The Economic Aspect of Geology

THE COAL AND IRON SITUATION OF WESTERN EUROPE UNDER THE TERMS OF THE PEACE TREATY

A mineral problem of special international importance at the present time relates to the disposition of the coal and iron resources of Germany. Germany's coal and iron have been the basis for its commanding position in industry and commerce. In fact, its development of these resources has been probably the most vital element in the European economic situation. The terms of the Peace Treaty in regard to these commodities have far-reaching consequences, not only for Germany but for all Europe, and indirectly, for the world.

Germany (Westphalia) outclasses all other European sources in grades of metallurgical coal, in quantities produced, and in cheapness of production. Both France and Belgium must continue to be dependent on this source for important parts of the coking coal for metallurgical purposes, notwithstanding France's acquisition of the Saar Basin, which produces mainly non-coking coal, and the development of new reserves in Belgium. Germany's command of coal is wrecked in several ways. The French take over full and absolute possession of the coal of the Saar Basin, though Germany has the right to repurchase it at the end of fifteen years, in case this territory then elects for union with Germany. The coal of Upper Silesia, with a production of about 23 per cent of the total of all German hard coal, is to be ceded to Poland, subject, however, to plebiscite. Germany undertakes to deliver to France each year, for not to exceed ten years, an amount of coal equal to the difference between the annual pre-war production of the French coal mines destroyed as a result of the war, and the production of the mines of the same area during the years in question,—such delivery not to exceed 20,000,000 tons in any one year of the first five, nor 8,000,000 in any one year of the succeeding five years. In addition, Germany agrees to deliver coal, or its equivalent in coke, as follows: to France 7,000,000 tons annually for ten years; to Belgium 8,000,000 tons annually for ten years; to Italy an annual quantity rising by annual increments from 4,500,000 tons in 1919-20 to 8,500,000 tons in each of the six years 1923-24 to 1928-29; and to Luxemburg, if required, a quantity of coal equal to the pre-war annual consumption of German coal in Luxemburg.

The total pre-war coal production of Germany in 1913 was 191,500,000 tons. The diminution of production due to loss of territory in Alsace-Lorraine, in the Saar Basin, and in Upper Silesia amounts to about 61,000,000 tons. The further required annual distribution of coal to France, Italy, Belgium, and Luxemburg amounts to about 40,000,000 tons. This leaves about 90,000,000 tons for Germany's domestic use, as compared with a pre-war domestic use of 139,000,000 tons. Even then, these calculations make no allowance for coal to be used in export trade to neutrals or other countries, some part of which seems vital to Germany's trade. They make no allowance for the deterioration of plant and machinery in the mines, which will delay resumption of coal production. They make no allowance for the diminution in working hours and the lack of transportation. In short, unless there is a miraculous recovery and development of Germany's coal industry, impossible conditions have been imposed. Some recognition of this fact appears in the great powers to adjust terms which have been vested in the Reparations Committee. Successive revisions of requirements by the Reparations Committee have already reduced the direct contributions of coal from Germany nearly fifty per cent. The entire European coal situation is in a state of chaos. It was found necessary in 1918 to appoint a Coal Commission under international control, to attempt to allocate and distribute supplies. It seems inevitable that the physical facts of the situation will prevail, and that the control of the Allies will resolve itself into efforts to distribute and coördinate supplies so as to keep the European machinery going, more or less regardless of the terms of the Peace Treaty.

One of the important outcomes of this situation has been the recent rapid development of German lignite production, based on newly worked-out methods of treatment and utilization.

By taking over Alsace-Lorraine, France acquires about 70 per cent of the iron ore reserves and annual production of Germany. This production was in minor part smelted locally,—the larger part moving down the Rhine to the vicinity of the Ruhr coal fields, and Ruhr coal coming back for the smelting in Lorraine. This great channel of balanced exchange of commodities has been determined by nature, and is not likely to be permanently affected by political changes. For the time being, however, the drawing of a political boundary across this trade route hinders the full resumption of the trade. Self-interest will require both Germany and France to keep these routes open. France requires German coal to supply the local smelters near the iron fields, and German markets for the excess production of iron ore. On the other hand, Germany's great smelting district in the Ruhr Basin is largely dependent on the Lorraine iron ore, and the movement of this iron ore requires coal from down the Rhine as a balance.

