Passed away in Christchurch on Friday, October 9, 2020, in his 79th year. John received his BE from the University of Canterbury in 1964. Subsequently he obtained a Masters degree from the University of Colorado working with Professors Larry Feeser and Hon Yim Ko and…
Peter Fookes’ career began in the 1950s. When he began there was a loosely coined ‘geology for engineers’ but no formal career structure in engineering geology. After graduating from Queen Mary College, London he entered the world of civil engineering as a young geologist. Coming…
In the June 2020 issue of NZ Geomechanics News ‘The Shrink Swell Test: A Critical Analysis’, Rogers et al., 2020, was published. This article provided an overview around the use of the Shrink Swell Test and current design practice for foundation design in NZ’s expansive…
1.0 Introduction A revision project for the New Zealand National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) has recently commenced. In this project, funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the Earthquake Commission (EQC), we expect to deliver a revised NSHM by 31 August…
An opinion of a geophysicist 1 Introduction Over the last two decades geophysical methods have become increasingly popular for many applications in modern engineering practices, especially in the disciplines of geotechnical and earthquake engineering. ‘Making the invisible visible’ is more and more where engineering standards,…
This paper was originally prepared for the Australian Geomechanics Society Vic symposium in 2020 and is reproduced by permission of AGS Abstract Climactic warming caused by the emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gasses is occurring across the globe. These changes will increase the exposure of the built…
Background MBIE amended Acceptable Solution (B1/AS1) in November 2019 to acknowledge liquefaction prone-ground is not exclusive to Canterbury region and the requirements should therefore be extended to all of New Zealand. The amendment facilitates the design of house foundations to Ensure new buildings (especially…
The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has, for a long time, been an important investor in high quality research in New Zealand. EQC’s research programme spans science, engineering and social science and has played a vital role in supporting New Zealand’s improved resilience to natural hazards. Through…
Introduction Erionite is a naturally occurring “asbestiform” mineral that belongs to a group of silicates called zeolites. It is listed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (part of the World Health Organization) as a Group 1 known carcinogen (Pacella et al., 2018). Studies…
