Category: Engineering Geology Objective Questions

Engineering Geology Multiple Choice Questions on “Reservoirs and Their Types”.

1. Artificially created water storage basins with storage capacity that may range from a few thousand cubic meters to thousands of millions cubic meters are called __________
a) Lakes
b) Ponds
c) Pools
d) Reservoirs
Answer: d
Clarification: Reservoirs may broadly be defined as artificially created water storage basins with storage capacity that may range from a few thousand cubic meters to thousands of millions cubic meters.

2. Depending on the purpose of storage, reservoirs are classified into how many types?
a) 2
b) 4
c) 3
d) 5
Answer: c
Clarification: Depending on the purpose of storage, reservoirs are classified into three main categories: Storage and conservation reservoirs; Flood control reservoirs; Distribution reservoirs.

3. Which reservoirs are used to feed the canal systems for irrigation and power generation?
a) Storage and conservation reservoirs
b) Flood control reservoirs
c) Distribution reservoirs
d) Drought control reservoirs
Answer: a
Clarification: Storage and conservation reservoirs, are the ones where river water is stored by creating barriers or dams in its path and is then released from gated or ungated outlets. These feed the canal systems for irrigation and power generation.

4. The reservoirs for small storage and short period of time are __________
a) Storage and conservation reservoirs
b) Flood control reservoirs
c) Distribution reservoirs
d) Drought control reservoirs
Answer: c
Clarification: Distribution reservoirs are actually small storage reservoirs that hold water supplies in a water supply system for short spells of time.

5. Reservoirs involving large sluice gates are __________
a) Storage and conservation reservoirs
b) Flood control reservoirs
c) Distribution reservoirs
d) Drought control reservoirs
Answer: b
Clarification: Flood control reservoirs are provided with large sluice ways to discharge the inflow received by the reservoir during a flood up to a volume that could be safely accommodated in the channel downstream.

6. The level up to which the reservoir shall be full of water is called __________
a) High level
b) Maximum level
c) Pool level
d) Surface level
Answer: c
Clarification: Pool level, indicated the designed level up to which the reservoir shall be ‘full of water’ at a particular point of time. There is, thus, the maximum pool level, the minimum pool level and the normal pool level.

7. The measure of the volume of water that can be drawn from a given reservoir in a certain interval of time is called __________
a) Surface yield
b) Drawable yield
c) Reservoir yield
d) Pool yield
Answer: c
Clarification: Reservoir yield is a measure for the volume of water that can be drawn from a given reservoir in a certain interval of time and is also expressed in terms of safe or guarantee yield, secondary yield and design yield etc.

8. Volume of water in cubic meters available between minimum pool level and normal pool level is __________
a) Useful storage
b) Dead storage
c) Surcharge storage
d) Specific storage
Answer: a
Clarification: Useful storage is defined as, volume of water in cubic meters available between minimum pool level and normal pool level.

9. What is the volume of water which is available between maximum reservoir level and normal pool level called?
a) Useful storage
b) Dead storage
c) Surcharge storage
d) Specific storage
Answer: c
Clarification: Surcharge storage is defined as, the volume of water which is available between the maximum reservoir level and normal pool level.

10. Some amount of water can be stored beyond the maximum pool level.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Clarification: No water can be stored beyond the maximum pool level and no water shall be available when the storage is below the minimum pool level.

Engineering Geology Multiple Choice Questions on “Fault Terminology – 01”.

1. What are the fractures along which there has been relative movement of blocks called?
a) Folds
b) Joints
c) Faults
d) Intrusions
Answer: c
Clarification: The definition of faults is “Those fractures along which there has been relative movement of the blocks past each other”. The entire process of development of fractures and displacement of the blocks against each other is termed as faulting.

2. What is the key word in the definition of fault?
a) Fracture
b) Movement
c) Both fracture and movement
d) Dip
Answer: c
Clarification: The key words in the definition are fracture and movement. The exact significance of these key words must be clearly understood.

3. For a rock structure to be called fault, fracture has to happen but movement is not necessary.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Clarification: There can be no fault if there is no fracture surface or zone and also evidence of some relative movement of the blocks against each other is a must for qualifying that fracture as a fault.

4. Faulting is a _________ process.
a) Tectonic
b) Non-tectonic
c) Both tectonic and non-tectonic
d) Precipitation
Answer: a
Clarification: Faulting is a major tectonic process of great geological importance. The geological history of the Earth bears innumerable events recording in the script of folding, faulting and jointing.

