Military geology

Examples of this include artillery shattering the bedrock on the Western Front during World War I[4] and the detonation of nuclear weapons creating new rock types.

[3][7][8] Academically, it has been found that battles are likely to occur on rocks of Permian, Triassic, or Upper Carboniferous age, possibly due to their typical relief and drainage.

[9] This included studying the properties of the sand of Normandy beaches, the tolerance of the soil in the hinterland to bombardment, the sediment of the English Channel sea floor,[10] and the occurrence of landslides in Sicily.

[9] Likewise, German geologists created maps of southern England for Operation Sea Lion, identifying quarry locations and the suitability of rock types to excavate trenchers, etc.

[11] In the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, very rugged terrain is due to the structure of metamorphic rocks, while the best flat land is underlain by granite.

[15] In World War II, this task was performed by the Allies as they advanced across German-occupied Europe, assessing the likely effect of bombing bridges and shelling defenses in light of the local geology.

During World War II, the American Military Geology Unit discovered the origin of balloon bombs which had been dispatched towards North America from Japan.

[13][14] Discoveries have included new natural resource deposits[22] and the mapping of magnetic stripes on the ocean floor, leading to the idea of plate tectonics.