STRUCTURAL

GEOLOGY AND ROCK

MECHANICS
 Structural geology is a sub-discipline of
geology that deals with the study of the
deformation and structure of rocks in the
Earth’s crust. It involves the analysis of the
spatial distribution and orientation of rock
units, the geometry of rock layers and
other geological features, and the
mechanisms that cause deformation of
rocks.
ATTITUDE OF BEDS
 One of the key features to measure is the orientation,
or attitude, of bedding. We know that sedimentary beds
are deposited in horizontal layers, so if the layers are no
longer horizontal, then we can infer that they have been
affected by tectonic forces and have become either
tilted, or folded. We can express the orientation of a
bed( or any other planar feature) with two values: first,
the compass orientation of a horizintal line on the
surface-the strike and second, the angle at which the
surface dips from the horizontal,(perpendicular to the
strike)-the dip
 ATTITUDE OF BEDS
Dip: It is defined as the amount
of inclination of a bed with
respect to a horizontal plane.
This is measured on a vertical
plane lying at right angled to
the strike of the bedding.
TYPES OF DIP
TRUE DIP- it is the maximum amount of slope along a line
perpendicular to the strike, in other words, it is the maximum
slope with respect to the horizontal. It may also be stated as
the geographical direction along which the line og quickest
descent slopes down.
APPARENT DIP- Along any direction other than that of the
true dip, the gradients is scheduled to be much less and
therefore it is defined as the apparent dip. The apparent dip
of any bed towards any direction must always be less than
it’s true dip.
 ATTITUDE OF BEDS
STRIKE- Strike is generally defined as the line of
intersection between a horizontal plane and the
planar surface being measured. It is found by
measuring the compass direction of a horizontal
line on the surface.
 MEASURING STRIKE AND DIP
The strike and dip of planar geologic
structures, such as bedding, faults, joints and
foliations, can be determined by several
methods with the Brunton compass.
IMPORTANCE OF DIP AND STRIKE
To determine the younger bed of formation. It is well known
that younger beds will always be found in the direction of
dip. If we go in the direction of dip, relatively beds of
younger age will be found to out-crop and rocks in the
opposite direction.

In the classification, and nomenclature of folds, faults,

joints and unconformities, the nature of dip and strike is
of paramount significance. Thus the attitude, which
refers to the three dimensional orientation of some
geological structures, is defined by their dip and strike.
OUTCROPS
 OUTCROPS
When weathering and erosion expose part of a rock layer or
formation, an outcrop appears. An outcrop is the exposed rock, so
named because the exposed rock "crops out." Outcrops provide
opportunities for field geologists to sample the local geology—
photograph it, hold, touch , climb, hammer, map, sniff, lick, chew, and
carry it home. Classes often visit outcrops to see illustrations of the
principles of geology that were introduced in lecture. You often can
see geologists or students identifying rocks in roadcuts, outcrops
along the road where highway construction exposed the rocks.
GEOLOGICAL MAPS - STUDY OF
STRUCTURE
A GEOLOGIC MAPS is used to show rock units
or geologic strata that are exposed at the
surface. Bedding planes and structural
features such as faults, folds, foliations, and
lineations are shown with strike and dip or
trend and plunge symbols which give these
feature’s three dimensional orientation.
FOLDS, FAULTS, JOINTS
 FOLDS
A folds is when one or more
originally bent surfaces are
bent or curved as the result of
permanent deformation.
TYPE OF FOLDS
 ANTICLINE
Anticline is a geological fold that is convex
upwards and has its oldest rock layers at its
core. It is formed by compressional forces that
cause the rocks to bend and deform, resulting in
an arch-like structure. The term “anticline” is
derived from the Greek words “anti” meaning
against and “klinein” meaning to lean, which
describes the way the rocks lean against each
other in an anticline.
 SYNCLINE
A syncline is a type of fold in which the youngest
rock layers are located at the center of the fold,
while the oldest rocks are found at the edges.
The term syncline comes from the Greek words
“syn,” meaning together, and “klinein,” meaning
to lean. Synclines are formed due to
compressional forces acting on layers of
sedimentary rocks.
 MONOCLINE
Monoclines are folds consisting of two
horizontal (or nearly so) limbs connected by a
shorter inclined limb. They can be compared to
anticlines, which consist of two inclined limbs
dipping away from each other, and synclines,
which consist of two inclined limbs dipping
towards each other.
 BASIN
A basin is a broad shallow trough or syncline, a
structure in the bedrock. It is a bounded area where
the rock within the boundaries dips inward toward
the center. Basins are often large low-lying areas,
and they may be below sea level. Basins are one of
the two most common places inland which collect
sediment, the other being lakes. The type of rocks
which form there tell about the palaeo climate of the
continent.
 DOME
A dome is defined as a large or elliptical
structure formed by the upwarping of rock
strata, characterized by an outward slope from
the highest point. It is a type of anticline that
lacks clear elongation. Domes are typically
created by tectonic forces that cause rock
layers to bend or arch upward, resulting in a
convex shape.
 FAULTS
A faults is a break in the rocks that make
up the earth’s crust, along which on either
side rocks move pass each other. Larger
faults are mostly from action occuring in
earth’s plates. A fault line is the trace of
a fault, or the line of intersection
between the faults line and the earth’s
surface.
TYPE OF FAULTS
 DIP-SIP FAULTS

