Dr. P. T.

Hanamgond
GSS College, Belgaum
 Mapping Geologic Structures
in the field
Geologists take great pains to measure and record geological
structures because they are critically important to understanding
the geological history of a region. One of the key features to
measure is the orientation, or attitude of a bed. We know that
sedimentary beds are deposited in horizontal layers, so if the layers
are no longer horizontal, then we can infer that they have been
affected by tectonic forces and have become either tilted, or
folded. We can express the orientation of a bed (or any other
planar feature) with two values:
- First, the compass orientation of a horizontal line on the surface
is called the strike
- Second, the angle at which the surface dips from the horizontal,
(perpendicular to the strike) is called the dip
 Dip (inclination)

The angle of inclination of the

surface of a rock unit or fault
measured from a horizontal plane.
Includes both an angle of inclination
and a direction toward which the
rock is inc lined. For Ex.,
82°SE
17°SW
Dip values always are in the range
0-90° . A dip angle of 0° defines a
horizontal attitude. 90° of dip Direction of dip
describes a vertically oriented
plane.
0-20°: Shallow
20-50°: Moderate
50-90°: Steep
?o
In case of horizontal beds, sedimentary beds are originally
deposited as a series of horizontal layers one on top of another,..
Conformably

Imaginary horizontal plane

 Types of dip
S a S
True dip – It is the shortest distance of the dip
of a bed or rock formation or it is the maximum
dip or slope of a bed with respect to the horizon.
d In the diagram - SS represents the strike
direction and ‘ad’ is the dip direction.

Apparent dip – in the given figure SS

S
O
S represents the strike direction and OD is the
true dip direction which is perpendicular to
A
E the strike. The other dip directions such as
B C
OA, OB, OC, OE are all called the apparent
D
dips. In other words, the directions of dip
other than the direction of true dip (OD) are
described as apparent dips. They are less
than 90°.
Beside true dip and apparent dip the dip is also
differentiated in following ways.

Primary or Initial dip – It is the inclination of strata due

to the original slope of a basin. These dips are generally less
than 35° (generally 0° – 20°).

Secondary dip – It is the inclination induced in the strata

after its deposition due to the tectonic forces to which the
strata is subjected. These dips may be from 0° – 90°.

Local or Regional dip – It is the inclination of rocks

exposed in a limited area of observation.
Geologists use a Brunton or Clino compass to measure
strike and dip. When using the compass to determine
the attitude of a plane the edge of the compass is
placed against the inclined surface and then the bulls-
eye bubble is centered. In this configuration the
compass lies in a horizontal plane and its edge is
parallel to the line produced by the intersection of the
imaginary horizontal plane and the inclined surface or
layer. The sighting armature points in the direction
that this line is oriented, and this direction is read
directly from the compass.

GPS
Holding a brunton compass
 Use of Brunton Compass

1. Locate North, Set local declination

2. Measure Bearings
3. Measure Strike and Dip of planes
4. Measure Trend and Plunge of lines
5. Measure Vertical Angles- measuring height / thickness
of a feature
OUTCROPS
An outcrop is an exposure of a rock formation or a bed on the
surface of the earth. When the outcrop lines or trend of the beds
are parallel to the contour lines, the beds are horizontal.
When the outcrop lines or trend
intersect the contour lines the
beds are dipping or inclined.
When the outcrop lines are
straight and intersect the
contour lines the beds are
vertical.
When there are two outcrops with sudden change in strike and dip, it
indicates that the beds are unconformable.

Younger
Unconformable

Older
The principle of superposition states that,
in a series of undisturbed layers, the
oldest layer is on the bottom and each
overlying layer is progressively younger
with the youngest layer on the top.