5. In which direction does the displacement of blocks happen?
a) Horizontal
b) Vertical
c) Inclined
d) Any direction
Answer: d
Clarification: The displacement of blocks created in the rock due to faulting may take place in any direction: parallel to the fault surface; in an inclined manner or even rotational.

6. What is the angle that can be made by fault plane with the horizontal?
a) Acute angle only
b) Obtuse angle only
c) Right angle
d) Any angle
Answer: d
Clarification: Fault planes may be vertical, horizontal or inclined at any angle with the horizontal.

7. What is the planar surface of fracture along which relative displacement of bodies has taken place called?
a) Fault plane
b) Fold plane
c) Stress plane
d) Strain plane
Answer: a
Clarification: Fault plane is the planar surface of fracture along which relative displacement of the blocks takes place during the process of faulting. When it is not planar, the same surface is simply described as fault surface.

8. What is the angle of fault plane with the horizontal called?
a) Hade
b) Strike
c) Dip
d) Inclination
Answer: c
Clarification: The dip of the fault is its inclination with the horizontal as measured in a vertical plane at right angles to the strike of the fault.

9. Parameter(s) considered for dip is ___________
a) Direction
b) Angle
c) Direction and angle
d) Neither direction nor angle
Answer: c
Clarification: The dip is measured both in terms of the direction of dip as well as angle of dip just as in the bedding plane of strata.

10. What is hade?
a) Inclination of fault with horizontal
b) Inclination of fault with vertical
c) Inclination of fault with any strata
d) Bearing of the fault with ground
Answer: b
Clarification: The hade of the fault is the angle which the fault makes with the vertical. In other words, it is the complimentary to the dip angle.

11. What is the bearing of a line of intersection of fault plane and horizontal called?
a) Strike
b) Dip
c) Hade
d) Intersection line
Answer: b
Clarification: The strike of the fault is the bearing or geographical direction of a line obtained by the intersection of a horizontal plane with the fault plane.

Engineering Geology MCQs on “Physical Properties – 02”.

1. Colour changing phenomenon which involves oxidation is ____________
a) Tarnish
b) Iridescence
c) Allochromatic
d) Idiochromatic
Answer: a
Clarification: Tarnish nay be described as a phenomenon of change of original colours of mineral to some secondary colours at its surface due its oxidation at the surface.

2. Lustre doesn’t depend on?
a) Refractive index mineral
b) Absorption of mineral
c) Transmittance of mineral
d) Nature of reflecting surface
Answer: c
Clarification: Lustre depends on: refractive index of the mineral, absorption capacity of the mineral and nature of reflecting surface.

3. Lustre is dependent on colour.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Clarification: Lustre is entirely independent of colour of the mineral. A deeply coloured mineral may be lustreless and vice-versa.

4. High density, high refractive index is characteristic of ___________
a) Non-metallic minerals
b) Metallic minerals
c) Semi-metallic minerals
d) Metalloid minerals
Answer: b
Clarification: Metallic lustres are characteristics of high density, high refractive index and opaque minerals like galena, pyrite and chalcopyrite.

5. Type of shine or lustre associated with lustre of diamond is ___________
a) Adamantine
b) Metallic
c) Pearly
d) Vitreous
Answer: a
Clarification: Adamantine is the other name for shine of diamonds. Very brilliant; the best example is diamond.

6. Streak is an important diagnostic property of ___________
a) Non-coloured minerals
b) Coloured minerals
c) Metallic minerals
d) Non-metallic minerals
Answer: b
Clarification: Streak is an important diagnostic property of many coloured minerals. Simply defined as the colour of the finely powdered mineral as obtained by scratching or rubbing the mineral over rough unglazed porcelain plate.

7. Which mineral gives streak?
a) Coloured and translucent
b) Colourless and opaque
c) Coloured and opaque
d) Coloured and transparent
Answer: c
Clarification: Colourless and transparent minerals will always give a colourless streak that has no significance. The coloured and opaque minerals, especially of ore groups, give typically characteristic streaks quite different from other similarly looking minerals.

8. The mineral which is almost black but gives brown streak is?
a) Magnetite
b) Garnet
c) Hornblende
d) Chromite
Answer: d
Clarification: Chromite and magnetite resemble closely in their other physical properties: both are almost black. These may be at once distinguished by their streaks: brown for chromite and black for magnetite.

