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The techniques of modern structural geology, volume 3: Applications of

continuum mechanics in structural geology: J.G. Ramsay and R.J. Lisle,
Academic Press, London, Sept. 2000. IS...

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DOI: 10.1016/S0040-1951(01)00270-0

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 Tectonophysics 344 (2002) 307 – 310
Book review
The techniques of modern structural geology,
volume 3: Applications of continuum mechanics in
structural geology
J.G. Ramsay and R.J. Lisle, Academic Press,
London, Sept. 2000. ISBN 0-12-576923-7. US$65,
softback
Keeping up with the inimitable standard set by
‘‘The Techniques of Structural Geology’’ volumes 1
and 2 and making a subject like continuum mechanics
relevant to a wider geological audience would not be
easy tasks, yet that is what John Ramsay and Richard
Lisle do in the third and final volume of this well-
known series.
The key phrase that describes the work is ‘‘Appli-
cations in Structural Geology’’ since it is exclusively
concerned with the problems of geological deforma-
tion at micro- to macro-scale. As such, it is one of the
first texts to comprehensively explore the use of
continuum mechanics in this field and has little overlap
with standard classical works, which are mostly con-
cerned with engineering and geomechanics applica-
tions. The book is essentially about understanding
structures through models, chiefly ductile flow struc-
tures, though also brittle and semi-brittle ones. Models
are constantly compared with and often inspired by a
diverse range of well-illustrated natural structures.
However, the writers frequently remind us of the
limitations of a purely model-driven approach, which
underscores their philosophy that there is at least as
much to learn from careful examination of nature as
there is from model theory. Volume 3 maintains the
unpretentious, even anti-jargon, writing style of the
earlier volumes. This will be a bonus for readers with
little previous background in the theory, considering
that continuum mechanics is a subject often shrouded
by its own specialist nomenclature. Readers who are
more familiar with the general subject matter will
notice several new topics or ones not discussed to
the same extent in a textbook before. Banded struc-
PII: S 0 0 4 0 - 1 9 5 1 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 2 7 0 - 0
www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto
tures, strain in superposed folds and the idea of flow
sheets are just some examples. Recognition of separate
strains for first- and second-generation superposed
structures — a problem at the heart of many field
studies — is a further welcome addition in this volume.
As you would expect in a book of this subtitle, there
is an analytical treatment of elastic deformation and
viscous flow theory. It is developed in a straightfor-
ward manner from first principles and can be followed
without reference to external sources. However, a
significant new feature (for a geological text) is the
presentation of numerical methods. The treatment is at
an introductory level but covers both the finite differ-
ence (FD) and finite element (FE) methods and a broad
range of applications to problems in statics and finite
ductile flow, including materials with mechanical
anisotropy. Although more advanced texts and proce-
dures are available, the book provides a good starting
point to gain experience with these techniques and, for
geologists, has the attraction of being directed towards
geological problems. Best of all, executable and source
codes for both the FD and FE methods are available on
an accompanying compact disk, as well as codes for
most of the other procedures described in the book.
(The programs can be run directly from Windows 3.1+
on a PC or with QuickBasic on a Macintosh. Graphical
output requires a plotting program such as Surfer.)
This ready availability removes a significant deterrent
for first-time users: the need to compile and verify
lengthy computer codes. In my estimation, the disk
alone makes the book easily worth its price though the
price is reasonable for the text as well.
The book is primarily concerned with techniques
and guidance on how to apply them. It is thus best
suited to a foundation study in structural geology
mechanical modelling or as a sourcebook for mathe-
matical models. Because of this approach, it does not
attempt to set out the results of previous studies in a
systematic way. Indeed, it frequently branches into
new and little-explored areas. Readers will neverthe-
308
less find an up-to-date bibliography that covers rele-
vant earlier work together with explanatory notes
about the main sources. As in earlier volumes of the
series, most of the sessions or chapters are set out in a
theory – question –answer/comment format or (in this
volume) as worked examples, a format that teachers
and independent users will find helpful.
