GEOLOGY FIELD STUDY

CVNG 1011

APRIL 24, 2018

JONATHAN ALI
# 816011130
ABSTRACT

A field study was done on Thursday 5th of April 2018 in which the students of CVNG 1011 of
UWI St. Augustine campus visit Guyamara beach in Toco. The students were split into four
groups who were accompanied by Dr. Kailas Banerjee, David Cudjoe and Kevin Applewhite who
help coordinate the field study. The purpose of the field study was to get an appreciation of
field work and observe the structure of the rocks. The field work focused on identifying the dip
and strike angle of the foliation plane and how they were formed. The angles were measured
using an app called geo clino on a smartphone. There were four locations in which testing was
done and samples taken back for lab testing. The four rock samples were Phyillte, Schist,
Metaquartzite and Slate. The first location had incline foliation due to faulting while the second
location had a right lateral slip strike fault. The third and fourth location had folds which
showed anticlines and synclines. From the site visit observation of the rock structure was
successful and samples were also taken back for further testing. The field study was partially
successful as three of the four groups were not able to finish field testing as the weather
prohibited us in doing so due to heavy rainfall.
INTRODUCTION

On Thursday 5th of April, a site visit took place at Guayamara Beach located in Toco
(10°46'10.7"N 60°56'55.0"W). Approximately 1.2km North away from the site was the Tompire
River. The site visit was conducted in order to carry out a field study of the rocks present on the
coastline. The topography at the coastline was moderately steep and very vegetative. There is a
main road along the coast known as Toco main road. In figure 1 there is a red icon that
indicates the position of the site visit on a map of Trinidad obtained from google maps.

Figure 1 showing location of site visit

The purpose of the site visit was to get an appreciation for field work and develop a spatial
sense of landforms and rock structures that secondary sources cannot do. The main objective
of the field study was mapping the orientation of the geological structure in where the dip and
strike of the foliation plane was recorded. This was recorded for four different location. Rock
samples from the four different location was taken for testing in the geology lab at UWI St.
Augustine campus.

There were shuttle service that transported the students to and from the site. Accompanying
the students were Dr. Kailas Banerjee, David Cudjoe and Kevin Applewhite who help
coordinate the field study.
From the field study, the geo clino app from a smartphone was used to measure the dip and
strike of the foliation plane, rock samples were taken for testing and an understanding of field
work were obtained.
ROCK UNITS

From the testing of the rocks, all four samples were metamorphic. Below is a table with the
rock samples properties.

Table 1 showing rock sample from location 1 Figure 2 showing rock sample from location 1

SAMPLE Location 1
ROCK NAME Phyllite
COLOUR Anisotropic
HARDNESS >5.5 but <6.5
TEXTURE Crystalline
DESCRIPTION The rock is metamorphic with
oriented foliation and has fine
grains. The rock is anisotropic
and has a crystalline texture. The
name of the rock is phyllite with
the parent rock being shale.

Table 2 showing rock sample from location 2 Figure 3 showing rock sample from location 2

SAMPLE Location 2
ROCK NAME Schist
COLOUR Isotropic
HARDNESS >5.5 but <6.5
TEXTURE Crystalline
DESCRIPTION The rock is metamorphic with
oriented foliation and has
medium to coarse grains. The
rock is isotropic and has a
crystalline texture. The name of
the rock is schist with the parent
rock being shale.
Table 3 showing rock sample from location 3 Figure 4 showing rock sample from location 3

SAMPLE Location 3
ROCK NAME Metaquartzite
COLOUR Anisotropic
HARDNESS >3.5 but <5.5
TEXTURE Crystalline
DESCRIPTION The rock is metamorphic with no
foliation and has medium to
coarse grains. The rock is
anisotropic and has a crystalline
texture. The name of the rock is
metaquartzite.

Table 4 showing rock sample from location 4 Figure 5 showing rock sample from location 4

SAMPLE Location 4
ROCK NAME Slate
COLOUR Isotropic
HARDNESS >3.5 but <5.5
TEXTURE Crystalline
DESCRIPTION The rock is metamorphic with
oriented foliation and has fine
grains. The rock is isotropic and has
a crystalline texture. The name of
the rock is slate.
STRUCTURES

LOCATION 1
The rock structure at location 1 had inclined foliations with fine grains with few joints. From the
figure 6.a and 6.b it can be seen that the rock was under compressional stress which may have
caused a fault leading to the tilted rock layers. From the picture, the fault could not be
observed physically which means that the picture was only part of the rock structure. After
faulting of the rock, surface erosion occurred including fractures and joints on the rock from
weathering. There also appears to be some degree of angular disconformity. This shows that
the rock at location 1 is moderately deformed.

Figure 6.a showing rock at location 1 Figure 6.b showing rock at location 1
(front view facing north) (side view facing east)
 Diagram 1 showing dip and strike for location 1

LOCATION 2

At location 2 the rock shear stress caused a right lateral slip strike fault which can be seen in the
figure 7.a. The bedding layers are horizontal and has boundinage. The grain sizes appear to be
medium to coarse gains. There also appear to be a dip after the right lateral slip strike fault
occurred. The rock at location 2 does not appear to be deformed as much but has little ductile
characteristics. There is little erosion and angular disconformity. The rock at location 2 can be
considered mildly deformed.
Figure 7.a showing rock at location 2 (side view facing east)

Figure 7.b showing rock at location 2 (front view facing south)

 Diagram 2 showing dip and strike for location 2

LOCATION 3

At location 3 the rock oriented foliation was inclined with a layer of silt stone. The siltstone was
present before the fold occurred making it older than the metaquartzite. The type of fold is
syncline with closed fold. The person in the picture is 166cm which gives a height reference for
the fold. This shows a high angular disconformity with the grain size for the metaquartzite being
medium to coarse grains. The rock at location 3 can be considered highly deformed with
moderate ductile properties.
Figure 8 showing rock at location 3 (view facing north west)

Diagram 3 showing dip and strike for location 3

LOCATION 4
At location 4 there were closed folds with the anticline angle being 75⁰ and the syncline angle
being 40⁰. The folds were asymmetrical with no plunge. The folds were under horizontal
compressional stress. The crest was approximately 5’7” in height relative to Dr. k. S. Banerjee
who is about the same. From the folds it implies that location 4 rock was more ductile than the
other three locations. The rock at location 4 is highly deformed.

Figure 9 showing rock at location 4 (front view facing north)

Diagram 4 showing dip and strike for location 4

FIELD DATA
FIGURE 9 AND 10 SHOWING USE OF GEO CLINO APP TO MEASUER DIP AND
STRIKE ANGLE

Figure 9 showing the strike angle being measured Figure 10 showing the dip angle being measured
CONCLUSION

The site visit was partially successful and a great deal of rock structure was observed. Samples
were also taken back for further testing in the lab which gave both field testing and lab testing
experience but no model testing was done. Also by Dr. Kailas Banerjee, David Cudjoe and Kevin
Applewhite help guided the field study which gave the students a better understanding of the
testing and rock structure.
REFERENCES

"Right Slip Strike Search." Google. Accessed April 24, 2018.

https://www.google.tt/search?q=right+slip+strike&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1qL2_i
tLaAhXMqlMKHW9kB-QQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=613.

“structural geology ppt.”, Dr. K S. Banerjee, accessed on April 23, 2018.