Lecture - 4 Geological Structures

LECTURE-05
CE-312
ENGINEERING GEOLOGY & SEISMOLOGY
(03 Credit Hours)
Instructor:
Engr. Muhammad Adeel Arshad
Department of Civil Engineering

University of Engineering & Technology Peshawar
Outlines of the Presentation
1. What are Geological Structures?

2. Rock Deformation
3. What Controls The Style of Strain
4. Behavior of Rocks under Stresses
5. Types of Stresses
6. Folds
7. Fractures
8. Joints and Faults
Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Engg. Geology & Seismology (CE-312) Instructor: Engr. Muhammad Adeel Arshad 2
What are Geological Structures?
 Geological structures are dynamically-produced patterns or

arrangements of rock or sediment that result from, and give information
about, forces within the Earth. These are produced as rocks change
shape and orientation in response to applied stress.
 Structural Geology is that branch of geology which talks about geological

structures. It is mainly concerned with shapes, arrangement,
interrelationships of bedrock units & forces that cause them.

Rock Deformation
 Large scale deformation of the Earth’s crust = Plate Tectonics
 Smaller scale deformation = Structural Geology
 Folds and faults are geological structures
 Structural geology is the study of the deformation of rocks and the
effects of this movement

Rock Deformation
Strain: Changes in volume or shape of a rock body
Stress: The force that acts on a rock unit to change its shape and/or its
volume causes strain or deformation.
 Types of Directed Stress include:
 Compression
 Tension
 Shear
Rock Strength: Ability of an object to resist deformation

Compressive: Capacity of a material to withstand axially directed pushing
forces – when the limit of compressive strength is reached, materials are
crushed
Tensile: Measures the force required to pull something such as rope, wire,
or a rock to the point where it breaks
Behavior of Rocks under Stress
 Elastic deformation
 Deformation is reversible, after stress is removed, materials return to
original shape, i.e. A rubber band
 Plastic deformation
 Deformation is permanent
 Rock flow in response to stress
 Need high pressures and temperatures, generally deep in earth’s
interior.
 Brittle deformation
 Deformation is permanent
 Rock break (fracture) or lose cohesion
 Generally low temperature and low pressure, common in shallow crust

What Controls The Style of Strain
 Material Under a set of conditions, one material may deform plastically while
others may be elastic or brittle. (For example, at room temperature, steel is
elastic, fresh potato chips are brittle, and mashed potatoes are elastic or plastic.)
 Magnitude of stresses (At low stress, most deformation is elastic. At higher
stresses ductile or brittle deformation occurs)
 Pressure & Temperature Rocks near the surface, where temperatures and
confining pressures are low, usually behave like brittle solids and fracture once
their strength is exceeded
 Strain Rate Brittle deformation usually occurs at high strain rate
 Time Forces that are unable to deform rock when first applied may cause rock to
flow if the force is maintained over a long period of time.
 History of the material (pre-existing cracks and crystal defects)
The variation of these factors determines if a rock will fault or fold

Types of Stresses
 Tensional (Extension) Stress
 Compressional Stress
 Shear Stress

Types of Stresses
 Tensional or Extensional Stresses
 Stress move away from each other
(pull apart)
 Rock lengthens
 Common in divergent boundaries, but
not sole locale
 Ductile deformation – stretching and
thinning of rock
 Brittle deformation – fracturing and
faulting

Types of Stresses
 Compressional Stresses
 Stress presses (squeezes) rock
together
 Rock shortens
 Common at convergent boundaries
 Ductile deformation – shortening and
thickening of rock – rock folds
 Brittle deformation – fracturing and
faulting

Types of Stresses
 Shear Stresses
 Stress creates a lateral shift in the
rock
 Rock slides past other rock
 Common at transform boundaries
 Results in faults

Folds
 If rocks is subjected to stresses beyond those that their strength can
resist, strata are permanently deformed by either buckling or fracturing.
The type of deformation depends on the mechanical properties of the
rocks and the nature of the stresses.
 In general, stresses which are applied slowly, either deep within the Earth
where the confining pressure produced by overburden is high, or to rocks
that are not brittle, tend to produce folds by buckling or plastic flow.

