Webinar Notes
 What kind of contact are we seeing?
PART 1/DAY 1: HOW TO PROPERLY INTERPRET
GEOLOGICAL OUTCROPS.
OUTCROPS: describing, interpreting, and
re0interpreting.
Interpreting- dependen on the objective of the
field work.
Establish the stratigraphy.
Know where you are first before locating the
outcrop. Start checking the river floats
especially if you are in a downstream area.
Take note of your safety.
Have a safe attitude; we live in a society where
people are encourages to test the limits---don’t.
Ge a bird’s eye view of the area before you go
to the outcrop. (hee described thee contrast in
topography and vegetation)
Steep slope- rocks are more competent, but
may also be dictated pon by the orientation of
the rocks.
Dip slope.
Orientatioin of the slope can tell a lot abou the
orientatin of the bedding or otcrop in question.
1st thing: geomorphiilogy is a reflection of the
underlying lithology.
Remember the presence of angular
unconformity is not a guarantee that
 Dot get too near; get a feel of the
outcrop.
 Determine the extent of the outcrop
 Assess how many rock types are there
 Are there changes in facies?
This is very important.
 If younger units are tilted, much more
will be the older units GIVEN THAT THIS
IS A TECTONIC DEFORMATION AND
NOT A SEDIMENTARY DEFORMATION.
Note: there are instances that intrusion might
look like a xenolith, but you can confirm that it’s
an intrusion by looking at the contact or by
analyzing the contact.
Liquid immiscibility might look like a cross
cutting relationship.
- If plane is not a representation of the
outcrop
Tke note of
- Thickness of each unit
- Degree of fracturing
- Any sign of alteration … surface
coloration may be a manifestation –
useful for mineralization.
- Basic way of field mapping—you
describe the outcrop and define its
stratigraphy.
- You sample the outrcrop and know its
composition.
- Level of complication: detritatl may not
be visible.
- Tecture
- Internal struct
- Degree of sorting
- Name
- Tentative interpretation.
Many og the ph sandstones are clastic.
Cross lamination
Conglomerates: don’t forget to descib h
What is the timing of the mineralixation with
respect to the evolution of the outcrop.
Underground:
What type of mineralization
Texture
What minerals form in the vein
Left lateral might look like right lateral when
you are underground.
At the very least try to determine who is the
oldest and youngest, and what environment
does the outcrop represent.
The level of interpretation depends on your
field objective.
Always keep your field reports.
Take photos of the outcrop and sample.
Also be careful not to destroy the outcrop.
You point the hammer to the younging
direction. You don’t just drop it.
You only use the word “massive” for outcrop
description if you are certain that there is no
internal sedimentary structure, otherwise don’t.
Iff there is an erosive contact, there could be a
channelized facies.
TAKE DOWN NOTES
- Field books should be kept in a manner
that others can understand. The book is
baasically not your field notes.
- Keep it clean
- All figures or photos should be properly
labeled
- You only take note once you fully
understood the outcop.
- Standard rock description should be
succinct, brief, grammatically correct,
you may also abbreviate some term
- Better to do it in phrases.
Once youre finished you may want to integrate
your data and do a re-interpretation.
Olistoliths- are debris flows.
When you do the remote sensing observation,
what uou can only get is the tentative
interpretation and the degree of uncertainty is
high, and so initial interpretation is likely subject
to revision or re-interpretation.
The area in which you will get sample as well as
the quantity and size of the sample will depend
on the OBJECTIVE of the fieldwork.
Kapag malayo yung field niyo, damihan mon a
and also try to know the purpose.
The only way for you to know if two lithologies
belong in a single formatioin is to map it out.
If it is not mappable in 1:50000, then it is not
considered a formation because a formation
should be mappable.