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EARTH SCIENCE
Quarter II – Week 3
How Rocks Behave Under Different
Types Of Stress

CONTEXTUALIZED LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS

SCHOOLS DIVISION OF PUERTO PRINCESA CITY
Earth Science – Grade 11
Contextualized Learning Activity Sheets (CLAS)
Quarter II - Week 3: How Rocks Behave Under Different Types of Stress
First Edition, 2020

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Lesson 1
How Rocks Behave Under
Different Types Of Stress
MELC: The learners describe how rocks behave under different types of stress such as
compression, pulling apart, and shearing. (S11ES-IId-27)

Lesson 1 – How Rocks Behave Under Different Types Of Stress

Objectives: 1. Define stress and strain
2. Differentiate the three types of stress: tension, compression, and shear
3. Differentiate the three types of strain: elastic, ductile, and fracture
4. Describe the possible outcome when rocks respond to increasing stress.

Let’s Explore and Discover

Did you know that when people have too

Unlocking of much stress they may break. Now, what
Difficulties do you think will happen if a rock gets too
much stress?
• Stress is defined
as the force
experienced by the
object which
causes a change
in the object.
Stress can occur
in the absence of
strain whereas
strain does not
occur in the
absence of stress.

• Strain is defined
The Earth has three layers: the crust, the mantle
as the change in and the core. The Earth’s crust is like the shell of an egg,
the shape of an it is the thinnest of the Earth’s layers. The crust is broken
object when stress into several parts known as the continental plates. When
is applied. the plates are pulled or pushed together, stress
occurs. In response to stress, the rocks of the earth
undergo strain, also known as deformation.

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 STRESS AND STRAIN

As stated above, the earth’s crust is constantly subjected

Figure 1. Stress caused these rocks to
fracture.
to forces that push, pull, or twist it. These forces are called
stress. Strain is defined as the change in the shape of an
object when stress is applied. When stress causes a
material to change shape, it has undergone strain or
deformation. Deformed rocks are common in geologically
active areas.

Image Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-geology/chapter/outcome-stress-and-strain/

HOW ROCKS RESPOND TO INCREASING STRESS

Geologic Structures
Sedimentary rocks are important for deciphering the geologic history of a region because
they follow certain rules.
1. Sedimentary rocks are formed with the oldest layers on the bottom and the youngest
on top.
2. Sediments are deposited horizontally, so sedimentary rock layers are originally
horizontal, as are some volcanic rocks, such as ash falls.
3. Sedimentary rock layers that are not horizontal are deformed.
You can trace the deformation a rock has experienced by seeing how it differs from its
original horizontal, oldest-on-bottom position (figure 2). This deformation produces geologic
structures such as folds, joints, and faults that are caused by stresses.
Figure 2 (a). In the grand
Grand Canyon, the rock
layers are exposed like a
layer cake. Each layer is
made of sediments that
were deposited in a
particular environment-
perhaps a lake bed, shallow
offshore region, a sand
dune. (b) In this geologic
column (layers 1 through
11) are still horizonal.
Grand Canyon Supergroup
rock (layers 12 through 15)
have been tilted. Vishnu
Basement Rocks are not
sedimentary (rocks 16
through 18). The oldest
layers are on the bottom
and youngest are on top.

Image Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-geology/chapter/outcome-stress-and-strain/

I. Folds: Rocks deforming plastically under compressive stresses crumple into folds. They
do not return to their original shape. If the rocks experience more stress, they may undergo
more folding or even fracture.

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 Three types of folds

A monocline is a simple bend in the rock layers so that they are no longer horizontal

An anticline is a fold that arches upward. The rocks dip away from the center of the
fold. The oldest rocks are at the center of an anticline and the youngest are draped over
them.

A syncline is a fold that bends downward. The youngest rocks are at the center and the
oldest are at the outside.
II. Faults: A rock under enough stress will fracture. If there is no movement on either side
of a fracture, the fracture is called a joint. If the blocks of rock on one or both sides of a
fracture move, the fracture is called a fault. Sudden motions along faults cause rocks to
break and move.