The book is divided into twelve sessions following
on from volume 2. The first, Session 28, moves
quickly into heterogeneous stress, with applications
to fracture patterns. This is followed by Sessions 29 –
31 which deal with analytical, FD and FE methods and
solutions to a variety of static and quasi-static prob-
lems (fault patterns, possible pressure-solution effects,
pressure-shadows, inclusions, strain-refraction, crack
propagation, en echelon cracks, indentation and cren-
ulation). Session 32 provides an introduction to paleo-
stress analysis of fault-slip data using some new
approaches (clusters and trihedra). Sessions 33 – 36
describe the geometrical patterns of finite strain, with
many insights into such structures as similar-type
folds, banded structures, apparent rotations of porphyr-
oblasts, transecting cleavage, superposed cleavages,
coaxial and other types of refolds, three-dimensional
flow sheets (lavas, slumps, glaciers, nappes and
décollement sheets) and even hackle marks. Problems
of flow in viscous materials are introduced by means
of stream functions in Session 37. Polynomial func-
tions are used to describe homogeneous and simple
heterogeneous flows (e.g., pure shear, extrusion and
gravity flow), while transcendental functions are used
for velocity patterns in incompetent material around
buckle folds, boudins and load casts and for special
flows with singularities. Stream functions also appear
in a brief treatment of viscous single-layer buckling
theory in Session 38 and are found by FD methods in
the first part of Session 39. Finally, the latter part of
Session 39 applies time-step FE modelling of viscous
flow to finite amplitude folds, vein-bridges, boudins
and inclusions: an appropriate culmination for the
book and for the series as a whole.
In a book with so many mathematical expressions,
it is perhaps inevitable that some typographical irreg-
ularities would occur. The ones I found are mainly in
Session 37 and a few in Sessions 29, 33 and 39.1 The
1
Visit http://www.es.mq.edu.au/geology/research/durney/ for
typographical errors found so far (RLcorrections.htm).
Book review
unconventional use of bold type (normally reserved for
symbolic representation of vectors and tensors) for
scalar components was also noted in parts of Sessions
33 and 36 – 39, and the lack of punctuation after
equations was a general feature of most sessions.
However, the irregularities or errors are localized and
do not affect results derived later on. They can be
easily tracked by working through the derivations.
Despite its possible appearance as a well-ordered
discipline, continuum mechanics provides scope for
terminological disputation. In some works, there can
be abstraction to such a degree as to render the phy-
sical meaning of particular terms incomprehensible
(as in ‘deformation gradients’, which are really just
‘deformations’). On the whole, Ramsay and Lisle
present the terminology in a more cognitive style
suitable for readers who are interested in applications.
Nevertheless, some inconsistencies do occur. An
example is the dual use of the term displacement in
the introductory session on finite strain. In places, this
means a transformation (as in a ‘displacement’ or
‘displacement gradient matrix’ M: the finite Lagran-
gian tensor [a,b,c,d] for the stretch with rotation where
a = 1 + qu/qx, etc.; see also volume 1), and elsewhere,
it has the more usual meaning of a change of position
(u,v) and gradients (qu/qx, etc.) and gradient matrices
(strain with rotation) thereof. Similarly, strain is used
in the engineering sense (a change in relative position
of particles measured by a change of length over old
length as in ‘strain rate’), as a stretch (new length over
old length as in ‘finite strain ellipse’ and ‘strain ratio’
derived from the semi-axes of this ellipse) and as a
displacement gradient tensor (as in ‘rotational compo-
nent of strain’). Although some of these expressions
have been used for a long time, I feel there is
justification for questioning their internal consistency.
On the other hand, an old term whose transmutation I
could not help lamenting is ‘pressure shadow.’ The
writers use this term for diffuse augen-like regions of
crystal growth in the microlithon matrix material near
a rigid object, in line with the current fashion in
metamorphic literature (which may have stemmed
from an arbitrary redefinition by Spry, 1969). Its
original use in English was for the related but distinct
effect of sharply defined regions of entirely new
crystal growth (Pabst, 1931).
While on the subject of pressure-shadows (sensu
Pabst) and pressure-shadows (sensu Spry), the work
 Book review
on FD and FE elastic stress modelling of these struc-
tures and other cases of heterogeneous mass transfer
(Sessions 29 – 31) should be noted. This is part of what
the writers, as a way of acknowledging the pioneering
work by H.C. Sorby, refer to as ‘pressure solution’
(which they use in the sense of dissolution plus
diffusive mass transport and precipitation rather than
just dissolution alone). Modelling of these effects is
barely covered in other texts, apart from Price and
Cosgrove (1990), and in a broad way, Ramberg
(1952). In addition, Session 34 discusses P- (pres-
sure-solution) band structure in terms of geometrical
models and describes the general nature of mass
transfer effects in rocks. Although the stress models
provide an intuitive idea of the directions of mass
transfer (see also Ghosh and Sengupta, 1973; Ström-
gård, 1973 for example), perhaps the writers’ saga-
cious advice elsewhere in the book, about not being
overly satisfied with one’s models, could have some
application here. Two difficulties in applying the
classical mechanics of continua to mass transfer are:
(1) the theories of elasticity and viscosity incorporate
an assumption that mass does not change; (2) growth
or dissolution of solid at specific interfaces, for exam-
ple in pressure-shadows (sensu Pabst), represents a
discontinuity in displacement, which is at odds with
the assumption of a continuum.
