MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING GEOLOGY PRACTICAL NO:1 TOPIC: STUDY OF GEOLOGICAL CROSSECTION. NAME: HUZAIFA ALI ROLL NO: 18CE193 SUBMITTED TO: SIR AMMAR NOOR MEMON OBJECT: Study of geological crossection. THEORY GENERAL CONCEPTH: A geological cross-section is a graphic representation of the intersection of the geological bodies in the subsurface with a vertical plane of a certain orientation. It is a section of the terrain where the different types of rocks, their constitution and internal structure and the geometric relationship between them are represented. It is an approximate model of the real distribution of the rocks in depth, consistent with the information available on the surface and the subsurface. It can also represent the extension of the materials of the structures that have been eroded above the topographic surface. IMPORTANCE: The cross-sections are an indispensable complement of the geological maps; maps and cross-sections are fruit of the interpretation of the arrangement of the rocks using diverse types of data, normally incomplete and with different degrees of uncertainty. Both are bi-dimensional representations of the geological reality and jointly allow us to understand the tri-dimensional structure of the rocky volumes and, in consequence, the geological history of a zone.The geological cross-sections have a very relevant economic and social importance. They are the basis for planning engineering works, fundamentally the lineal works that affect the surface and the subsurface (roads, tunnels, utilities) and for the exploration and production of geological resources: water, stones, minerals and energy. VARIOUS GEOLOGICAL CROSSECTIONS: 1) FOLDS 2) FAULTS 3) JOINTS 4) UNCONFORMITIES 1) FOLDS: Fold, in geology, undulation or waves in the stratified rocks of Earth’s crust. Folds vary widely in size; some are several kilometres or even hundreds of kilometres across, and others measure just a few centimetres or less. The tops of large folds are commonly eroded away on Earth’s surface, exposing the cross sections of the inclined strata. Folds are generally classified according to the attitude of their axes and their appearance in cross sections perpendicular to the trend of the fold. The axial plane of a fold is the plane or surface that divides the fold as symmetrically as possible.There are two types of folds: 1) SYNCLINE: syncline is a fold that is concave upward. synclinorium is a large syncline on which minor folds are superimposed. 2) ANTICILINE: An anticline is a fold that is convex upward. An anticlinorium is a large anticline on which minor folds are superimposed. 3) SYMMETRICAL FOLD: A fold is perfectly symmetric if, when looking at a cross section perpendicular to the axial surface, the two sides of the axial trace are mirror images of one another. This implies that the two limbs are of equal length. Symmetric folds are sometimes called M-folds. 4) ASYMMETRICAL FOLD: An asymmetrical fold is one in which the axial plane is inclined. asymmetric folds are referred to as S-folds and Z-folds. 5) OVERTURNED FOLDS: An overturned fold, or overfold, has the axial plane inclined to such an extent that the strata on one limb are overturned. 2) FAULTS: A fault is a surface or narrow zone along which one side has moved relative to the other in a direction parallel to the surface or zone is called fault.There are two types of motion on faults: 1) STRIKE-SLIP FAULTS: A fault in which the movement has been horizontal is called a strike slip fault because the slipping has been parallel to the strike of the fault. 2) DIP-SLIP FAULTS: The opposite, vertical offset visible in cross-section, are dip-slip faults OR Dip-slip faults are inclined at some angle to the surface, and displacement is primarily normal to strike direction, along the dip of the fault. Geologists give more descriptive names to dip-slip faults depending on the direction of the displacement.Dip-slip faults consist of three faults according to their directions given below: 1) NORMAL FAULTS: Normal faults (also known as gravity faults) are faults in which the hanging wall has moved downward relative to the footwall. 2) REVERSE FAULT OR THURST FAULT: Reverse faults (also known as thrust faults) are faults in which the hanging wall has moved upward relative to the footwall. 3) JOINTS: Joints may be defined as cracks or fractures present in the body of a rock,along which there has been no relative movements as happens in the case of fault. IN TERMS OF GEOMETRY THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF JOINTS: 1) SYSTEMATIC JOINTS 2) NON-SYSTEMATIC JOINTS 3) COLUMNAR JOINTS JOINTS WITH RESPECT TO GEOMETRY: 1) SYSTEMATIC JOINTS: The angles at which joint sets within a joint system commonly intersect is called by structural geologists as the dihedral angles. Based upon the angle at which joint sets of systematic joints intersect to form a joint system, it can be subdivided into conjugate and orthogonal joint sets. They occur in parallel or sub parallel joint sets that are repeated in the rocks at regular intervals. These shows a distinct regularity in their occurrence. When the dihedral angles are from 30 to 60° within a joint system, the joint sets are known as conjugate joint sets. Orthogonal joints When the dihedral angles are nearly 90° within a joint system, the joint sets are known as orthogonal joint sets. OR Systematic joints are roughly planar, parallel to each other, usually regularly spaced. Based upon their orientation to the axial plane and axes of folds,the types of systematic joints are 1) LONGITUDINAL JOINTS: Joints which are roughly parallel to fold axes and often fan around the fold. 2) DIAGONAL JOINTS: Joints which typically occur as conjugate joint sets that trend oblique to the fold axes. 3) STRIKE JOINTS: Joints which trend parallel to the strike of the axial plane of a fold. 4) CROSS STRIKE JOINTS: Joints which cut across the axial plane of a fold. 2) NON-SYSTEMATIC JOINTS: : joints that do not share a common orientation and those highly curved and irregular fracture surfaces. They occur in most area but are not easily related to a recognizable stress. Some times both systematic and nonsystematic joints formed in the same area at the same time but nonsystematic joints usually terminate at systematic joints which indicates that nonsystematic joints formed later. 