9. Hardness of a mineral depends upon ___________
a) Chemical composition
b) Atomic constitution
c) Chemical composition and atomic constitution
d) Physical makeup
Answer: c
Clarification: Hardness may be defined as the resistance, which a mineral offers to an external deformation action such as scratching, abrasion, rubbing or indentation. Hardness of a mineral depends on its chemical composition and atomic constitution.

10. The scale of hardness is?
a) Ritcher
b) Mohs
c) Ohm
d) Mho
Answer: b
Clarification: It was in 1822 that Austrian mineralogist F.Mohs proposed a relative, broadly quantitative “scale of hardness” of minerals assigning values between 1 and 10.

11. Minerals of equal hardness do no scratch each other.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Clarification: It must be remembered that minerals of equal hardness scratch each other. The best example is that diamond cuts diamonds.

To practice MCQs on all areas of Engineering Geology,

Engineering Geology Multiple Choice Questions on “Structures of Sedimentary Rocks”.

1. The layered arrangement in sedimentary rocks is called ____________
a) Mud cracks
b) Stratification
c) Rain prints
d) Ripple marks
Answer: b
Clarification: By stratification is understood a layered arrangement in sedimentary rock. This may be developed very prominently and can be seen from a distance of miles or in other cases may have to be ascertained after close examination of the rock.

2. The structure most prevalent to clastic rocks is ____________
a) Nodular structure
b) Geode structure
c) Concretionary structure
d) Lamination
Answer: d
Clarification: The most prevalent structures of a clastic group of sedimentary rocks are the ones belonging to mechanical structure which are, stratification, lamination, cross beddings, rain prints etc.

3. Lamination is structure formed in which type of sedimentary rocks?
a) Fine grained
b) Medium grained
c) Coarse grained
d) Nothing in particular
Answer: a
Clarification: Lamination is a characteristic structure of fine-grained sedimentary rocks like clays and shales.

4. Each layer of a laminated structure of sedimentary rock is called ____________
a) Strata
b) Leaf
c) Lamina
d) Layer
Answer: c
Clarification: The individual layers of the laminated structure are called lamiae and are distinguished commonly on the basis of difference in colour.

5. Which among the following is not a type of false bedding?
a) Columnar
b) Tabular
c) Lenticular
d) Wedge shaped
Answer: a
Clarification: The common types of false bedding are, tabular, lenticular, wedge shaped. Columnar is not a type of false bedding.

6. The type of false bedding where top and bottom surfaces are parallel is ____________
a) Columnar
b) Tabular
c) Lenticular
d) Wedge shaped
Answer: b
Clarification: Tabular false bedding is a type of cross bedding in which the top and bottom surfaces of the deposit are essentially parallel, indicating its deposition in the same main channel.

7. Type of false bedding where the individual layers exist in well-defined sets of parallel layers is ____________
a) Columnar
b) Tabular
c) Lenticular
d) Wedge shaped
Answer: d
Clarification: In the case of wedge shaped cross bedding, the cross-bedding structure is highly complex: the individual layers exist in well-defined sets of parallel layers but these sets bear angular relationship to each other.

8. Type of bedding where sorting and arrangement has occurred based on grain size is ____________
a) Cross bedding
b) Lamination
c) Graded bedding
d) Mud cracks
Answer: c
Clarification: In some stratified rocks the component sediments in each layer appear to be characteristically sorted and arranged according to their grain size, the coarsest being placed at the bottom and the finest at the top.

9. Graded bedding occurs due to which phenomenon?
a) Wind settling
b) Sunlight
c) Gravitational settling
d) Loading
Answer: c
Clarification: Normally, perfectly graded beds are the result of sedimentation in bodies of standing water where factor of gravitative settling from a mixed load is predominant process.

10. Mud cracks are common in which type of sedimentary rocks?
a) Fine grained
b) Medium grained
c) Coarse grained
d) Not particular
Answer: a
Clarification: Mud cracks are common structural features of many fine-grained sedimentary rocks. The structure consists of polygonal or irregular cracks spread along the surface of an exposed sedimentary layer.

11. The bedding involving crater shaped depressions is ____________
a) Mud cracks
b) Rain prints
c) Ripple marks
d) Sun cracks
Answer: b
Clarification: Rain prints are irregular, small crater-shaped depressions seen on fine-grained dried sediments.

