All operations involved in moving, loosening, depositing, shaping, compacting and stabilising soil and rock.
Earthworks is a form of art created in nature that uses natural materials such as stones, leaves, or soil.
In civil engineering, earthworks are engineering works created through the moving of massive quantities of soil or unformed rock. Engineers need to concern themselves with issues of geotechnical engineering (such as soil fluidity and friction) and with quantity estimation to ensure that soil volumes in the cuts match those of the fills, while minimising the distance of movement. In the past, such calculations were done by hand using a slide rule and with methods such as Simpson's rule; now they can be performed simply with a computer and specialised software.