Geological Structures

Sideling Hill, I-68,

Washington County, MD

Today we will consider the structures in rocks

produced by deformation.

Deformation Processes
Wherever you see
sedimentary rocks that are
not lying horizontally, these
rocks have been deformed in
some large-scale process.
It is important to try to
imagine the scale of the
entire structure to which a
single area or outcrop
belongs.

Deformation
As a result of plate tectonics, the crust is constantly under
stress. Rocks respond to stress by deforming.
Deformation may be brittle, in which rocks will tend to
break, or ductile, in which they tend to flow or bend.
To an extent, brittle behavior characterizes the upper part
of the crust, since it is relatively cold. However, if the rate
at which a material is stressed is small enough, even rigid
materials may deform ductilely.

Response to Stress
Temperature has a role in the response of a material to stress,
but so does composition.
In general rocks with more water in them and which contain
more platy minerals (micas, clays) are more prone to
ductile deformation.
That is why sedimentary rocks in the shallow crust frequently
form fold belts, large provinces dominated by folded strata.

Types of Stress
There are three principal types of stress
(as are demonstrated on large scale by the three
plate tectonic boundaries):
compressive, tensional and shear.
Compression occurs when material is squeezed, when
bodies are pushed straight together.
Tension (or extension) is when material is pulled apart.
Shear deformation occurs as two bodies
slide past one another.

Types of
Stress

Traces of Stress
in Rocks

By measuring objects of know

undeformed dimensions, we
can estimate the nature and
magnitude of deformation.

Traces of Stress in Rocks

Orientation of slaty cleavage is another tool to estimate the

nature and magnitude of stress on a rock.

Brittle Deformation
Rocks that respond brittlely to stress
break. Where a rock breaks and no
movement takes place is called a
fracture or joint.
Fractures in the shallow crust are
commonly evidenced by quartz
veins, where fluid once flowed and
later crystallized.

Faults
A fracture along which movement takes place is a fault.

acute angle =
hanging wall
lt
u
a
f

obtuse angle =
foot wall

e
n
a
pl

We classify faults based on direction of movement of

individual blocks, with reference to a horizontal plane.

Dip-Slip Faults
-- primary movement is
vertical
hanging wall
foot wall

reverse fault: old rocks are

brought up in hanging
wall

normal fault: old rocks are

brought up in foot wall
foot wall
hanging wall

Reverse (Thrust) Faults

Thrust fault:
reverse fault with
shallowly dipping
fault plane.

Reverse faults form as a result of compressional stresses, which

dominate in convergent plate tectonic margins.
Thrust faults can be crustal-scale, as shown in the lower diagram.

Normal Faults

Normal faulting is a result of tension (or extension).

Extension is the dominant stress at divergent plate boundaries.
The most classic normal fault valleys are present in

Surface Expressions of Dip-Slip Faults

How a fault is manifested on the surface depends on which is

greater: the rate of fault movement or the rate of erosion.
Faults that have not penetrated to the Earths surface are blind
faultsparticularly dangerous from an earthquake hazard
standpoint, since they are hard to detect and map out.

Strike-Slip Faults
-- primary movement is horizontal, not vertical, meaning no old
rocks are brought up or moved down relative to
the Earths surface
Strike-slip faults
result from shear
stress, like what we
see at transform
plate margins. The
San Andreas
system is a big
strike-slip fault

Identify the Fault

Identify the Fault

Reverse Fault
older rocks moved up
in hanging wall

Identify the Faults

Normal Faults
older rocks moved
down in hanging walls

Ductile Deformation
The most obvious imprint of ductile deformation on rocks are
folds.
Although rocks may be brittle at the Earths surface, ductile
features like folding occur partially because of elevated
temperature and pressure at depth in the Earth, partially
because the stresses are applied at very small rates: the same
rocks that respond brittlely when stress is applied rapidly will
tend to deform ductilely when the same stress is applied over
a long time.
Folds are generally produced by compression, and so
characterize convergent plate tectonic situations.

