The series "Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology"-
tradition and priorities
Prof. Victor Spasov
The Engineering
Geology and Hydrogeology series was founded in the middle of the last century,
in a period of intensive development of the science in Bulgaria and its
application in large-scale hydrotechnical, hydro-meliorative and infrastructure
projects. The journal, created within the framework of the Bulgarian Academy of
Sciences, makes high demands on publications in terms of their scientific and
applied essence, the relevance of the issues under consideration and their proper
layout.
The series comes
out sequentially as:
- Works on the
geology of Bulgaria – Series Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology (1962-1966);
- Bulletin of the
Geological Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences – Series Engineering
Geology and Hydrogeology (1967-1974).
From 1974 until
now, a separate edition of "Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology" has
been published. After a break (1998-2009) due to budgetary reasons, the publication
of the journal was resumed with issue 25 in 2010. Since then, it has been
published regularly with one issue per year. Traditionally in the series there
are published works devoted to engineering geological conditions within the
range of different types of engineering facilities (constructions, dams,
tunnels, roads and bridges, gas pipelines, ports, radioactive waste
repositories, geological conditions for urban planning and settlement
development and others). Recently there has been a decrease in the volume of
field research and testing of construction sites worldwide.
For the
characterization of construction sites, with limited number of field data, more
and more specialized software products are used for 2D or 3D modeling. The
experience and results of applying modern methodologies always have a place on
the pages of the journal. In addition to securing the construction projects
with the necessary geological justification, another task is the assessment of
the geological risk associated with unavoidable natural phenomena such as
earthquakes, landslides, floods, etc.
The majority of the
municipalities in Bulgaria are supplied with water from groundwater sources.
However, the quantities of water extracted are insufficient and hundreds of
settlements remain in the water regime, especially in the summer. The Bulgarian
Hydrogeological Community is called upon to contribute to the optimal and
sustainable use, protection and management of groundwater. Published results of
regional hydrogeological studies, as well as the applied methodological
approaches, help to clarify the groundwater potential in a quantitative and
qualitative aspects. Current studies on groundwater pollution caused by
agricultural activity, industry and various types of waste are also relevant in
this respect. In hydrogeological practice it has become routine to produce
computer models (mostly based on MODFLOW) for different areas. However, often
they are not sufficiently secured by proper established hydrogeological
parameters and boundary conditions. Higher demands on the conceptual modeling
of the models and verification of the resulting solutions are required.
Over the past two
decades, the global geological community has focused its attention on global
challenges. Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology emerged as priorities in the
geological sciences. The International Union of Geological Sciences in its
Medium-Term Vision and the Strategic Action Plan (IUGS MidTerm Vision and
Strategic Action Plan 2003) poses the following primary issues:
- Geoscience and
circle of water
- Geological
hazards and risk mitigation
- Earth resources
and sustainability
- Global changes
and evolution of Life
- Earth in depth:
how it acts on our environment
Engineer-geologists
and hydrogeologists are called to be among the specialists who provide vital
decision-making information to reduce and mitigate human impacts on the
geosphere and the hydrosphere.
The Editorial
Board, restoring the publication of the Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
series in 2010,
has the good will to promote researches in those fields and to contribute to
the dissemination of knowledge and results among the scientific and
professional community.
