H. Muhammad Ridha Adhari, S.T., M.

Sc

Dept. of Geological Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
Syiah Kuala University
Darussalam, Banda Aceh
2016
COURSE OUTLINE
Introduction
Tectonic Landforms
Forces and Stress
Summary
 Tectonic landforms are productions of the Earth’s
interior processes.
 Tectonic geomorphology investigates the effects of
active tectonic processes up on landforms.
 Tectonic Processes :
 Volcanic cones and craters.
 Mountain ranges.
 Faulting, tilting, folding, uplift, and subsidence.
Models of Landscape Evolution

Davis’s Model
Penck’s Model
Hack’s Model
Davis’s models
Tectonic forcing is an impulsive phenomenon that occurs at
the beginning of the “geomorphic cycle.” All of the building of
topography occurs at the start of the cycle.

Hack’s models
When rates of deformation and rates of erosion are
sustained for long intervals, landscapes will come into a
sort of balance or dynamic equilibrium.
Penck’s models

Rather than having all of the tectonic deformation at the

beginning of a cycle, Penck suggested a more wave-like
pattern of tectonic forcing through time.

The magnitude of deformation gradually increases toward a

climax and then slowly wanes away.

The resulting landscape could be interpreted as a product of

this competition between deformation and erosion.
Models of Landscape Evolution. Based on the landscape response theories of (top) Davis (1899),
(middle) Penck (1953), and (bottom) Hack (1975).
Tectonic forces divide into two groups:
 Diastrophic forces.
 Lead to the folding, faulting, uplift, and
subsidence of the lithosphere.
 Volcanic and plutonic forces.
 Lead to the extrusion of magma on to the
Earth’s surface as lava and to minor intrusions.

 Plate boundaries are particularly important for

understanding geotectonics.
Interactions between the asthenosphere, lithosphere, and mesosphere.
A granitic intrusion (Namibia,southwest Africa with a diameter of 45 km, 1,600 m
above the surrounding plains ). The outer ring of darker rocks demonstrate that
magma made its way by melting and heating the surrounding country rocks and
changed their mineralogy and texture by a process called contact metamorphism.
Dikes in southwestern Sinai. Due to their higher resistance to weathering, they are
preserved in a typical straight wall-like form.
Nearly 10 km wide scene from northwest Algeria with sharp knickpoints in the folded rocks.
The folded mountain landscape of the Flinders Ranges in southern Australia.
The Finke River in central Australia crosses an anticline structure of 45 km width.
A beautiful syncline in the Andes Mountains of northwest Argentina, exposing
Jurassic rock formations.
 LANDFORMS RELATED TO
TECTONIC PLATES
Tectonic processes primarily determine large-scale landforms,
though water, wind, and ice partly shape their detailed surface
form.
 Plate-interior landforms (Basin, Plateau, Rift
Valley, volcanoes).
 Passive-margin landforms. A continental
shoreline that IS NOT a plate boundary.
 Active-margin landforms. A continental shoreline
that IS a plate boundary.
Features of a passive continent margin (Source: Adapted from Ollier and Pain,1997)
Great escarpments are extraordinary topographic
features formed in a variety of rocks (folded sedimentary
rocks, granites, basalts, and metamorphic rocks) and
separate the high plateaux from coastal plains.
Great Escarpment, Passive Margin. Source: Adapted from Gunnell and Fleitout (2000)
Great escarpments on passive margins. Source: Adapted from
Summerfield (1991, 86)
PASSIVE CONTINENTAL MARGINS
 The Continental Shelf
 The Continental Slope and Rise
 Submarine Canyons and Abyssal Fans

Adhari, M.R., Teknik Geologi Unsyiah

Active Transform Margin

Landforms associated with

oblique slip faults. (a) Pull-apart
basin formed by transtension. (b)
Transverse orogen formed by
transpression.
Oceanic crust vs Oceanic crust Oceanic crust vs Continental crust

Continental crust vs Continental crust

Adhari, M.R., Teknik Geologi Unsyiah
Triangular facets

 Triangular facets = fault planes that have been modified by

erosion, an explanation that seems appropriate for
mountains bounded by normal faults.
 Triangular facets result from base-level fall, and occur in a
variety of tectonic settings.
 Erosion of facets at the truncated ends of spur ridges may
be associated with normal faults (Fig. A), anticlines (Fig.
B), thrust faults (Fig.C), and even along escarpments
formed by erosional base-level fall (Fig.D).
A.

Triangular facets of different

tectonic environments.
A. Spur ridges truncated by a
normal fault on the east side of
the Toiyabe Range, central
Nevada.

B.

B. Triangular facets on the north

side of the Wheeler Ridge
anticline, south edge of the San
Joaquin Valley, California. The
topographic benches may be the
result of mass movement
processes (Bielecki and Mueller,
2002).
Triangular facets of different tectonic environments. C1. Aerial view of a set of
triangular facets that terminates the spur ridge of a thrust-faulted mountain front
of the San Gabriel Mountains, Southern California. C2. Facet-dissection.
Younger facets 1 and 2 are nested inside older higher stage 3 and stage 4 facets
that are deeply incised by small stream channels.
 D.

