Environmental geology is a comprehensive frontier discipline between geological science and environmental science, which is mainly developed on the basis of geological science.
The research field of environmental geology is extensive, including providing scientific basis for regional planning, economic development, land consolidation and resource development.
Distribution Map of Geological Disasters in China Since 1950s, industrial pollution has become a serious environmental problem, affecting human health and ecological balance. Therefore, a large number of geologists devote themselves to the study of environmental problems. Some countries in the world have established environmental geological research institutions and published books and periodicals. From the perspective of discipline development, by the mid-1970s, environmental geology had developed into a relatively complete and independent new discipline.
Volcanic eruption The earliest environmental problems in human history, such as volcanic eruption, earthquake, landslide and debris flow, are all caused by geological factors. For these environmental problems, human beings have been unable to control and accurately predict, so predicting and preventing the impact of geological factors on the environment is one of the contents of environmental geology research. In the process of diagenesis and weathering erosion, the distribution of chemical elements on the crust surface is uneven. The circulating matter and flowing energy in the ecosystem are closely related to the geological environment. The abundance and occurrence of chemical elements in geological system will inevitably affect the survival and development of animals, plants and human beings.
The serious lack or surplus of some elements in an area may cause endemic diseases. For example, residents in some areas suffer from endemic goiter due to iodine deficiency or iodine excess, while high fluorine areas cause endemic fluorosis. Keshan disease and Kaschin-Beck disease in China are also related to environmental geological conditions. Studying the relationship between geological environment and human health is also one of the contents of environmental geology. The geological environment on which human beings depend for survival has evolved over hundreds of millions of years. In this environment, a dynamic and balanced relationship is formed between various parts of the geological system and between the geological system and the ecological system.
Since the industrial revolution, especially after the Second World War, due to the rapid increase of population and the rapid development of science and technology, human activities have become a powerful force to intervene and change the natural system. An important task of environmental geology is to study environmental geological problems caused by human activities, mainly including: environmental geological problems caused by urbanization: high population concentration, large consumption of energy and materials, large discharge of waste and large-scale high-rise building construction, including: exploration, development, utilization and protection of water resources (especially groundwater), prevention and control of groundwater hardness increase, prevention and control of geological environmental capacity and land subsidence. These problems are closely related to urban construction and development and the lives of urban people. It is also the research content of environmental geology. Studying these problems can provide scientific basis for the rational planning of new cities and the transformation of old cities.