Civil engineers, mining engineers and engineering geologists require a working knowledge of the engineering properties and behaviour of the different soil and rock types, and this is not provided in the standard texts on soil and on rock mechanics.

This book provides extensive data on individual soil and rock types and deals in some depth with their composition, texture, degree of weathering and presence of fissures or discontinuities. It also considers the description and classification of soils and rocks.

The Fourth Edition has been extensively revised and enlarged by fifty per cent, with four new chapters on

? Silts, Loess and Brickearth

? Igneous and Metamorphic Rock

? Arenaceous and Argillaceous Rocks and

? Carbonate and Evaporitic Rocks.
The latter three chapters deal not only with the geomechanical properties and behaviour of these rocks but also with their durability. The book also considers properties in terms of construction materials (e.g. building stone, bricks, aggregate) and mentions methods of dealing with problem soils, groundwater etc.

The book will be of particular value to professionals in geotechnical and geological engineering and also to senior students.