COLEGIO DE DAGUPAN

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
22-CEE-01

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY
AND
ROCK MECHANICS

GROUP 2
TIRONES, CHRISTOPHER RADOC
CRISTOBAL, KYLE JOSHUA GAMAZON
NAVARRO, MA. TERESA EMBRADORA
BAMBALAN, ANTHONY MARCO CERA
ILUMIN, JESSAMAE DELA CRUZ
DAROY, ARJAY DIMALANTA
RAROQUE, PRINCE GERO MONTENEGRO
BIAGTAS, SEAN CARLOS SALES
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY AND ROCK MECHANICS

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY

Structural geology deals with the geometric relationships of rocks and

geologic features in general. The scope of structural geology is vast, ranging
in size from submicroscopic lattice defects in crystals to mountain belts and
plate boundaries.

Structural geology is the study of factors such as origin, occurrence,

classification, type and effects of various secondary structures like folds,
faults, joints, rock cleavage and are different from those primary structures
such as bedding and vesicular structure, which develop in rocks at the time
of their formation.

Any Geological formation exposed on the surface is called an outcrop.

STRIKE AND DIP

Strike refers to the direction in which a geological structure is present. The
strike direction may be defined as the direction of the trace of the
intersection between the bedding plane.
Dip literally means slope or inclination. In structural geology dip is expressed
both as direction and amount. The dip direction is the direction along which
the inclination of the bedding plane occurs.

Folds are one of the most common geological structures found in rocks.
When a set of horizontal layers are subjected to compressive forces, they
bend either upward or downward. The bend noticed in rocks are called folds.
• In terms of their nature too, folds may occur as single local bends or may
occur repeatedly and intricately folded to the tectonic history of the region.
CLASSIFICATION AND TYPES OF FOLDS
Usually, folds are classified on the basis of:
• Symmetrical Character
• Upward or Downward Bend
• Occurrence of Plunge
• Uniformity of Bed Thickness
• Behavior of the Fold Pattern with Depth

Anticline
• When the beds are bent upwards, the resulting fold is called anticline. This
fold is convex upwards. Naturally, in such a fold, the older beds occur
towards the concave side, In a simple case, the limbs of anticline slope in
opposite directions with reference to its axial plane. But when the anticline is
refolded, the inclined character of limbs will be complicated.

Syncline
• Syncline is just opposite to anticline in its nature, i.e. when the beds are bent
downwards the resulting fold is called syncline. This fold is convex
downwards. In this the younger beds occur towards the concave side and, in a
simple type of syncline, its limbs dip towards each other with reference to the
axial plane.
Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Folds
• When the axial plane divides a fold into two equal halves in such a way that one half
is the mirror image, then the fold is called as symmetrical fold. If the compressive
forces responsible for folding are not of the same magnitude, asymmetrical folds are
formed.

Plunging and Non-Plunging Folds

• The plunge of a fold has already been described as the inclination of the
fold axis to the horizontal plane. Based on this, i.e. whether the axis of a fold
is inclined or horizontal, the folds are grouped as plunging folds or non-
plunging folds.
• In geological maps, when strike lines are drawn for both the limbs, for a
non-plunging fold, they will be mutually parallel and for a plunging fold they
will be either converging or diverging but not parallel.

Similar and Parallel Folds

• Based on whether the shape of folds remain the same or altered with depth, folds are
grouped as similar or parallel folds. In the case of similar folds, the shape or pattern of
folds remain the same at depths also. But in the case of parallel folds, the crest and
trough become pointed or angular.
Miscellaneous Folds
• Usually, in simple folds, the limbs show the order of superposition. But when one of
the limb is overturned, the order of superposition of beds in that limb will be in reverse
order and such a fold is called an overturned fold.
.

Chevron folds
• Usually, the crest and troughs of beds are smoothly curved. But some folds have
sharply bent, angular crest and troughs, such folds are known as “Chevron
folds”.

Isoclinal Folds
• Usually, the folds have inclined limbs, i.e. the limbs will be mutually diverging or
converging with reference to axial planes. But in some folds, the limbs will be mutually
parallel to a great extent. Such folds are called isoclinals folds. These folds may be
vertical inclined or horizontal.
Fan Folds
• Usually in simple anticlines, the limbs dip away from one another and in simple
synclines they dip towards each other. But in the case of fan folds, this trend is just the
opposite, i.e. in anticlines of fan folds, the limbs dip towards each other with reference
to their axial plane. In synclines of this kind, the limbs dip away from each other. As the
term suggests, these folds are fan shaped.

