Lawson Adit
Encyclopedia
The Lawson Adit is a horizontal mine tunnel, or adit
, on the UC Berkeley campus, near the Hearst Mining Building, dug directly through the Hayward Fault. It is named after Andrew Lawson
, one-time Dean of the College of Mining at UC Berkeley.
The adit was originally around 200 feet long, and was dug to provide hands-on training for mining and metallurgy students, with secondary hopes that it would represent a new source of water for the campus. Around 1939 the adit was extended to around 900 feet so that it intersected the Hayward Fault and could be used to directly study it, but much of the extended adit later collapsed and today it is only maintained to about 260 feet. Most of the collapses have been around the point where the adit intersects the fault.
Between 1919 and 1930 the adit was used to give mining and metallurgy students hands-on training, specifically to provide "sound, practical training in drilling, drifting, blasting, timbering, and mine surveying." This training included instruction in the use of dynamite as well as the extraction of precious metals and practice and demonstration of rescuing techniques. Much of the equipment to dig and use the tunnel was donated by the mining industry.
Starting around 1939, the tunnel was extended so that George Louderback, a seismologist at UC Berkeley, could study the Hayward Fault to determine the safety of building a new women's dormitory, Stern Hall
. The results of his investigation led him to suggest that Stern Hall be built approximately fifty feet away from its original planned location.
Louderback's studies in the adit revealed that the Hayward Fault at this point is surrounded by a particularly unstable mélange
of serpentine and other metamorphic rocks.
Adit
An adit is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, and ventilated.-Construction:...
, on the UC Berkeley campus, near the Hearst Mining Building, dug directly through the Hayward Fault. It is named after Andrew Lawson
Andrew Lawson
Andrew Cowper Lawson July 25,1861- June 16,1952 was a professor of geology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the editor and co-author of the 1908 report on the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake which became known as the "Lawson Report"...
, one-time Dean of the College of Mining at UC Berkeley.
The adit was originally around 200 feet long, and was dug to provide hands-on training for mining and metallurgy students, with secondary hopes that it would represent a new source of water for the campus. Around 1939 the adit was extended to around 900 feet so that it intersected the Hayward Fault and could be used to directly study it, but much of the extended adit later collapsed and today it is only maintained to about 260 feet. Most of the collapses have been around the point where the adit intersects the fault.
Between 1919 and 1930 the adit was used to give mining and metallurgy students hands-on training, specifically to provide "sound, practical training in drilling, drifting, blasting, timbering, and mine surveying." This training included instruction in the use of dynamite as well as the extraction of precious metals and practice and demonstration of rescuing techniques. Much of the equipment to dig and use the tunnel was donated by the mining industry.
Starting around 1939, the tunnel was extended so that George Louderback, a seismologist at UC Berkeley, could study the Hayward Fault to determine the safety of building a new women's dormitory, Stern Hall
Stern Hall (Berkeley)
Stern Hall is an all-female residence hall at the University of California, Berkeley. It was built in 1942 on a $258,000 grant from Rosalie Meyer Stern, widow of Sigmund Stern, class of 1879. It is the sister hall to Bowles Hall, the all-male residence on campus...
. The results of his investigation led him to suggest that Stern Hall be built approximately fifty feet away from its original planned location.
Louderback's studies in the adit revealed that the Hayward Fault at this point is surrounded by a particularly unstable mélange
Mélange
In geology, a mélange is a large-scale breccia, a mappable body of rock characterized by a lack of continuous bedding and the inclusion of fragments of rock of all sizes, contained in a fine-grained deformed matrix. The mélange typically consists of a jumble of large blocks of varied lithologies...
of serpentine and other metamorphic rocks.