Turning now to practical matters, an important
consideration is the functionality of the software on
the accompanying disk. I report here on the FE pro-
grams, which I tested against known solutions for
simple shear stress and accumulated simple shear
strain on a Windows platform. There are three core
programs: Fe2ddat, which prepares the input data,
Fe2d, which runs a single-step elastic solution, and
Fe2dfin, which works out finite displacements from
multiple increments. They all worked fine. In fact, the
procedures are very simple, and the programs do not
even require setting up. You just double-click the
relevant application icon in Explorer, then follow the
prompts. Keeping track of the input and output is
made simple by labels for all of the parameters and
plain text file formats. Of course, there are some
restrictions on the number of elements and nodes
(200 and 102, respectively), and a little more effort
is required to plot the results. However, this is accept-
able for learning purposes anyway. The only idiosyn-
crasies encountered were: (a) a mixed boundary
309
condition required specifying an arbitrary force com-
ponent first, then overwriting it with the displacement,
(b) angles are in degrees for principal directions but in
radians for rigid body rotation, (c) a minor rounding
error appeared in the file output from program Fe2d
but not from program Fe2dfin, and (d) the ‘strain
ratio’ (stretch ratio) output parameter of Fe2d did not
seem particularly useful since it is a quantity that
should be theoretically close to unity.
Much checking and scenario testing with very
simple models is advisable when first using the finite
element method, in order to familiarize oneself with
the limitations. One of these is that the method is
designed only for small or infinitesimal strains.
Although the programs allow the user to produce large
strains and displacements in one step, as done for
clarity in some of the figures in Session 30, such
results are best viewed as ‘magnified’ small strains.
For example, the principal strains for pure shear and
simple shear are always given as e3 = e1, whereas the
finite values would be e3 = 1/(1 + e1) 1. (Session 39
describes how finite strains and displacements can be
obtained using Fe2dfin.) This restriction applies to
many of the analytical methods, too. In Session 37,
for example, instantaneous displacement rate fields
calculated from stream functions have been plotted
using arbitrary scale factors so that the patterns can be
clearly seen in the diagrams. (The vectors can be
thought of as infinitesimal displacements developed
over an infinitesimal period of time and magnified for
plotting.) Finding exact finite displacements from
stream flows over a finite time period is more difficult
and, in fact, has not been attempted in the book.
However, approximate solutions can be found by the
successive application of small increments2 (ironically,
the smaller the better).
Overall, volume 3 provides many challenging
examples and detailed insights into the structural
deformation processes that will engage both the new-
comer and the experienced practitioner in a fascinat-
ing journey of exploration. Above all, it is a book that
promotes wider participation in quantitative model-
ling. This is in tune with today’s computing power
and the inevitable consequence that computationally
2
Visit http://www.es.mq.edu.au/geology/research/durney/ for
viewing progressive deformation for some Ramsay and Lisle
polynomial stream functions (StreamF.htm).
310
intensive procedures, such as FE, are bound to be used
more and more in the future. The no-nonsense
approach of this book will not only guide the unin-
itiated through the basic principles and assumptions
that underlie such methods but, with careful applica-
tion, should help to accelerate the development of
physically realistic reconstructions of geological
deformation. Perhaps the only question is: ‘‘can we
afford not to keep up with these developments?’’
References
Ghosh, S.K., Sengupta, S., 1973. Tectonophysics 17, 133 – 175.
Pabst, A., 1931. Am. Mineral. 16, 55 – 61.
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Book review
Price, N.J., Cosgrove, J.W., 1990. Analysis of Geological Struc-
tures. Cambridge Univ. Press.
Ramberg, H., 1952. The Origin of Metamorphic and Metasomatic
Rocks. Univ. Chicago Press.
Spry, A., 1969. Metamorphic Textures. Pergamon, Oxford.
Strömgård, K.-E., 1973. Tectonophysics 16, 215 – 248.
David W. Durney
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
Macquarie University,
Sydney, Australia
E-mail address: ddurney@els.mq.edu.au