Geological Engineering as per the Wikipedia the definition goes... Geological Engineering is a discipline of engineering concerned with the application of geological science and engineering principles to fields such as civil engineering, mining, environmental engineering and forestry among others. The work of geological engineers often directs or supports the work of other engineering disciplines such as assessing the suitability of locations for civil engineering, environmental engineering, mining operations and oil and gas projects by conducting geological, geoenvironmental, geophysical and geotechnical studies.

It is an interdisciplinary field that combines geology with various engineering disciplines to address issues concerning soil, rocks, minerals, and natural resources found in the Earth's crust.

Right now, the geological engineering is being taught in undergraduate and graduate levels in following universities –

and few more …..

It may be seen the numbers of institute offering the disciplines is not much across the globe.
In general, the course contents of the programmes are –

It may be seen that the course content is interdisciplinary, but it is dominated by geological subjects.


Geological Engineering like any other disciplines of engineering is 100% application oriented and deals with only real-world issues. The subject offers solutions to problems which only have real-world significances. Since it deals with real-world issues, it faces the time and money challenges. So, the professionals involved in geological engineering are often faced with stiff deadline and budgetary issues.
One thing should be kept in mind that the geological engineers are very less in numbers. Most of the times they work in a team dominated by civil engineers, mining engineers, petroleum engineers, mechanical/metallurgical engineers. Hence, the geological engineers should be very thorough in understanding of their subject matter. By definition, geological engineering is such a discipline which caters to the other engineering disciplines.

However, no infrastructure/industrial/oil & gas/ mining projects can be initiated without geological engineering input. For example, topographical surveying, site characterization study, natural hazard study, seismic assessment of the site, hydrological and hydrogeological appraisal of the project site. Initially these studies were conducted very superficially. But with the advent of complexity and challenges involved in various project design and execution, amount of fund involved, it has become very very essential to go for more accurate design input.  So now there is consensus prevailing for detailed pre-project survey and investigation to achieve accurate design input data for all major projects. Hence the role of geological engineering is becoming more and more important.

In practice, geological engineering mainly deals with topographical surveying, geotechnical engineering, geological surveying, hydrological and hydrogeological surveying and exploration geophysics. A geological engineer should acquire comprehensive knowledge of above fields. However, mere acquisition of knowledge of above fields are not enough. Most importantly, the geological engineer should also have knowledge of end-usage of his input.

Understanding the end-use is very important. Suppose a geological engineer is giving his input for a thermal power plant. He needs to understand the units of the thermal power plant like turbo-generator, boiler, chimney etc. and their working principles. Likewise in a hydroelectric power project one needs to understand the dam, spillway, head race tunnel, diversion tunnel, tail race and their working principles.
Evry project has its own technological requirements and meeting the initial design input is a very daunting task. The main problem faced in the site is unavailability of minimal infrastructural facility during the initial period of a project. Geological engineers generally work in an impoverished condition. So geological engineering calls for physical and mental toughness.

Our country India is developing at a very fast rate for last few years. India is projected to be the third major economy within next few years. During this period, there is supposed to be enormous private and public investment. As a result, many industrial and infra projects will be coming up. Geological engineering inputs will be required in all existing and upcoming projects. So, as a discipline geological engineering has a great growth potential. Educational institutes need to look into this discipline.

Geosolution Proservices Pvt. Ltd., a Kolkata based company is pioneer in providing geological engineering services in India. However, the discipline needs proper recognition from the industry and the academia.