12. Which of the following does not provide evidence of shallow water environment?
a) Lamination
b) Rain prints
c) Ripple marks
d) Mud cracks
Answer: a
Clarification: The mud cracks, rain prints and ripple marks when encountered in sedimentary formations are taken as confirmatory evidence of the formation having been deposited in a shallow water environment.

13. Which structure resembles fish eggs?
a) Pisolitic
b) Felsitic
c) Oolitic
d) Granitic
Answer: c
Clarification: The Oolitic structure is the structure where the concretions are of the size of fish eggs; the rock appears as an assemblage of fish eggs.

14. Peanut structure is shown by ____________
a) Sandstone
b) Limestone
c) Shale
d) Breccia
Answer: b
Clarification: The pisolitic structure is another type of concretionary structure where the individual size of a concretion is like that of a peanut. Limestones and bauxite show both these structures.

Engineering Geology Multiple Choice Questions on “Types of Aquifer and Aquifer Functions”.

1. Aquifers are distinguished into how many types on the basis of physical conditions under which water can exist in them?
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
Answer: b
Clarification: Two basic types of aquifers are distinguished on the basis of physical conditions under which water can exist in them: the unconfined aquifer and the confined aquifer.

2. Which aquifer is called water table aquifer?
a) Unconfined aquifer
b) Confined aquifer
c) Ground aquifer
d) Connate aquifer
Answer: a
Clarification: Unconfined aquifer is also called a water-table aquifer, and is the most common type encountered in the fields.

3. What is the pressure of upper surface of unconfined aquifer?
a) Very high pressure
b) Lower than atmospheric pressure
c) Equal to atmospheric pressure
d) Greater than atmospheric pressure
Answer: c
Clarification: In unconfined aquifer, the upper surface of water or the water-table is under atmospheric pressure which may be acting through the interstices in the overlying rocks.

4. What is the isolated water table held by a small extension of impervious rock called?
a) Underlying water
b) Secret water
c) Perched water
d) Underwater
Answer: c
Clarification: Perched water table is the term used for isolated water table in an aquifer held by a small extension of impervious rock within a large pervious tract.

5. Supplies from perched water-table are reliable as source of water.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Clarification: Supplies from perched water-table which are isolated reservoirs are often not reliable as source of water.

6. What is the upper surface of water in a confined aquifer called?
a) Primary layer
b) Secondary layer
c) First layer
d) Peizometric layer
Answer: d
Clarification: Naturally water held in confined type of aquifer is not under atmospheric pressure but under a greater pressure due to the confining medium. The upper surface of water in a confined aquifer is called piezometric surface.

7. At many places where is the piezometric surface with respect to the ground level?
a) Below
b) Same level
c) Above
d) Inclined to ground level
Answer: c
Clarification: Artesian aquifer is, in fact, confined aquifer of such a geometry developed in suitable geological situations so that the mezometric surface is always above the ground level at many places when projected in elevation.

8. What is the speciality of the Artesian Water?
a) Has a characteristic colour
b) Has a characteristic odour
c) Requires no pumping
d) Requires special type of pumping
Answer: c
Clarification: When water is tapped from Artesian aquifers, it rushes up to and to great heights. Such wells are called Artesian wells, or flowing wells and the type of groundwater obtained from them, which often needs no pumping, as Artesian Water.

9. Storage capacity of a reservoir depends on __________
a) Porosity of rocks
b) Inter-connections
c) Quality of solidity of rocks
d) Porosity and inter-connections
Answer: d
Clarification: The storage capacity of a reservoir depends on the porosity of the rock on the one hand and the nature and inter-connections of the pores.

10. What is the volume of voids in a rock mass expressed in percentage of total volume of rock called?
a) Porosity
b) Voids ratio
c) Permeability
d) Specific yield
Answer: a
Clarification: Porosity is defined as volume of voids in a rock mass expressed in percentage terms of the total volume of the rock.

11. Which types of rocks are highly porous?
a) Igneous
b) Sedimentary
c) Metamorphic
d) Igneous and metamorphic
Answer: b
Clarification: Sedimentary rocks are relatively porous because there is a great variation in degree of packing on the one hand and in size, shape and arrangement of the grains on the other hand.

12. High porosity is alone sufficient to ensure water yield.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Clarification: Porosity is a property of primary importance in determining the water bearing qualities of a rock. Only porous rocks can be aquifers but high porosity itself is not sufficient to ensure water yielding capacity of a rock.

