Lecture 11 Structural Geology

• Rock deformation and structural geology

• Folds in Rock
• Rock fractures: Joints and Faults
• Geologic maps
• Rock deformation and structural geology

 Rocks deform under stress. Deformation refers to all changes in volu

me and/or shape of a rock body.

 Structural geology examines the present state of crustal deformation

and determines the original geologic setting and the nature and directio
n of the earth forces (tectonic forces) that produced these rock structur
es.

 Folding in a rock occurs in the plastic range of the rock.

 Faulting occurs when the rocks break.

• Laboratory experiments of deformation of marble by
compressive forces under confining pressures similar to
shallow crust (middle) and deeper crust (right). (M.S.
Patterson).
• Deformation of A) flat-lying strata. B) compressional stress
tend to shorten a rock body, often by folding. C) Tensional st
ress acts to elongate or pull apart a rock unit. D) Shear stress
acts to bend and break them. (Tarbuck and Lutgents)
• Anticlines and synclines in the Calico Hills near Barstow, California. (Hamblin an
d Christiansen)
• Descriptions of an inclined plane: strike
and dip

• Strike is the direction of the line produced by the

intersection of the inclined plane with the horizontal plane.
It is expressed as the angle of the line from the north.

• Dip is the angle between the inclined plane and the

horizontal plane.

• Strike and dip directions are always mutually

perpendicular.
• Strike and dip of a rock layer. (Tarbuck and Lutgents)
• Folds in Rock

A fold is a bent structure that originally was

planar, such as a sedimentary bed. Folds
may be produced by either horizontal
compression or vertical forces in the crust,
just as pushing in on opposite sides of a
paper or up from below.
• Terms used to describe the parts of a fold:

• limb: The two sides of a fold are called limbs.

• axis: A line drawn along the points of maximum curvature o

f a layer of a fold. More strictly, it is called hinge line.

• axial plane: an imaginary plane surface that divides a fold a

s symmetrically as possible.

• plunge: If the fold axis is not horizontal, the angle of the axi
s with the horizontal plane is called plunge.
• Terms describing a fold. (Tarbuck and Lutgents)
• Types of folds
• anticline: upfolds or arches of rock layers
• syncline: downfolds or troughs of rock layers.
• monocline: only one direction of dip prevails in a fold syst
em.

• symmetrical fold: the axial plane is vertical with the limb

s dipping symmetrically from the axis
• asymmetrical fold: the axial plane is tilted from the vertic
al with one limb dipping more steeply than the other.

• overturned fold: one limb is tilted beyond the vertical

• recumbent fold: this is an overturned fold "lying on its si
de" so that the axial plane is nearly horizontal.
• An illustration of principle types of folds.
• Anticlines and synclines in the Calico Hills near Barstow, California. (Hamblin an
d Christiansen)
• Folds of deformed sedimentary strata near Palmdale, California. The d
ashed-line indicates a fault also present. (E.J. Tarbuck)
• (Top) The San Rafael monocline, Utah. (S. Trimble) (Bottom)
Illustration of monocline consisting of bent sedimentary beds caused
by faulting in the bedrock below.
• Overturned fold. (G.S. Of
Israel). One limb has been
turned completely upside-
down with older beds on the
top.
• A recumbent fold in Precambrian rocks of the Umanak are
a, Greenland. (T.C.R. Pulvertaft)
• Outcrop (map) view of folds

• Anticline: the oldest beds are in the center and the beds beco
me progressively younger in each direction.
Synclines: the youngest bed is in the center and the beds get
progressively older in each direction.

• Symmetrical folds have equal bed widths on opposite sides o

f the axial plane, but asymmetrical folds will have different b
ed widths on the opposite sides.

