5.
ROCK DEFORMATIONS
5.1 Rock Deformation
A process of changing/transformation of rocks due to stress. Features of rock
deformation are collectively referred to as structure or structural features.
Changes in volume or shape of a rock body is called deformation.
Scale of Deformation
Large scale deformation of the Earth’s crust = Plate Tectonics (Plate
tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that
glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core.)
Smaller scale deformation = structural geology (Folds and faults are geologic
structures. Structural geology is the study of the deformation of rocks and the
effects of this movement).
Stress and Strain
These are terms used to describe the type of rock deformation.
Stress
Stress is defined as force applied to a body /unit area or it is the force per unit area
acting on a solid. When rocks are under stresses greater than their own strength, they
begin to deform, usually by folding, flowing, or fracturing
Types of Stress
There are two types of stress:
1. Uniform or confining stress – a force on a body that is equal in all directions. This
type of stress does not usually deform a rock (change shape) but may result in a
change in size..
2. Differential stress - stress that is not equal in all directions and is caused by
tectonic forces. This type of stress is usually causes a change in shape, but not in
size..
Figure 1. Types of stress.
Types of differential stress
Three types of differential stress are recognized: Tensional stress, compressive
stress and shear stress.
Tensional stress is a stretching stress. Rocks have very little strength under
tensional stress and break apart easily. Compressive stress is a squeezing stress.
Rocks are relatively strong under compression. Shear stress operates in opposite
directions across the body.
When rocks are squeezed or shortened the stress is compressional.
Tensional stress is caused by rocks being pulled in opposite
directions.
Shear stress causes a body of rock to be distorted.
Figure 2. Types of differential stress.
Figure 3. Types of differential stress.
Strain
Strain is deformation or change of shape of a rock body experiences when
under differential stress. It is the change in shape or volume of a body of
rock as a result of stress. Strain is proportional to stress. Large stress =
Large Strain.
Once the elastic limit or strength of a rock is surpassed, it either flows or
fractures
Elastic limit is a value of stress up to which material can be deformed
elastically under load, after unloading it will return to it's original
dimension. Beyond elastic limit, material will start deform plastically
which is characterized with permanent deformation. It is marked by the
breakage of bonds.
Types of Strain
1. Elastic strain/deformation – this recoverable strain. When
stress is removed, object regains original shape. Elastic limit is a
limiting stress beyond which the rock can not return to its
original shape and will be permanently deformed.
2. Plastic strain/ductile deformation – permanent strain. When
stress exceeds the strength of the rock the rock will bend or fold.
It takes place when rock is stressed beyond elastic limit. When
stress is removed, object remains deformed by bending.
3. Brittle strain/deformation – permanent strain. When stress
exceeds the strength of the rock the rock will break or fracture.
Rocks near the surface, where temperatures and confining pressure are
low, usually behave like brittle solids and fracture once their strength is
exceeded – brittle deformation:
• Loss of cohesion of a body under the influence of deforming stress
• Usually occurs along sub-planar surfaces that separate zones of coherent
material.
Ductile deformation is a type of solid-state flow that produces a change in
the size and shape of an object without fracturing that object.
• Permanent change in shape or size that is not recovered when the stress is
removed
• Occurs by the slippage of atoms or small groups of atoms past each other
in the deforming material, without loss of cohesion.
Increasing stress
Increasing strain
Figure 4. Ductile formation
Increasing stress
Increasing strain
Figure 5. Brittle failure.
Factors that influence the type of permanent strain in rocks experiencing
the same amount of stress:
1. Temperature
2. Confining stress
3. Time and strain rate
4. Composition (rock type): mineral composition and amount of water in
rock.
Rocks are:
• Elastic and brittle near the earth's surface.
• Because of the increasing temperature and pressure More plastic and
ductile deeper in the crust.
5.2 Deformational features rocks
1. Folds
2. Faults
3. Joints
Folds
Most common ductile response to stress on rocks in the earth's crust. Flat-lying
sedimentary and volcanic rocks are often bent into a series of wave-like
undulations. The five most common types of folds are: Anticline, Syncline,
Monoclines, domes and basins.
Anticline – formed by the upfolding, or arching, of rock layers. Older rocks on the
inside
Syncline – downfolds, or troughs, found in association with anticlines. Older
rocks on the outside.
Monocline – large, step-like folds in otherwise horizontal sedimentary
strata. Monoclines seem to occur as sedimentary layers have been folded
over a large faulted block of underlying rock.
A dome is a feature in structural geology consisting of symmetrical
anticlines that intersect each other at their respective apices.
Basin is a down-arched series of strata with beds on all sides dipping in
towards the center throughout 360 degrees--an eroded surface indicates the
rocks become progressively older away from the center of the structure.
Faults
Faults – fractures in the crust along which movement has taken place.
Occur when large stresses build up in the crust.
Fault Features
Fault plane: it is the planer surface along which relative displacement of
blocks takes place during the process of faulting.
The hanging wall is the side (block) above the fault surface (fault plane),
whereas the footwall is the side (the block) below the fault surface (fault
plane).
Faults are classified according to the kind of movement that has
occurred along them. The major types of faults are normal faults,
reverse faults, thrust faults, and strike-slip faults
Normal fault – occurs when the hanging wall block moves down
relative to the footwall block (result in the lengthening of the crust)
Reverse fault – the hanging wall block moves up relative to the
footwall block
Thrust faults – reverse faults with dips less than 45º (results in the
shortening of the rocks)
Strike-slip faults – movement is horizontal and parallel to the trend,
or strike of the fault surface (caused by shear stress).
Joints
The most common rock structure are fractures. These are fractures along
which no appreciable displacement has occurred.
Joints can be classified according to their origin. On the basis of their
origin, joints have been divided into a number of different types that
include tectonic, exfoliation, unloading (release), and cooling joints.
Tectonic joints are joints that formed by the relative displacement of the
joint walls normal to its plane as the result of brittle deformation of
bedrock in response to regional or local tectonic deformation of bedrock.
Exfoliation joints are sets of flat-lying, curved, and large
joints that are restricted to massively exposed rock faces in
an deeply eroded landscape.
Unloading joints or release joints are joints formed near the surface
during uplift and erosion. As intrusive igneous rocks are brought
closer to the surface during uplift and erosion, they cool, contract
and become relaxed elastically. This causes stress buildup that
eventually exceeds the tensile strength of the bedrock and results in
the formation of jointing.
Cooling joints are columnar joints that result from the cooling of either lava from
the exposed surface of a lava lake or flood basalt flow or the sides of a tabular
igneous, typically basaltic, intrusion. They exhibit a pattern of joints that join
together at triple junctions either at or about 120° angles. They split a rock body
into long, prisms or columns that are typically hexagonal, although 3-, 4-, 5- and
7-sided columns are relatively common. They form as a result of a cooling front
that moves from some surface, either the exposed surface of a lava lake or flood
basalt flow or the sides of a tabular igneous intrusion into either lava of the lake or
lava flow or magma of a dike or sill.
