A Geology of London for Tunnellers and Engineers

Summary

The idea for this short paper arose from the views and encouragement of colleagues working on the Crossrail Project. The geological sequences under London were well understood by all the Engineers and Tunnellers the author encountered but sometimes lacked the purely geological insight in to why things are the way they are. The aim of this paper is to set down in non-technical language the environments the main strata groups were deposited in and the conditions they subsequently experienced through uplift and erosion. This will be done in terms of the changing geography and climatic conditions experienced by the London area through relatively recent geological time. The paper doesn’t set out to cover Engineering Geology as such, though aspects of this will be touched upon.