Domes and Basins

• Usually, a fold will have two distinct limbs. But some folds do not have any such
specific limbs and appear as beds locally pushed up or down, i.e. their shapes appear as
dome or basin. In a dome, which resembles an upper hemisphere, the dips are found in
all sides from the common central top point. Thus, this is a type of anticline. In the
basin, which is like a bowl, the slopes are just opposite.

sinst
Geanticlines and Geosynclines
• The anticlines and synclines with a normal shape but a very large magnitude are
called Geanticlines and Geosynclines.

Drag Folds
• These are the minor asymmetrical folds within major folds but confined only to
incompetent beds which are sandwiched between competent formations. These develop
because of the shearing/ dragging effect.

MECHANISMS OF FOLDING
Folding of rocks takes place by different ways of accommodation of stress. In many
cases, slips or shear occur in between the beds.
• The process is similar to slipping of cards which occurs when the set is fold. If they
are not allowed to slip over one another, folding of the set cannot take place.
• This is the way in which folding generally occur in the case of hard and competent
rock like quartzites.
• In another kind of folding, folds are characterized by thinning of the limbs and
thickening of crest and troughs. This takes place commonly in weak and incompetent
rocks like shales.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF FOLDING
Most of the important folds, as already pointed out, are due to tectonic causes. But a
few folds of a minor type are due to non-tectonic causes,
• Mainly, the compressive and shear type of tectonic forces are responsible for the
folding phenomenon. Igneous intrusion of viscous magmas such as laccoliths and
lopoliths
also contribute to folding.
• Non-tectonic causes like landslides, creeping, differential compaction, isostatic setting
and glaciations too are responsible for some folds. These are minor in terms of
frequency of occurrence and magnitude.
• When a folded area is affected by weathering and erosion, interesting
topographic features are produced as follows, immediately after folding,
anticlines by virtue of their upward bending appear as hills and synclines due to
downward warping appear as valley.
• During folding in the crest portions, the geological formation are subjected to
tensional forces and hence numerous fractures appear there. Because of these
fractures, crest portions are eroded quickly leading to conspicuous degradations
locally.
• On the other hand, trough portion are highly compressed and hence offer a
greater resistance to erosion. Thus, they stand out in the long run at a greater
elevation, while the adjacent parts degrade fast. The net result of this response
to erosion is that the anticlines will change over to valleys, while synclines
change over to hills. This paradoxical phenomenon is popularly expressed as
“anticlinal valleys and Synclinal hills”. The anticlinal valley is the typical example
of inliers and the synclinal hill are example of outlier.

FAULTS
From the Civil engineering point of view, faults are the most unfavorable and
undesirable geological structures at the site for any given purpose, i.e. for location of
reservoir; as foundations site for construction of dams, importance bridges or huge
buildings, for tunneling; for laying roads, railways tracks, etc.
• This is because faults considerably weaken the rocks and render the sites in which
they occur as unfavorable places for all constructional purposes.
• Further, as long as the faults are active, the site is unstable and susceptible to
upward, downward or sideward movement along the fault plane, thereby making the
places highly hazardous for foundation purposes. Thus, by virtue of the harm they are
capable of causing, faults are necessarily investigated with special care in dealing with
any major construction.
JOINTS AND FAULTS
Structurally, faults may be described as fractures along which relative displacement of
adjacent blocks has taken place.
• If such relative displacement does not take place on either side of fracture plane, it
is called a joint. Thus, both joint and faults are fractures in rocks but with difference in
the kind of displacement. Joints may be described as a set of aligned parallel cracks or
openings in geological formations.

NATURE OF FAULT PLANE

Rarely the displacement during faulting occurs along a single fault plane.

In many cases, faulting takes place along a number of parallel fractures, Such a zone
which contains a number of closely spaced sub-parallel fractures along which the
relative displacement has taken place is called shear zone or fault zone.
• A fault plane may be plain or straight or may be curved or irregular, it may be
horizontal or inclined or vertical.

RECURRENCE OF FAULTING
Faulting occurs when shearing resistance of the geological formation is overcome
by the tectonics forces. Occurrence of faulting is often accompanied by earthquakes
and it is an indication of subsurface instability of the region concerned.
 Thus, faulting may be treated as an attempt to reach stability. Because of the
hard, rigid and solid nature of the rock masses involved, this stability is not achieved in
one stroke but by repetition of the process.

