This spreadsheet calculates plunge and trend of a line knowing strike and dip of the plane

containing the line, and the rake of the line.

Strike is entered in right-hand-rule (RHR) format: strike azimuth (0-360) is 90 counterclockwise
from dip direction.
Rake is entered in 0-90 format in column D. Column E has RHR format rake: (0-180 measured
from RHR strike), and is entered directly if RHR rake is <90 [examples lines 4 and 5 below],
or is calculated (180-column C)[examples lines 1-3 below].
The data below show tests of the equations. Do not delete the top test line (it has the equations).
S
D
R
RHR-R
T
P
T -raw

180-
strike
dip
rake RHRrake trend plunge
tanR cosD sinD sinR tan(180-R)
trend
287
81
17
163
104
17
-0.31 0.16 0.99 0.29
-0.31
3 177
464
030
79
50
130
197
49
-1.19 0.19 0.98 0.77
-1.19
13 167
197
020
30
20
160
183
10
-0.36 0.87 0.50 0.34
-0.36
17 163
183
090
30
40
40
126
19
0.84 0.87 0.50 0.64
-0.84
36 144
126
090
30
60
60
146
26
1.73 0.87 0.50 0.87
-1.73
56 124
146

Equations:
T = S+ = S+(arctan(tanR*cosD))
P = arcsin(sinD*sinR)

Eric Nelson
Colorado School of Mines
Cell equations:

S D R RHR-R
T
strikediprake
RHRrake trend
0 ###### 100
102

P
plunge
29

tanR
-5.67

cosD
0.87

sinD
0.50

sinR
0.98

tan(180-R)
5.67

78

180-
102

T -raw
trend
102