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Structural Geology 1. Folds 2. Faults 3. State of stress and Faulting 4. Stress perturbation caused by tectonic features
Research Methodologies:
Traditionally, geological knowledge has come to us by a process of induction. This is the reasoning from some particular geologic observations or individual cases of geologic phenomena to a general conclusion. In contrast, In Physics, it is more often to use deduction (as suggested by Albert Einstein): Reasoning from a known principle that applies to a general construct in order to explain a particular geologic phenomenon observation. There are Four ingredients in this approach: 1, general boundary conditions; 2, geometry of the structure; 3, constitutive behavior of the materials; 4, specific boundary conditions and initial condition.
Atypical example of the deduction approach is the classic mathematic physics. Physics + constitutive relations + boundary conditions + initial conditions. boundary value problems.
Examples:
Horizontal and vertical movement in sedimentary rocks; Intrusion of magma bodies in forming igneous rocks;
The induction approach applied to structural geology is the observations of rock deformation: folding: Ductile, or plastic deformation, a slow process, with relative hot and soft materials; faulting: brittle, a rapid to instantaneous process, with relatively cold material, usually caused by compressive force.
Material Rubber
Property elastic
Geological example response of rocks to the passage of seismic waves deformation in a ductile shear zone flow of lava fractured rocks
Ductile deformation: folding Folding: ductile, or plastic deformation, a slow process, with relative hot and soft materials.
t=Wsin
Brittle deformation: types of rock fractures: Fractures: narrow openings along which the rock mass has lost grain to grain contact. Joints: rock fractures along which no movement has occurred parallel to the joint surface, perpendicular movement may occur joints are simple Mode I openings.
Types of rock fractures (cont.): Shear zones: rock fractures along which some movement has occurred but not a great amount, at the level of a few centimeters. Usually, shear zone occurs in weak materials with rich of water, and in great depth. Faults: fractures along which significant movement has occurs, much more than that associated with shear zones. The level of displacement is on the order of meters to kilometers, even to hundred kilometers.
Both engineering community and Geological science community recognize the magnitude of the vertical stress has a depth dependence of gz. However, in engineering community, it is a common practice to assume the horizontal stress is about 1/3 of the vertical stress, if there is no (and usually very hard to measure) horizontal stress data. Their rationale is:
v 0.25 h = v = v = 1 0.75 3
If the engineers keep this idea to a greater depth it is definitely untrue. If it is true, there will never be reverse faulting in the earth crust. Standard state: h=v; Perfect lateral constraint: h=v/3; The stress in the crust is closer to the standard state.
Fault geometry:
Faulting Geometry
North x
a u d v b
Rake.
East
Types of faulting: 1, normal faulting: hanging wall goes downward; 2, reverse faulting: hanging wall goes upward; 3, strike slip faulting: The 2 walls go horizontally in the opposite directions against each other; left-lateral strike slip; right-lateral strike slip.
GPS observations of crustal deformation in the San Francisco Bay area crossing the San Andreas fault
The surface expression of the San Andreas Fault at the Carrizo Plains, CA.
Offset of a flow channel caused by the fault generated by the 1993 Cocosili Earthquake, Tibet plateau.
The horizontal displacement field superimposed with the contour of the vertical displacement on surface in the New Madrid seismic zone. The unit of the color bar is in meters. The maximum horizontal displacement is 14 m.
The trajectory of the horizontal principal stress superimposed with the contour of the horizontal shear strain expressed by the engineering shear strain on surface.