Endogenic

Process
Lesson 2 Ms. Rosal
RECALL

Can you still recall the

definition of metamorphic
rocks?

What causes the

metamorphism of rocks?
 Agents of Metamorphism

❏ Heat
❏ Pressure
❏ Chemically Active Fluids
 Metamorphism
❏ During metamorphism the material essentially
remains solid.
❏ The changes that occur in metamorphosed
rocks are textural as well as mineralogical.
❏ The mineral makeup of the parent rock
determines, to a large extent, the degree to
which each metamorphic agent will cause
change.
Process Question:
Describe the temperature and pressure conditions associated
with each of the two types of metamorphism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oQ1J0w3x0o
 Metamorphism most often occurs in
two settings:
(1) when rock is in contact with magma,
contact metamorphism occurs

(2) when continental convergence and

mountain-building occur, extensive
areas of rock undergo regional
metamorphism and subduction zone
metamorphism
 How do heat and pressure affect the
metamorphic rock formation? Answer this
question by putting a check mark on the boxes
each number.
❏ Heat and pressure increases
with depth.
❏ Contact metamorphism
creates non-foliated and
fine metamorphic rocks.
❏ Marble rock is created
either by contact or
regional metamorphism.
❏ Pressure is the main factor
of contact metamorphism.
❏ Slate and gneiss are
examples of foliated rocks.
Deformation of the Earth’s Crust:
Folding and Faulting

a. unstrained and b. strained rocks

Stress In Earth’s Crust
Enormous slabs of lithosphere move
unevenly over the planet’s spherical surface,
resulting in earthquakes. This lesson deals
with two types of geological activity that
occur because of plate tectonics: mountain
building and earthquakes. First, we will
consider what can happen to rocks when
they are exposed to stress.
 Causes and Types of Stress
Stress is the force applied to an object. In
geology, stress is the force per unit area that is
placed on a rock. Four types of stresses act on
materials.

1. confining stress 3. tension

2. compression 4. shear
 Causes and Types of Stress
1. confining stress 3. tension
2. compression 4. shear
 Causes and Types of Stress
A deeply buried rock is
pushed down by the
weight of all the material
above it. Since the rock
cannot move, it cannot
deform. This is
called confining stress.
 Causes and Types of Stress
Compression squeezes
rocks together, causing
rocks to fold or fracture
(break) Compression is the
most common stress at
convergent plate
boundaries. Stress caused these rocks to fracture
 Causes and Types of Stress
Rocks that are pulled
apart are under tension.
Rocks under tension
lengthen or break apart.
Tension is the major type
of stress at divergent plate
boundaries.
 Causes and Types of Stress
When forces are parallel but
moving in opposite
directions, the stress is
called shear .Shear stress is
the most common stress at
transform plate boundaries.
Remember

❏ When stress causes a material to change

shape, it has undergone strain or
deformation. Deformed rocks are
common in geologically active areas.

❏ A rock’s response to stress depends on

the rock type, the surrounding
temperature, and pressure conditions the
rock is under, the length of time the rock
is under stress, and the type of stress.
Remember

Rocks have three possible responses to

increasing stress
1. elastic deformation: the rock
returns to its original shape when
the stress is removed.
2. plastic deformation: the rock
does not return to its original
shape when the stress is
removed.
3. fracture: the rock breaks.
With increasing stress,
the rock undergoes:
(1) elastic deformation,
(2) plastic deformation,
and (3) fracture.
● Under what conditions do
you think a rock is more
likely to fracture?

● Is it more likely to break

deep within Earth’s crust
or at the surface?

● What if the stress applied

is sharp rather than
gradual?
Remember

At the Earth’s surface, rocks usually

break quite quickly, but deeper in the
crust, where temperatures and pressures
are higher, rocks are more likely to
deform plastically.

Sudden stress, such as a hit with a

hammer, is more likely to make a rock
break. Stress applied over time often
leads to plastic deformation.
 Geologic Structures
❏ Sedimentary rocks are important for deciphering
the geologic history of a region because they follow
certain rules.
❏ Sedimentary rocks are formed with the oldest layers
on the bottom and the youngest on top.
❏ Sediments are deposited horizontally, so
sedimentary rock layers are originally horizontal, as
are some volcanic rocks, such as ash falls.
❏ Sedimentary rock layers that are not horizontal are
deformed.
Folds
Rocks deforming plastically under compressive stresses
crumple into folds . They do not return to their original
shape. If the rocks experience more stress, they may undergo
more folding or even fracture.

Snow accentuates the fold

exposed in these rocks in
Provo Canyon, Utah.
Folds
Rocks deforming plastically under
compressive stresses crumple into folds .

1. mononcline
a simple bend in the rock layers so

that they are no longer horizontal

2. anticline
a fold that arches upward

3. syncline
a fold that bends downward
Joint
A rock under enough stress will fracture. If there is no
movement on either side of a fracture, the fracture is called
a joint.

Granite rocks in Joshua

Tree National Park
showing horizontal and
vertical jointing. These
joints formed when the
confining stress was
removed from the granite.
Fault
if the blocks of rock on one or both sides of a fracture move,
the fracture is called a fault .Sudden motions along faults
cause rocks to break and move suddenly. The energy released
is an earthquake.

