Environmental engineering

Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the environment (air, water, and/or land resources), to provide healthful water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites.

Negative environmental effects can be decreased and controlled through public education, conservation, regulations, and the application of good engineering practices.

In the U.S., minimum education requirements for environmental engineers typically include a Bachelor's Degree in environmental (or civil) engineering from an accredited college..

Civil engineering

In modern usage, civil engineering is a broad field of engineering that deals with the planning, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures, or public works, as they are related to earth, water, or civilization and their processes. Most civil engineering today deals with power plants, bridges, roads, railways, structures, water supply, irrigation, environmental, sewer, flood control, transportation, telecommunications and traffic.

In essence, civil engineering may be regarded as the profession that makes the world a more agreeable place in which to live. Engineering has developed from observations of the ways natural and constructed systems react and from the development of empirical equations that provide bases for design.

Civil engineering is the broadest of the engineering fields, partly because it is the oldest of all engineering fields. In fact, engineering was once divided into only two fields, military and civil. Civil engineering is still an umbrella term, comprised of many related specialities..

Geologic fault

Geologic faults or simply faults are planar rock fractures which show evidence of relative movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust are the result of shear motion and active fault zones are the causal locations of most earthquakes. Earthquakes are caused by energy release during rapid slippage along faults..

Earthquake liquefaction

Earthquake liquefaction, often referred to simply as liquefaction, is the process by which saturated, unconsolidated soil or sand is converted into a suspension during an earthquake.

The effect on structures and buildings can be devastating, and is a major contributor to urban seismic risk.Ancient earthquakes have caused liquefaction, leaving a record in the sediments (paleoseismology).