GEL 213 2 UNITS

INTRODUCTION TO BASIC STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

Introduction
Structural geology – The branch of geology that deals with the form, arrangement,
and internal structure of rocks, and especially with the description, representation,
and analysis of structures, chiefly on a moderate to small scale.
Importance of structural geology
The study of structural geology has a primary importance in economic geology,
both petroleum geology and mining geology. The main target of structural geology
is to use measurements to understand the stress field that resulted in the observed
strain and geometries. We can also understand the structural evolution of a
particular area due to plate tectonics (e.g. mountain building, rifting).
An essential importance of structural geology is to know areas that contain folds
and faults because they can form traps in which the accumulation and
concentration of fluids such as oil and natural gas occur. Environmental
geologists and hydrologists need to understand structural geology because
structures are sites of groundwater flow and penetration which may have an effect
on leakage of toxic materials from waste dumps or leakage of salty water
into aquifers.

Physical Behavior of Rocks: Stress and Geologic Structures

Before exploring geologic structures, we need to look at how rocks respond to the
forces that create the structures. Stress refers to the forces that cause rocks to
deform. There are three basic types of stress that deform rocks:

 compression (pushing together)

 tension (pulling apart)
 shear (twisting or rotating)

In response to stress, rocks will undergo some form of bending or breaking, or

both. The bending or breaking of rock is called deformation or strain.
If rocks tend to break, they are said to be brittle. If a rock breaks, it is said to
undergo brittle behavior. If rocks tend to bend without breaking, they are said to
be ductile. If a rock bends but is able to return to its original position when the
stress is released, it is said to undergo elastic behavior. If a rock bends and stays
bent after stress is released, it is said to undergo plastic behavior.

A combination of elastic and brittle behavior causes earthquakes. Rocks get bent in
an elastic fashion until they reach their limit, then they break in brittle fashion. The
rocks on either side of a break act like rubber bands and snap back into their
original shape. The snap is an earthquake and the break along which the rocks slide
back to their original shape is a fault.

Earthquakes and faults occur in the shallow crust, where rocks are relatively cold
and therefore brittle. In the deep crust and deeper, in the earth's mantle, rocks are
very hot and subject to high pressure caused by the weight of the overlying rock.
This heat and pressure causes deep crustal and mantle rocks to be ductile. In fact,
rocks deep in the continental crust and upper mantle can be so hot and soft that
they behave almost like a slow-moving liquid, even though they are actually solid.
They "flow," or bend, or stretch, in a plastic manner, at a geological pace.

Now let us look at the specific types of geologic structures - the breaks and bends
that deform rock in response to stress.

The basic structural elements are folds, faults, lineation, foliation and joints.

FOLDS
Folds are wavelike deformation patterns in rock layers or other geological
materials that result from the application of stress over a period of time. This
process causes the originally flat or layered rocks to bend and deform, creating
folds that can take on various shapes and sizes. Folds are a common feature in
many geological settings and are important in understanding the deformation
history of rocks and the tectonic processes that have shaped the Earth’s crust.
Classification of Folds
Folds can be classified based on several criteria (Fig.1), including the shape and
geometry of the fold, the relative orientation of the axial plane and fold axis, and
the nature of the fold hinges. Here are some common classifications of folds:

Fig.1 different types of folds

Based on Shape and Geometry:

 a. Symmetrical Fold: A fold in which the two limbs are mirror images of
each other.
 b. Asymmetrical Fold: A fold in which the two limbs are not mirror
images of each other.
 c. Anticline: A fold in which the limbs dip away from the axis of the fold,
and the oldest rocks are at the core of the fold.
 d. Syncline: A fold in which the limbs dip towards the axis of the fold,
and the youngest rocks are at the core of the fold.
 e. Overturned Fold: A fold in which one limb has been tilted beyond the
vertical.
Based on the relative orientation of the axial plane and fold axis:

 a. Horizontal Fold: The axial plane is horizontal, and the fold axis is
vertical.
  b. Plunging Fold: The axial plane is inclined, and the fold axis is inclined
as well.
Based on the nature of the fold hinges:

 a. Tight Fold: The hinge of the fold is sharp and the limbs are close
together.
 b. Open Fold: The hinge of the fold is more gentle and the limbs are
farther apart.
 c. Isoclinal Fold: The limbs are parallel and the hinge is tight.
Different types of folds can form under different conditions of deformation and
tectonic activity. Understanding the classification of folds can help geologists to
interpret the deformation history of rocks and reconstruct the geological evolution
of a region.