Folds
 The wavy undulations in the rock beds are
called folds. This is when the rocks deform
by plastic deformation.
 Folds are caused by pressures within the
Earth's crust resulting from plate-tectonic
activity. Rocks are slowly pushed and
compressed together, forming folds. Such
deformation usually occurs in sedimentary
layers that are softer and more flexible. If the
force is more sudden, and the rock more
brittle, then a fault forms instead of a fold.
 They consist of arches and troughs in
alternate manner.
 The size of folds vary greatly. Width of some
folds are measured in kilometers while those
of others in meters or centimeters.
Fold Terminology
 Anticline: It is an up fold where the
limbs dip away from the axis- it forms a
ridge.
 Syncline: It is a down fold where the
limbs dip towards the axis- it forms
trough.
 Limbs: The sloping side of a fold from
crest to trough is called the limb.
 Axial Plane: It is an imaginary plane or
surface which divides the fold into
equal halves, marks location of
maximum curvature.
 Hinge line: The center axis of a fold is
called the hinge line.

Fold Symmetry
 Symmetrical fold is one where the axial plane is vertical and the two
limbs have the same amount of dip.
 Asymmetrical fold is one where the axial plane is inclined and the limbs
dip at different angles, and in opposite directions.

Types of Folds
a. Syncline (the two limbs dip towards the axis- it forms trough)
b. Anticline (the two limbs dip away from the axis- it forms a ridge)
c. Isocline (the two limbs of a fold are essentially parallel to each other)
d. Overturned (the limbs of overturned folds dip in the same direction)
e. Recumbent (the limbs are essentially horizontal and parallel)
f. Overthrust (When pressure is very great a fracture occurs in the fold
and one limb is pushed forward over the other limb forming an
overthrust fold)
Monocline (folds with only one limb)

Types of Folds
Anticline Fold
 A fold with the oldest beds in the middle
 Generally arched shaped, with limbs dipping away the center

Types of Folds
Syncline Fold
 A fold with the youngest beds in the middle
 Generally trough shaped, with limbs dipping toward the center

Types of Folds
Monocline Fold
 Folds with only one limb
 Often Associated with faults

Types of Folds
Isocline Fold
 The two limbs of a fold are essentially parallel to each other and are
nearly vertical

Types of Folds
Overturned Fold
 The limbs of overturned folds dip in the same direction and one limb has
been tilted beyond vertical

Types of Folds
Recumbent Fold
 The limbs of overturned folds dip in the same direction and are
essentially horizontal and parallel

Types of Folds
Overthrust Fold
 When pressure is very great a fracture occurs in the fold and one limb is
pushed forward over the other limb forming an overthrust fold

Fractures
 Fracture may be defined as the
surfaces along which rocks or
minerals have broken; they are
therefore surfaces across which the
material has lost cohesion.
 The term fracture encompasses
both joints and faults.
 Fractures have two parallel surfaces
that meet at the fracture front.
 These surfaces are approximately
planar.
 The relative displacement of originally
adjacent points across the fractures is
small compared to the fracture length.

Types of Fractures
 Three types of fractures have been identified:
 Mode-I fractures (joints) it is the extensional fractures and formed by
opening with no displacement parallel to the fracture.
 Mode-II and Mode-III are shear fractures. These are faults like
fractures one of them is strike -slip and the other is dip-slip
Same fracture can exhibit both Mode-II and Mode-III in different parts of
the region.

Joints
 Joints are fractures along which there has been no appreciable
displacement parallel to the fracture and only slight movement normal to
the fracture plane.
 Joints are most common of all structures present in all settings in all kind
of rocks as well as consolidated and unconsolidated sedimentary basins.

Types of Joints
Joints can be broadly classified as:
 Systematic joints: have a subparallel orientation and regular spacing.
 Nonsystematic joints: joints that do not share a common orientation and
those highly curved and irregular fracture surfaces. They occur in most
area but are not easily related to a recognizable stress.
 Joint set: joints that share a similar orientation in same area.
 Joint system: two or more joints sets in the same area.
Some times both systematic and nonsystematic joints formed in the same
area at the same time but nonsystematic joints usually terminate at
systematic joints which indicates that nonsystematic joints formed later.