The intelligent handling of this great coal and iron problem is of far-reaching consequence to the mineral industries of the world.

CONCLUSION

In the foregoing discussion it is not our purpose to argue for any specific national or international plan or procedure, but rather to show something of the nature of the problem,—and particularly to show that intelligent and broadened self-interest requires a definite national policy in regard to world mineral questions. Realization of this fact is a long step toward the solution of the international problems. No geologist, engineer, or business man is safe, in the normal conduct of his affairs, without some attention to these matters.

It is our purpose further to bring home the fact that international coöperation in the mineral field is not merely an academic possibility, but that in many important ways it is actually in existence. The terms of the Peace Treaty alone have far-reaching consequences to the explorer or mining man in all parts of the world. The modifications of these terms, which are inevitable in the future, will not be of less consequence. It is necessary not only to know what these are, but to aid in their intelligent formulation.

LITERATURE

A vast new literature on the subject of international mineral relations has sprung into existence during and following the war, and anyone may easily familiarize himself with the essentials of the situation. Some of the international features are noted in the discussion of mineral resources in this book. For fuller discussion, the reader is especially referred to the following sources:

The reports of the United States Geological Survey. Note especially World Atlas of Commercial Geology, 1921.

The reports of the United States Bureau of Mines.

Political and commercial geology, edited by J. E. Spurr, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1920.

Strategy of minerals, edited by George Otis Smith, D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1919.

Coal, iron and war, by E. C. Eckel, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1920.

The iron and associated industries of Lorraine, the Sarre district, Luxemburg, and Belgium, by Alfred H. Brooks and Morris F. LaCroix, Bull. 703 U. S. Geological Survey, 1920.

The Lorraine iron field and the war, by Alfred H. Brooks, Eng. and Min. Journ., vol. 109, 1920, pp. 1065-1069.

Munitions Resources Commission of Canada, final report, 1920.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XIX

GEOLOGY AND WAR

GEOLOGY BEHIND THE FRONT

The experience of the great war disclosed many military applications of geology. The acquirement and mobilization of mineral resources for military purposes was a vital necessity. In view of the many references to this application of geology in other parts of this volume, we shall go into the subject in this chapter no further than to summarize some of the larger results.

As a consequence of the war-time breakdown in international commercial exchange, the actual and potential mineral reserves of nations were more intensively studied and appraised than ever before, with the view of making nations and belligerent groups self-sustaining. This work involved a comprehensive investigation of the requirements and uses for minerals, and thus led to a clearer understanding of the human relations of mineral resources. It required also, almost for the first time, a recognition of the nature and magnitude of international movements of minerals, of the underlying reasons for such movements, and of the vital inter-relation between domestic and foreign mineral production. The domestic mineral industries learned that market requirements are based on ascertainable factors and that they do not just happen. Large new mineral reserves were developed. Metallurgical practices were adapted to domestic supplies, thus adding to available resources. Better ways were found to use the products. Some of these developments ceased at the end of the war, but important advances had been made which were not lost. One of the advances of permanent value was the increased attention to better sampling and standardization of mineral products, as a means of competition with standardized foreign products. For instance, the organization of the Southern Graphite Association made it possible to guarantee much more uniform supplies from this field, and thereby to insure a broader and more stable market. Such movements allow the use of heterogeneous mineral supplies in a manner which is distinctly conservational, both in regard to mineral reserves and to the human energy factors involved. In another war the possibilities and methods of meeting requirements for war minerals will be better understood.

In these activities, geologists had a not inconsiderable part. The U. S. Bureau of Mines, the U. S. Geological Survey, state geological surveys, and many other technical organizations, public and private, turned their attention to these questions. One of the special developments was the organization by the Shipping Board of a geologic and engineering committee whose duty it was to study and recommend changes in the imports and exports of mineral commodities, with a view to releasing much-needed ship tonnage. This committee was also officially connected with the War Industries Board and the War Trade Board. It utilized the existing government and state mineral organizations in collecting its information. Over a million tons of mineral shipping not necessary for war purposes were eliminated. This work involved also a close study of the possibilities of domestic production to supply the deficiencies caused by reduction of foreign imports.