A Dip-sip faults are inclined fractures

where the blocks have mostly shifted
vertically. If the rock mass above an
inclined fault moves down, the fault is
termed normal, whereas if the rock
above the faults moves up, the faults is
termed reverse.
 TRANSFORM FAULTS

A transform faults is a special variety

of strike-slip faults that
accommodates relative horizontal slip
between other tectonic elements, such
as oceanic crustal plates. Often
extend from oceanic ridges.
 JOINTS
A joint is a fracture dividing rock into two
sections that moved away from each
other. A joint does not involve shear
displacement, and forms when tensile
stress breaches its threshold. In other
kinds of fracturing, like in a faults, the rock
is parted by a visible crack that formsa
gap in the rock.
TYPE OF JOINTS
SYSTEMATIC JOINTS - Have a subparallel
orientation and regular spacing.

JOINT SET - Joints that share a similar

orientation in same area.

JOINT SYSTEM - Two or more joints sets in the

same area.

NONSYSTEMATIC JOINTS - Joints that do not

share a common orientation and those highly
curved and irregular fracture surface.
ENGINERRING CONSTRUCTION
AND THE STUDY OF BEDS
Bedding planes are of great importance to civil engineers. They are planes of structural
weakness in sedimentary rocks, and masses of rock can move along them causing rock
slides. Since over 75 percent of the earth’s surface is made up of sedimentary rocks, civil
engineers can expect to frequently encounter these rocks during construction.

Undisturbed sedimentary rocks may be relatively uniform, continuous, and predictable

across a site. These types of rock offer certain advantages to civil engineers in completing
horizontal and vertical construction missions. They are relatively stable rock bodies that
allow for ease of rock excavation, as they will normally support steep rock faces.

Sedimentary rocks are frequently oriented at angles to the earth's "horizontal" surface;
therefore, movements in the earth's crust may tilt, fold, or break sedimentary layers.
Structurally deformed rocks add complexity to the site geology and may adversely affect
construction projects by contributing to rock excavation and slope stability problems.
 ROCK MECHANICS
PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ROCK
 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

