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Fracture (geology) A fractured rock in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, a mechanism of brittle deformation in response to stress. A fracture is any separation in a geologic formation, such as a joint or a fault that divides the rock into two or more pieces. A fracture will sometimes form a deep fissure or crevice in the rock.
Joint (geology) Horizontal joints in the sedimentary rocks of the foreground and a more varied set of joints in the granitic rocks in the background. Image from the Kazakh Uplands in Balkhash District, Kazakhstan. Orthogonal joint sets on a bedding plane in flagstones, Caithness, Scotland. Joints in the Almo Pluton, City of Rocks National ...
Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover information about the history of deformation (strain) in the rocks, and ultimately, to understand the stress ...
Fault (geology) Satellite image of a fault in the Taklamakan Desert. The two colorful ridges (at bottom left and top right) used to form a single continuous line, but have been split apart by movement along the fault. In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant ...
These folds were produced by Alpine deformation. In structural geology, a fold is a stack of originally planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, that are bent or curved ("folded") during permanent deformation. Folds in rocks vary in size from microscopic crinkles to mountain-sized folds. They occur as single isolated folds or in periodic ...
Thermal stress weathering is most effective when the heated portion of the rock is buttressed by surrounding rock, so that it is free to expand in only one direction. [12] Thermal stress weathering comprises two main types, thermal shock and thermal fatigue. Thermal shock takes place when the stresses are so great that the rock cracks ...
In geology, the term " tension " refers to a stress which stretches rocks in two opposite directions. The rocks become longer in a lateral direction and thinner in a vertical direction. One important result of tensile stress is jointing in rocks. However, tensile stress is rare because most subsurface stress is compressive, due to the weight of ...
Microcracks in rock, also known as microfractures and cracks, [1] are spaces in rock with the longest length of 1000 μm and the other two dimensions of 10 μm. In general, the ratio of width to length of microcracks is between 10 −3 to 10 −5. [1] Due to the scale, microcracks are observed using microscope to obtain their basic characteristics.