Geology Of The Area. Sources Of Natural Materials and Construction Essay

Geology Of The Area. Sources Of Natural Materials and Construction Problems - Essay Example It is composed of quartz or feldspar since they are the most common minerals in the earth crust. The colors of sandstone have been identified with several regions because their beds often form very highly visible cliffs. It usually allows water and other fluids to percolate; additionally sandstone is porous enough to store large quantities of fluids, therefore, are valuable aquifers and reservoirs of petroleum. It finds application in house wares and domestic construction. Structurally, they can be fragments of pre existing rock or mono-mineralic crystals. These rocks are very strong especially when mature therefore suitable for construction purposes. Mudstone-according to the map it is elbow-shaped and uniformly distributed in the map. This is a fine grained sedimentary rock. Its original constituents were clays or mud their individual size can only be identified with the help of a microscope. It has no layers due to original texture or disruption of layering by burrowing organisms prior to lithification. It may show crack or fissures depending on how it is formed. According to Dunham (1962), the classification of limestone, a mudstone is a carbonate rock with less than 10% allochens in carbonate mud matrix. Mudstone is a soft rock material therefore is not appropriate for construction purposes. ... It is the hardest rock layer among the three appearing in the map and is used for construction purposes, an aggregate for base of roads, mineral filler passing 0.075mm – 0.425mm of mineral size. It can be used in the manufacture of glass, toothpaste and cement. POSSIBLE PROBLEMS THAT MAY ARISE DURING CONSTRUCTION The following are the possible problems that may arise during the highway construction process between points A and B. As stated by Amelin et al. (2002), ‘It is important to consider that if we choose to ignore the surrounding geology in the construction of engineered works, then the surrounding geology will most certainly assert its influence on our engineered structures.’ First the material cut may be less than the required fill. Cut and fill, is a process of constructing a railway, road canal or high way whereby the total material extracted more or less is the same as the quantity of material for fill. Since the cut is less than fill, it would warrant acquiring materials from other sources for example borrow areas, importing from other areas. The material cut may be more than the required fill any excess cut above the fill would warrant an additional transportation cost. Secondly, there may be mobility problems due to the rugged and steep topography of the land which may not favor human and machine movement during the highway construction. This triggers use of special machinery in cutting, filling and compaction processes to achieve the desired objective or shape. The land’s landscape may be too rugged such that it may incur more cost especially when it as to get the materials from other areas. There is difficulty in cutting due to topography of land, stability of slopes and since any