Abstract The UK is perhaps unique globally in that it presents the full spectrum of geological time, stratigraphy and associated lithologies within its boundaries. With this wide range of geological assemblages comes a wide range of geological hazards, whether geophysical (earthquakes, effects of volcanic eruptions, tsunami, landslides), geotechnical (collapsible, compressible, liquefiable, shearing, swelling and shrinking soils), geochemical (dissolution, radon and methane gas hazards) or related to georesources (coal, chalk and other mineral extraction). An awareness of these hazards and the risks that they pose is a key requirement of the engineering geologist. This volume sets out to define and explain these geohazards, to detail their detection, monitoring and management, and to provide a basis for further research and understanding, all within a UK context.

Abstract With its rich lithological variation, upland, lowland and coastal settings, and past climatic changes, the UK presents a wide variety of landslide features that can pose significant hazards to people, construction and infrastructure, or simply add to landscape character and conservation value of an area. This chapter describes and defines the nature and extent of this landsliding; the causes, effects and geological controls on failure; and their mitigation and stabilization. A risk-based approach to landslide management is outlined with qualitative and semi-quantitative methodologies described. Numerous case studies are presented exemplifying landslide and slope stability hazards in the UK.

Abstract One of the geohazards associated with coal mining is subsidence. Coal was originally extracted where it outcropped, then mining became progressively deeper via shallow workings including bell pits, which later developed into room-and-pillar workings. By the middle of the 1900s, coal was mined in larger open pits and underground by longwall mining methods. The mining of coal can often result in the subsidence of the ground surface. Generally, there are two main types of subsidence associated with coal mining. The first is the generation of crown holes caused by the collapse of mine entries and mine roadway intersections and the consolidation of shallow voids. The second is where longwall mining encourages the roof to fail to relieve the strains on the working face and this generates a subsidence trough. The ground movement migrates upwards and outwards from the seam being mined and ultimately causes the subsidence and deformation of the ground surface. Methods are available to predict mining subsidence so that existing or proposed structures and land developments may be safeguarded. Ground investigative methods and geotechnical engineering options are also available for sites that have been or may be adversely affected by coal mining subsidence.

Abstract The story of UK onshore exploration goes back to the days of World War I and was prompted by the increasing use of oil for the war effort. The war was drawing to a close as the campaign commenced in 1918. The UK government sponsored the drilling with a budget of £1 000 000 and the work was undertaken by S. Pearson & Sons, a UK engineering company owned by Lord Cowdray (Weetman Pearson). Pearson also had oil interests and he owned the Mexican Eagle Company that had had exploration success in Mexico. Pearson hired a team of American geologists to select suitable drilling locations in the UK. The Carboniferous rocks in the area surrounding the Derbyshire Dome in England and the Midland Valley in Scotland were chosen because of their similarity to the oil-producing areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the USA. Eleven wells were sunk: seven in Derbyshire, two in North Staffordshire and two in Scotland. The first well to be spudded was at Hardstoft in Derbyshire in October 1918 and it was also the first oil discovery. The geological reasoning behind the selection of the drilling sites will be compared with the actual results from 1918–22.

Abstract Following an adventitious oil flow into a coal mine in 1847 in the Riddings area of the county of Derbyshire in the English Midlands, the young Scottish chemist James Young carried out seminal work into the development of oil refining technology. In Derbyshire, by the end of 1848, he set up an early refinery to exploit this oil commercially by distillation, producing both lighting and lubrication fractions which he sold directly to end customers. His findings in Derbyshire led him to move on to investigate production and refining of oil from coal by destructive distillation, technology for which he gained his global reputation; Young’s patented technology was adopted by the commercial refineries that were to follow in many countries as the world’s oil fields sprang to life.

Abstract We present a consistent synthesis of palaeothermal (apatite fission track analysis (AFTA) and vitrinite reflectance) data from UK Southern North Sea wells with the regional pattern of exhumation defined from sonic velocity data. Cenozoic exhumation across most of the region began in the Paleocene between 63 and 59 Ma. Amounts of removed section are around 1 km across the offshore platform, increasing to 2 km or more on the Sole Pit axis. Neogene exhumation within this area began between 22 and 15 Ma, and led to removal of up to 1 km of section. Along the eastern flank of the Sole Pit axis, sonic data define a pre-Chalk event, and AFTA data from these wells show that exhumation began between 120 and 93 Ma. This timing correlates with events defined from AFTA data in the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone, further east, presumably reflecting a response to regional tectonic stresses. East of the Sole Pit axis, AFTA and sonic velocities suggest that Neogene exhumation dominates, while further east towards the central parts of the North Sea Mesozoic sediments appear to be at maximum burial today except for local effects related to salt movement. The multiple episodes of exhumation and burial defined here have important implications for exploration.