Other special geological committees were created for a variety of war purposes. In the early stages of the war a War Minerals Committee, made up of representatives of government and state organizations and of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, made an excellent preliminary survey of mineral conditions. A Joint Mineral Information Board[60] was created at Washington, composed of representatives of more than twenty government departments which were in one way or another concerned with minerals. It was surprising, even to those more or less familiar with the situation, to find how widely mineral questions ramified through government departments. For instance, the Department of Agriculture had men specially engaged in relation to mineral fertilizers and arsenic. Sulphur and other mineral supplies were occupying the attention of the War Department. Mica and other minerals received special attention from the Navy Department. The Tariff Board, the Federal Trade Commission, the Commerce Department, even the Department of State, had men who were specializing on certain mineral questions. All these departments had delegates on the Joint Mineral Information Board, in which connection they met weekly to exchange information for the purpose of getting better coördination and less duplication.

The National Academy of Sciences established a geologic committee, with representatives from the U. S. Geological Survey, the state geological surveys, the Geological Society of America, and other organizations. This committee did useful work in correlating geological activities, mainly outside of Washington, and in coöperation with the War Department kept in touch with the geologic work being done at the front.

While the activities of geologists for government, state, and private organizations were for the most part in relation to mineral resource questions, this was by no means the total contribution. The U. S. Geological Survey and other organizations, in coöperation with the War Department, did a large amount of topographic and geologic mapping of the eastern areas for coast-defense purposes. This work involved consideration of the topography for strategic purposes, as well as the stock-taking of mineral resources—including road materials and water supplies. The revision of Geological Survey folios, with these requirements in mind, brought results which should be of practical use in peace time. Studies were likewise made of cantonment areas, with reference to water supplies and to surface and sub-surface conditions.

Many geologists were engaged in the military camps at home and abroad, and in connection with the Student Army Training Corps at the universities, in teaching the elements of map making, map interpretation, water supply, rock and soil conditions in relation to trenching, and other phases of geology in their relation to military operations. The textbook on Military Geology,[61] prepared in coöperation by a dozen or more geologists for use in the courses of the Student Army Training Corps, is an admirable text on several phases of applied geology. The name of the book is perhaps now unfortunate, because most of it is quite as well adapted to peace conditions as to those of war. There is no textbook of applied geology which covers certain phases of the work in a more effective and modern way. The topics treated in this book are rocks, rock weathering, streams, lakes and swamps, water supply, land forms, map reading and map interpretation, and economic relations and economic uses of minerals. Another book,[62] on land forms in France, prepared from a physiographic standpoint, was a highly useful general survey of topographic features and was widely used by officers and others.

GEOLOGY AT THE FRONT[63]

Perhaps the most spectacular and the best known use of geology in the war was at and near the front. This use reached its earliest and highest development in the German army, but later was applied effectively by the British and British Colonial armies, and by the American Expeditionary Force.

One of the first intimations to the American public of the use of geology at the front appeared in the publication of German censorship rules in 1918,—when, among the prohibitions, there was one forbidding public reference to the use of earth sciences in military operations. A leading American paper noted this item and speculated at some length editorially as to what it meant.

It was discovered that geologists to the number of perhaps a hundred and fifty were used by the Germans to prepare and interpret maps of the front for the use of officers. Features represented on these maps included topography; the kinds of rocks and their distribution; their usefulness as road and cement materials; their adaptability for trench digging, and the kinds and shapes of trenches possible in the different rocks; the manner in which material thrown out in trenching would lie under weathering; the ground-water conditions, and particularly the depth below the surface of the water table at different times of the year and in different rocks and soils; the relation of the ground-water to possibilities of trench digging; water supplies for drinking purposes; the behavior of the rocks under explosives, and the resistance of the ground to shell-penetration; the underground geological conditions bearing on tunnelling and underground mines; and the electrical conductivity of rocks of different types, presumably in connection with sound-detection devices and groundings of electric circuits. Some of the captured German maps were models of applied geology. They contained condensed summaries of most of the features above named, together with appropriate sketches and sections. During the Argonne offensive by the American army the captured German lines disclosed geologic stations at frequent intervals, each with a full equipment of maps relating to that part of the front. From these stations schools of instruction had been conducted for the officers in the adjacent parts of the front.