Faults are easy to

recognize as they cut
across bedded rocks.
 SLIP
❏ Slip is the distance rocks move along
a fault.
❏ Slip can be up or down the fault
plane.
❏ Slip is relative, because there is
usually no way to know whether both
sides moved or only one.
 FAULT
❏ Faults lie at an angle to the horizontal surface of the
Earth. That angle is called the fault’s dip.
❏ The dip defines which of two basic types a fault is. If
the fault’s dip is inclined relative to the horizontal, the
fault is a dip-slip fault .
❏ There are two types of dip-slip faults. In normal faults,
the hanging wall drops down relative to the footwall.
In reverse faults, the footwall drops down relative to
the hanging wall.
Thrust Fault
is a type of reverse fault in which the fault plane angle is nearly
horizontal. Rocks can slip many miles along thrust faults

At Chief Mountain in
Montana
Normal Fault
Normal faults can be huge. They are responsible for uplifting
mountain ranges in regions experiencing tensional stress

The Teton Range in

Wyoming rose up along a
normal fault.
Strike Slip Fault
is a dip-slip fault in which the dip of the fault plane is vertical.
Strike-slip faults result from shear stresses
 Stress and Mountain Building
Two converging continental plates
smash upwards to create mountain
ranges . Stresses from this uplift
cause folds, reverse faults, and thrust
faults, which allow the crust to rise
upwards.
(a) The world’s
highest mountain
range, the
Himalayas, is
growing from the
collision between the
Indian and the
Eurasian plates.

b) The crumpling of
the Indian and
Eurasian plates of
continental crust
creates the
Himalayas.
 Stress and Mountain Building

Subduction of oceanic lithosphere at

convergent plate boundaries also
builds mountain ranges
The Andes
Mountains are a
chain of
continental arc
volcanoes that
build up as the
Nazca Plate
subducts beneath
the South
American Plate.
 Basin and Range
When tensional stresses pull crust
apart, it breaks into blocks that slide
up and drop down along normal faults.
The result is alternating mountains
and valleys, known as a
basin-and-range
(a) In basin-and-range, some blocks are uplifted to form
ranges, known as horsts, and some are down-dropped to
form basins, known as grabens.
(b) Mountains in Nevada are of classic basin-and-range
form.
Strain In Earth’s Crust
In response to stress, the rocks of the earth
undergo strain, also known as deformation.

Strain is any change in volume or shape.

 Types of Strain
1. elastic strain

2. ductile strain

3. fracture
Elastic Strain
is reversible. Rock that has undergone only elastic strain will go
back to its original shape if the stress is released.
Ductile Strain
irreversible. A rock that has undergone ductile strain will
remain deformed even if the stress stops. Another term for
ductile strain is plastic deformation.
Fracture
is also called rupture. A rock that has ruptured has abruptly
broken into distinct pieces. If the pieces are offset—shifted in
opposite directions from each other—the fracture is a fault.
ductile or brittle
The factors that determine whether a rock is
ductile or brittle include:
● Composition—Some minerals, such as quartz,
tend to be brittle and are thus more likely to
break under stress. Other minerals, such as
calcite, clay, and mica, tend to be ductile and
can undergo much plastic deformation. In
addition, the presence of water in rock tends
to make it more ductile and less brittle.
ductile or brittle
The factors that determine whether a rock is
ductile or brittle include:

● Temperature—Rocks become softer (more

ductile) at higher temperature. Rocks at
mantle and core temperatures are ductile and
will not fracture under the stresses that occur
deep within the earth. The crust, and to some
extent the lithosphere, are cold enough to
fracture if the stress is high enough.
ductile or brittle
The factors that determine whether a rock is ductile or
brittle include:

● Lithostatic pressure—The deeper in the earth a rock

is, the higher the lithostatic pressure it is subjected
to. High lithostatic pressure reduces the possibility of
fracture because the high pressure closes fractures
before they can form or spread. The high lithostatic
pressures of the earth’s sub-lithospheric mantle and
solid inner core, along with the high temperatures,
are why there are no earthquakes deep in the earth.
ductile or brittle
The factors that determine whether a rock is
ductile or brittle include:

● Strain rate—The faster a rock is being

strained, the greater its chance of fracturing.
Even brittle rocks and minerals, such as
quartz, or a layer of cold basalt at the earth’s
surface, can undergo ductile deformation if
the strain rate is slow enough.
Summary
❏ Stress is the force applied to a rock and may
cause deformation. The three main types of
stress are typical of the three types of plate
boundaries: compression at convergent
boundaries, tension at divergent boundaries,
and shear at transform boundaries.
❏ Where rocks deform plastically, they tend to fold.
Brittle deformation brings about fractures and
faults.
❏ The two main types of faults are dip-slip (the
fault plane is inclined to the horizontal) and
strike-slip (the fault plane is perpendicular to the
horizontal).
❏ The world’s largest mountains grow at
convergent plate boundaries, primarily by thrust
faulting and folding.