Slip is the distance rocks move along a fault. Slip can be up or down the fault plane. Slip
is relative, because there is usually no way to know whether both sides moved or only one.
Faults lie at an angle to the horizontal surface of the Earth. That angle is called the
fault’s dip. The dip defines which of two basic types a fault is. If the fault’s dip is inclined
relative to the horizontal, the fault is a dip-slip fault (figure 4). There are two types of dip-
slip faults. In normal faults, the hanging wall drops down relative to the footwall.
In reverse faults, the footwall drops down relative to the hanging wall.

Figure 4. This diagram illustrates the

two types of dip-slip faults: normal faults
and reverse faults. Imagine miners
extracting a resource along a fault. The
hanging wall is where miners would
have hang their lanterns. The footwall is
where they would have walked.

A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault in which the fault plane angle is nearly horizontal.
Normal faults can be huge. They are responsible for uplifting mountain ranges in regions
experiencing tensional stress.

Stress and Mountain Building

Two converging continental plates smash upwards to create mountain ranges (figure 5).
Stresses from this uplift cause folds, reverse faults, and thrust faults, which allow the
crust to rise upwards.
Figure 5. (a) The world’s highest
mountain range, the Himalayas, is
growing from the collision between the
Indian and the Eurasian plates. (b) The
crumpling of the Indian and Eurasian
plates of continental crust the
Himalayas.

Subduction of oceanic lithosphere at convergent plate boundaries also builds mountain

ranges (figure 6).

Figure 6. The Andes Mountains are

chain of continental arc volcanoes that
build up as the Nasca Plate subducts
beneath the South America Plate.

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When tensional stresses pull crust apart, it breaks into blocks that slide up and drop
down along normal faults. The result is alternating mountains and valleys, known as a
basin-and-range (figure7).

Figure 7. (a) In basin-and-range, some

blocks are uplifted to form ranges,
known as horsts, and some are down-
dropped to form basin known as
grabens. (b) Mountains in Nevada are of
classic basin-and-range form.

Image Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-geology/chapter/outcome-stress-and-strain/

There are four general types of stress. One type of stress is uniform, which means the force
applies equally on all sides of a body of rock. The other three types of stress, tension,
compression and shear, are non-uniform, or directed, stresses. All rocks in the earth
experience a uniform stress at all times. This uniform stress is called lithostatic pressure
and it comes from the weight of rock above a given point in the earth. Lithostatic pressure
is also called hydrostatic pressure. (Included in lithostatic pressure are the weight of the
atmosphere and, if beneath an ocean or lake, the weight of the column of water above that
point in the earth. However, compared to the pressure caused by the weight of rocks above,
the amount of pressure due to the weight of water and air above a rock is negligible, except
at the earth’s surface.) The only way for lithostatic pressure on a rock to change is for the
rock’s depth within the earth to change. Because lithostatic pressure is a uniform stress, a
change in lithostatic pressure does not cause fracturing and slippage along faults.
Nevertheless, it may be the cause of certain types of earthquakes. In subducting tectonic
plates, the increased pressure of greater depth within the earth may cause the minerals in
the plate to metamorphose spontaneously into a new set of denser minerals that are stable
at the higher pressure. This is thought to be the likely cause of certain types of deep
earthquakes in subduction zones, including the deepest earthquakes ever recorded.

Rocks are also subjected to the three types of directed (non-uniform) stress namely: tension,
compression, and shear.

Types of Non-Uniform Stress

I. Tension is a directed (non-uniform) stress that pulls rock apart in opposite directions.
The tensional (also called extensional) forces pull away from each other.
II. Compression is a directed (non-uniform) stress that pushes rocks together. The
compressional forces push towards each other.
III. Shear is a directed (non-uniform) stress that pushes one side of a body of rock in one
direction, and the opposite side of the body of rock in the opposite direction. The shear
forces are pushing in opposite ways.