Types of Folds

How do you know which

way is up?

Plunging Folds

In nature, folded areas commonly contain folds whose axes are

not horizontal: they plunge. These make the familiar fold shapes
on topographic maps and satellite images.

Plunging Folds

The Valley and Ridge Province of the central Pennsylvania

Appalachians is a classic example of folding.

Scales
of Folding

1 meter

1 millimeter

Folding can take place on highly

variable scales.

Soft Sediment Deformation

Not all deformation has to occur very deep in the Earth.
Sediments frequently show familiar fold structures. These come
from loading of material on water-rich layers of sediment.

Soft Sediment Deformation

Here, layers of basaltic ash were deposited on a shallow lake
shore. Later material loaded on top of it caused the wet ash
layer to slump and contort. 15,000 yr later this is barely lithified
into a sedimentary rock, yet it preserves spectacular folds.

Ductile and Brittle Deformation Features

Ductile

Brittle

Composite Brittle + Ductile Features

Many deformation structures are composite in nature. Fold belts

(compressional) commonly contain numerous reverse faults.

Brittle + Ductile Features (small scale)

A vein such as this may have formed in a fracture, but
subsequent ductile deformation caused its wiggly appearance.

Topographic Relief

p.359

Isostasy
Isostasy
is the
gravitational
balance of
masses at
the Earths
surface.

The balance is based on the contrast in density of the materials

involved. The crust is lower density than the mantle.

Icebergs and
Isostasy
Why did the Titanic sink?
Partly to blame is isostasy:
sea ice is much more
massive below the water
line than above. What
ripped into the Titanics hull
was probably not visible
from on deck.

Discovery of Isostasy
George Airy determined that high mountains indeed have
massive roots as a result of deflection of an engineers
plumb line during the first survey of India.
vertica
l
vertical

When surveying
close to the
Himalayas, the
angle between
the plumb line
and vertical was
much greater
than surveys
farther from the
mountain core.

Isostasy

Due to the low density of the crust relative to the mantle,

mountain belts will have deep roots. These protrude into the
upper mantle and provide an isostatic counterbalance to the
mass above the mantle surface.

This hypothesis has been further tested using seismology, which

reveals thick crustal roots beneath mountain belts.

Epeirogeny: epirojeny
Epeirogeny refers to broad flexing motions of the crust: slow
up- and down-warping of large areas without particular plate
tectonic drive and little deformation.
These slow changes in topography are basically isostatic
adjustments: the crust going up or down in response to more
or less passive forces from above or below.

Isostatic Adjustments
Sediment is less dense
than consolidated rock,
but still provides significant
mass when removed from
one area and deposited in
another.

Sediment Loading

Sediment erosion and

loading will result in
epeirogenic uplift and
subsidence.

This model is consistent with what

we see in the modern Mississippi
delta, for example.

Other forms of Crustal Loading

Ice is less dense than

rock, but pile enough up
on the crust, and it will
have an isostatic impact.

Glacial Rebound

Most of Scandinavia is experiencing rapid uplift, as a result of

the removal of glacial ice over the past dozen millennia.

Crust Goes Up...

Crust Goes Down
Formation of a divergent
plate boundary will cause
regional uplift, as will the
impinging of a hot mantle
plume on the base of the
continental crust.

Ocean crust cools and

sinks as it ages and
diverges from the spreading
center, causing epeirogenic
subsidence.

p.499

There are
Mountains
and there
are
Mountains

Pacific
Northwest

Sierra
Nevada or
Rockies
Basin and
Range

Mountains can
result from a
variety of different

western
Appalachians

forces and
processes.
Himalayas or
central Appalachians

p.495

Negative Feedback
A negative feedback
mechanism results in
consequences that work
against the process.
Why is the erosion rate
higher as relief increases?

p.366

The Constant Battle Between

Tectonic Uplift and Erosion

p.370