PARTS OF A FAULT
The different parts of a fault are:
1. Fault Plane
- This is the plane along which the adjacent blocks were relatively displaced. In
other words, this is the fracture surface on either side of which the rocks had moved
past one another. Its intersection with the horizontal plane gives the strike direction of
the fault. The direction along which the fault plane has the maximum slope is its true
dip direction.

2. Foot Wall and Hanging Wall

- When the fault plane is inclined, the faulted block which lies below the fault plane
is called the “foot wall” and the other block which rests above the fault plane is called
“hanging wall”. In this case of vertical faults, naturally the faulted blocks cannot be
described as foot wall or hanging wall.
3. Slip
- The displacement that occurs during faulting is called the slip. The total
displacement is known as the next slip. This may be along the strike direction or the dip
direction or along both.

4. Heave and Throw

- The horizontal component of displacement is called “heave” and the vertical
component of displacement is called “throw” • In vertical faults, there is only throw, but
no heave. In horizontal faults, there is only heave, but no throw.
Like folds, faults also have been classified on the basis of different principles
as:
• Types of displacement along the plane.
• Relative movement of foot wall and hanging wall.
• Types of slip involved.
• Mode of occurrence of faults.
If the kind of displacement of the hanging wall is opposite to this, the fault is
called Reverse faults or thrust fault. These terms also are appropriate
because in such fault plane and, therefore the type of displacement is the
reverse of the normally expected downward movement of the hanging wall
under such a condition.
• If the relative displacement of the hanging wall is neither upwards nor
downwards with reference to the inclined fault plane, but sidewards, then
such faults are described as Sinistral Faults.
Types of Slip Involved
• Slip has been already described as the displacement along the fault plane.
If the displacement is along the strike direction of the fault plane, such a
fault is described as strike slip fault. On the other hand. If the displacement
occurs partly along the strike direction of the fault plane, such a fault is
called an oblique slip fault.
Mode of Occurrence

Radial Faults
• When a set of faults occur on the surface and appears to be radiating from
a common point, they are called radial faults.

En echelon Faults
• These refer to a series of minor faults which appear to be overlapping one
another.

Arcuate or Peripheral Faults

• These also refers to a set of relatively minor faults which have curved
outcrop and are arranged in a peripheral manner, enclosing more or less a
circular area.

Miscellaneous
Step Faults
• When a set of parallel normal faults occur at a regular interval, they give a step-like
appearance and are called step faults.

Parallel Faults
• As the name indicates, these are a set of parallel normal faults with the same strike
and dip. They are like step faults but may or may not have a regular interval.

Horst and Grabens

• When normal faults with mutually diverging or converging fault plane occurs, then a
few wedge-shaped blocks called “horst” are displaced upwards and a few other called
“grabens” are displaced downwards. Horst and Grabens of large magnitude are called
block mountain and rift valleys.

CAUSES OF FAULTING

Faults may occur due to various causes; among them tectonic causes are responsible
not only for most of the faults but also for faults of grater magnitude.
• It may be recollected that faults develop mainly due to shear and sliding failures
resulting from tectonic forces. It is natural that compression and tensional forces be
mutually interlinked because if in one part of the crust there is compression, in the
adjacent part there will be tension.
• In addition to these main causes, sometimes, the formation of magmatic intrusions
such as bysmaliths, may also contribute to faulting, though on a very small scale.
Occasionally, local settlement under the influence of gravity may also cause minor
faulting.
EFFECTS OF FAULTING

• The faulting phenomenon produces dislocation in lithology and

topography. Hence, they offer evidences to recognize faults in the field.
Proper geological investigation followed by geological mapping
enables one to detect the occurrence of faults in any area.

• Slickness, fault drags, brecciation, mineralization zones, repetition and

omission of strata and offsets of beds are some of the lithological
evidences of Faulting.

• Topographical evidences include various surface features like, offset

ridges, parallel deflection of valley, reversal of drainage, straight
reverse courses, and a straight and steep coastal line.
JOINTS
Joints are fractures found in all types of rocks. They are cracks or openings formed due
to various reasons. Naturally, the presence of joints divides the rock into number of
parts or blocks. In simple terms, through the joints may be described as mere cracks in
rocks, they differ mutually. Joints, like cleavages of minerals, occur oriented in a
definite direction and as a set.

