Discontinuities within the rock mass are, in most cases, of primary importance to

the rock's overall engineering properties and the maximum possible amount of
information from the investigation should be identified and reported as shown
in Table 30. A number of different types of discontinuity can be recognized as
given in Table 29. Full and accurate description of recovered cores should be
carried out and more frequent use should be made of the borehole itself with
downhole logging (geophysical, scanning, see Section 5) or cameras. In addition,
exposures, whether existing or created for the investigation, should be used
wherever practicable to inspect the in-situ mass.
NOTE 1 A distinction can be drawn between "mechanical discontinuities", which
are already open and present in the rock, and "incipient discontinuities", which are
inherent potential planes of weakness.
NOTE 2 Full recommendations for the recording of discontinuities are given
in DIN 4022-1, ISRM, 1978 [65], Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology, 1977 [66]
and ASTM D4879-89. Additional recommendations for describing discontinuities are
given in BS EN ISO 14689-1:2003, 4.3.3.
Free moisture or water flow visible at individual spots or from discontinuities
should be described as recommended in BS EN ISO 14689-1:2003.

Table 29 Types of discontinuity

Type of discontinuity Description

Joint A discontinuity in the body of rock along which there
has been no visible displacement. Joints are
synonymous with fissures in soils.
Fault A fracture or fracture zone along which there has
been recognizable displacement.
Bedding fracture A fracture along the bedding (bedding is a surface
parallel to the plane of deposition).
Cleavage fracture A fracture along a cleavage (cleavage is a set of
parallel planes of weakness often associated with
mineral realignment).
Induced fracture A discontinuity of non-geological origin, e.g. brought
about by coring, blasting, ripping, etc.
Incipient fracture A discontinuity which retains some tensile strength,
which might not be fully developed or which might
be partially cemented. Many incipient fractures are
along bedding or cleavage.

The recording of induced and incipient discontinuities is important as they can

indicate weakness within the mass, but they should not be included within the
assessment of fracture state, see 36.4.4. If incipient or induced fractures are
included in the fracture state, this should be clearly stated on the borehole log.
NOTE 3 The conventional exclusion of such integral discontinuities from reported
indices is conservative, but only for foundation studies; for bulk excavation studies,
for instance, it might be preferable to include them.
NOTE 4 Discontinuities usually occur in more than one direction in a rock mass, and
might be present as distinct sets. Borehole cores provide essentially one dimensional
data on discontinuity spacing; exposures or orientated cores are usually needed for
full evaluation of the discontinuity pattern.
The following features of discontinuities should be described
(see 36.4.3.2 to 36.4.3.9). The amount of detail included depends on the quality
of the exposure or core, whether it is representative and the requirements of
the problem in hand. The descriptive terms are summarized in Table 29, which
defines the terms in the order in which they should be used in a description.