Shearing

• Example of simple shear

deformation, with
conservation of volume
(see ellipsoid)
• Layered rocks, such as
sedimentary beds or
foliated rocks, like mica
schist, are subject to this
kind of deformation
Deformation
• How rocks deform
• General characteristics of rock deformation
• Elastic deformation – the rock returns to nearly
its original size and shape when the stress is
removed
• Once the elastic limit (strength) of a rock is
surpassed, it either flows (ductile deformation)
or fractures (brittle deformation)
Deformation
• How rocks deform
• General characteristics of rock deformation
• Factors that influence the strength of a rock and
how it will deform
• Temperature
• Confining pressure
• Rock type
• Time
• Rock deform through brittle or plastic deformation
processes, depending on confinement. The deeper you
go in the Earth’s crust, the more plastic the deformation
• Most metamorphic rocks were subjected to sufficient confinement
pressures and elevated temperatures to engender ductile
deformation, as shown here.
Mapping geologic structures
• When conducting a study of a region, a geologist
identifies and describes the dominant rock
structures
• Usually only a limited number of outcrops
(sites where bedrock is exposed at the
surface) are available
• Field work is aided by advances in aerial
photography, satellite imagery, and Global
Positioning Systems (GPS)
Mapping geologic structures
• Describing and mapping the orientation or attitude
of a rock layer or fault surface involves determining
the features
• Strike (trend)
• The compass direction of the line produced by
the intersection of an inclined rock layer or fault
with a horizontal plane
• Generally expressed an an angle relative to north
Mapping geologic structures
• Dip (inclination)
• The angle of inclination of the surface of a rock
unit or fault measured from a horizontal plane
• Includes both an inclination and a direction
toward which the rock is inclined
Strike and dip of
a rock layer
A geologic map showing strike and dip
of structures
 Folds
• During crustal deformation rocks are
often bent into a series of wave-like
undulations called folds
• Characteristics of folds
• Most folds result from compressional
stresses which shorten and thicken the
crust
Characteristics of folds

• Parts of a fold
• Limbs – refers to the two sides of a
fold
• Axis – a line drawn down the points
of maximum curvature of each layer
• Axial plane – an imaginary surface
that divides a fold symmetrically
Symmetrical Folds

• Idealized sketches
illustrating the features
associated with
symmetrical folds.
• The axial plane is shown.
The hinge line is
horizontal in the upper
block, and plunging in
the lower block
Common types of folds
• Anticline – upfolded or arched rock layers
• Syncline – downfolds or troughs of rock
layers
• Depending on their orientation, anticlines
and synclines can be described as
• Symmetrical, asymmetrical,
recumbent (an overturned fold), or
plunging
Syncline (left) and
anticline (right)
• Block diagram illustrating the principal types of folded strata. The
upfolded, or arched, structures are anticlines. The downfolds, or
troughs, are synclines. Notice that the limb of an anticline is also
the limb of the adjacent structure is also the limb of an adjacent
syncline.
Plunging
Folds
• Idealized views
of plunging
folds, with an
imaginary
horizontal
surface
• Resulting
outcrop pattern
shown below
• Sheep Mountain, a doubly plunging anticline, is located
in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming.
• Common types of folds
• Monoclines – large, step-like folds in
otherwise horizontal sedimentary strata
• Other types of folds
• Dome
• Upwarped displacement of rocks
• Circular or slightly elongated structure
• Oldest rocks in center, younger rocks
on the flanks
Monoclines are often the result of
buried faults
• Aerial oblique view of the San Rafael Swell, a monocline in
southern Utah. This structure is caused by faulting associated
with crustal compression.
• Other types of folds
• Basins
• Circular or slightly elongated structure
• Downwarped displacement of rocks
• Youngest rocks are found near the
center, oldest rocks on the flanks
Domes and basins both exhibit
circular patterns
 Black Hills Dome
• The Black Hills of western
South Dakota is a large domal
structure with resistant
igneous and metamorphic
rocks exposed in its core
The Michigan Basin
is one of the largest
basin structures in
North America
 Faults
• Faults are fractures in rocks along which
appreciable displacement has taken place
• Sudden movements along faults are the cause of
most earthquakes
• Classified by their relative movement which can be
• Horizontal, vertical, or oblique
• Brittle strata in the upper few kilometers of crust cannot
deform much past 6 or 10 degrees before faults develop.
• Faults are brittle fracture features in the upper crust that
form in response to regional tectonic forces
 Types of faults
• Dip-slip faults
• Movement is mainly parallel to the dip
of the fault surface
• May produce long, low cliffs called
fault scarps
• Parts of a dip-slip fault include the
hanging wall (rock surface above the
fault) and the footwall (rock surface
below the fault)
 Hanging
wall and
footwall
along a
fault surface
Types of dip-slip faults
• Normal fault
• Hanging wall block moves down
relative to the footwall block
• Accommodate lengthening or
extension of the crust
• Most are small with displacements
of a meter or so
• Larger scale normal faults are
associated with structures called
fault-block mountains
 Normal
faults
occur in
areas of
regional
crustal
extension
• Block diagram showing typical curvature and tilt of a lystric
normal fault in the Basin and Range province, which has
experienced crustal extension. The fault surface is doubly
concave, with back rotation of the intervening blocks.
Normal faulting in the
Basin and Range
province, due to crustal
stretching as the North
American Plate overrode
the subducting Pacific
Plate. Note horst and
graben structures.
Types of dip-slip faults
• Reverse and thrust faults
• Hanging wall block moves up relative
to the footwall block
• Reverse faults have dips greater than
45o and thrust faults have dips less
than 45o
• Accommodate shortening of the
crust
• Strong compressional forces
Reverse fault
• Development of the Lewis Overthrust near Glacier National Park,
which brings older Precambrian age rocks over much younger
Cretaceous age strata.
• Chief Mountain is a Precambrian age klippe, a block or isolated
remnant of a large thrust sheet severed by erosion of surrounding
strata.
• JDR Life Goal #49. Explore Glacier National Park, see alpine glaciers,
Marias Pass, and John C. Stevens Monument.
Strike-slip faults
• Dominant displacement is horizontal and
parallel to the strike of the fault
• Types of strike-slip faults
• Right-lateral – as you face the fault, the
opposite side of the fault moves to the right
• Left-lateral – as you face the fault, the
opposite side of the fault moves to the left
• Right-lateral strike slip fault in the hills north of Lake Mead, in
southern Nevada.
 A right-lateral
strike-slip fault
Topographic Keys
• Strike-slip faults are some of
the easiest geological
structures to recognize
• This view shows the right-
lateral offset of linear stream
channels by the San Andreas
Fault in the Carrizo Plain, west
of Taft, California
• Transform faults
• Large strike-slip faults that cut through the lithosphere
• Accommodate motion between two large crustal plates on
the Earth’s spherical surface
The San
Andreas
Fault
system
 San Andreas fault