Types of Joints

Faults
 Faults are fractures that have appreciable movement parallel to their
plane. They are produced usually by seismic activity.
 Understanding faults is useful in design for long-term stability of dams,
bridges, buildings and power plants. The study of fault helps understand
mountain building.
 Faults may be hundred of meters or a few centimeters in length.
 Faults may extend from the ground surface to depths of several tens of
kilometers.
 Faults may be observable on ground surface, or may be buried.
 Presence of faults DOES NOT necessarily mean that earthquakes will
occur. Their movement may be aseismic (very slow movement that
does not cause earthquakes) or the faults may be inactive (no
movement).
Fault’s Terminology
 Fault plane: Surface that the movement has taken
place within the fault. On this surface the dip and strike
of the fault is measured.
 Hanging wall: The rock mass resting on the fault plane.
 Footwall: The rock mass beneath the fault plane.
 Slip: Describes the movement parallel to the fault
plane.
 Dip slip: Describes the up and down movement
parallel to the dip direction of the fault.
 Strike slip: Applies where movement is parallel to strike
of the fault plane.
 Oblique slip: Is a combination of strike slip and dip slip.
 Net slip (true displacement): Is the total amount of
motion measured parallel to the direction of motion.

Fault’s Terminology
 Scarp: The exposed upward block forms a cliff-like feature known as a fault
scarp. A scarp may range from a few to hundreds of meters in height and their
length may continue for 300 or more kilometers (around 200 miles).
Scarp
A normal dip-slip fault

Fault’s Geometry
 Strike(): It is the horizontal line produced by the
intersection of the fault plane and a horizontal plane. In
order to be unambiguous, the convention is to measure
the angle of the strike such that the hanging wall is to be
right (i.e. always measured clockwise from North).
 Dip (): It is the downward slope of the fault plane;
angle between fault plane and the horizontal plane
measured perpendicular to strike.
 Rake/Slip (): The direction of slip on a rupture can be
defined unambiguously by a single angle known as the
rake or slip. The rake is the angle between the strike
direction and the vector of slip of the hanging wall with
respect to the fault wall. It is measured in the plane of
the fault, positive upwards. A normal fault rupture has a
rake of –90° and a reverse rupture a rake of +90°.
Types of Faults
Faults can be divided into several
different types depending on the
direction of relative displacement.
Since faults are planar features, the
concept of strike and dip also
applies, and thus the strike and dip
of a fault plane can be measured.
One division of faults is between
dip-slip faults, where the
displacement is measured along
the dip direction of the fault, and
strike-slip faults where the
displacement is horizontal, parallel
to the strike of the fault.
Types of Faults
Normal Fault
 The hanging wall has moved down
relative to the footwall.
 Associated with tensile stresses in
crust.
 The faulting in Oceanic Ridge
earthquakes is predominantly
Normal.
 Horst – raised block of material
bounded by two normal faults.
 Graben – trough (valley) bounded by
two normal faults.

Types of Faults
Normal Fault
FOOTWALL
HANGINGWALL

Types of Faults
Reverse Fault
 In reverse fault, the hanging wall moves upward relative to foot wall.
 Dip angle is generally more than 45o.
 Associated with compressive stresses in crust.

Types of Faults
Thrust Fault
 A special type of reverse fault, in
which the dip of the fault is small
(large movements). Dip angle is
generally less than 30o.
 Associated with compressive
stresses in crust.
 Displacement can be 100’s km
(~60 miles).
 Faulting in subduction zones are
mainly thrust-type.
 Typically associated with folds.
Thrust Fault
Types of Faults
Strike Slip Fault
 Movement occurs parallel to strike.
 Associated with shear stresses in crust.
There are two types of strike slip faults:
 Right lateral strike-slip fault (dextral):
Where the side opposite the observer
moves to the right.
 Left lateral strike-slip fault (sinistral):
Where the side opposite the observer
moves to the left.
Note that the same sense of movement will
also be observed from the other side of the
fault.
Types of Faults
Oblique Fault
 Movement with both dip-slip and strike-slip components.

The End


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LECTURE-05

Department of Civil Engineering

1. What are Geological Structures?

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

 Geological structures are dynamically-produced patterns or

 Structural Geology is that branch of geology which talks about geological

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

 Large scale deformation of the Earth’s crust = Plate Tectonics

 Smaller scale deformation = Structural Geology

 Folds and faults are geological structures

 Structural geology is the study of the deformation of rocks and the

effects of this movement

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Rock Strength: Ability of an object to resist deformation

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

Courtesy: Dr. Irshad Ahmad

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