Mega Engineering Projects in Challenging Geological Environments–A Modern Perspective

In the article “Engineering geology-A fifty year perspective”(Juang et al., 2016), which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Engineering Geology, the authors described Engineering Geology for Engineering Projects (EGEP) together with Geological Engineering and Geotechnical Engineering (GEGE) as important elements of Engineering Geology. For example, four-hundred and twelve papers were published in Engineering Geology from 1986–1995. Among which, one-hundred and twenty (about 30%) were related to EGEP. The research topics mainly included design and construction of foundations, tunnels, and slopes (eg dams, embankments, landslides). However, the papers published on EGEP and GEGE declined significantly from 2006 to 2015. It was speculated that the worldwide economic recession that began in 2008 might have contributed to the decline of infrastructure development and the number of …