ChalkRock Ltd
Specialist in Chalk Geology
Rory Mortimore
About ChalkRock
ChalkRock Ltd is a multidisciplinary research and development consultancy which specialises in the geology, engineering geology and hydrogeology of the Chalk.
The company has evolved from more than 30 years of research and professional practice on the Chalk and related rocks by the Managing Director, Professor Rory Mortimore.
Activities include tunnels under London (Crossrail with GCG, Thames Tunnels for Thames Water), offshore wind farms in the North Sea, the Chalk aquifer for water supply (Environment Agency and Southern Water) and Chalk reservoirs in the North Sea with Shell (Aberdeen).
We regularly run field and core logging courses both for professionals and amateurs and have produced the definitive Chalk handbook :-
Logging the Chalk - Rory N Mortimore
EXPERTISE
We use our specialist knowledge to assist major geological and civil engineering projects. Our work ranges from initial brainstorming meetings, developing specifications and reviewing reports to carrying out the front end investigations and providing the conceptual geological models on which design is subsequently based. A large part of recent work has involved interpretation of geological, geophysical and geotechnical data and follow-up studies to learn from the construction stage of projects.
RESEARCH
As a research consultancy we are also linked through the University of Brighton School of the Environment and Technology (where Rory, having retired as Head of Civil Engineering and Geology, is Emeritus Professor of Engineering Geology) to major European projects investigating groundwater behaviour in relation to flooding and drought (FLOOD 1), the CLIMAWAT project investigating the impacts of changing climate (in particular rainfall) on the amount and quality of rainwater recharge and the INFORM Project monitoring and understanding coastal cliff instability. These are joint ventures with the British, French and Danish geological surveys and local authorities and government agencies.
PROJECTS
We are a specialist consultancy on chalk engineering geology including highways, tunnels, hydrogeology and coastal cliff collapse mechanisms. We have prepared more than 130 industrial reports for projects ranging from earthworks and slopes on motorways and trunk roads to tunnels for roads and railways including the Channel Tunnel, Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), A303 Stonehenge, CROSSRAIL and the Thames Tideway Tunnels. Groundwater investigations include regional studies (London Basin aquifer: Conceptual Model with ESI for the Environment Agency), pumping trials on tunnels, investigations of the effectiveness of effluent dispersal to the Chalk aquifer (Southern Water) and investigations into the controls on groundwater flooding (a European Funded research programme, FLOOD 1).