The British efforts were along similar lines, although they came late in the war, under the leadership of an Australian geologist. Their efforts were especially useful in connection with the large amount of tunnelling and mining done on the British front. Among the many unexpected and special uses of geology might be cited the microscopical identification of raw materials used in the German cement. It became necessary for certain purposes to know where these came from. The microscope disclosed a certain volcanic rock known to be found in only one locality. In the Palestine campaign, the knowledge of sources of road material and water supply based on geologic data was an important element in the advance over this arid region. Wells were drilled and water pipes laid in accordance with prearranged plans.

In spite of the fact that the usefulness of geology had been clearly indicated by the experience of the German and British armies, the American Expeditionary Force was slow to avail itself in large measure of this tool; but after some delay a geologic service was started on somewhat similar lines under the efficient leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred H. Brooks, Director of the Division of Alaskan Resources in the U. S. Geological Survey. The work was organized in September, 1917, and during the succeeding ten months included only two officers and one clerk. For the last two months preceding the armistice there was an average of four geologic officers on the General Staff, in addition to geologists attached to engineering units engaged in road building and cement making, and plans had been approved for a considerable enlargement of the geologic force. The work was devoted to the collection and presentation of geologic data relating to (1) field works; (2) water supply; and (3) road material. Of these the first two received the most attention. Maps were prepared, based somewhat on the German model, for the French defenses of the Vosges and Lorraine sectors, and for the German defenses of the St. Mihiel, Pont-a-Mousson, and Vosges sectors. Water supply reports covered nearly 15,000 square kilometers. The following description of the formations, taken from the legend of one of the geologic maps, shows the nature of the data collected:

The water supply maps with accompanying engineer field notes are models of concise description of water supply conditions, with specific directions for procedure under different conditions. A few paragraphs taken from these notes are as follows:

EFFECT OF THE WAR ON THE SCIENCE OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

In general, the war required an intensive application of geology along lines already pretty well established under peace conditions. Much was done to make the application more direct and effective, and a vast amount of geologic information was mobilized. The general result was a quickened appreciation of the possibilities of the use of geology for practical purposes. Perhaps the most important single result was a wider recognition of the real relations of mineral resources to human activities, and of the international phases of the problem. More specifically, there was a most careful stock-taking of mineral resources and a consideration of the "why" of their commercial use. Many new resources were found, as well as new ways to utilize them.

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XX

GEOLOGY AND ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION

Economic applications of geology are by no means confined to mineral resources (including water and soils). The earth is used by the human race in many other ways. Human habitations and constructions rest on it and penetrate it. It is the basis for transportation, both by land and water. Its water powers are used. In these various relations the applications of geology are too numerous to classify, much less to describe. While only a few of these activities have in the past required the participation of geologists, the growing size of the operations and increasing efficiency in their planning and execution are multiplying the calls for geologic advice. The nature of such applications of geology may be briefly indicated.[64]

FOUNDATIONS

The foundations of modern structures such as heavy buildings, especially in untried localities, require much more careful consideration of the substrata than was necessary for lighter structures. In planning such foundations, it is necessary to know the kinds of rocks to be excavated, their supporting strength, their structures, the difficulties which are likely to be caused by water, and other geologic features. Failure to give proper attention to these factors has led to some disastrous results.

The planning of foundations and abutments of bridges requires similar geologic knowledge. In addition, there must be considered certain physiographic factors affecting the nature and variation of stream flow and the migration of shore lines.

