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ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
(BFC21303)
CHAPTER 3:
NAT/FKAAB/UTHM
INTRODUCTION
• Rock is defined as a mixtures formed of aggregates of one or
more minerals (aggregate of minerals).
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Cont’d
ROCK CYCLE
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CHAPTER 3.1:
IGNEOUS ROCKS
IGNEOUS ROCKS
• Defined as rocks which are normally crystalline in nature having
solidified from an original molten state or magma that exists for
long period of time beneath the surface of earth.
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What Is Magma?
• Magma is hot molten mobile rock.
• The most abundant magma is a melt of silicate composition and this can
carry suspended crystals and gases which bubble out in air.
• Magmas are less dense than surrounding rocks, and therefore it will move
upward.
• If magma makes it to the surface it will erupt and later crystallize to form
an extrusive or volcanic rock.
Eruption of Magma
• When magmas reach the surface of the Earth they erupt
from a vent and it may erupt explosively or non-
explosively.
• Watch : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlH7pCK4H-s
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Cont’d
Tephra that falls from the eruption column produces a tephra fall deposit
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If eruption column collapses, a pyroclastic flow may occur, wherein gas and tephra
rush down the wings of the volcano at high speed. This is the most dangerous type of
volcanic eruption. The deposits that are produced are called ignimbrites
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Grain size
Three types of rock can be identified based on predominant grain
Size that reflects the depth at which molten rocks form within the
Earth:
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Rock Texture
• The most important distinction (charactreristics) in igneous rocks is
texture, which is related to the size and shape of the constituent
crystallite grains.
• Magmas located deep within the Earth's crust cools slowly and
thus the individual minerals grains may grow.
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Rock Texture
• Consist of:
1.Phaneritic texture
2.Aphanetic texture
3.Glassy texture
4.Porphyritic texture
5.Vesicular Texture
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Phaneritic texture
• Individual grains are large enough and
visible to naked eye.
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Aphanetic texture
• Individual crystals are so small and cannot
be seen unaided.
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BASALT
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Glassy texture
• Similar to ordinary glass.
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Obsidian
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Porphyritic texture
• Larger earlier formed crystals are enclosed
by a ground mass of smaller crystals.
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Vesicular Texture
• This term refers to vesicles (holes, pores, or cavities)
within the igneous rock.
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Vesicular rocks
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Pumice
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Scoria
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• The silica content ranges from less than 45% to more than 66%.
• Rocks that are rich in silica are called silicic or felsic (Acid), rocks and
those that are low in silica content are called mafic rocks (Basic).
• The major igneous rock types fall into categories of high, intermediate and
low silica content. 30
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Cont’d
Crystalline Feldspar
Texture Orthoclase - Plagioclase
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• Intrusive rocks which cool and solidify under pressure and at great depths
are usually wholly crystalline in texture, since the conditions of cooling
are conducive to crystal formation.
• Rocks that make up plutons usually have phaneritic texture because the
cooling time was sufficient to allow the formation of large crystals. 34
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Types of Plutons
• Plutons differ in terms of size, shape and relationship to
the rocks that were intruded by the magma, which are
older rocks known as country rocks.
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Dykes
• Tabular or wall like
mass.
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Sills
• Rising magma follows path of least resistance
such as bedding plane, which separates
layers of sedimentary rock.
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Laccoliths
• Viscous magma injected between layers of
sedimentary rock, tend to uparched the
overlying strata forming mushroom shaped.
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Batholiths
• Largest rock bodies in the Earth's
crust, generally granitic composition.
Types of plutons
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Extrusive Processes
• Extrusive rocks are formed from the violent eruption
of volcanoes, fissures or cracks in the earth's
cracks.
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• Basalt
• Gabbro
• Diorite
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Granite
• Granite characterized by a granular texture, has
feldspar and quartz (at least 20%) as its two most
abundant minerals.
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Granite
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Basalt
• Basalt is dark coloured (black to medium grey),
fine grained (aphanitic) igneous rock.
Basalt
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Gabbro
• Gabbro is dark coloured, coarse-grained, granular basic igneous rock
consisting of essential calcium rich plagioclase, feldspar (approximately
60% augite and orthopyroxene plus or, minus olivine with accessory
magnetite or ilmenite.
• In most of these small intrusions, the mineral grains are so small that they
are barely recognizable without aid of microscope.
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Gabbro
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Diorite
• Diorite - is an intermediate, coarse-grained,
granular igneous rock with up to 10% quartz,
plagioclase and lesser amount of
ferromagnesian minerals.
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Diorite
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Crystallization of Magma
• Crystallization of magma is not a simple process.
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• At this point, augite rather than olivine begins to crystallize and the early-formed
olivine crystals react with the liquid to form augite.
• The same type of reaction occurs between augite and liquid to form hornblende
at a lower temperature.
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1) What rock types are present and how are they disturbed?
• The geologists and engineers working on the project must determine the origin of
the igneous rock, its contacts with adjoining rock types and their conditions and
the mineralogy of the rocks.
• UNALTERED INTRUSIVE IGNEOUS ROCKS generally are very suitable for most
types of engineering projects:
1) The interlocking of mineral crystals gives the rock great strength and thus
can provide adequate support for building or dam foundations can remain
stable at high angles in excavations and require minimal support in
tunnels.
2) Because of the dense interlocking of crystals within the rock, very little water
can flow through. Therefore, unaltered intrusive rocks are well suited for
construction of reservoirs because of the low potential for leakage.
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Cont’d
• The engineering properties of EXTRUSIVE IGNEOUS rocks are much less uniform.
• Extrusive rocks contains pyroclastic materials and lahar deposits, which are
much weaker than crystalline rocks.
• These rocks may be susceptible to slope failures in excavations and also provide
more variable and generally weaker foundation support.
• In general, the water bearing capacity of extrusive rocks is much greater than
intrusive rocks. This property can render the rocks unsuitable for reservoir or
tunnel construction.
• Clay minerals are a common product of these alteration processes. The result is
a significant loss of strength as the feldspars and ferromagnesian minerals are
converted to clay.
• In warm humid climates, igneous rock bodies may be mantled with tens of meters
of weathered material. The engineering properties of this material are totally
different from the properties of unaltered rock.
• A network of fractures within a rock mass can greatly increase the potential for
failures of natural or excavated slopes and also increase the construction
problems of dams, tunnels and other structures. 58
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