13. What is the quantity of water that a unit volume of aquifer drains by gravity called?
a) Porous volume
b) Water yield
c) Specific yield
d) Unit yield
Answer: c
Clarification: The water is released by aquifer under the force of gravity and depends both on the quantity and quality of the pores and other openings present in the rock. It is called specific yield and may be defined as “the quantity of water that a unit volume of aquifer drains by gravity.”

14. The term which is collectively responsible, along with specific yield, for total porosity of an aquifer is __________
a) Unit yield
b) Specific retention
c) Unit retention
d) Specific allowance
Answer: b
Clarification: Specific retention is the term used to express the amount of water retained by a unit volume of aquifer after allowing gravity drainage through it. Thus, specific yield and specific retention together sum up to the total porosity of an aquifer.

Engineering Geology Multiple Choice Questions on “Geological Investigations and Silting”.

1. What is the shape of valley usually preferred for a reservoir?
a) U-shaped
b) V-shaped
c) Flat lands or plains
d) U or V-shaped
Answer: d
Clarification: The valley could be a U-shaped glacial valley, or a V-shaped river valley or a broader synclinal valley. Flatlands and plains cannot make convenient places for reservoirs.

2. During which condition, permeability of rocks have to be given more importance?
a) When general water is much above the top reservoir level
b) When general water table is much below the minimum water level
c) When general water table and top water level of the proposed reservoir are almost same
d) When general water table is slightly above the top reservoir level
Answer: b
Clarification: When the general water table is much below the minimum water level in the reservoir, permeability of the rocks along the base and the flanks is taken into consideration.

3. Which is the ideal condition for a reservoir?
a) When general water is much above the top reservoir level
b) When general water table is much below the minimum water level
c) When general water table and top water level of the proposed reservoir are almost same
d) When general water table is slightly above the top reservoir level
Answer: c
Clarification: The general water table of the area and the top water level of the proposed reservoir are almost the same. This is an ideal situation ensuring a no loss no gain condition but generally not available on a large scale.

4. Heavy load of sediments to reservoirs would reduce __________
a) Flow of water in that area
b) Effective storage
c) Total life of reservoir
d) Total life and effective storage of reservoir
Answer: d
Clarification: The run off and slope wash would contribute heavy load of sediments to the reservoir after every rain. This would obviously decrease the effective storage capacity of the reservoir on one hand and its total life on the other hand.

5. Which among the following need not be given prime importance during geological investigation?
a) Groundwater conditions
b) Wind conditions
c) Structural constitution
d) Trend and rate of weathering
Answer: b
Clarification: Since reservoirs are essentially water storage basins, the area should possess such geological characteristics that favour holding of water in the basin so created. Such characters are: topographic suitability, ground water conditions, permeability and structural stability and also trend and rate of weathering.

6. Removal of silt is usually __________
a) Time consuming
b) Energy consuming
c) Money consuming
d) Time, energy and money consuming
Answer: d
Clarification: Removal of silt or methods of sedimentation control may be so much time and energy and money consuming that the economy of the project is sometimes threatened. These facts prove the complicated nature of the problem.

7. The major problem in a reservoir over time which may affect the storage capacity is __________
a) Leakage
b) Silting
c) Reduction in rainfall
d) Weathering of side slopes
Answer: b
Clarification: Sedimentation of reservoirs with the passage of time is the most important problem to solve in reservoir design. Uncontrolled sedimentation will lead to the indirect failure of the project by gradually reducing the storage capacity.

8. Pick a method to control silting.
a) By grouting
b) By reducing water level
c) Construction of check dams
d) By constructing lining on the rock foundation
Answer: c
Clarification: Important methods of treatment include better reservoir designs, installation of check dams at the inlet points and water-shed improvement by forestation on an extensive and intensive scale.

9. De-silting methods are very expensive.
a) True
b) False
Answer: a
Clarification: Removal of silt after fixed intervals by dredging and similar methods are also practised in many cases. All these are, however, very costly methods and any one or more of them are adopted in combination after careful analysis of cost benefit ratio.

10. Flatlands and planes can make convenient places for reservoirs.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Clarification: The valley could be a U-shaped glacial valley, or V-shaped river valley or a broad synclinal valley. Flatlands and plains cannot make convenient places for reservoirs.