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GEOL 412 - Structural Geology

photo - mountains

Thrust faulted front ranges of the Canadian Rockies

GEOLOGY 412:  Structural Geology    --    Spring 2006

Instructor: Dr. Grant R. Woodwell
Office:  407 Jepson Science Center       
Phone:  654-1427
e-mail: gwoodwel or gwoodwel@mwc.edu

Office Hours: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays: 11:00 – 12:15 pm
Individual appointments may be arranged for other times.

Class Schedule:  The lectures meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays (9:30 – 10:45 a.m.) in 409 Jepson.

Laboratory Schedule:  Labs meet on Thursdays from 2:00 – 4:20 p.m. in room 409 Jepson.

Course Objectives:  Structural geology concerns itself with the study of the deformation of the Earth’s lithosphere. Research in structural geology encompasses virtually every scale of observation: from the development of entire mountain belts to understanding strain in the crystal lattice. Some aspects of the subject are highly quantitative, such as stress and strain analysis, while other portions of the course are descriptive in nature, such as the classification of folds or faults. In some respects structural geology serves as a sort of capstone course to the geology major. The theory and practical techniques learned in this class have direct applications in fields as diverse as sedimentology, petrology, seismology, geochemistry, geophysics, and plate tectonics.

Writing Assignments:  Structural geology is a writing intensive course.  A series of writing assignments will be provided throughout the semester.  It is expected that any written work submitted for a grade will be free of spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors.  It is vital that you allow adequate time during the preparation of your papers for rigorous editing.  Your papers will be evaluated not only for their content, but also for the quality of the source material chosen.  You are strongly encouraged to use the facilities of the Writing Center.

Prerequisite:  Students must have completed, or be currently enrolled, in GEOL 302: Petrology.

Texts:              Van der Pluijm, B.A. and Marshak, S., “Earth Structure”, 2nd edition, Norton Press.

Marshak, S. and Mitra, G., “Basic Methods of Structural Geology”, Prentice Hall, publisher.

Exam Schedule:         Exam I:  Tuesday, February 21st

                               Exam II: Thursday, April 13th

                               Final exam: Thursday, May 4th (8:30 – 11:00 a.m.)

Course Grade:  The final grade is determined as follows:

In class exams: 30 %
Lab. Grade (includes assigned problem sets): 25 %

                     Papers: 20 %

                     Final exam: 25 %

Required Field Trip:  Joint petrology/structural geology field trip (date to be announced).

Laboratory assignments:  The laboratory sessions will serve as a self-contained portion of the course in which field, map-based structural techniques and petrographic microscope observations will be taught. Lab exercises will usually be due one week after they are assigned.  The following lab material will be necessary for many of the assignments:

Tracing paper
Drafting compass and good straight edge   
Calculator
Protractor      
Set of high quality color pencils
Stereonets

Honor Code:  Material submitted for a grade, such as exams, laboratory reports and papers must be pledged.  It is certainly permissible for students in the course to share ideas and problem solving strategies for the weekly lab problems, but it is expected that the final work is a reflection of your own effort.

Topic Sequence:  Course topics will generally be presented in the same sequence as they appear in the textbook chapters.  The first set of lectures, and corresponding text material, concerns the theory of rock deformation.  Special emphasis will be given to the concepts of stress and resulting rock strain. The second unit will cover the classification and analysis of specific brittle geologic structures such as faults and joint sets.  A review of ductile rock deformation mechanisms and the process of fold formation will follow this discussion. The last portion of the course will present an analysis of large-scale tectonics with emphasis on isostasy and a discussion of selected orogenic belts.


WEEK                           TEXT CHAPTERS AND SUBJECT

1/15      Ch. 1: Introduction to the field of structural geology

1/22      Ch. 2: Primary and nontectonic structures

1/29      Ch. 3: The application of force and resolved stresses

2/5        Ch. 4: Deformation of rocks and strain analysis

2/12      Ch. 4: Continuation of strain analysis techniques

2/19      Ch. 5: Rock rheology: the relationship between stress and strain

2/26      Ch. 6: Introduction to brittle deformation

3/5        Spring Break Week

3/12      Ch. 7: The classification and analysis of joints and veins

3/19      Ch. 8: Faults and faulting mechanisms

3/26      Ch. 16, 18, 19: Selected case studies of fault terrains

4/2        Ch. 9:  Introduction to ductile deformation mechanisms

4/9        Ch. 10: The classification and analysis of folds

4/16      Ch. 11: Structural fabrics: foliations and lineations

4/23      Ch. 12: Ductile shear zones and their associated textures

           Laboratory topics (Chapter numbers refer to lab manual)

1.  Laboratory introduction and use of the Brunton compass

Ch. 1: Measurement of attitude and location

2.  Ch. 2: Interpretation and Construction of Contour Maps

3.  Field collection of attitude data (weather permitting)

4.  Ch. 3: Geometric methods I: Attitude calculations

5.  Ch. 4: Geometric methods II: Dimension calculations

6.  Ch. 5: Introduction to Stereographic projections

7.  Ch. 6: Stereographic poles and rotations

8.  Ch. 8: Equal area projections and structural analysis

9. Ch. 10: Analysis of data from rock-deformation experiments

10. Ch. 13: Constructing profiles and block diagrams of folds

11. Constructing cross sections