Effects of Joints
• From the civil engineering point of view, joints are important because they
split the rocks into a number of pieces which, in turn, reduce the competence
of rock mass, increase the porosity and permeability and make them
susceptible to quick decay and weathering.
• But a few advantages that accompany joints are; their occurrence
increases the ground water potential in any place.
Joints, though they resemble faults by appearing as fractures in rocks, are
not as dangerous as faults. This is so primarily because the region affected
by joint are not liable to recurrence of joints in future as happens in the case
of faults. Thus, places where joints occur are not very unstable for
foundation purpose. Also, the area affected by joints can be easily improved
by methods such as suitable cement grouting or plugging.

Parts of a Joint
• Joints like faults, refer to the fracture in rocks. Hence, like faults, inclined and vertical
joints also can be described by their attitude.
• However, in joints the fracturing blocks are not named as footwall or hanging wall.

Classification based on the relative attitude of joints:

• When the joints are parallel to the strike and dip of adjacent beds, they are called
Strike Joints or Dip Joints, respectively.
• If the strike direction of joints is parallel neither to the strike nor dip direction of
adjacent beds, then such joints are called Oblique Joints.
• If the strike direction, dip direction and dip amount coincide completely with the
attitude of adjacent beds, they are called bedding joints.
Classification based on the Origin of Joints
• Most of the joints are formed due to either tensional forces or shearing forces.
Accordingly, they are described as Tension or Shear Joint.
 UNCONFORMITIES

Unconformity is one of the common geological structure found in rocks. It is

somewhat different from other structures like folds, faults and joints in which the rock is
distorted, deformed or dislocated at a particular place.
Still, unconformity is a product of diastrophism and involve tectonic activity
in the form of upliftment and subsidence of land mass.

When a sedimentary rock is formed continuously or regularly one after

another without any major brake, they are said to be conformable beds, and
this phenomenon is called conformity. All the beds belonging to conformable
set shall possess the same strike direction, dip direction and dip amount.

• On the other hand, if a major break occurs in sedimentation in between

two sets of conformable beds, it is called an unconformity.
PARTS OF AN UNCOMFORMITY

There are different types of unconformities, all the types have two different
ages, i.e. one set is older and the other set is younger having a depositional
break in between).

Hiatus
• An unconformity which represent a long geological period during which break in
sedimentation had occurred is known as a “hiatus”.
Types of Unconformities
• Based on factors such as type of rocks, relative attitude of sets involved
and their extent of occurrence, the different types of unconformities are
named as
Non-Conformity
• When the underlying older formation are represented by igneous or
metamorphic rocks and the overlying younger formation are sedimentary
rocks, the unconformity is called “non-conformity”.

TYPES OF AN UNCONFORMITY

Angular Unconformity
• When the younger bed and older set of strata are not mutually parallel, then the
unconformity is called “angular unconformity”. In such a case, beds of one set occur
with a greater tilt or folding.

Disconformities
• On the other hand, if the bed of the younger and older set is mutually parallel and
the contact plane of two sets is only an erosion surface, then the unconformity is called
“disconformities” in this case, the lower set of beds have undergone denudation before
the deposition of the overlying strata commenced.

Paraconformity
• When the two sets of beds are parallel and the contact is a simple bedding plane, the
unconformity is called “paraconformity”. In such cases, the unconformities are inferred
by features like sudden change in fossil content or in lithological nature.

Regional and Local Unconformities

• When an unconformity extends over a larger or over a greater area, it if called
regional unconformity. On the other hand, if an unconformity occurs over a relatively
small area, it is called local unconformity.
UNCONFORMITY RECOGNITION OF UNCONFORMITIES

Some of the evidences which helps in the recognition of unconformity are:

• Difference in attitude of two adjacent sets of beds.
• Remarkable difference in nature, age and types of beds.
• Occurrence of residual soil/ laterite/bauxite along the unconformity surface.
• Considerable difference in the degree of metamorphism of two adjacent sets of beds.
• Stratification correlation and lithological peculiarities.
• All of these and other evidences are inherently linked up with the processes of
unconformity formation.