SURFACE WATERS

Construction of great modern dams is preceded by a careful analysis of sub-surface conditions, in regard to both the rocks and the water. It is necessary to know the supporting strength of the rocks in relation to the weight of the dam; to know whether the rocks will allow leakage around or beneath the dam; and to know whether there are any zones of weakness in the rocks which will allow shearing of foundations under the weight of the dam in combination with the pressure of the ponded water. It is necessary to know whether the valley is a rock valley or whether it is partially filled with rock débris; if the latter, how deep this débris is, and its behavior under load and in a saturated condition. Here again physiographic factors are of vital importance, both in relation to the history of development of the valley, and to questions of stream flow and reservoir storage.[65]

Construction of dams is only an item in the long list of engineering activities related to surface waters. River and harbor improvements of a vast range likewise involve geologic factors. Problems of wave action, shore currents, shifting of shores, erosion, and sedimentation, which are of great importance in such operations, have long occupied the attention of the geologist. They belong especially in the branch of the science known as physiography.

Geology in relation to underground water supplies is discussed in Chapter V.

TUNNELS

The digging of tunnels for transportation purposes, for aqueducts, and for sewage disposal requires careful analysis of geologic conditions in regard to both the rocks and the underground water. Knowledge of these conditions is necessary in planning the work, in inviting bids, and in making bids. It is necessary during the progress of the work. Too often in the past disastrous consequences, both physical and financial, have resulted from lack of consideration of elemental geologic conditions.

The building of the great New York aqueducts and subways through highly complex crystalline rocks has been under the closest geological advice and supervision. The detailed study of the geology of Manhattan Island through a long series of years has resulted in an understanding of the rocks and their structures which has been of great practical use. In the aqueduct construction the kinds of rock to be encountered in the different sections, their water content, their hardness, their joints and faults, were all platted and planned for, and actual excavation proved the accuracy of the forecasts. An interesting phase of this work was the tunneling under the Hudson at points where the pre-glacial rock channel was buried to a depth of nearly a thousand feet by glacial and river deposits,—this work requiring a close study of the physiographic history of the river.

SLIDES

Slides of earth and rock materials, both of the creeping and sudden types, have often been regarded as acts of Providence,—but studies of the geologic factors have in many cases disclosed preventable causes. A considerable geologic literature has sprung up with reference to rock slides, which is of practical use in excavation work of many kinds.

The cause of such movements is gravity. The softer, unconsolidated rock materials yield of course more readily than the harder ones, but even strong rocks are often unable to withstand the pull of gravity. The relative weakness of rock masses on a large scale was graphically shown by Chamberlin and Salisbury,[66] in a calculation indicating that a mass of average hard rock a mile thick, domed to the curvature of the earth, can support a layer of only about ten feet of its own material. The structural geologist, through his study of folds, faults, and rock flowage, comes to regard rocks essentially as failing structures.

Disturbances of equilibrium, resulting in rock movements under gravity, may be caused by local loading, either natural or artificial. Natural loading may be due to unusual rainfall, or raising of water level, or increased barometric pressure. Artificial loading may come from construction of heavy buildings or dams. Movement may also result from excavation, which takes away lateral support—and such excavation again may be caused by natural processes of erosion or by artificial processes involved in construction. Movement may be caused by mere change in the moisture content of rocks, or by alterations of their mineral and chemical character, affecting their resistance to gravity. In still other cases, earthquakes are the initiating cause of movement.

In unconsolidated rocks, a frequent cause of movement is the presence of wet and slippery clay layers. The identification and draining of these clay layers may eliminate this cause. In certain sands, on the other hand, water may actually act as a cement and tend to increase the strength of the rock. Planes of weakness in the rock, such as bedding, joints, and cleavage, are also likely to localize movement.

Earth materials, and even fairly hard rocks, may creep under gravity at an astonishingly low angle. The angle from the horizontal at which loose material will stand on a horizontal base without sliding is called the angle of rest or repose. It is often between 30° and 35°, but there is wide variation from this figure, depending on the shapes and sizes of the particles and on other conditions. It has been suggested that even the slight differences in elevation of continents and sea bottoms may, during long geologic eras, have caused a creep of continental masses in a seaward direction.

