Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region
Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region

Author: Doris Sloan

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2006-06-27

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0520241266

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"You can't really know the place where you live until you know the shapes and origins of the land around you. To feel truly at home in the Bay Area, read Doris Sloan's intriguing stories of this region's spectacular, quirky landscapes."—Hal Gilliam, author of Weather of the San Francisco Bay Region "This is a fascinating look at some of the world's most complex and engaging geology. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in an understanding of the beautiful landscape and dynamic geology of the Bay Area."—Mel Erskine, geological consultant "This accessible summary of San Francisco Bay Area geology is particularly timely. We are living in an age where we must deal with our impact on our environment and the impact of the environment on us. Earthquake hazards, and to a lesser extent landslide hazards, are well known, but the public also needs to be aware of other important engineering and environmental impacts and geologic resources. This book will allow Bay Area residents to make more intelligent decisions about the geological issues affecting their lives."—John Wakabayashi, geological consultant

The Polluters
The Polluters

Author: Benjamin Ross

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010-09-02

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 0199752974

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The chemical pollution that irrevocably damages today's environment is, although many would like us to believe otherwise, the legacy of conscious choices made long ago. During the years before and just after World War II, discoveries like leaded gasoline and DDT came to market, creating new hazards even as the expansion and mechanization of industry exacerbated old ones. Dangers still felt today--smog, pesticides, lead, chromium, chlorinated solvents, asbestos, even global warming--were already recognized by chemists, engineers, doctors, and business managers of that era. A few courageous individuals spoke out without compromise, but still more ignored scientific truth in pursuit of money and prestige. The Polluters reveals at last the crucial decisions that allowed environmental issues to be trumped by political agendas. It spotlights the leaders of the chemical industry and describes how they applied their economic and political power to prevent the creation of an effective system of environmental regulation. Research was slanted, unwelcome discoveries were suppressed, and friendly experts were placed in positions of influence, as science was subverted to serve the interests of business. The story of The Polluters is one that needs to be told, an unflinching depiction of the onslaught of chemical pollution and the chemical industry's unwillingness to face up to its devastating effects.

Floodpath
Floodpath

Author: Jon Wilkman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2018-01-16

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1620409178

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"Floodpath attempts to rescue the disaster from obscurity . . . The author captures many heartbreaking stories of survivors . . . The effect is powerful." --The Wall Street Journal Just before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam, a twenty-story-high concrete structure just fifty miles north of Los Angeles, suddenly collapsed, releasing a devastating flood that roared fifty-four miles to the Pacific Ocean, destroying everything in its path. It was a horrific catastrophe, yet one which today is virtually forgotten. With research gathered over more than two decades, award-winning writer and filmmaker Jon Wilkman revisits the deluge that claimed nearly five hundred lives. A key figure is William Mulholland, the self-taught engineer who created an unprecedented water system, allowing Los Angeles to become America's second largest city, and who was also responsible for the design and construction of the St. Francis Dam. Driven by eyewitness accounts and combining urban history with a life-and-death drama and a technological detective story, Floodpath grippingly reanimates the reality behind L.A. noir fictions like the classic film Chinatown. In an era of climate change, increasing demand on water resources, and a neglected American infrastructure, the tragedy of the St. Francis Dam has never been more relevant.

A Paradox of Power
A Paradox of Power

Author: Charles W. Welby

Publisher: Geological Society of America

Published: 1998-01-01

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 0813741122

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The papers in this volume illustrate issues and opportunities confronting geologists as they bring their knowledge and understanding to bear in matters related to public health and welfare.

Engineering Geology
Engineering Geology

Author: Q Zaruba

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2012-12-02

Total Pages: 505

ISBN-13: 0444601201

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Engineering Geology attempts to provide an understanding of relations between the geology of a building site and the engineering structure. It presents examples taken from real-life experience and practice to provide evidence for the significance of engineering geology in planning, design, construction, and maintenance of engineering structures. The book begins with an introduction of geological investigations, distinguishing between the reconnaissance investigation, the detailed investigation, and investigation during construction. It then explains the significance of geological maps and sections; the mechanical behavior of rocks; subsurface investigation for engineering construction; and geophysical methods. The remaining chapters discuss the physical and chemical weathering of rocks; slope movements; and geological investigations for buildings, roads and railways, tunnels, and hydraulic structures. This book is intended particularly for civil engineering students and students of engineering geology in the university faculties of natural sciences. It describes geological features so as to be comprehensible to Technical College students and to explain construction problems intelligibly for geology students. The book will also be of assistance to planners, civil engineers, and graduate engineering geologists.

Heavy Ground
Heavy Ground

Author: Norris Hundley

Publisher: University of Nevada Press

Published: 2020-12-08

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 1948908891

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Minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed, sending more than twelve billion gallons of water surging through Southern California’s Santa Clara Valley, killing some four hundred people and causing the greatest civil engineering disaster in twentieth-century American history. In this carefully researched work, Norris Hundley jr. and Donald C. Jackson provide a riveting narrative exploring the history of the ill-fated dam and the person directly responsible for its flawed design—William Mulholland, a self-taught engineer of the Los Angeles municipal water system. Employing copious illustrations and intensive research, Heavy Ground traces the interwoven roles of politics and engineering in explaining how the St. Francis Dam came to be built and the reasons for its collapse. Hundley and Jackson also detail the terror and heartbreak brought by the flood, legal claims against the City of Los Angeles, efforts to restore the Santa Clara Valley, political factors influencing investigations of the failure, and the effect of the disaster on congressional approval of the future Hoover Dam. Underlying it all is a consideration of how the dam—and the disaster—were inextricably intertwined with the life and career of William Mulholland. Ultimately, this thoughtful and nuanced account of the dam’s failure reveals how individual and bureaucratic conceit fed Los Angeles’s desire to control vital water supplies in the booming metropolis of Southern California.