“Rocks, Stress, and

Deformation”
Deformation
• Within the life of crustal formation and destruction,
tectonic plates are made to move, slide, and collide
with each other. From these stresses, we deform
rocks.
Stress or Strain?
• Stress is the force applied to a body. When the
body reacts to that certain amount of stress applied
to it, any change in the bodily ratio of the unit will
be called strain/deformation. 
 
Types of Stress:

1.Compression - is the stress that squeezes rocks

together.  When cars driving around a parking lot
collide, compression causes the cars to crumple.
Compression is the most common stress
 
Types of Stress:

2. Tension - Rocks that are being pulled apart are

under tension. Tension causes rocks to lengthen or
break apart.

3. Shear - When forces act parallel to each other but

in opposite directions, the stress is called shear.
Shear stress causes two planes of material to slide
past each other.
Strain/ Deformation
• Strain is the deformation exhibited by a body that is
undergoing stress. Most materials will
accommodate a certain amount of stress and revert
it back to its original form when stress is removed.
This type of deformation is called Elastic
deformation.
Strain
• After some amount of stress, materials will undergo
deformation that will have permanent difference
from its original, unstressed state. This type of
deformation is called Inelastic deformation. There
are two types of inelastic deformation:
Inelastic deformation
1.Ductile - similar to deformation you see in a ball of
molding clay. Upon the application of stress, the
molding clay will deform and will not go back to its
original ball state.

2.Brittle - similar to how a piece of biscuit breaks.

The application of stress will break the biscuit into
several individual smaller units of the original
biscuit.
Strain
• When rocks are subjected to stress, they deform
accordingly to the type of stress applied to them
and the conditions present at the time the stress is
applied. 

Types of Deformation
Stress Ductile Brittle
Compression Folds Reverse fault (Dip-slip
Tension Thinning Normal fault (Dip slip
Shear Shear zone Strike-slip fault
Folds
• Folds are evidences of ductile deformation in rocks.
Under compressive stress, the rock themselves are
made to shorten along the axis of stress. Orogeny is
usually associated with compressive stresses. 
 Fault
• are brittle deformation features in rocks that show
evidence of movement. Faults have several types
depending on the nature of stress that moves it. 
Normal Fault (Dip-Slip Fault)
• the block that sits on the fault plane (hanging wall)
has moved downward with respect to the footwall
along the dip direction
• formed by stretching – tensional stress
• resulting length is longer than the original
Reverse Fault (Dip-Slip Fault)
• the hanging wall moves up with respect to the
footwall
• formed by compression
• resulting length is shorter

Thrust Fault
• special type of reverse faults where the angle of the
dip is less than 45deg
Strike-Slip Fault
• when rocks are made to shear, they break along a
fault plane that forms in the direction of the shear
• the movement is always horizontal
1. left/right-lateral strike-slip fault
2. oblique-slip fault – formed when shearing
and compression or tension combine
Active vs Inactive Fault
• Active Fault – known to have recently generated
earthquakes within the last 10,000 years, which
may still continue to generate earthquakes

• Inactive Fault – do not show signs of ever having

generated an earthquake in the last 10, 000 years,
but may possibly still generate an earthquake in the
future
Faults and Man
• Faults are evidences that rocks undergoing stress.
The type of fault gives a clue to as the type of
regional stress that is acting on the area.

• As students of earth science, understanding why

faults move and how they affect us is important
because it allows us to be aware of the hazards that
faults pose to the community that is close to it.