Table of Content

A. Fault ................................................................................................ 2
B. Shear ............................................................................................... 4
C. Fold .................................................................................................. 5
D. Foliation ......................................................................................... 6
E. Joint................................................................................................. 6
F. References ...................................................................................... 7

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Understanding Structural geology form in Rock mechanics field
activities
By
Ardhymanto Am Tanjung
(atanjung@stu.kau.edu.sa)

A. Fault

Fault is surface or narrow tabular zone with displacement parallel

to the surface zone. It is used for brittle structure (Fossen, 2016). In

simple words, a fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between two

blocks of rock. Faults permit the blocks to move relative to each

other. The movement occurs rapidly due to earthquake or can occur

slowly due to creep activities. The length of faults ranges between

mm to km Most of the faults yield repetitive movement over geologic

time (USGS, 2011).

Figure 1 An outcrop of a normal fault (Fossen, 2016)

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In general, there are three kinds of faults. These are Normal (a),

Strike-Slip (sinistral) (b) and reverse (c) faults. As shown in the

picture below. The spherical projection in the picture depicts the

fault plane (great circle) and the displacement vector (red point).

Figure 2 Type of faults (Fossen, 2016)

Strike slop faults typically appearing as steep faults (dip steeper

than 60°if the dip angle less than 20°this called as low-angle fault))

and reverse faults commonly having lower dips than normal faults.

In relation to reverse fault, there is a fault called thrust fault which

has low-angle reverse fault. In general, all types of faults can be seen

in the picture below

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Figure 3 All classification of faults based on the dip of the fault plane and
the pitch (angle between the slip direction, and the strike (Fossen, 2016)

B. Shear

Shear zones are zones where shearing occurred. This crushed and

brecciated the rock mass. The shear zone is the result of a fault

where the movement is not confined to a single fracture, but

distributed via fault zone (Singh & Goel, 2011).

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Figure 4 Fault, fault zone, shear zone (Waldron & Snyder, 2020)

C. Fold

Folds was a planar structure before transforming into curved

structures during ductile deformation mostly as impact of the

tectonics activities. From the picture below, folds are made up of a

hinge connecting to two different oriented limbs. Typically hinge

differs the folds type where kink bands and chevron folds (sharp and

angular folds), and concentric folds with well-rounded hinges.

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 Figure 5 Folding geometry components (Fossen, 2016)

D. Foliation

Foliation is structure that is found in metamorphic rock, but also

involve primary sedimentary bedding or magmatic layering.

Foliation can be define as planar structure formed by tectonic strain.

E. Joint

A joint is a fracture that shows a small (hardly visible in many cases)

wall perpendicular opening with no or negligible shear offset. Most

joints are extension fractures.

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 Figure 6 Common types of joints patterns (Fossen, 2016)

A joint consists of two walls that are separated by up to a few cm for

some long joints, and commonly by less than a few mm. For the

excavation, joints can destabilize tunnels and blasted rock sections.

F. References

Fossen, H. (2016). Structural geology. Cambridge university press.

Singh, B., & Goel, R. K. (2011). Chapter 2—Shear Zone Treatment in

Tunnels and Foundations. In B. Singh & R. K. Goel (Eds.),

Engineering Rock Mass Classification (pp. 7–11). Butterworth-

Heinemann. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385878-8.00002-1

USGS. (2011). What is a fault and what are the different types? | U.S.

Geological Survey. https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-fault-and-

what-are-different-types

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Waldron, J., & Snyder, M. (2020). M. Shear Zones.

https://openeducationalberta.ca/introductorystructuralgeology/c

hapter/m-shear-zones/