A joint is a fracture dividing rock into two sections that

moved away from each other. A joint does not involve
shear displacement, and forms when tensile stress
breaches its threshold. In other kinds of fracturing, like
in a faults, the rock is parted by a visible crack that
formsa gap in the rock.
 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
A. POROSITY- is the percentage of void space in a rock. It is
defined as the ratio of the volume of the voids or pore space
divided by the total volume. It is written as either a decimal
fraction between 0 and 1 or as a percentage. For most rocks,
porosity varies from less than 1% to 40%
 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
B. PERMEABILITY is the property of rocks that is an
indication of the ability for fluids (gas or liquid) to
flow through rocks. High permeability will allow fluids
to move rapidly through rocks. Permeability is
affected by the pressure in a rock.
 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
CLASSFICATION OF ROCK HARDNESS:
C. HARDNESS is the subjective
description of the resistance of an
earth material to permanent
deformation, particularly by
indentation (impact) or abrasion
(scratching).
 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
D. STRENGTH -Strength is the ability of a material to resist
deformation induced by external forces. The strength of a
material is the amount of applied stress at failure (ASTM
D653). The laboratory uniaxial (unconfined) compressive
strength is the standard strength parameter of intact rock
material.
TYPE OF STRENGTH
Tensile strength- A Maximum load that a material can support without
fracture when being stretched, divided by the original cross-sectional area of
the material. It is extremely difficult to measure: It is direction-dependent,
flaw-dependent, sample size-dependent,..
• An indirect method, the Brazilian disk test is used.
The Brazilian test is a technique used to evaluate the
tensile strength of brittle materials like concrete or
rocks. The experiment consists in compressing a
circular disk along its vertical diameter in order to
induce tensile
Compressive strength- Compressive
strength or compression strength is the
capacity of a material or structure to
withstand loads tending to reduce size, as
opposed to tensile strength, which
withstands loads tending to elongate. The
Uniaxial Compressive Strength of Soft
Rock. Soft rock is a term that usually
refers to a rock material with a uniaxial
compressive strength (UCS) less than 20
MPa.
Shear strength- shear strength is the strength of a material or
component against the type of yield or structural failure when the
material or component fails in shear. A shear load is a force that tends to
produce a sliding failure on a material along a plane that is parallel to the
direction of the force. When a paper is cut with scissors, the paper fails in
shea
 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
E. ELASTICITY-Elasticity is the property of matter that causes it to resist
deformation in volume or shape. Some of the deformation of a rock under stress
will be recovered when the load is removed. The recoverable deformation is called
elastic and the non-recoverable part is called plastic deformation.

Commonly, the elastic deformation of rock is

directly proportional to the applied load. The
ratio of the stress and the strain is called
modulus elasticity.
 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
F. PLASTICITY - ability of certain solids to flow or to change shape
permanently when subjected to stresses of intermediate magnitude
between those producing temporary deformation, or elastic
behavior, and those causing failure of the material, or rupture (see
yield point).
Plasticity enables a solid under the action of external forces to
undergo permanent deformation without rupture. Elasticity, in
comparison, enables a solid to return to its original shape after the
load is removed. Plastic deformation occurs in many metal-forming
processes (rolling, pressing, forging) and in geologic processes (rock
folding and rock flow within the earth under extremely high
pressures and at elevated temperatures).
ELASTIC WAVES AND
ROCK PROPERTIES
 TERMINOLOGY
Stress is force per unit area. Imagine a particle represented by an infinitesimally
small volume around a point within a solid body with dimensions ( dx, dy, dz)

Strain is deformation measured as the fractional change in dimension or volume

induced by stress. Strain is a dimensionless quantity.

Static - Concerned with bodies at rest or forces in equilibrium.

Dynamic - A force thet stimulates change or progress within a systemor process

DETERMINING DYNAMIC
ROCK PROPERTIES
 I-Typical Rock Properties
Modulus of Deformation Young's Modulus - E
Modulus of Rigidity - Shear Modulus - G
Modulus of Volume Expansion - Bulk Modulus - K
Poisson's Ratio - μ
Bulk Density-p
Compressive Strength - σC
Tensile Strength – σT
 II-Rock Properties Referenced to Blasting Actions

Young's Modulus is a measure of the resistance of a solid to transmit load

allows transmission of longitudinal stress from shock wave impact

Bulk Modulus is a measure of the resistance of a solid to change in volume allows transmission of
transverse stress resulting from shock wave impact

Poissons' ratio defines the amount of borehole expansion that can occur under dynamic loading
just before rock/ore failure maximum amount of 'hoop' stress that can be tolerated before
cracks are generated

Compressive strength dictates the level of crushing that will occur at the borehole wall