• The San Andreas fault is

a right-lateral strike-slip
transform fault
• It accommodates crustal
motion between the
Pacific and North
American plates
• The Pacific Plate is
spreading at a rate of
about 4 mm/yr to the
west northwest
• Quaternary geomorphologists and pedologists combine
their talents to excavate trenches across active faults
and perform paleoseismology studies, which seek to
date past earthquake events.
Paleoliquefaction Assessments in The New
Madrid Seismic Zone

1811-12

1450 AD

900 AD

550 AD

Shaded orange lines show most probable ages of major earthquakes in the
NMSZ prior to 1811-12 (shown as dashed line)
Rock Joints

• Joints are the most common rock structures

• Technically, a joint is a fracture with no movement
• Most occur in roughly parallel groups, due to induced tension.
This shows joints in plutonic igneous rock.
 Joints in
Volcanic Rock
• Devil’s Tower
National Monument
in eastern Wyoming
• This volcanic stock is
1265 ft high, and
perturbed by
columnar jointing
 Joints are significant
percolation conduits

• Joint often form in clusters

• The relatively small blocks
between adjacent joints are
subject to rapid weathering and
solutioning by percolating
groundwater
• This creates long, linear voids in
the rock mass

Gallery 6 in Zion Mt Carmel Tunnel

• Mutually orthogonal joint sets perturb most layered sedimentary rocks,
perpendicular to bedding,as shown here.
• JDR Life Goal #48. Explore Zion National Park; climb the Great White
Throne; see the Great Arch, hike the Narrows of the North Fork of the
Virgin River.
Joint Control
• Most cliffs faces are joint
controlled; by one, two, or
three sets of primary regional
systematic joints.
• Note dilation (opening) of
joints, seen here
• These joints open in response
to creep relaxation in
proximity to the cliff face
(Coconino Sandstone beneath
Monument Point, North Rim of
Grand Canyon)
• A common problem with mapping discontinuities exposed in outcrops are
secondary fractures that tend to parallel the valley side, known as valley-side
joints. These joints are not often visible and are, generally, the most deadly
features.
Joint Roughness and
Mineral deposits
• Many important mineral deposits are
emplaced along joint systems, such as
calcite, hematite, and limonite
Mineralization Halos
along Rock Joints

• Chemical weathering tends

to be concentrated along
joints
• Mineral halos often
develop around joints, as
shown here
• Iron oxide halos in Precambrian age rhyolite, leading up into the
bedrock creep zone and overlying residuum. Outcrop exposed on
Proffit Mountain by the Taum Sauk Dam failure in December
2005.
• Intersecting joints create problems for constructed works, such as those
depicted here. The friction coefficient is often assumed to be close to tan 30o,
or 0.50. The presence of water (shown at left) can reduce this significantly,
triggering block sliding.
• Most rockfalls, rockslides, rock avalanches, and sturzstroms are
joint-controlled
• The bounding geometry of these blocks are determined by
intersections between regular and irregular joint suites