In response to stress, rock may undergo three different types of strain (a change in volume
or shape) – elastic strain, ductile strain, or fracture.
Types of Strain
I. Elastic strain is reversible. Rock that has undergone only elastic strain will go back to
its original shape if the stress is released.
II. Ductile strain is irreversible. A rock that has undergone ductile strain will remain
deformed even if the stress stops. Another term for ductile strain is plastic deformation.
III. Fracture is also called rupture. A rock that has ruptured has abruptly broken into
distinct pieces. If the pieces are offset—shifted in opposite directions from each other—
the fracture is a fault.

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 Image Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-geology/chapter/outcome-stress-and-strain/

Ductile and Brittle Strain

Earth’s rocks are composed of a variety of minerals and exist in a variety of conditions. In
different situations, rocks may act either as ductile materials that are able to undergo an
extensive amount of ductile strain in response to stress, or as brittle materials, which will
only undergo a little or no ductile strain before they fracture. The factors that determine
whether a rock is ductile or brittle include:

A. Composition—Some minerals, such as quartz, tend to be brittle and are thus more
likely to break under stress. Other minerals, such as calcite, clay, and mica, tend to be
ductile and can undergo much plastic deformation. In addition, the presence of water in
rock tends to make it more ductile and less brittle.
B. Temperature—Rocks become softer (more ductile) at higher temperature. Rocks at
mantle and core temperatures are ductile and will not fracture under the stresses that
occur deep within the earth. The crust, and to some extent the lithosphere, are cold
enough to fracture if the stress is high enough.
C. Lithostatic pressure—The deeper in the earth a rock is, the higher the lithostatic
pressure it is subjected to. High lithostatic pressure reduces the possibility of fracture
because the high pressure closes fractures before they can form or spread. The high
lithostatic pressures of the earth’s sub-lithospheric mantle and solid inner core, along
with the high temperatures, are why there are no earthquakes deep in the earth.
D. Strain rate—The faster a rock is being strained, the greater its chance of fracturing.
Even brittle rocks and minerals, such as quartz, or a layer of cold basalt at the earth’s
surface, can undergo ductile deformation if the strain rate is slow enough.

Most earthquakes occur in the earth’s crust. A smaller number of earthquakes occur in the
uppermost mantle (to about 700 km deep) where subduction is taking place. Rocks in the
deeper parts of the earth do not undergo fracturing and do not produce earthquakes
because the temperatures and pressures there are high enough to make all strain ductile.

Stress and Fault Types

The following correlations can be made between types of stress in the earth, and the type of
fault that is likely to result:
• Tension leads to normal faults.
• Compression leads to reverse or thrust faults.
• Horizontal shear leads to strike-slip faults.
Correlations between type of stress and type of fault can have exceptions. For example,
zones of horizontal stress will likely have strike-slip faults as the predominant fault type.
However there may be active normal and thrust faults in such zones as well, particularly
where there are bends or gaps in the major strike-slip faults.

(Source: Schulte, Kimberly, & Lumen Learning: Introduction to Stress and Strain.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sanjac-earthscience/chapter/stress-in-earths-crust)

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 Let’s Practice

Direction: Unscramble the letters to form words that describe the deformation of
rocks.

PRECSSIONOM

SHERINAG

NEONIST

SINTAR

Directions: Identify the following statements as COMPRESSIONAL, TENSION OR

SHEAR stress. Write your answer on the opposite column.
Statements Type of stress
1. Causes the rocks to push or squeeze against one another.
2. Can result to the formation of folded mountains.
3. Happens when two plates rub against each other as they
move in opposite direction.
opposite
4. Can directions.
result to the formation of basin and rang
5. Generally causes the rocks to pull apart.

Let’s Do More

Direction: Use the table below to differentiate the three types of strain.

