DEFORMATION AND
STRUCTURES
AGY 201
ROCK DEFORMATION
• When a force is applied to a material, it deforms i.e. stress is the force per unit
area (pressure)
• The response to stress is called strain or deformation in the change in either
shape or volume of the material undergoing stress. The other name for strain is
deformation.
• Shape change can be in form of thicker to thinner
• Volume change can be in the form of compression to reduction
• Deformation may or may not permanent i.e. permanent or temporary
• Every solid material has inner/inherent strength which is the ability of the
material to withstand stress. Once the stress exceed the strength of the material,
the object will DEFORM.
• STRESS > (GREATER THAN) STRENGTH = DEFORMATION
TYPES OF STRESS
• There are two fundamentally different kinds of stresses
• COMPRESSION/COMPRESSIVE
• TENSION/TENSILE
• COMPRESSIONAL STRESS; these are the forces that act towards each other;
in some cases the forces are directly opposite to each other and the
material is quizzed/compressed
• In other cases, the forces are directed towards each other but along parallel
unopposing paths, one part grinding against each other (shear forces)
• TENSIONAL STRESS: The stresses involve in tension act directly opposite
each other and along parallel paths but they act away from each other.
Pictures of tensile and compressive
stresses
SOURCES OF STRESSES
• The stresses that deform the rocks of the earth crust have many
sources. The greatest sources are associated with the PLATE
MARGINS. Please read on PLATE TECTONICS
Tensional stresses are generated at the divergent margins while
enormous compressional stresses are created at the convergent
margins. Other localized and significantly less intense stresses are
generated by a number of processes e.g. frost wedging, the near-
explosive impact of waves at the base of a wave cut cliff and the force
of gravity
KINDS OF DEFORMATION
• Deformation could lead to the following kinds of deformation
• Elastic
• Plastic
• Brittle
ELASTIC DEFORMATION
• This is the first response to stress. The characteristics of elastic
deformation when the stress is released, the object return to its
original form. It is not permanently deformed i.e. temporary
deformation. Elastic deformation is not preserved in the rock.
• At some point during deformation, deformation will begins to
increase non linearly with stresses signaling that the material has
reached its elastic limit. If the material is stressed beyond the elastic
limit. It will undergo permanent deformation (PLASTIC OR BRITTLE
DEFORMATION)
PLASTIC DEFORMATION
• If stresses are applied slowly especially under conditions of high confining
pressure and high temperature. The material will begin to undergo PLASTIC
DEFORMATION.
• During this deformation, the energy applied to the object is absorbed
internally by friction and is used to re-arrange the make up of the material as
its flows to take up a new shape. When the stress is release, the object
remains deformed i.e. it cannot go back to its original shape…..a change in
shape of that material
• It requires such high confining temperatures and pressures that they can not
be achieved near earth surface. They are only observed at the earth surface
after they have been uplifted. The environment of deformation is very deep.
BRITTLE DEFORMATION
• When some materials are subjected to high rate of stress application
especially under low confining pressures and low temperatures.
• They break with little or no plastic deformation beyond the elastic
limit.
• Once you break something it is referred to as BRITTLE
DEFORMATION. Such materials are said to have undergone BRITTLE
DEFORMATION.
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
• They are evidences of deformations on rock in geologic time. i.e.
structures are produced as a result of deformational activities.
Structures include FOLD, FAULT and JOINT
• The plastic or ductile response to stress produces FOLDS. Presence of
folds in rocks indicated that the rocks has undergone PLASTIC or
DUCTILE ROCK DEFORMATION
• FAULTS AND JOINTS are formed by BRITTLE DEFORMATION.
FOLDS
• Bends or buckles in any pre-existing structure as a result of DEFORMATION.
• They are formed primarily by compressional stresses and may also be formed by shear
forces where compressive forces act along parallel non opposing paths but most folds
formed by directly opposing forces.
• There are three kinds of folds
• MONOCLINE: this is the simplest fold in which the layers are tilted in one direction, having
the same dip in the same direction
• SYNCLINE: a generally u-shaped fold or structure in stratified rock containing
stratigraphically younger/youngest rocks towards the center of curvature unless it has
been overturned
• ANTICLINE: a fold of upwardly convex shape that contains stratigraphically older/oldest
rocks in its core
• Normally, anticlines and synclines form together in a very large area, they are found in
metamorphic terrain and it can occur in any terrain
• Open folds have the limbs that dip gently, and the
angle between the limbs is large.
Isoclinal fold in which limbs are nearly parallel to
one another, implies even larger shortening strain
or shear strain.
Overturned fold is when the axial plane is inclined to such
a degree that the fold limbs dip in the same direction.
Recumbent folds are overturned to such an extent that the
Limbs are essentially horizontal. These are found in the cores
Of mountain ranges such as Canadian Rockies and record extreme
Shortening and shearing of the crust typically associated with plate
tectonics
FAULTS
• Are fractures in bedrock along which sliding has taken place.
• Are fractures in earth materials along which the opposite sides have been
relatively displaced parallel to the plane of movement.
• The displacement may be only several centimeters or may involve hundreds
of kilometres.
• The surface along which movement takes place is known as the fault plane
• Are relative planar breaks in lithosphere along which the rocks have been
offset. All faults form as a result of shear.
• The frequency of faulting is highest near the earth surface where the rocks
are most brittle and decreases with depth as the rocks become increasingly
PLASTIC
TERMS
• FAULT PLANE: The surface of the fault
• HANGING WALL: Rocks above the fault plane
• FOOT WALL: Rocks below the fault plane
KINDS OF FAULT- DIP-SLIP FAULT
• In a dip-slip fault, the movement is up
or down parallel to the dip of the
inclined fault surface. The side of the
fault above the inclined fault surface is
called the hanging wall, whereas the
side below the fault is called the
footwall.
• Normal Fault or Gravity Fault
Is a high angle fault (dip greater than 45
degrees) in which the hanging wall has
moved downwards relative to the
footwall. It usually leads to crustal
extension or elongation.
• Reverse fault is also a high-
angle fault in which the
hanging wall has moved
upward relative to the
footwall.
• It usually leads to crustal
shortening.
Thrust Fault
• This is a low-angle
reverse fault in which
the dip of the fault plane
is less than 30 or 45
degree.
• Class work: Sketch a
thrust fault in your note.
STRIKE-SLIP FAULT
• This type of fault indicate
horizontal motion parallel to the
strike of the fault surface e.g. San
Andreas Fault
• Strike slip faults are described as
being either right lateral or left
lateral fault depending upon the
direction of the movement of the
two blocks on either sides of the
block. A left lateral strike slip
fault is called SINISTRAL FAULT
while the right lateral strike slip
fault is DEXTRAL FAULT.
OBLIQUE-SLIP FAULT
• An oblique-slip fault has both strike-
slip and dip-strike components
JOINTS
• A joint is a surface fracture (vertical or horizontal) in a rock without
displacement (no appreciable movement has taken place).
• A joint set consists of a group of more or less parallel joints.
• A joint system consists of two or more joint sets with a characteristic
pattern.
SIGNIFICANCE OF GEOLOGIC
STRUCTURES
• Favors the accumulation and
retention of petroleum (anticlinal
trap one of the best structures for
holding oil).
• List and explain the positive and negative effects of geological
structures in our environments.
