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Joint (geology)
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Main page In geology the term joint refers to a fracture in rock where the
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displacement associated with the opening of the fracture is
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greater than the displacement due to lateral movement in the
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plane of the fracture (up, down or sideways) of one side relative to
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the other. Typically, there is little to no lateral movement across
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joints. This makes joints different from a fault which is defned as
Interaction a fracture in rock in which one side slides laterally past the other
Help with a displacement that is greater than the separation between
About Wikipedia the blocks on either side of the fracture. Joints normally have a
Community portal regular spacing related to either the mechanical properties of the
Recent changes individual rock or the thickness of the layer involved. Joints
Contact Wikipedia generally occur as sets, with each set consisting of joints sub-
parallel to each other.
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1 Formation
Languages 2 Types of joints Joint sets on a bedding plane in
Asturianu 2.1 Types with respect to formation fagstones, Caithness, Scotland
Català 2.1.1 Tectonic joints
Česky 2.1.2 Unloading joints (Release joints)
Deutsch 2.1.3 Cooling joints
Eesti 2.2 Types with respect to attitude and
Español geometry
Français 3 Fractography
Hrvatski 4 Importance to soil and rock mass strength
한국어 5 Importance in the production of geofuids
Italiano 6 See also
Nederlands 7 References
日本語
Polski Formation [edit]
A rock in Abisko fractured along existing joints
Português
Joints form in solid, hard rock that is stretched such that its possibly by mechanical frost weathering
Simple English
brittle strength is exceeded (the point at which it breaks).
Српски / srpski
When this happens the rock fractures in a plane parallel to the
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maximum principal stress and perpendicular to the minimum
Українська
中
principal stress (the direction in which the rock is being
stretched). This leads to the development of a single sub-parallel
joint set. Continued deformation may lead to development of one
or more additional joint sets. The presence of the frst set strongly
affects the stress orientation in the rock layer, often causing
subsequent sets to form at a high angle to the frst set.

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Joint (geology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joint sets are commonly observed to have relatively constant

spacing, which is roughly proportional to the thickness of the Columnar jointed basalt in Turkey

layer.[1]

Types of joints [edit]

Joints are classifed by the processes responsible for their

formation, or their geometry.

Types with respect to formation [edit]

Columnar jointing in basalt, Marte Vallis,
Tectonic joints [edit] Mars

Tectonic joints are formed during deformation episodes whenever

the differential stress is high enough to induce tensile failure of the rock, irrespective of the tectonic regime. They
will often form at the same time as faults. Measurement of tectonic joint patterns can be useful in analyzing the
tectonic history of an area because they give information on stress orientations at the time of formation.[2]

Unloading joints (Release joints) [edit]

Joints are most commonly formed when uplift and erosion removes the overlying rocks thereby reducing the
compressive load and allowing the rock to expand laterally. Joints related to uplift and erosional unloading have
orientations refecting the principal stresses during the uplift. Care needs to be taken when attempting to
understand past tectonic stresses to discriminate, if possible, between tectonic and unloading joints.
Exfoliation joints are special cases of unloading joints formed at, and parallel to, the current land surface in rocks
of high compressive strength.

Cooling joints [edit]

Joints can also form via cooling of hot rock masses, particularlylava, forming cooling joints, most commonly
expressed as vertical columnar jointing. The joint systems associated with cooling typically are polygonal
because the cooling introducing stresses that are isotropic in the plane of the layer.

Types with respect to attitude and geometry [edit]

Joints can be classifed into three groups depending on their geometrical relationship with the country rock:
Strike joints – Joints which run parallel to the direction of strike of country rocks are called "strike joints"
Dip joints – Joints which run parallel to the direction of dip of country rocks are called "dip joints"
Oblique joints – Joints which run oblique to the dip and strike directions of the country rocks are called
"oblique joints".

Fractography [edit]

Joint propagation can be studied using the techniques of

fractography in which characteristic marks such as hackles and
plumose structures can be used to determine propagation
directions and, in some cases, the principal stress orientations.[3]

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Joint (geology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Importance to soil and rock mass [edit]

strength
In geotechnical engineering a joint forms a discontinuity that may
have a large infuence on the mechanical behavior (strength,
deformation, etc.) of soil and rock masses in, for example, tunnel,
foundation, or slope construction.

Importance in the production of [edit]

geofuids
Plumose structure on a fracture
surface in sandstone
It is long been recognized that joints (fractures) play a major role in
the subsurface fuid fow of water in aquifers and petroleum in oil
felds. Major industry research projects have been dedicated during the last decades to the study of faulted and
fractured reservoirs.

See also [edit]

Tessellated pavement

References [edit]

1. ^ Ladeira,F.L. & Price,N.J. 1981. Relationship between fracture spacing and bed thickness. Journal of Structural
Geology, 3, 179-183
2. ^ Engelder, T. & Geiser, P. 1980. On the use of regional joint sets as trajectories of paleostress felds during
development of the Appalachian Plateau, New York. Journal of Geophysical Research, 85, B11, 6319-6341.
3. ^ Roberts, J.C. 1995. Fracture surface markings in Liassic limestone at Lavernock Point, South Wales. Geological
Society, London, Special Publications; v. 92; p. 175-186

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