Geometry of Folds

The geometry of a fold is defined by several elements, including the fold axis, the
axial plane, and the limbs. These elements can vary in orientation and shape
depending on the type of fold. Here are some common geometric features of folds:

1. Fold Axis: The fold axis is a line drawn along the crest of the fold, which
represents the maximum curvature of the fold. The orientation of the fold
axis can vary from horizontal to vertical, and can be inclined at different
angles depending on the type of fold.
2. Axial Plane: The axial plane is a hypothetical plane that divides the fold
into two limbs. The axial plane is perpendicular to the fold axis and
bisects the angle between the limbs. The orientation of the axial plane can
vary from horizontal to vertical, and can be inclined at different angles
depending on the type of fold.
3. Limbs: The limbs are the two sides of the fold that are separated by the
axial plane. The limbs can have different shapes and orientations
depending on the type of fold. In general, the limbs dip away from the
axis in an anticline and towards the axis in a syncline.
 4. Fold Plunge: The plunge of a fold is the angle between the fold axis and
the horizontal plane. A fold can have different types of plunge, such as
horizontal, vertical, or plunging at a specific angle.
The geometry of folds can provide important information about the type and
intensity of deformation that rocks have undergone. For example, the orientation
and shape of folds can indicate the direction and magnitude of tectonic forces that
have acted on the rocks.

Faults

Fault is a fracture or crack where two rock blocks slide past one to another.
A fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock. Faults allow
the blocks to move relative to each other. This movement may occur rapidly, in the
form of an earthquake - or may occur slowly, in the form of creep. Faults may
range in length from a few millimeters to thousands of kilometers.
Faults may be vertical, horizontal, or inclined at any angle. Although the angle of
inclination of a specific fault plane tends to be relatively uniform, it may differ
considerably along its length from place to place. When rocks slip past each other
in faulting, the upper or overlying block along the fault plane is called the hanging
wall, or headwall; the block below is called the footwall. The fault strike is the
direction of the line of intersection between the fault plane and Earth’s surface.
The dip of a fault plane is its angle of inclination measured from the horizontal.

Types of faults
Types of faults include strike-slip faults, normal faults, reverse faults, thrust
faults, and oblique-slip faults.

1. Normal fault
A normal fault (Fig.2) appears to be that the suspended wall moves downward
relative to the foot wall. The dip angle of the sliding surface is between 45 and 90
degrees. Many normal faults in mountainous regions are caused by gravity along
the edges of the mountains and may be associated with elevation of the head wall
of the slums.
 Fig.2 a Normal fault
2. Reverse fault
Reverse faults (Fig.3) form when the hanging wall moves up. The forces creating
reverse faults are compressional, pushing the sides together. They are common
at convergent boundaries.

Together, normal and reverse faults are called dip-slip faults, because the
movement on them occurs along the dip direction -- either down or up,
respectively.

Fig.3 a reverse fault

3. Strike slip fault
Strike-slip faults (Fig.4) have walls that move sideways, not up or down. That is,
the slip occurs along the strike, not up or down the dip. In these faults, the fault
plane is usually vertical so there is no hanging wall or footwall. The forces creating
these faults are lateral or horizontal, carrying the sides past each other.
Strike-slip faults are either right-lateral or left-lateral. That means someone
standing near the fault trace and looking across it would see the far side move to
the right or to the left, respectively. The one in the picture is left-lateral.
 Fig.4 a strike-slip fault
4. Oblique fault
Although many faults have components of both dip-slip and strike-slip, their
overall movement is usually dominated by one or the other. Those that experience
considerable amounts of both are called oblique faults (Fig.5). A fault with 300
meters of vertical offset and 5 meters of left-lateral offset, for example, would not
normally be considered an oblique fault. A fault with 300 meters of both, on the
other hand, would.