• For a plunging anticline, the nose (formed by the intersection

of the fold system with a horizontal plane) points in the same
direction as the plunge. For a plunging syncline, the nose poi
nts in the direction opposite to that of the plunge.
• The diagram shows the surface of eroded remnants of a sy
ncline and the characteristic core of younger rocks flanked
on both sides by older rocks dipping toward the core. (Pres
s and Siever)
• Anticlines and synclines. The numbers 1 through 6 indicate
strata of progressively younger ages. (West, p.203)
• Symmetrical and asymmetrical anticlines and synclines.
Symmetrical folds have equal bed widths on opposite sides
of the axial plane, but asymmetrical folds will have
different bed widths on the opposite sides. (West, p.203)
• Plunging folds. Note the nose of a plunging anticline in outcro
p points in the direction of the plunge, while the opposite is tru
e of plunging synclines. (Tarbuck and Lutgents)
• A plunging anticline forms a a V-shape pattern pointing in
the direction of plunge. This example is from near St. Geor
ge, Utah. (Hamblin and Christiansen)
Domes (dome-shaped folds) and basins (bowl-shaped
folds). (W.W. Norton)
• Rock fractures: Joints and Faults

• Joints

 A joint is a crack along which no appreciable movement ha

s occurred.

 Most joints are produced when rocks are deformed by tect

onic forces, with some exceptions.
• Eroded joints, Arches National Park, Utah. (W. Clay)
• Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. The columnar joints form when
igneous rocks cool and develop shrinkage fractures
producing elongated columns. (Thomason/Stone Images)
• Joints in granitic rocks near the top of Lembert Dome, Yosemite Natio
nal Park. The joints were enhanced by weathering. (E.J. Tarbuck)
• Faults

A fault is a fracture with relative movement

of the rocks on both sides of it, parallel to
the fracture.

Fault terminology:
strike, dip of fault plane, hanging wall,
footwall.
A fresh fault scarp after an earthquake in Nevada. (S. Marshak)
(a)

(b)

(a) Slip lineations on a fault surface. (b) Breccia, broken-up

rocks along this fault. (S. Marshak)
• The names of hanging wall and footwall came from miners mini
ng along fault zones, who hung their lanterns on the hanging wall
and walked on the footwall. (Tarbuck and Lutgents)
• Types of faults:

• dip-slip fault: normal fault, reverse fault, thrust

fault

• strike-slip fault: left lateral, right lateral

• oblique-slip fault: has both strike-slip and dip-

slip component. Note: The textbook calls it
"translation fault", which is rarely used.
• Types of faults. a) Normal faults, caused by tensional forces, res
ult in extension. b) Reverse faults, caused by compressional forc
es, result in shortening. c) Strike-slip faults associated with shear
ing forces. d) Oblique slip suggests a combination of shearing an
d compression/tension. (Press and Siever)
• A normal fault. (Tarbuck and Lutgents)
• A small normal fault along the road to Kolob Terr
aces just north of Toquerville, Utah.
• Normal faulting in the Basin and Range Province. Tensional
stresses elongated and fractured the crust into numerous bloc
ks. Movement along the fractures tilted the blocks producing
parallel mountain ranges. (Tarbuck and Lutgents)
• The relative movement of a reverse fault
• The Keystone thrust fault of southern Nevada. Dark-colored limestone
(Cambrian) has been thrust over light-colored Jurassic sandstone,
younger by some 350 million years. (J.S. Shelton)
• Diagram for a strike-slip fault (right-lateral). Note how the
stream channels have been offset by fault movement. (after
R.L. Wesson et al.)
• Strike-slip faults are commonly expressed by a series of straight linear
ridges and troughs that can be traced for long distances. Here the San
Andreas fault in southern California offsets a drainage system.
• The San Andreas Fault system runs from the Gulf of Calif
ornia and enters the Pacific from northern California. The
accumulated displacement, from earthquakes and creep, ex
ceeds 560 km over its 29-million-year history. (Tarbuck an
d Lutgens)
• Geologic maps

• Geologic maps are among the best sources of infor

mation for preliminary site location and design. Th
us, engineers need to become familiar with the con
struction and use of these maps.

• Elements of a geologic map include rock types, rel

ative ages of the rocks, geologic contacts between
different rock units, geologic structures (e.g., fault
s), and maybe topographic contours.