Triangular facets of different tectonic environments. D. Triangular facets along the

edge of a fan head embayment at Cucamonga Canyon, San Gabriel
Mountains, southern California. These nontectonic facets were created by lateral
erosion induced base level fall caused by stream flow.
The sequential development of a fault-generated mountainous escarpment. A. Initial faulting creates a linear
scarp. B. Scarp crest migrates away from the rising range boundary to form range crest. C. Valleys are notched
into the rising block; their floors are the locations of rapid tectonically induced downcutting by streams. D. Episodic
displacement along the range-bounding fault maintains a steep, straight mountain–piedmont junction. Main and
spur ridge divides continue to rise faster than degradation can lower them. E. The mountain– piedmont junction
becomes sinuous and the valley floors become wider after cessation of uplift. Relief becomes less as degradation
lowers the ridgecrests. Wallace (1977).
landscape where rapid tectonic displacement rates are partitioned
between creating space for continuing aggradation of alluvialfan
deposits and increasing relief of mountains with narrow valley floors
and triangular facets along a straight mountain–piedmont junction.
Drawings by Bus Royce
landscape where cessation of normal faulting allows fl uvial systems to achieve
a long-term base level of erosion recorded by a single surface composed of
straths in mountain valley floors, beveled pediment surface with inselbergs
rising above it, and truncated basin fill. Broad valley floors extend far upstream
from a sinuous mountain–piedmont junction lacking triangular facets.
Landforms indicative of rapid uplift during the late Quaternary include the presence
of highly elongate drainage basins, very low valley floor width–valley height ratios, a
straight mountain front, stage 1 triangular facets, undissected alluvial fans, and
multiple ages of alluvial surfaces separated by fault scarps of different heights. Four
faulted fan surfaces range in age from late Pleistocene (1) to late Holocene (4). The
width of this view is about 1.9 km. (California)
 FORCES AND STRESS
 Force : Mass times acceleration (F = m ⋅ a; Newton’s
second law); symbol F. The unit of force is kg ⋅ m/s2, called
a newton (N) in SI units.
 Stress : Force per unit area (F/A); symbol σ. The unit of
stress is kg/m ⋅ s2 (or N/m2), which is called a pascal (Pa).
 Type of Stress/Pressure :
 Confining Pressure
 Differential Stress
One of the principal stresses will always be perpendicular to the
free surface of the Earth, because the shear stress is zero along
any free surface. A non-planar surface causes the orientation of
the stresses to rotate as shown on the figure.
Deflection of the stress field near a fault or fracture zone. The
structure is weaker than the surrounding rock and can support lower
shear stresses than its surroundings.
A force vector F acting on a surface
can be decomposed into a normal (Fn)
and a shear (Fs) component by simple
vector addition. The stress vector σ
cannot be decomposed in this way,
because it depends on the area across
which the force acts. Trigonometric
expressions for the components σn and
σs are derived.
Types of deformation:
(A) Axial compression;
(B) Axial extension;
(C) Tensile.
 σ1

The principal stresses acting on our

block of clay are σ1 (maximum
stress), σ2 (intermediate stress),
and σ3 (minimum stress).

Since we carry out our experiment

under atmospheric conditions, the
σ2 σ3 values of σ2 and σ3 will be equal,
and we may simplify our analysis
by neglecting σ2 and considering
only the σ1-σ3 plane.
Relationships between the orientation of the principal stresses
(stress regimes) and tectonic regimes according to Anderson
(1951). Stereonets show fields of compression (P) and tension (T).
Forces related to plate tectonics (blue arrows) and stress regimes
expected from these forces. The maximum stress axis in continental
plates is expected to be horizontal except for the upper part of rift
zones (continental rift not shown), passive margins and elevated
parts of orogenic belts.
Models for folds associated with thrust faults. Modified after Wickham (1995)
and Allmendinger (1998).
Complex fault geometries in folded, stratified
bedrock.

Bending-moment faults resulting from

flexure of an elastic plate.
Geometry of growth strata. Modified from
Hubert-Ferrari et al. (2007) and Suppe et al.
(1997).
Models for folds associated with thrust faults. Modified after Wickham (1995)
and Allmendinger (1998).
Diagrammatic sketch of extension associated with normal faulting that causes
tectonic denudation and crustal thinning.
 Summary
 Tectonic Processes : Volcanic cones and craters,
Mountain ranges, Faulting, tilting, folding, uplift, and
subsidence.
 Tectonic Forces : Diastrophic Forces, Volcanic & Plutonic
Forces.
 Models of Landscape Evolution : Davis’s Model, Hack’s
Model, Penck’s Model.
 Type of Stress/Pressure: Confining Pressure, Differential
Stress.