ENVIRONMENTAL

GEOLOGY
GEO-305

Fundamental concepts of
Environmental Geology

Human population growth

Sustainability
Earth as a system

Hazardous Earth processes

Scientific knowledge and values

1. Human Population Growth

The number-one environmental problem is the
increase in human population.

Exponential Growth,
Growth Rate (G); percentage
Doubling Time (D) = 70 G

Carrying Capacity; is the maximum number of

people Earth can hold without causing
environmental degradation that reduces the ability
of the planet to support the population.

Human Population Growth

(History)
During the early industrial period (A.D. 1600 to 1800),
growth rates increased again by about 10 times (1 billion).

From 1830 to 1930, the worlds population doubled from 1 to

2 billion people.

By 1970 it had nearly doubled again, and by the year 2010

there were nearly 7 billion people on Earth.

Age structure for selected countries, with growth rates and doubling
times. Countries with declining populations include Germany, Italy,
Japan, and Russia. The fastest growth is in Liberia, at 4.5 percent per year
(doubling time 16 years)
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Human Population Growth

By 2050, 3 billions more people. No easy answer to the
population problems.

Uneven growing pace and distribution. Almost all of the

growth in developing countries.

Earth as the only suitable habitat in the foreseeable future.

Education is paramount, especially womans education. As
people become more educated, the population growth rate
tends to decrease.

Good news: The rate of population growth is decreasing.

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2. Sustainability
Sustainability; an environmental objective.
Environmental sustainability allows for the needs of men to
be met without jeopardizing the ability of future generations
to meet their needs.
Sustainability refers to types of development that are
economically viable, do not harm the environment, and are
socially just.
Is a long-term concept and has long-term implications.
Requiring careful resources allocation, largescale
development of new technology for resource use, recycling,
and waste disposal
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Sustainability
Are We in an Environmental Crisis?
Deforestation and accompanying soil erosion and water and air
pollution occur on many continents.

Mining of resources, such as metals, coal, and petroleum,

wherever they occur produces a variety of environmental
problems.

Development of both groundwater and surface water resources

results in loss of and damage to many environments on a global
scale (see Case History: The Aral Sea: The Death of a Sea).
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Do We Need
to Save
Earth or
Ourselves?
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3. Earth as a System
Understanding Earths systems and their changes is critical to

solving environmental problems.

System is a collection of interrelated part that jointly perform
functions that each part by itself cannot perform.
Open and Close System; An open system interacts with its
environment while a closed system does not.
Input - Output Analysis
Residence time; is a measure of the time it takes for the total stock or
supply of the material to be cycled through a system.
,
, =
,
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Earth System as a system

Uniformitarianism
Present is the key to the past and future.
Magnitude and frequency
Human activities and geological processes

Environmental Unity (chain reactions)

Earth a dynamic system
Gaia Hypothesis (Earth a living organism)
Complex and interrelated subsystems; Lithosphere, atmosphere,
hydrosphere, and biosphere ( all interconnected and interdependent)
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4. Hazardous Earth Processes

Natural hazards must be recognized and avoided;
threat to property/human life minimized.

Disasters turning into catastrophes.

Loss of life and properties.
Understand, avoid and/or mitigate.

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5. Scientific Knowledge and Values

The results of scientific inquiry to solve a particular
environmental problem often provide a series of potential
solutions consistent with the scientific findings.

Knowledge: What is known

Imagination: No limits, leading to out-of-the-box thinking of
the unknown.

Scientific investigation: Needs critical thinking

Critical thinking: Significance, logic flow, relevance, breadth
and depth, clarity, fair test

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Environmental
Geology and
Scientific Approach
Scientific method is an approach to
formulate possible solutions for certain
environmental problem/enquiry.

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Scientific Consideration for

Environmental Geology

Varied rate of geological processes: mm/yr to m/s

Humans are a super agent of change
Environmental problems tend to be complex

Rapid changes, slow recognition, slower actions

Some changes are of irreversible nature

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