When the outcrop lines are parallel the

beds are conformable and have the same
amount of dip.
Horizontal
beds Unconformable
beds

Inclined beds

Conformable
beds Vertical beds
TYPES OF OUTCROP
Outlier B
There are two types of outcrop created
because of selective erosion of rocks in Older C A
D Younger
certain areas known as Outlier and Inlier.
These are well exposed in a folded
regions.
Inlier Outlier

Outlier – It is an exposure of a younger

E bed surrounded by the outcrops of
D E
C DC B BCD
E older formation. It results due to
B A excessive erosion or due to faulting
A
followed by erosion.
Inlier – It is an outcrop of older rock
surrounded by the outcrops of younger
rocks.
Inlier D Inliers are typically formed by the erosion
of overlying younger rocks to reveal a
C
D limited exposure of the older underlying
A rocks. These are thus reverse of outliers.
C Valley formation is a common process of
B B
erosion, giving rise to inliers.
OUTCROP PATTERN
The outcrop of the top or bottom of horizontal bed follows
topographic contours. The width of the outcrop of a horizontal
bed depends upon the thickness of the bed and upon the
topography.

Strata may be horizontal, inclined or vertical. The thickness is

measured perpendicular to the bedding plane.

The outcrop pattern of

a tilted bed depends on
Exposed bed Earth Surface the angle of tilt and on
the surface topography.
The width of the outcrop depends upon the tilt and slope of the
ground. When the bed is vertical the width of the outcrop is
minimum or it is equal to the true thickness of the bed. If the
ground surface is flat, but the bedding angle is change then also
the width of the outcrop varies. Similarly the change in slope of the
ground also matters.
The higher the slope of the ground wider the outcrop.

B
C
Thickness of beds A, B and C is the
same but outcrop of B is much wider
than A and outcrop of C is much wider
A than B, due to their shallower dip
angle
When the outcrop runs in the strike direction it tends to keep an
approximately even width. If the inclination of the ground is
towards the dip direction the width of the outcrop is maximum.

d d

Inclination of ground towards the

Horizontal surface- dip – width is maximum
width is minimum

When the dip is 0° (horizontal beds), the width of the

outcrop becomes infinity, i.e., the outcrop will occupy the
whole of the ground surface.
WIDTH OF THE OUTCROP (Figure 1): AB or ω
is the width of the outcrop. On the map it is the
B ω
distance between the boundary of the upper A
G
surface of the bed and boundary of the lower 𝜽
d
surface of the same bed measured in right angles Vt
C
with the direction of the strike. D
Tt
Figure 1

THICKNESS OF THE OUTCROP (Figure 1 and

2):
When the rock formation outcrops at surface of the
ground, the distance between the two surfaces of
the outcrop (top and bottom of the bed) is called
the width of the outcrop represented by AB or ωin
the figure 1. The distance GC between the top
surface of the bed measured in vertical direction
from the ground is called its vertical thickness (in
figure 1, it is ‘d’). The distance CD measured along A B

the direction perpendicular to the surface of the

bed is its true thickness (Tt). Similarly, in figure 2,
the true thickness can be measured at two levels A Figure 2
and B for upper surface of the bed and lower
surface of the bed respectively.
DIP DIRECTION (Figure 3): Suppose
a dyke/vein/a particular bed, is exposed on
the surface and shows only the width, then
to know which side the bed is dipping, we G2” G1’ G1 G2

need to drill minimum two points at d1 d2

different distances on either side of the C1
C
bed( G1, G2, G1’, G2’). Then if we Figure 3
2

encounter the surface of the bed at the two

drilled points, measure the two levels (d1
and d2) and the direction in which the level
is higher the bed will be dipping in that
direction.
RELATION OF TOPOGRAPHY WITH RESPECT TO OUTCROP
& FACTORS CONTROLLING THE WIDTH OF THE
OUTCROP

When the topography is horizontal and the formations are also

horizontal the top most formation is continuously exposed on
the surface.
In an area with uneven
topography the boundaries of the
outcrop of a horizontal formation
follows the topographic contours,
whenever such horizontal formation
crosses the valleys their outcrop
pattern becomes U or V shaped.
If the rocks are horizontal or just slightly
tilted, the outcrop follows the contours of the
land
horizontal rocks tilted
rocks and eroded to
outcropping in a flat
a terraced landscape
mountain
 THANK YOU!

REPORTERS:
DANIEL JAY BERONIBLA
MARY LOVE FUNDAL
ELYANNA MAREE GARCIA