SUMMARY
Structural geology is obviously important in all aspects of engineering like in
petroleum industry as it helps in identifying the locations that may have
traps such as folds and faults which are good for the accumulation of oil &
natural gas. Also, structural geology provides a better understanding on the
feasibility, planning and design, construction and costing, and the safety of a
project that may depend critically on the geological conditions where the
construction will take place.

ROCK MECHANICS

Three classification of rocks:

 Sedimentary
 Metamorphic
 Igneous

ROCK MECHANICS
Theoretical and applied science of the mechanical behavior of rock and rock masses;
compared to geology, it is that branch of mechanics concerned with the response of
rock and rock masses to the force fields of their physical environment.
The study of rock behavior in the solid state under varying environmental and internal
conditions:
– Main focus is how rocks respond to applied stresses, especially those that naturally
occur due to:
– Gravity
– Mantle Convection
– Plate Tectonics
– Diapiric Movements: magma, salt diapirs
Challenges and opportunities
New ideas to solve the challenges provide opportunities for economic
benefits:

Stress
– Same as Pressure
– = Force/Area
– Units in Earth Sciences are MPa = 106 Pa = 10 bars =10 atm

STRAIN
– Response to or result of applied stress
– Linear strain is defined as (L1 – L0)/L0
– Volumetric strain = (V1-V0)/V0
– Areal Strain = (A1-A0)/A0
– Strain is usually expressed as a percent change

Environmental Conditions affecting rock behavior

Stress Factors:
- Applied Stress
- Stress History
- Duration
- How stress applied over time
- Temperature
- Pore Fluids and Pressure

Lithospheric Pressure
- Rocks which are generally associated in field belongs to lithosphere (crust and
upper mantle) By increasing depth over burden increases that results in changing
rock properties such as density, rigidity etc.
Rock Texture/Fabric

- Grain size
- Interlocking or grains in cement
- Sorting
- Foliation/non-foliated
- Sedimentary layering
RIGID AND BRITTLE BEHAVIORS
Rigid:
- No strain, no response
- Most rocks show rigid behavior at room T and no Pc, and at stresses below Pa

Brittle:
- No strain before failure
- In ideal brittle behavior, if stress is removed before rock fails, there will be no
internal signs of strain.

IMPORTANT TERMS:
- Brittle failure
- Shear failure
- Standup time
- Rock strength
- Spalling
- Wedge failure
- Squeezing
BRITTLE FAILURE

A material is brittle if, when subjected to stress, it breaks without significant

deformation(strain).

SHEAR FAILURE

A shear load is a force that tends to produce a sliding failure on material

along a plane that is parallel to the direction of force.

ROCK STRENGTH

The compressive strength of rock is a function of the confining pressure. As

the confining pressure increases so does the strength. (Goodman, Intro to
Rock Mechanics.)
SPALLING

Spall are flakes of a material that are broken off a larger solid body and can
be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of weathering,
cavitation. Spalling and spallation both describe the process of surface
failure in which spall is shed.

Mechanism of Spalling in Reinforced Concrete Slab Due to Steel Corrosion

WEDGE FAILURE

Wedge failure of rock slope results when rock mass slides along two
intersecting discontinuities forming a wedge-shaped block.
SQUEEZING

- Generally, compression
- Forces acts in opposite direction
- Results in decrease in length, volume, area.

CHALLENGES

- Spalling
- Standup time of rock
- Maximum cost risks
- Challenges in infrastructures
- Support challenges during deep excavation
- Wedge failure
- Brittle rock challenges

CAUSE OF CHALLENGES:
- Not sufficient knowledge about behavior of rock
- Ignorance
- Neglecting small observations
- Not sufficient familiarity with rock mechanics

SUMMARY
Rock mechanics produce a systematic analysis on the target area’s structural
geology to verify the area’s properties and to serve as a basis for modelling.
The engineering properties of rocks are those that are important to the
behavior or integrity of a structure or an excavation. Rock mechanics is an
important field in civil engineering as it applies in the majority of
infrastructure projects including dams, roads, tunnels, bridges, buildings,
and protection of slopes.
REFERENCES:

https://www.slideshare.net/gauravhtandon1/structural-geology

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_mechanics

https://petrowiki.spe.org/Structural_geology

http://www.geosci.usyd.edu.au/users/prey/Patrice_Intro_to_SG.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289283872_The_significance_of_structural_g

eology_in_rock_mechanics https://people.wou.edu/~taylors/es406_structure/intro.pdf