Tensile strength dictates the level of tensile stress when crack formation will occur Can have
supersonic cracking as well as interstitial cracking
 III- Dynamic or Static
• Fragmentation of rock/ore is a dynamic process, not a static one
• Rock/ore appears to be much stronger in the dynamic case, than the static one (rule of thumb is to
assume that dynamic such as compressive and tensile strength are twice the values of static
properties)

• Degree of fit (correlation with measurement properties) is better with dynamic rock/ore
parameters

• Easier and less expensive getting dynamic rock properties using dynamic loading such as
detonating explosive charges

• Rock/ore core strength values do not appear to correlate well with dynamic values

• Dynamic properties are preferred in computer models relating the dynamic processes of blasting
action to dynamic properties of the material being blasted
WAVE VELOCITIES IN A ROCK
Wave velocities in a rock are computed from
wave propagation travel times from sonic logs.
Elastic wave velocity is a powerful parameter
used to interpret the physical properties
underlying the rock. However, a range of
geological rock properties affect wave velocities.
Understanding the microstructural, fluid, stress,
and mineralogical controls on elastic wave
velocities is at the center of laboratory
experiments on the rock
 SEISMIC WAVES TYPES
Seismic waves--- are elastic waves that propagate in the earth.

P-waves ---(or equivalently, compressional waves, longitudinal waves, or

dilatational waves) are waves with particle motion in the direction of wave
propagation.

S-waves--- (or equivalently, shear waves, transverse waves, or rotational waves)

are waves with particle motion in the direction perpendicular to the direction of
wave propagation.
 VELOCITY ANALYSIS
Seismic wave velocities change over a
wide range in nature, even for the
same rock type, since several factors
control the velocity of a specified
medium. This phenomenon generally
prevents defining the subsurface
lithology by seismic velocities only.
THREE INDIRECT WAYS TO ESTIMATE THE S-WAVE VELOCITIES
The first approach is to perform prestack amplitude inversion to
estimate the P- and S-wave reflectivities and thus compute the
corresponding acoustic impedances (analysis of amplitude variation
with offset).

The second approach is to record multicomponent seismic data and

estimate the S-wave velocities from the P-to-S converted-wave
component (4-C seismic method).

The third approach is to generate and record S-waves themselves.

STATIC AND DYNAMIC MODULI OF ELASTICITY
-The dynamic moduli of rock are those calculated from the elastic-
wave velocity and density. Usually refers to the elastic stiffness that
can be derived from elastic wave velocities in combination with
density.

-The static moduli are those directly measured in a deformational

experiment. Also refers to the elastic stiffness that relates
deformation to applied stress in a quasi-static loading situation,
that is the slope of the stress-strain curve
 MODULUS OF ELASTICITY
The ratio of the stress in a body to the corresponding strain
(as in bulk modulus, shear modulus, and Young's modulus) -
called also coefficient of elasticity, elastic modulus. An elastic
modulus is a quantity that measures an object or substance's
resistance to being deformed elastically when a stress is
applied to it. The elastic modulus of an object is defined as
the slope of its stress-strain curve in the elastic deformation
region: A stiffer material will have a higher elastic modulus.
The three types of elastic constants are: Modulus of
elasticity or Young's modulus (E), Bulk modulus (K) and.
Modulus of rigidity or shear modulus
GROUTING
 WHAT IT IS: Rock grouting is the injection of
specially formulated cement-based mixes into
the ground to improve its strength or reduce
permeability. The principle of grouting is to fill
the open voids existing in a rock mass in
introducing, by pressure through boreholes, a
certain amount of a "liquid" matter, in fact a
suspension, that will harden later on. The
properties of the grouted rock complex
should be modified in the desired way.
HOW IT WORKS: It's most commonly performed by drilling holes into the
underlying rock to intercept open cracks, joints, fissures or cavities, then
pumping under pressure balanced and stabilized grout mixes using a
combination of cement, water, and additives. For larger, more complex projects,
enhanced quality control is available through real-time computer monitored
grouting software called GROUT I.T.

WHY YOU NEED IT: Rock grouting can be

used to decrease water flow through
fractured rock, plus it can be performed in
areas with space constraints. It is mostly
used for dams, tunnels, reservoirs and
shafts.
 THANK YOU!
I hope you learn something new today!