1. There are five major specialty areas related to engineering in soil and rock, including civil geotechnics, engineering geology, mining geomechanics, geoenvironmental engineering, and oil and gas geomechanics. 2. The terms "geotechnical engineering" and "geomechanics" can be used interchangeably for mining, as they both involve using principles of soil mechanics, rock mechanics, and geology to investigate subsurface conditions, determine material properties, evaluate stability, assess risks, and design structures and excavations. 3. While "geotechnical engineering" is commonly used in major mining companies, other terms like "geomechanical engineering," "rock engineering," and "strata control engineering"