Crustal Deformation

CRUSTAL
DEFORMATION
WHY ROCKS DEFORM?
Tectonic forces can cause to move.
Tilt, and/ or change shape.
Collectively, these changes are
called DEFORMATION
Deformation occurs mostly along plate
boundaries- where plates push together,
pull apart, or scape past each other.
Rocks deform in characteristics ways that

can be observed when they are exposed on
the surface as on outcrop.
STRESS: THE CAUSE OF
DEFORMATION
Deformation is caused by
differential stress, in which the
force is stronger in one direction
than the other.
THREE TYPES OF DIFFERENTIAL
STRESS
1. COMPRESSION- squeezes a rock
mass
2. TENSION- pull apart rock bodies
3. SHEAR- causes one part of a rock
body move past another.
TYPES OF DEFORMATION
Rocks experience three types of
deformation that lead to shape changes
( strain)
1. ELASTIC DEFORMATION-
deformation in which the rock returns to
nearly it’s original size and shape when
the stress is removed.
ELASTIC DEFORMATION
2. BRITTLE DEFORMATION-
deformation that involves the
fracturing of rock when a rock’s
strength is exceeded such that is cannot
respond elastically ( occurs near the
surface)
BRITTLE DEFORMATION
3. DUCTILE DEFORMATION-
deformation that produces a
change in the size and shape of a
rock body without fracturing.
DUCTILE DEFORMATION
FACTORS THAT AFFECT DEFORMATION
Rock deformation is brittle at shallow depth
and ductile at great depth. Four factors
influence deformation:
1. TEMPERATURE- at high temperatures
( deep in Earth’s crust or adjacent to heat
source), rocks are nearer their melting
temperatures are therefore weaker and more
capable of ductile deformation.
2. CONFINING PRESSURE- confining
pressure increases with depth and
squeezes rocks equally from all
directions, so it tends to make them
harder to break and hence less brittle.
3. ROCK TYPE- the manner in
which a particular rock type
responds to stress is greatly
influenced by it’s mineral
composition and texture.
4. TIME- stress is applied to a rock
unit too quickly, the rock will
deform elastically until it’s
strength is exceeded and then it
will fracture.
FOLDS
-Rock strata are often bent into a series
wavelike undulations called folds.
- most folds result from compressional
stresses along convergent boundaries,
resulting in a lateral shortening and
vertical thickening of the crust.
FOLDS
- Each layer is bent around an
imaginary axis called a HINGE LINE
or HINGE
- the AXIAL PLANE, a surface that
connects all the hinge lines of the
folded strata, divides the folds into
two roughly symmetrical limbs.
ANTICLINES AND SYNCLINE
The two most common types of folds are
INCLINES AND SYNCLINES
ANTICLINES usually form by the upfolding,
or arching, of sedimentary layers.
Typically found in association with anticlines

are downfolds, or troughs, called SYNCLINES.
Folds are ASYMMETRICAL when the
limbs are not mirror images of each
other. An asymmetrical folds is
overturned if both limbs dip in the
same direction.
ASYMMETRICAL FOLDS
DOME AND BASINS
When an upwarping of basement rock
deforms overlying sedimentary strata
to produce a bulge, the feature is called
DOME.
The inverse of a dome is a down
warped structure termed BASIN .
MONOCLINES
-Folds and faults may occur together as a
result of the same tectonic stresses.
- One example can be found in broad
features called MONOCLINES, which
are large, step like folds in otherwise
horizontal sedimentary strata.
MONOCLINE
FAULTS
-faults are structures that form where
brittle deformation leads to fracturing of
earth’s crust.
- a fault is a fracture along which motion
has occurred, so that the rock on either
side are offset from each other.
DIP- SLIP FAULTS
-Faults in which movement is primarily
parallel to the slope of the fault surface are
called dip-slip faults.
- the rock body that contains the fault’s upper
surface is the HANGING WALL BLOCK and
that containing the lower surface is the
FOOTWALL BLOCK
DIP- SLIP FAULTS
NORMAL FAULTS
-When the hanging wall blocks moves
down relative to the footwall block, dip-
slip faults are classified as NORMAL
FAULTS.
-Normal faults are associated with
tensional stresses that pull rock units
apart, thereby lengthening the crust.
NORMAL FAULT
REVERSE FAULTS
Dip-slip faults in which the hanging
wall block moves up relative to the
footwall block are called REVERSE
FAULTS.
REVERSE FAULT
STRIKE-SLIP FAULTS
a faults in which the dominant
displacement is horizontal and parallel
to the direction of the fault surface is
called STRIKE-SLIP FAULT.
STRIKE- SLIP FAULT
JOINTS
JOINTS are found in nearly all rock
outcrops. Joints differ from faults in that
no appreciable displacement has occurred
along the fracture.
JOINTS

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CRUSTAL

Rocks deform in characteristics ways that

Typically found in association with anticlines

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