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Working Party Matters


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Landslides & Slope Instability


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Subsidence & Collapse Hazard


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Seismic Hazard


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Flood Hazard


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Tsunami Hazard


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Volcanic Hazard


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Gas Hazard


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Fault Reactivation Hazard


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Fault Reactivation: Geographic Occurrence

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Fault reactivation occurs throughout the abandoned and currently active coalfields of Britain. Over the past 150 years; there are 226 known case examples. The majority of the case examples occur in the more densely populated urban parts of the British coalfields. Reactivated faults in these areas were more likely to have been observed and reported to have caused damage to land or structures and therefore subsequently investigated.

 

Reactivated faults have also been reported where they have caused dramatic changes to the landscape and influenced landsliding. The moorland plateau in South Wales provide abundant examples, in the form of dramatic, distinct, high-angled fault scarp walls (up to 4m high and 4km long), graben and complex fissures networks.

 

The greater numbers of cases of fault reactivation seem to reflect the increased population and greater density of commercial and industrialised land use. The recorded cases are likely to be an under-estimation of the actual number of fault reactivation cases. Many have simply not been recognised particularly in rural areas since fault reactivation does not necessarily always result in the generation of a distinct scarp along the ground surface. More often the ground deformation features associated with subsidence and fault reactivation may be subtle and only recognisable by geologists with a ‘trained eye’.

Map showing the general tectonic structure of the British Isles and the location of the main coalfields. (Image Source:Donnelly, L.J.(2006) A review of coal mining induced fault reactivation in Great Britain. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 39, 5–50)

 

 

IndexDiagnostic Characteristics | Geographic Occurrence | Investigation & Mitigation | Key Contacts & Expert Advice | Photo Gallery | Essential References & Further Reading


Engineering Group Working Party on Geological Hazards