3) COLUMNAR JOINTS: Columnar jointing is a distinctive type of joints that join together at triple junctions either at or about 120° angles. These joints split a rock body into long, prisms or columns. Typically, such columns are hexagonal, although 3-, 4-, 5- and 7-sided columns are relatively common. The diameter of these prismatic columns range from a few centimeters to several metres. They are often oriented perpendicular to either the upper surface and base of lava flows and the contact of the tabular igneous bodies with the surrounding rock.OR Columnar joints are typical of extrusive igneous flows and shallow tabular intrusive igneous rocks. These fractures separate the igneous rock into pentagonal to hexagonal columns. Classic examples are Devil's Postpile in California, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Giant's causeway in Ireland, the Alcantara narrows in Italy. JOINTS WITH RESPECT TO FORMATION: 1) TECTONIC JOINTS: Tectonic joints are joints that formed when the relative displacement of the joint walls is normal to its plane as the result of brittle deformation of bedrock in response to regional or local tectonic deformation of bedrock. Such joints form when directed tectonic stress causes the tensile strength of bedrock to be exceeded as the result of the stretching of rock layers under conditions of elevated pore fluid pressure and directed tectonic stress. Tectonic joints often reflect local tectonic stresses associated with local folding and faulting. Tectonic joints occur as both nonsystematic and systematic joints, including orthogonal and conjugate joint sets. 2) HYDRAULIC JOINTS: Hydraulic joints are joints thought to have formed when pore fluid pressure became elevated as a result of vertical gravitational loading. In simple terms, the accumulation of either sediments, volcanic, or other material causes an increase in the pore pressure of groundwater and other fluids in the underlying rock when they cannot move either laterally of vertically in response to this pressure. This also causes an increase in pore pressure in preexisting cracks that increases the tensile stress on them perpendicular to the minimum principal stress (the direction in which the rock is being stretched). If the tensile stress exceeds the magnitude of the least principal compressive stress the rock will fail in a brittle manner and these cracks propagate in a process called hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic joints occur as both nonsystematic and systematic joints, including orthogonal and conjugate joint sets. In some cases, joint sets can be a tectonic - hydraulic hybrid. 3) UNLOADED JOINTS: Unloading joints or release joints are joints formed near the surface during uplift and erosion. As bedded sedimentary 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. In the case of unloading joints, compressive stress is released either along preexisting structural elements (such as cleavage) or perpendicular to the former direction of tectonic compression. 4) COOLING JOINTS: 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. 1) UNCONFORMITY: An unconformity is contact between two rock units. Unconformities are typically buried erosional surfaces that can represent a break in the geologic record of hundreds of millions of years or more. It it called an unconformity because the ages of the layers of rock that are abutting each other are discontinuous at the unconformity. An expected age of layer or layers of rock is/are missing due to the erosion; and, some period in geologic time is not represented. THERE ARE SEVEN TYPES OF UNCORMITY: 1) DIS-CONFORMITY: Disconformities are usually erosional contacts that are parallel to the bedding planes of the upper and lower rock units. Since disconformities are hard to recognize in a layered sedimentary rock sequence, they are often discovered when the fossils in the upper and lower rock units are studied. Paraconformity is a type of unconformity: 1) PARA –CONFORMITY: Para-conformity is a type of uncorfmity in which there is no evidence of a gap in time,because the planes above and below the gap are parallel and there is no evidence of erosion. 2) NON-CONFORMITY: A nonconformity is the contact that separates a younger sedimentary rock unit from an igneous intrusive rock or metamorphic rock unit. A nonconformity suggests that a period of long‐term uplift, weathering, and erosion occurred to expose the older, deeper rock at the surface before it was finally buried by the younger rocks above it. A nonconformity is the old erosional surface on the underlying rock. 3) ANGULAR UNCONFORMITY: An angular unconformity is the contact that separates a younger, gently dipping rock unit from older underlying rocks that are tilted or deformed layered rock. The contact is more obvious than a disconformity because the rock units are not parallel and at first appear cross‐cutting. Angular unconformities generally represent a longer time hiatus than do disconformities because the underlying rock had usually been metamorphosed, uplifted, and eroded before the upper rock unit was deposited. 4) BUTTRESS UNCONFORMITY: A buttress unconformity (also called onlap unconformity) occurs where beds of the younger sequence were deposited in a region of significant predepositional topography. 5) BLENDED UNCONFORMITY: Blended unconform ity is a surface of erosion may be covered by a thick residual soil that grades into the underlying bed rock.