Geoscience Library of Applied Technology

For as long as Engineering Geologists have been generating Site Characterization reports (since about 1900) there has been evidence of a overriding thread of consciousness to anchor that characterization with a descriptive physical model of the volume of earth material that constitutes the site, from the ground surface downward to such a depth as is thought to adequately represent the nature and distribution of earth materials that will host the project construction. During the 1980s a movement began to give this description a more formal name and that name has evolved to Site Conceptual Model (SCM). This does not mean to portray a three-dimensional physical model, though attempts to do so were common during the heydays of Federal dam building (1920-1980). The most substantial advance in gaining acceptance of the SCM, by name, came from the energetic works and writings of the late Martin N. Sara and are memorialized in his string of evolving Site Assessment Manuals. The most basic SCM consists of at least two perpendicularly intersecting geotechnical profiles (as opposed to the deeper (often to hundreds or thousands of meters of depth) geologic section utilized in the minerals exploration and resource recovery disciplines. Furthermore, the SCM often is carried beyond the project bounds to such a radius as encompasses the origin or likely places of geologic activity that may negatively impact the out-year performance of the engineered project.

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