Elastic strain Ductile strain Fracture

Description

Illustration

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Directions: Match the three types of stress from column A, with the definitions
in column B, and the diagrams in column C. Use arrows to connect each columns.
Column A Column B Column C
Compressional stress forces pulling apart

Tensional stress forces moving oppositely

on different sides

Shear stress forces pushing together

Let’s Sum It Up
Activity 1
Directions: Write your learnings about the following concepts:
1. Define stress.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. Identify the types of stress.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

3. Discuss possible outcome when rocks respond to increasing stress.

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Activity 2
Directions: Complete the following sentences. Write your answer on the space provided.

Rocks respond to _______________(tension/stress) differently under different

conditions. The __________________ (deformation/fracture) can be ______________
(compressional/elastic) or __________________ (plastic/tensional) or the rock may
____________ (fracture/strain.)

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 Let’s Assess
Direction: Choose the letter of the correct answer.
1. What type of faults is primarily associated with shear stress?
A. Folds B. Normal faults C. Reverse faul D. Strike slip fault
2. Imagine you are making a pizza, you start of with the dough for the
crust in a large ball. You then begin to roll out the pizza dough with a
roller. The result is flattened out dough. In this scenario, what
simulates the strain found in some rocks?
A. The flattening out of the dough ball C. The shape of the dough grains
B. The force excerted on the dough D. None of the above
3. When the rocks are subjected to enormous amounts of stress, they
often rebound to their original shape. What is the name of this
characteristic of strain?
A. Ductility B. Elasticity C. Fracture D. Plasticity
4. Which of the following describes “deformation” of rocks?
A. Deformation produces weakness in rocks that stress acts upon
when continents collide
B. Generally the changes in size shape orientation or position of a rock
mass
C. Structures are affected when deformation causes force to act on
rocks producing stress
D. All of the above
5. The following are factors that affect the deformation of rocks except for
one.
I. Pressure and Strain rate A. I only B. II only
II. Temperature and Composition C. III only D. I & II
III. Acidity and Roughness
6. Which of the following statements describe ductile deformation?
A. The change in rock is reversible
B. The change in rock is irreversible
C. The change in rock is irreversible and the rock breaks
D. The change in rock is reversible and the rock breaks
7. Dip-slip faults are associated with _________ forces.
A. Compressive B. Shearing C.Tensional D.Tensional & Compressive
8. Which of the following types of tectonic forces tends to push two sides of
a body in opposite directions so that they slide horizontally past one
another?
A. Compressive forces B. Fracture
C.Tensional forces D. Shearing forces
9. The angle at which a sedimentary bed is inclined from the horizontal is
called the _____.
A. Anticline B. Dip C. Strike D. Syncline
10. Which of the following statements about rock deformation is false?
A. deep crustal rocks are more likely to deform ductily than shallow
crustal rocks
B. hotter rocks are more likely to deform ductily than cooler rocks
C. most sedimentary rocks are more deformable than igneous rocks
D. rocks under low confining pressure are more likely to deform
ductily than rocks under high confining pressure

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 Answer Key

Let’s Practice

Let’s Do More

Let’s Sum It Up

1. Stress is defined as the force experienced by the object which causes a change in the object. Stress can occur
in the absence of strain whereas strain does not occur in the absence of stress.
2. Compressional stress/ Tensional stress/ Shear stress
3. In response to stress, the rocks of the earth undergo strain or deformation and produces geologic structures
such as folds, joints, and faults that are caused by stresses.

Rocks respond to stress (tension/stress) differently under different conditions. The

deformation (deformation/fracture) can be elastic (compressional/elastic) or plastic
(plastic/tensional) or the rock may fracture (fracture/strain.)

References
Book

Catherine C. Abon, Earth Science. Teaching Guide for Senior High School. Baesa, Quezon
City: EC-TEC Commercial. 2016.
https://sciencing.com/forces-cause-landforms-8126393.html
https://www.ck12.org/earth-science/Geological-Stresses/lesson/Geological-Stresses-HS-
ES/

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