GEOSCIENCE CANADA SERIES International Year of Planet Earth 9. Geology in the Urban Environment in Canada

dwellers, and geology plays a major role in their living environment. Aggregates, water supply, waste dispos-al, and building problems associated with compressible or sensitive sedi-ments, swelling clays, and dense tills, are major urban geological concerns. A variety of geological hazards impact our cities, including earthquakes, tsuna-mi, volcanic eruptions, landslides, flooding and, along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, sea level rise. New urban challenges arise from declining reserves of fossil fuels and global cli-mate change, both of which require