Impact of

Joints on
Mining
Projects
 What is a Joint?
A joint is a break (fracture) of natural origin in the
continuity of either a layer or body of rock that
lacks any visible or measurable movement parallel
to the surface of the fracture. Although they can
occur singly, they most frequently occur as joint
sets and systems.

Recent tectonic joint intersects older exfoliation

joints in granite gneiss, Lizard Rock, Parra Wirra,
South Australia.
Positive Effects
 JOINTS ARE GREATLY SOUGHT AFTER ONLY A WELL JOINED AND POROUS ROCKS
EXPLORATION FOR GROUNDWATER AND OIL CAN FORM A GOOD AQUIFER OR A GOOD OIL
RESERVES IN A GIVEN AREA AND GAS RESERVOIR.
Negative Effects
• Joints are always to be considered as a
source of weakness of rocks and pathways
for the leakage of water through the rock.
Both these properties of joints destroy the
inherent soundness of the rock to the great
extent. 

• If a rock forming the foundation of a dam or

reservoir happens to be heavily jointed and
region is one of low water table, the risk of
leakage of water from under the dam or
from the reservoir may be of substantial
magnitude demanding very heavy cost for
treatment of rocks. 
• If the roof or side rocks in the case of tunnel are
much fractured, slippage of rocks along these
fractures and leakage of water may cause many
troubles often insurmountable by ordinary
methods of treatment. Lining of tunnels may
remain only solution in such cases and this will
involve huge extra cost.  
• Joints are a major cause of instability of the rock
masses in the hilly regions. Jointed rocks get easily
lubricated in the presence of moisture and start
sliding or falling from the original places
of occurrence. Many landslides and slope
are directly related to the jointed nature of rocks. 
Joint pattern effects
• Joint patterns when subjected to tensile
forces associated with a subsidence trough
tend to exhibit a rotational effect of nature
illustrated in figure. Joint opening is
dependent to a large extent on the ground
curvature occurring around the tensile strain
regions of the subsidence profile.
• Compressive strain regions do not tend to be
vulnerable to joint effects although some
relative sliding in the vertical plane of joints
sets is a possibility if the strain magnitudes
are particularly high.  
Thank You Name – Aditya Shekhar
Roll No. – 19155005
Department of Mining Engineering