Tag Archives: Geology

DBA Engineers Perform “Extreme” Geologic Investigation

DBA engineers prepare to go over the edge of the 200-ft tall west wall of the Rouchleau mine pit with the load test site in the background. From left to right: David Graham, Nathan Glinski, Ryan Turner, and Paul Axtell
DBA engineers prepare to go over the edge of the 200-ft tall west wall of the Rouchleau mine pit with the load test site in the background. From left to right: David Graham, Nathan Glinski, and Paul Axtell (far right).

DBA is currently working with structural designer Parsons to design what will be Minnesota’s tallest bridge.  The bridge will span the currently inactive Rouchleau open pit iron ore mine near Virginia, Minnesota. MnDOT is moving the alignment of the existing Hwy 53 to make way for future mining in the area.  DBA is the lead geotechnical designer on the project in addition to being contracted as MnDOT’s load test expert for the ongoing design phase load test program.

As part of our site investigation to gather information on rock fall and the site geology, five DBA engineers (John Turner, Paul Axtell, Tim Siegel, Nathan Glinksi, and David Graham) got up close and personal with the site by rappelling off the near vertical cut faces on either side of the Rouchleau pit! Traversing the over 200-ft tall cut faces of the nearly 2-billion year Biwabik Formation rock formation by rope and harness, we collected valuable geologic data.  We also took some great pictures like the ones posted to our Google Photos account.  In addition to the still pictures, we took some videos of a few rock fall tests, which are on our YouTube channel.

If you would like to know more about this interesting project on Minnesota’s Iron Range, you can check out our project summary sheet, visit MnDOT’s project page, or stay tuned to this blog for more updates.  There is also an online article about the project that was recently published by Civil Engineering Magazine.

Websites That ROCK!

The blogosphere, as the world of blogging is sometimes called, is always changing as blogs come and go.  A new one focusing on geology education is geologydegree.org.  This is a new blog intended to promote the study of geology.  A recent post called Geology Online: 105 Websites That Rock included our very own blog as well as that of one of our good friends, GeoPrac.net by RockMan (aka Randy Post).  While DBA (and others listed, including GeoPrac.net) are not strictly geological blogs or websites, what we do includes a lot of geology as we design foundations to bear in or on rock.  Understanding the geology of a site is also important to understand the soils that are present above the bedrock.  Take a look, especially if you have a young’un (that’s Southern for young one, or child) at home that may find geology or geotechnical engineering interesting, although most of the childs these days just like to play LOL.

Article by Dan in Geo-Strata

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An article coauthored by Dan and Dr. Paul Mayne, P.E. of Georgia Tech on geotechnical engineering in the Piedmont appeared in the November/December issue of  the Geo-Institute’s Geo-Strata Magazine.  The four page piece includes a brief overview of Piedmont geology, a discussion on sampling and testing of Piedmont soil and rock, a description of some of the unique engineering properties of Piedmont geomaterials, a discussion on the standard of practice for foundation design within the region, and a discussion on the value of engineering experience.  Examples and data from research and construction projects Dan and Dr. Mayne have been involved in are scattered throughout.  To read the article yourself, click here or pickup the latest copy of Geo-Strata.