Geotechnical News • March 2017
43
GEOHAZARDS
slide (48.5 Mm
3
) and the many west
coast landslides associated with steep
terrain. He has over 70 publications in
books, journals, government research
and conferences and was the editor
of Island Geoscience for almost 7
years
.
Rick Guthrie, Director, Geohazards
and Geomorphology, Stantec, 200 -
325 25 Street SE, Calgary, AB
T2A 7H8, 403-441-5133,
The emergence of geohazards as a profession in North America
Introduction
Geohazards are destructive events
caused or exacerbated by Earth pro-
cesses with the potential to negatively
impact humans or things that humans
value (health, the environment, econ-
omy, and infrastructure). They include
earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanos,
landslides, erosion, floods (including
outburst floods), coastal erosion and
subsidence.
Geohazards exert an enormous toll
on society. Recorded worldwide costs
from disasters (ten or more people
killed, one hundred or more people
affected, a state of emergency is
declared, or a call for international
assistance is made) related to geohaz-
ards between 1900 and 2009 exceed
1.6 trillion US dollars (Figure 1) and
almost 30 million lives (Guthrie,
2013). As populations grow, those
costs are increasing. Disasters related
to geohazards are historically the most
expensive (compared to hydrologi-
cal, climatological, meteorological,
and biological) and 2011 was the
most expensive year on record with
geophysical disasters totaling more
than 240 billion US dollars (EM-DAT,
2016).
Responding to an apparent need, the
scientific inquiry of geohazards has
resolutely emerged from a background
of geotechnical engineering and engi-
neering geomorphology to become a
discipline unto itself.
Geohazards, geology and
engineering – The early years
The term engineering geology dates
back to a series of articles by Henry
Penning in 1879 (Penning, Engineer-
ing Geology. Part 1, 1879) and a book
written by the same author a year
later (Penning, Engineering Geol-
ogy, 1880). It was rapidly becoming
clear that there were advantages to
the collaboration between engineers
and geologists. Both groups brought
a unique understanding of the Earth
and Earth systems and mechanics to
the study of geohazards. This was
especially true when trying to articu-
late and characterize the nature of
landslides.
As early as 373 BC (Seed, 1968) the
Greek town of Helice was lost to a
landslide. China in 1556 experienced
Figure 1. Global costs of disasters related to geohazards from 1900-2009
(Guthrie, 2013).
Figure 2. The original geohazard investigation at Elm (Heim, 1882).