In problems relating to slides, the geologist is concerned in determining the kinds of rocks, their space relations, their structures and textures, their metamorphic changes, their water content and the nature of the water movement, their strength, both under tension and compression, and other factors.

In the digging of the Panama Canal, a geological staff was employed in the study of the rock and earth formations to be met. However, had more attention been paid to geologic questions in the planning stages, this great undertaking, so thoroughly worked out from a purely engineering standpoint, would have avoided certain mistakes due to lack of understanding of the geological conditions. It is a curious fact that in these early stages no strength tests of rocks were made, and that no thorough detailed study was made of the geologic factors affecting slides and their prevention. It was only after the slides had become serious that the geological aspects of the subject were intensively considered. The results of the geologic study, therefore, are useful only for preventive measures for the future and for other undertakings. One of the interesting features of this investigation was the discovery that certain soft rock formations were rendered weaker rather than stronger by the draining off of the water. It had been more or less assumed that the water had acted as a lubricant rather than as a cement.

SUBSIDENCE

Not the least important application of geology to slides is in relation to deep mining operations. While the mining geologist has been principally engaged in exploration and development of ores, he is now beginning to be called in to interpret the great earth movements caused by the sinking of the ground over mining openings. For instance, the long-wall method of coal mining has resulted in a slow progressive subsidence of the overlying rock, affecting overlying mineral beds and surface structures over great areas. Detailed studies have been made of this movement, in order to ascertain its relation to the strength and structure of the rocks, its relation to the nature of the excavation, its speed of transmission, and the possible methods of prevention. German scientists have perhaps gone further with this kind of study than anyone else. In an elaborate investigation of subsidence over a coal mine in Illinois,[67] unusually complete data were obtained as to the nature, direction, and speed of the transmission of strains through large rock masses, and as to their effect in producing secondary rock structures.

RAILWAY BUILDING

In railway building, the planning and estimation of cuts and fills is now receiving geologic consideration, in order to make sure that no geologic condition has been overlooked which will affect costs, the stability of the road, or the accurate formulation of contracts. The location of best sources of supply for ballast is also a geologic problem (see pp. 90-91).

The physiographic phases of geology also are finding important applications to railroad building. The physiographer studies the surface forms with a trained eye, which sees them not as lawless or heterogeneous units but as parts of a topographic system, and he is able to eliminate much unnecessary work in the location of trial routes. Further study of some of the older railroads from this standpoint has led to considerable improvements. Physiographic study has also been applied to railway bridge construction, in the appraisal of the difficulties in surmounting stream barriers. A still broader use of physiography or geography, not popularly understood, is illustrated in the case of certain transcontinental railroads, in the study of the probable future development of the territory to be served—many features of which can be predicted with some accuracy from a study of the rocks, soils, topography, conditions of transportation, and natural conditions favoring localization of cities. The location of new towns in some cases has been based on this kind of preliminary study.

In locating an Alaskan railway close to the end of a momentarily quiescent glacier, troubles were not long in appearing, due to the fact that the glacier was really not as stable as it seemed to the layman. A specialist on glaciers, knowing their behavior, their relations to precipitation, their relations to earthquakes, the speed of their movement, and the periodicity of their movement, was ultimately called into consultation on the location of the railroad.

ROAD BUILDING

Road building in recent years has become a stupendous engineering undertaking, which is requiring geologic aid to locate nearby sources of supply for road materials. A considerable number of geologists are now devoting their attention to this work. It relates not only to the hard-rock geology but to the gravel and surface geology. Certain northern states are using specialists in glacial geology to aid in locating proper supplies of sand and gravel.

GEOLOGY IN ENGINEERING COURSES

Many engineering courses include elementary geologic studies, in recognition of the close relationship between geology and engineering. Men so trained, though not geologists, have been responsible for many applications of geology to engineering. With the increasing size and importance of operations, calling for more specialization, the professional geologist is now being called in to a larger extent than formerly. A logical trend also is the acquirement of more engineering training on the part of the geologist, for the purpose of pursuing these applications of his science.

FOOTNOTES: