leak. Yet, the geological contractors were engaged by the military commands to undertake the search for sources of scarce and critically needed durable construction materials for roads, air strips and other major military constructions (Young, 1996). The few existing hard rock localities of regions

with a potential for quality quarry rock were placed off limits to the geologic contractors by military commands charged with tactical combat missions. Most localities with a materials potential were already assigned to private Vietnam companies, while several potential sites were occupied by U.S. Army missile defense batteries that would not give up their positions. Furthermore, the civilian contractors could not prospect in "unsecured" areas basically everywhere in the country (Young, 1996). Less than minimal information was gained by the services of this geological contractor. Besides the services of private U.S. contractorgeologists, specialized studies were undertaken by Army terrain specialists of the Corps from the Waterways Experiment Station (WES), Vicksburg, MS (Patrick and Hatheway, 1992). One such field and laboratory project investigated the properties and characteristics of the widespread laterite gravels. During the dry season, dust derived from the lateritic soils caused severe damage to helicopter engines from intake of windblown silt and sand; a soil stabilization mixture eliminated the problem (Krinitzsky et al., 1976). WES geologists and engineers continued to identify and solve

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123-176

many geotechnical problems throughout the 1970s to 1980s dealing with erosion, sedimentation, construction materials, hazardous wastes and many others having a direct application to the military mission. 6.4. Geopolitics and projects

The environmental and engineering geoscience aspects of a large-scale, military-sponsored engineered works became a pivotal factor of the peace settlement proposed between the Vietnam War combatants in 1967-68. The U.S. Johnson Administration, undertook a preliminary investigation for a "peace offensive" with North Vietnam in 1967. Among the terms of peace was the construction and assistance to operate the proposed Pa Mong dam and reservoir project on the Mekong River located 12-miles upstream from Vientiane, Laos (Fig. 31), to be largely financed by the U.S. Government. The project had been recognized as technically feasible in the comprehensive report of 1967 by both regional and U.S. AID organizations. The cost benefit ratio was exceptionally favorable and offered a broad control over the annual flooding along the Lower Mekong, an enormous reservoir storage capacity (three times the size of Lake Mead on the Colorado River) that extended 150 miles upstream. The impounded water would provide the irrigation to support three rice crops yearly instead of one crop throughout a large region (within Laos, North Vietnam and Thailand, with some benefit to downstream areas in South Vietnam and Cambodia). Moreover, the power plant would generate electricity to serve industries and inhabitants of both North and South Vietnam, as well as localities in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, and provide an overall stabilizing effect on the inhabitants and fragmented governments of the region. The writer was a member of the four-man consulting board of January through to March 1968 (Gardner et al., 1968) that visited the region and the proposed dam sites to evaluate the geological and hydrological conditions and suitability of the Pa Mong site for a major concrete dam and large reservoir. The dam site has a good-quality foundation of hard, firmly-cemented sandstone and interbeds of silty mudstone of the Khorat

167

Formation. However, the reservoir immediately upstream of the site includes thick sections of the Rat Buri Limestone that has undergone extensive karstification and solution-action. High-water losses (possibly 10%) are expected from the reservoir via channelways and a network of openings in the limestones within the reservoir walls and basin. Fortunately, the redistributed water would be recaptured in reservoirs on adjoining regional drainages (Fig. 31). Because the annual flow of the Mekong River is far greater than can be accommodated by the Pa Mong reservoir only, this major leakage actually distributes excess water to other drainages, where local reservoirs can serve the needs for irrigation and power (Kiersch, 1991, pp. 385-386). While the Board was in Vientiane, Laos, in late January 1968, visiting field localities every day via helicopter, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong Forces launched the TET offensive. This action shattered the immediate hopes for a peace accord. The Board finished their assignment and concluded that the geologic and hydrologic conditions are adequate for construction of the project and recommended future action (Gardner et al., 1968). The Pa Mong project has never gone forward.

7. National security projects 7.1. Strategic petroleum reserve

Many National Security projects of vital interest are inter-related with the goals of military operations and frequently they are strongly dependent on the principles and techniques of geoscience. Such a utilization of geoscience and especially of environmental/engineering geology practices has occurred under almost every conceivable physical or man-induced condition, and invariably this reliance on geologic guidance has resulted in a safer and more cost-effective project overall. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is one such major national security project that has benefitted from its close interdependence on geoscience principles and techniques to serve the U.S. Military Establishment (Neal, 1996). The SPR is operated by the Department of Energy, as authorized in 1975 to store one billion

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barrels of crude oil in case of a severe national energy-supply interruption. The reserves today are some 600-MMB of crude stored within the excavated caverns and old mine workings in five Gulf Coast salt domes. Some have compared the scale

of this engineering achievement to the century-old Panama Canal. The Weeks Island storage site, the central salt dome in the Five Island chain of sites, is near New Iberia, LA, and the Intracoastal Waterway

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123-176

(Fig. 32, index map). Paleohydrologic studies and geomechanical investigations of the salt dome mass and adjacent features have documented critical changes within the salt mass over time, such as shrinkage on its borders, stress fractures adjacent to mined storage chambers, surface subsidence over the mine workings with dilatancy and extensional fracturing, and the disturbed edge of the salt mass, becomes leak-prone (perhaps in 20 or more years) with sinkholes (Fig. 33). The cracks become flowpaths for brine incursion, which eventually seeps into the mined openings. Ground water gradually enlarges the cracks in salt, leading

169

to dissolution, overburden collapse and a sink structure. An en-echelon alignment of progressive sinkholes were first observed at the Weeks Island site in May 1992. Subsequent investigations by more sophisticated geological and geophysical techniques have documented a conceptional development of the sinkholes as shown on Fig. 33 (Neal, 1996). Recognition of the causative processes for the sinkholes at Weeks Island and their threat to national security interests led to the decommission of this storage facility and relocation of its oil reserves in other facilities in 1995-96. However,

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170

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environmental protection during oil withdrawal was considered critical. Consequently, mitigation of any further sinkhole growth and brine incursion into the mined openings containing crude oil was accomplished by injecting saturated brine directly into the sinkhole's throat. This caused a concomi-

tant slowing of dissolution that altered the natural hydrologic environs. A cylindrical freeze wall or curtain was then constructed around the principal sinkhole and into the dissolution orifice at the top of the salt mass; calcium chloride was injected into 54 wells and frozen. This "ice plug" arrested any

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

further solution-action within the sink structure and will function until all the oil reserves are withdrawn (Neal, 1997). The GeoScience principles documented and experiences gained at the Weeks Island facility provide the knowledge to minimize any future occurrences of mine-induced sinkholes at other salt-dome storage facilities or underground salt mines.

8. Remarks

Geologic principles and counsel have successfully contributed to planning military activities and related engineered works since the early 1800s. Originally, geologists were employed to assess only the battlefield terrain, but soon geologists became a factor in planning battle strategy and adapting geologic features for either defensive or offensive action, so successfully demonstrated during the Civil War. Participants in World War I used experienced geologists to counsel the field forces on an assessment of the terrain features to locate sources of water and construction materials, and advise on trench and underground construction and offensive mining-tunneling. The U.S. Forces also prepared engineering geologic maps of terrain characteristics and materials sources that were projected behind enemy lines for offensive purposes. The prominent topographic features of some French battlefields (e.g. Verdun) were cleverly integrated into the regional defenses and front-line fortifications. Similarly, the Austrian Army fortified karstic terrain features of the plateaus and peaks along the Isonzo Valley, an impregnable fortress to Italian assaults for 3 years of warfare. Geologic counsel and the application of GeoScience principles were applied on an unprecedented scale during World War II by three separate German Geo-units, the U.S. and British Military Geology and Oceanographic Units, the French Army and other European participants. Input for military needs included trafficability maps of terrain and an assessment of available resources, and guidance for construction of large-scale surface and underground military works. The U.S. M G U concurrently provided guidance throughout the Pacific Island region for establishing beachheads,

