474 CAN. GEOTECH. J. VOL. 28, 1991

The Champlain Sea Basin has been the subject of scien- tific research and reports for almost two centuries, and the task of assessing the overall knowledge was quite an undertaking.

The first three articles of the book are related to the his- torical aspects of concepts and the relationship between the development of the sedimentary basin and that of the retreating Wisconsinan Ice Sheet. Following this is an article on relationships between the various water levels of the Champlain Sea and those of the Great Lakes (Pair et al.).

The next five articles discuss various sedimentological environments, with emphasis on facies development and conceptual modelling. This section is quite interesting for the geotechnical engineer or the engineering geologist trying to interpret field data in an organized manner. This is par- ticularly important in contaminant hydrogeology. Of par- ticular appeal to hydrogeologists is the article by D. Sharpe on glaciomarine fan deposition models. The reader will find typical examples of useful sedimentological models partic- ularly applicable to heterogeneous deposits (from clay to boulders).

The next group of six articles presents the fossil records of the Champlain Sea (microfossils and macrofossils of invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants). The fossil record and the isotopic composition of various specimens in I3c and 180 are used to a great extent to help understand the paleoclimate and the sedimentological environments in terms of temperature and salinity. Such work provides interest-

ing background informatioh that-can hdp explain the origin of the high sensitivity of some champfain Sea sediments. Of particular interest is the paper by Wassenaar et al., which describes some models on the mixing of fresh and salt waters found in some fjords.

Finally, the book contains four more articles covering various aspects of the Champlain Sea from the nature and behaviour of Champlain Sea clays to the eolian environ- ment. The paper by Torrance consists of a summary of avail- able information on the mineralogy and physicochemical characteristics of sensitive clays. It contains an interesting section that presents various salinity profiles in the Champlain Sea sediments (mostly clays and silts) near Ottawa.

In conclusion, the book presents good review of our knowledge of the Champlain Sea Basin and the adjacent area. It should provide relevant information to engineers dealing with environmental and physicochemical problems in eastern Ontario and Quebec. Of particular use are the sedimentological models that have now been developed to a scale adapted to most of the engineering problems.

JACQUES LOCAT Groupe de recherche en ie'ologie de l'inge'nieur,

De'partement de gkologie, Universite' Laval,

Sainte-Foy (Qukbec), Canada GlK 7P4

Field testing in engineering geology

Received December 24, 1990

Accepted January 2, 1991

Field testing in engineeringgeology. Edited by F. G. Bell, M. G. Culshaw, J. C. Cripps, and J. R. Coffey. Engineering Geology Special Publication No. 6 . Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Engineering Group of the Geological Society, held at Sunderland Polytechnic, Sunderland, United Kingdom, September 1988.

The Geological Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W l V OJU, United Kingdom. 1990. 355 p.

Can. Geotech. J. 28, 474-475 (1991)

This special publication of the Geological Society, London, is a collection of 31 papers presented at the

I 24th Annaul Conference of the Engineering Group of the Geological Society, held at Sunderland Polytechnic, in September 1988. The theme of the Conference was "Field testing in engineering geology'' and covered both direct and indirect methods of field testing, with particular reference to their relevance to engineering geologists. The topics covered and number of papers presented were as follows: pressuremeter testing in soils and rocks (9), dynamic penetra- tion testing ( S ) , static penetration testing (2), load, vane, and direct shear tests (4), surface and downhole geophysical testing (6), and permeability testing (4). The majority of the papers (80%) represented United Kingdom experience, with Pr~nted In Canada / lmprkrnc au Canada

a large percentage authored by researchers working in uni- versities or institutes (68%).

The relatively small number of papers related to penetra- tion testing was probably related to the fact that there was a conference on penetration testing sponsored by the Insti- tution of Civil Engineers, which was held at the University of Birmingham in July 1988.

The book begins with a short review of the more com- monly used field testing methods by Bell, Cripps, and Culshaw. This review is a little outdated but does include a nice section of geophysical methods.

The pressuremeter section is somewhat dominated by the self-boring pressuremeter and its application in London Clay. The section on dynamic penetration testing deals

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mostly with the Standard Penetration Test (SPT), although several papers present case histories using the dynamic prob- ing test. A paper by Barton presents valuable experience related to the importance of aging in sands using the SPT.

A paper by Marsland nicely illustrates the use of large- scale in situ shear box tests to determine the shear strength of stiff fissured clays. Atkinson and Jessett present an inter- esting concept to estimate in situ density of saturated sands using a field vane fitted with a pore-pressure sensor.

Several papers deal with the application of seismic methods to estimate rock quality. A paper by Barker et al. illustrates the application of surface resistivity methods to evaluate groundwater quality around landfills.

Three papers discuss aspects of packer testing, and one paper presents an application of temperature-conductivity borehole logs to determine hydrogeological data.

In the last decade there have beenapproximately 10 major conferences dealing with the topic'of fiela (in situ) testing. This has produced almost an overload of publications in this area for most practicing engineers to read and follow. Although there are some valuable and interesting papers in this publication, it is unlikely the average engineer will have the time or inclination to read this book. However, like many conference proceedings, it does represent a useful ref- erence book for major organizations and researchers.

P.K. ROBERTSON Department of Civil Engineering,

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada T6G 2G7

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