FAULTS

Faults are fractures in Earth's crust where there are rocks on either side of the crack.
Sometimes the cracks are tiny, as thin as hair, with barely noticeable movement between the rock
layers. But faults can also be hundreds of miles long, such as the San Andreas Fault in California
and the Anatolian Fault in Turkey, both of which are visible from space.
There are three major types of Faults
1. Normal Faults
2. Reverse Faults
3. Strike-slip Faults

NORMAL FAULTS
A normal fault is a fault in which the hanging wall moves downwards relative to the
footwall. A normal fault is as a result of the Earth’s crust spreading apart. This normally
occurs at plate boundaries.

Image got from www.geologypage.com

Examples of Normal Faults

 Atalanti Fault (Greece) - fault segment between the Apulia and Eurasia plates
 Corinth Rift (Greece) - marine trench between the Aegean Sea Plate and Eurasian Plate
 Humboldt Fault Zone (North America) - part of the Midwestern Rift System between
Nebraska and Kansas (Jennifer.G, (2019))

How a normal Fault comes into place

 Normal faults are faults due to extension due to tension forces, The rock that moves
downward is called hanging wall and the one that moves upwards is a foot wall. Normal
faults, the hanging wall has moved down relative to the foot wall. These faults are
generally steeply dipping, with a dip angle of 60° or greater. Low-angle normal
faults have a dip of below 45°, accomplishing more extension per unit slip. How these
faults are able to form and slip at such a low angle is a mechanical mystery. Michael E.
(Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, UC Davis), 2019.
 Reverse Faults
A reverse fault is a geological fault in which the hanging wall appears to have been pushed up
along the footwall.
“Reverse fault.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-
webster.com
How the reverse fault is formed
A reverse fault is a type of dip-slip fault. These are faults that move vertically. The earth on
either side of the fault moves up or down relative to the other. In a reverse fault, the earth on one
side moves up and over the other side. Mary.E, (2021), wwww.study.com)
Diagram illustrating a reverse fault

We can find reverse faults in region of;

 Glarus thrust (Switzerland) - thrust fault in the Swiss Alps

 Longmenshan Fault(China) - thrust fault at the Longmen mountains, between the
Eurasian and Indian-Australian plates
 Lustian Fault (Germany) - overthrust fault between the Elbe valley and Giant Mountains

Strike-Slip Faults

strike-slip fault, also called trans current fault, wrench fault, or lateral fault,

in geology, a fracture in the rocks of Earth’s crust in which the rock masses slip past one
another parallel to the strike, the intersection of a rock surface with the surface or another
horizontal plane. These faults are caused by horizontal compression, but they release
their energy by rock displacement in a horizontal direction almost parallel to the
compressional force.
 Diagram to illustrate a Strike-Slip Fault

Areas where Strike-slip faults are found

 Anatolian Fault (Turkey) - fault between the Eurasian and the Anatolian plates
 Alpine Fault (New Zealand) - fault between the Pacific and Indo-Australian plates
 Hayward Fault Zone (North America) - transform boundary between the Pacific and
North American plates; runs parallel to the San Andreas Fault

(Jennifer.G, (2019)), https://examples.yourdictionary.com/3-main-typesoffaults.

DIP AND STRIKE

Angle at which the bed of rock is laying with respect to the horizontal. A zero degree dip
means that the dip is flat, a ninety degree dip means that the bed is vertical, Dip direction
refers to the compass direction from 0 to 360 degrees that the dips are dipping towards.

While strike is a two way compass direction showing the orientation of the bed on the
surface. For some surfaces the strike is in the east, west direction.

Measurement of DIP and STRIKE

To measure dip, dip direction and strike, you will need a couple of things which include;
a compass, a bottle of water and the last thing you will need is an out cap of rock with
layering that you can use to measure the dip, dip direction and strike.

In order to measure dip, pour the water on the rock and observe the direction of flow of
the water, the direction of water flow is the direction of the dip

To measure the dip angle, you will need your compass which is aligned such that west
and east are facing north and south, then lay your compass on the rock and the compass
head will fall on the direction of the angle of dip

In order to measure strike, we lay the compass perpendicular to the dip direction.

Introduction to geologic structures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSggB...

Effect of Discontinuity of Strike and Dip on the tunnel construction methods

Jointed rock masses are usually encountered during underground excavation. Many
failures of underground openings during excavation and in operation reported are closely
reported are closely related to joints. Joints usually occur in sets which are more or less
parallel and regularly spaced.

The objective of the was to investigate the effects of joint orientation (joint strike and
dip) with respect to the direction of the tunnel axis in jointed rock, asses

Methodology

Study area

The study area was 489.6 m level on Bogala mine (Bogala mine Lanka Ltd)

Engineering geological mapping

Complete engineering geological mapping (joints’ and dip) for 100 m was measured and
recorded at the level of 489.6 m at Bagola

Physical model

A proper physical model for testing the effects of joint orientation with respect to the
direction of the tunnel axis was developed.

Figure 1. Strike and joint parallel or perpendicular to tunnel axis but dip 0 degress
Models were made with joint spacing of 15mm with two joint sets (joint parallel to tunnel axis
and joint strike perpendicular to tunnel axis) and having a mix proportion of mortar of 1:1:2
Tunnels (cement: chips: river sand). Tunnels were created with 90 mm diameter with dip angles
0,30,60 and 90 in degrees. Models were cured for 28 days.
Model testing
Prepared physical models were tested for strength using Compressive strength testing machine at
the Mechanic of University of Moratuwa.
Results
Table 1. Joint parallel to axis
Dip angle Stress at failure (N/m2) * 106
0 4.40
30 3.66
60 3.10
90 2.68

Table 2. Joint strike parallel to tunnel axis

Dip angle Stress at failure (N/m2) * 106
0 4.40
30 3.75
60 4.80
90 5.95

Table 3.
Preferable joint orientation for tunneling
 Discussion
In underground tunneling projects, the dip orientation of joints greatly affect the total cost and
cycle time of the tunnel. Therefore, it is very important to consider joints in designing tunnel
supporting systems and tunnel direction through the rock mass.
The orientation of joints in excavation is concerned with the dip and dip direction of the rock
formation and its relatively favorable or unfavorable effect on rock masses.
Conclusion
According to the results obtained from the physical model testing when joint sets are
encountered at tunnel excavation, the most critical sets are joints having (a) strike perpendicular
to tunnel direction and deep angle low, (b) strike parallel to tunnel direction and dip angle high.
The most preferable dip angle for the joint strike perpendicular to the tunnel axis would be the 90
degrees and for the joint strike parallel to the tunnel axis would be zero degrees.
References
Strike and dip discontinuities: Hook E, Bray J.W, (1977), Rock Slope Engineering, Reversed
second edition, Institute of mining and metallurgy, London, p. 402.
:Hoek.E, Brown.E, (1990), Underground Excavation in Rock, Institute of mining and
metallurgy, London, p.527.
Brady B.H.G, Brown E.T, (1994), Rock mechanics for underground Mining, Second edition,
Kluwer academic publication, London, p.571.