171

assault landings, airfields and supply bases for Allied Forces from 1942 to 1945. A major shift in the manner of providing geologic input for the military occurred during the Vietnam Era of guerilla warfare. The centralized U.S. Geological Survey unit was disestablished with a reduction in scope. Special Army Intelligence units were organized to provide the direct combat-support needs (Tazelaar, 1980), while private contractor-geologists provided engineer-support data for construction of military works. By the late 1980s, Combat Electronic Warfare Intelligence (CEWI) units provided the Army combat-support intelligence for a multidisciplinary approach. More recently, geographic information systems (GIS) technology has been expanded to analyze, search, manipulate and select databases for specific military purposes. Virtually every discipline and aspect of the geosciences has been utilized in some manner to serve the military establishment and associated National Security projects, ranging from micro-paleontology to seismology and vulcanology. This has included geomorphic features of all types, petrology and rock properties of hard to soft, weathered and solutioned karstic terrains, sensitive marine clays, drifting sands to beaches and Arctic permafrost terrain. Moreover, these military activities have occurred in every conceivable physical environs from the Arctic to the equatorial regions, and from jungles to deserts. A greater understanding of the geoscientist's role and capabilities by military professionals has enhanced the scope and utilization of geologic principles to meet on-going military needs. Future weapons and their counter-defenses will likely embrace new GeoScience challenges in every conceivable environs. Today, the current U.S. Geological Survey's activities in military geology are mainly restricted to two nontactical areas; geological support for monitoring a global comprehensive test ban (CTBT), and geologic assessment at the sites of underground installations, both foreign and domestic (Leith, 1998). Another technique that has impacted military planning and action is space imaging from highaltitude orbiting satellites. Vast digital files of space

172

G.A. Kiersck / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123 176

Fig. 34. The "Papuan aviation battalion" led by Colonel Leif Sverdrup (shown center photo) built the Bena Bena fighter airstrip and others in the uplands of New Guinea in 1943. Drums sounded and the natives would begin a "'sing-sing". The dancer's compacted and trampled the loose soil, fill material and stubble with their bare feet into a smooth surface for the runway. Heavy equipment and Army troops were not available in the remote mountainous region (Fig. 15a) [from Franzwa and Ely (1980) photo p. 167I.

and aerial imagery will replace the century-old "geographical cadastral" maps. Such elements as buildings, vegetation, small streams and other geographical features, impossible to depict on traditional maps, can now be shown on a digital database and an image map, and are available within a day or two for any location on the planet ( Rapaport, 1997). Future actions and weapons, both offensive and defensive, will involve GeoScience worldwide. For example, one proposal requiring geologic input repackages a hydrogen bomb to fit into a special needle-shaped case. In free-fall, the bomb burrows as much as 50' into unconsolidated sediments and alluvial soils before detonating underground and the ground motion can destroy an underground installation. Another example is the expanded usage of GIS technology to analyze and select databases for specific military purposes, as well as to solve sophisticated industrial or civilian problems; GIS, is multidisciplinary and involves seismology, geophysics, geology, remote sensing and computer science. The trend of future military operations is not for more and larger platforms to launch the actions, for example, battleships, aircraft carriers, tanks or nuclear bombs. Rather the trend is for strengthening the defense-intelligence systems, so that the military can detect, identify, track and engage far more targets simulta-

neously over a greater area and with greater precision and lethality (Zuckerman, 1997) ( Fig. 34).

Acknowledgment The overview's breath has been improved by discussions and the editorial input of Professor James R. Underwood, Kansas State University. He re-awakened the author's interests in military geology with participation in his symposium at 1994 Seattle meetings of Geological Society of America. The original text has been broadened and significantly improved by the constructive reviews of two colleagues--Professor Allen W. Hatheway, University of Missouri-Rolla and Lieutenant Colonel James T. Neal, Sandia National Laboratories (formerly USAF Terrestrial Laboratory); and the editorial review of Rosemary Barker, University of Texas, Austin. The author also benefitted from the assistance of many who contributed selected materials or illustrations, in particular: Colonel Louis DeGoes, formerly director of USAF Terrestrial Laboratory; Dr James F. Devine, assistant director, Henry Zoller and Robert Bier, librarians, and Dr Clifford Nelson, historian of US Geological Survey, Reston; Robert Fickies, New York Geological Survey; Professor

G.A. Kiersch / Engineering Geology 49 (1998) 123-176

Arthur Bloom, Cornell University (coral reefs); Professor Troy Pewe, Arizona State University (permafrost); Professor Richard Goodman, UC-Berkeley/Terzaghi Fellow Norwegian Geotechnical Institute; Professor Lars O. Grande, Technical University (NTH) Trondheim; Colonel G.S. Pedersen, formerly Norwegian Army Engineering Officer for Trondheim District (submarine pens); and John Uldrich for background on Petersburg tunneling Praetorean Gate Press, Pittsburgh and North Korean tunnels under DMZ. Kim Duffek of Kanoa Illustrations, Tucson, prepared some of line-drawings as did Lois Kain, Tucson. Jane Hoffmann, Roadrunner Press, Tucson, reproduced the text.

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