Does s/he have an Achilles heel? Hmmm?

I thought recently that my Master’s degree in geotechnical and foundation engineering did not include a course in surficial geology. Yet that field of study gives an inexpensive, preliminary indication of the nature of the ground at a failure or accident site. For example, indicating the type of soil beneath our feet and it’s physical properties. Also the presence of surface and groundwater and their effects on the soil.

My degree included a course on bedrock geology but not on surficial geology. Bedrock is the solid rock beneath our feet. Surficial geology is the soil on top of the bedrock. Most structures in the world are supported on soil.

The soil on top of the bedrock in northern climates was left behind by the glaciers after they melted – glacial soil. The soil in southern climates (like warm Australia this bitter-cold day in Halifax – 30/12/2025) was left behind after the bedrock was weathered over many, many 1,000s of years – residual soil.

I’ve learned about glacial soil and surficial geology since my Master’s program – good thing because it’s everywhere beneath our feet. And it’s presence is indicated to some extent by the shape of the landscape, the topography.

For example, the mix of clay, silt, sand and gravel in the vast expanse of glacial till that covers Nova Scotia. The mix of clay, silt and sand forming the long, high drumlins (check out Citadel Hill in Halifax). Gravel in the sinuous, river-like eskers. Also kames – pockets of sand and gravel. And, not to forget, troubling lacustrine deposits adjacent and underlying our lakes and rivers. Not least, tricky marine deposits in our many harbours Down East.

The type of soil at failure and accident sites is there to be seen in the landscape. A course in surficial geology – surface deposits – would help a Masters engineering student see it sooner in their practice rather than in later years.

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I don’t want to get carried away, but I’ve thought even more recently, why not touch on the environmental sciences, in general, in a Masters geotechnical and foundation engineering program? For example, the science of forestry.

I learned long ago when working one summer as a timber cruiser that hardwood forests – like maple trees – develop on high, dry ground. Soft wood forests – like spruce trees – on low, wet ground. I learned about black-spruce swamps – you walked through a swamp if your compass bearing pointed that way, not around the swamp!

(Timber cruisers survey the type and size of trees in a forest. One person walks on a compass bearing. Two other workers, one on each side of a compass line a set distance, identify and measure the trees within that distance. They call this data out to a forth person who records it)

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I wonder what is missing in other fields of study underlying an expert’s expertise – like surficial geology in mine long ago? Hmmm? Could this be an expert’s Achilles heel?

(My comments on the location of glacial and residual soils are general. I understand we have some residual soil – like in warm Australia – in bitter cold Nova Scotia but I’ve not seen it)

(Posted by Eric E. Jorden, M.Sc., P.Eng. Consulting Professional Engineer, Forensic Engineer, Geotechnology Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, December 30, 2025. ejorden@eastlink.ca)