It's important to know a fault's type -- it reflects the kind of tectonic forces that are
acting on a specific area. Because many faults show a combination of dip-slip and
strike-slip motion, geologists use more sophisticated measurements to analyze their
specifics

Fig. 5 an oblique fault

Lineation
Lineation – a fabric element in which one dimension is considerably longer than
the other two. Tectonic linear structures include elongated physical objects –
stained mineral aggregates, conglomerate pebbles – lines of intersection between
two sets of planar structures, and geometrically defined linear features such as fold
hinge lines and crenulation axes.
A lineation is any linear feature or element in a rock, and can occur as the product
of tectonic, mineralogical, sedimentary, or geomorphic processes. Lineations are
the one-dimensional counterparts of foliations, and both are part of the fabric
(geometric organization of features) of a rock. Lineations and foliations are said to
possess preferred orientations (Fig.6), meaning that the spatial orientation of the
features comprising the lineation or foliation is similar throughout the rock mass.
The spatial orientation of a lineation is described by two angles known as bearing
and plunge. The plunge angle is the inclination of the lineation relative to an
imaginary horizontal plane (ranging from 0 to 90 degrees), whereas the bearing
angle is the compass direction of the lineation in the direction of the plunge
(ranging from 0 to 360 degrees)

Fig.6 photograph of rock displaying lineation

Types of lineation
1. Penetrative lineations which build up a linear fabric or L-fabric
2. Surface lineations – restricted to a surface
3. Geometric lineations – fold axes and intersection lineations

Foliation
Foliation is a planar arrangement of structural or textural features in any rock type
(Fig.7) but particularly that resulting from the alignment
of constituent mineral grains of a metamorphic rock of the regional variety along
straight or wavy planes.
It is caused by shearing forces (pressures pushing different sections of the rock in
different directions), or differential pressure (higher pressure from one direction
than in others). The layers form parallel to the direction of the shear, or
perpendicular to the direction of higher pressure.
Foliation often occurs parallel to original bedding, but it may not be ostensibly
related to any other structural direction.
Foliation is exhibited most prominently by sheety minerals, such
as mica or chlorite. However, foliation is most well-developed—that is, the rock
layers have experienced the greatest amount of flattening—in the gneisses and
other coarse-grained rocks of high metamorphic grade (which form under high
pressure and in temperatures above 320 °C [608 °F]).
Regional metamorphism results from the general increase of temperature and
pressure over a large area, and regional metamorphic rocks are usually subdivided
into schist, slate, and gneiss on the basis of grain size and foliation type. The
schists, for example, exhibit strong foliation with partings along well-defined
planes of medium-grained micas or hornblendes. The gneisses, which are
characteristically rich in feldspar and quartz, tend to be coarse-grained. Foliation
among the gneisses appears as distinct alternating bands of platy minerals and
coarse-grained minerals; however, gneisses do not split, or cleave, along their
planes as schists do.
Few contact-metamorphic rocks (which form when an intrusion of igneous
rock meets an existing rock mass) are foliated. Most, such
as hornfels and granulite, tend to be granular.

Fig.7. photograph of rock exhibiting foliation

Types of foliation
They are basically 4 types of foliation associated to metamorphic rocks.
The various types of foliated metamorphic rocks, listed in order of the grade or
intensity of metamorphism and the type of foliation are slate, phyllite, schist, and
gneiss

Joints
A joint is a break (fracture or extensional fracture) of natural origin in a layer or
body of rock that lacks visible or measurable movement parallel to the surface
(plane) of the fracture. Although joints can occur singly, they most frequently
appear as joint sets and systems. (Fig.8)
Joints occur in all types of rocks. They may be vertical, inclines or even horizontal.
Their dip and strike are measured in the same way as that of sedimentary strata.
Fig.8 photograph showing vertical, horizontal and incline joints

Joints are formed as a result of contraction due to cooling or consolidation of

rocks. They are also formed when the rocks are subjected to compression or
tension during earth movements.

Joint sets and systems

Joints are ubiquitous features of rock exposures and often form families of straight
to curviplanar fractures typically perpendicular to the layer boundaries in
sedimentary rocks.
A set is a group of joints with similar orientation and morphology. Several sets
usually occur at the same place with no apparent interaction, giving exposures a
blocky or fragmented appearance. Two or more sets of joints present together in an
exposure compose a joint system.