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Find Angle Between Two Planes

The document describes two methods for finding the angle between two planes: 1) The conformal (stereographic) method which measures the angle between the intersection of the great circles representing each plane. This preserves angles but distorts distances. 2) The pole method which involves plotting the poles of each plane and measuring the angle between them, which is equal to the angle between the planes. The intersection of the planes contains the poles, and the angle between the poles is the angle between the planes.

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56 views

Find Angle Between Two Planes

The document describes two methods for finding the angle between two planes: 1) The conformal (stereographic) method which measures the angle between the intersection of the great circles representing each plane. This preserves angles but distorts distances. 2) The pole method which involves plotting the poles of each plane and measuring the angle between them, which is equal to the angle between the planes. The intersection of the planes contains the poles, and the angle between the poles is the angle between the planes.

Uploaded by

abd_hafidz_1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1/18/2016

FindAngleBetweenTwoPlanes

FindAngleBetweenTwoPlanes
StevenDutch,NaturalandAppliedSciences,UniversityofWisconsinGreenBay
FirsttimeVisitors:PleasevisitSiteMapandDisclaimer.Use"Back"toreturnhere.

Conformality
Findtheanglebetweentwoplanes,onestriking128anddipping40SW,theotherstriking034anddipping
50NW.

1.Herethetwoplanesareplottedwiththeirpoles.Nowthe
stereographicprojectionisconformal;thatis,itpreservesangles
butattheexpenseoflargeradialdistortion.Ifyoulookclosely,
everygreatcircleandeverysmallcircleonastereonetintersectat
rightangles,justlikeonthesphere.Therefore,theanglebetween
theplanesissimplytheangleatwhichtheirgreatcirclesintersect
onthestereonet.
2.Tomeasuretheangleprecisely,retracethegreatcirclesas
exactlyaspossibleneartheintersectionandconstructtangentsto
thearcs.Measuretheanglesbetweenthetangents.Thismethodis
notquiteasaccurateasthemorepreferredmethodshownbelow
(theerrorrangeistypically34degrees)butitismuchmore
accuratethanonemightatfirstguess.Andit'saniceillustrationof
theconformalityproperty.
Note:thisapproachtakesadvantageofaspecialpropertyofthe
stereographicprojection,andonlyworkswiththatprojection.
Somegeologistsprefertoworkwiththeequalareaprojection.This
methodwillnotworkinthatcase,althoughthepolemethod
belowworksforanyprojection.

PoleMethod

Tomeasuretheanglebetweenplanes,wehavetomakeacrosssectionlookingdowntheirintersection.The
crosssectionisperpendiculartobothplanes,thereforeitcontainsthepoles.It'seasytoseethattheangle
betweentheplanesisequaltotheanglebetweenthepoles.
Proof:
AnglePlane1Plane2=AandanglePlane1Pole1=90degrees.
ThereforeanglePlane2Pole1=90A.
SinceanglePlane2Pole2=90degreesandanglePlane2Pole1=90A,anglePole2Pole1mustbeA.

Thesameproblemasaboveisshownbelow,onlyusingthepolesoftheplanes.Findtheanglebetween
twoplanes,onestriking128anddipping40SW,theotherstriking034anddipping50NW.

1.Plotthepoletothefirstplane
(thestereonetisrotatedsostrike
https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/structge/SL94Ang2Pl.HTM

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1/18/2016

FindAngleBetweenTwoPlanes

034isvertical.Thepoleisinblue
andtheplaneinlightblue).
2.Plotthepoletothefirstplane
(thestereonetisrotatedsostrike
128isvertical.Thepoleisingreen
andtheplaneinlightgreen).
3.Rotatetheoverlaysothepoles
lieonacommongreatcircle
(purple).Countofftheangle
betweenthepoles.
4.Returntheoverlaytoitsoriginal
position.

ReturntoCourseSyllabus
ReturntoTechniquesManualIndex
ReturntoProfessorDutch'sHomePage
Created12April1999,LastUpdate12April1999
NotanofficialUWGreenBaysite

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