7.1+Stress+in+the+Earth's+Crust

Lesson Objectives

 * List the different types of stresses that cause different types of deformation.
 * Compare the different types of folds and the conditions under which they form.
 * Compare fractures and faults and define how they are related to earthquakes.
 * Compare how mountains form and at what types of plate boundaries they form.

=
Enormous slabs of lithosphere move unevenly over the planet’s spherical surface, resulting in earthquakes. This chapter deals with two types of geological activity that occur because of plate tectonics, mountain building, and earthquakes. First we will consider what can happen to rocks when they are exposed to stress.=====

Causes and Types of Stress
Stress caused these rocks to fracture. Shearing in rocks. The white quartz vein has been elongated by shear. When stress causes a material to change shape, it has undergone **strain** or **deformation.** Deformed rocks are common in geologically active areas. A rock’s response to stress depends on the rock type, the surrounding temperature, and pressure conditions the rock is under, the length of time the rock is under stress, and the type of stress. Rocks have three possible responses to increasing stress (**Figure** [|below]). With increasing stress, the rock undergoes: (1) Under what conditions do you think a rock is more likely to fracture? Is it more likely to break deep within Earth’s crust or at the surface? What if the stress applied is sharp rather than gradual?
 * Stress** is the force applied to an object. In geology, stress is the force per unit area that is placed on a rock. Four types of stresses act on materials.
 * A deeply buried rock is pushed down by the weight of all the material above it. Since the rock cannot move, it cannot deform. This is called **confining stress.**
 * **Compression** squeezes rocks together, causing rocks to fold or fracture (break) (**Figure** [|below]). Compression is the most common stress at convergent plate boundaries.
 * Rocks that are pulled apart are under **tension**. Rocks under tension lengthen or break apart. Tension is the major type of stress at divergent plate boundaries.
 * When forces are parallel but moving in opposite directions, the stress is called **shear** (**Figure** [|below]). Shear stress is the most common stress at transform plate boundaries.
 * At the Earth's surface, rocks usually break quite quickly, but deeper in the crust, where temperatures and pressures are higher, rocks are more likely to deform plastically.
 * Sudden stress, such as a hit with a hammer, is more likely to make a rock break. Stress applied over time, often leads to plastic deformation.

Geologic Structures
Sedimentary rocks are important for deciphering the geologic history of a region because they follow certain rules. You can trace the deformation a rock has experienced by seeing how it differs from its original horizontal, oldest-on-bottom, position (**Figure** [|below]). This deformation produces geologic structures such as folds, joints and faults that are caused by stresses (**Figure** [|below]). Using the rules listed above, try to figure out the geologic history of the geologic column below. In the Grand Canyon, the rock layers are exposed like a layer cake. Each layer is made of sediments that were deposited in a particular environment, perhaps a lake bed, shallow offshore region, or a sand dune. In this geologic column of the Grand Canyon, the sedimentary rocks of groups 3 through 6 are still horizontal. Group 2 rocks have been tilted. Group 1 rocks are not sedimentary. The oldest layers are on the bottom and youngest are on the top.
 * 1) Sedimentary rocks are formed with the oldest layers on the bottom and the youngest on top.
 * 2) Sediments are deposited horizontally, so sedimentary rock layers are originally horizontal as are some volcanic rocks, such as ash falls.
 * 3) Sedimentary rocks that are not horizontal are deformed.

Folds
Rocks deforming plastically under compressive stresses crumple into **folds** (**Figure** [|below]). They do not return to their original shape. If the rocks experience more stress, they may undergo more folding, or even fracture. Snow accentuates the fold exposed in these rocks in Provo Canyon, Utah. Three types of folds are seen. A An An anticline exposed in a road cut in New Jersey. The oldest rocks are at the center of an anticline and the youngest are draped over them. When rocks arch upward to form a circular structure, that structure is called a **dome.** If the top of the dome is sliced off, where are the oldest rocks located? A This syncline is in Rainbow Basin, California. When rocks bend downward in a circular structure, that structure is called a **basin** (**Figure** [|below]). If the rocks are exposed at the surface, where are the oldest rocks located? Basins can be enormous. This is a geologic map of the Michigan Basin, which is centered in the state of Michigan, but extends into four other states and a Canadian province.
 * Mononcline (**Figure** [|below])
 * Anticline (**Figure** [|below]), and (**Figure** [|below]).
 * Syncline (**Figure** [|below]) and (**Figure** [|below])

Faults
A rock under enough stress will fracture. If there is no movement on either side of a fracture, the fracture is called a **joint**, as shown in (**Figure** [|below]). Granite rocks in Joshua Tree National Park showing horizontal and vertical jointing. These joints formed when the confining stress was removed from the granite. If the blocks of rock on one or both sides of a fracture move, the fracture is called a **fault** (**Figure** [|below]). Sudden motions along faults cause rocks to break and move suddenly. The energy released is an earthquake. Faults are easy to recognize as they cut across bedded rocks. The two types of dip-slip faults. In An animation of a normal fault is seen here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/animations/animation.php?flash_title=Normal+Fault&#38;flash_file=normalfault&#38;flash_width=220&#38;flash_height=320 A **thrust fault** is a type of reverse fault in which the fault plane angle is nearly horizontal. Rocks can slip many miles along thrust faults (**Figure** [|below]). An animation of a thrust fault is seen here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/animations/animation.php?flash_title=Thrust+Fault&#38;flash_file=thrustfault&#38;flash_width=220&#38;flash_height=320 At Chief Mountain in Montana, the upper rocks at the Lewis Overthrust are more than 1 billion years older than the lower rocks. How could this happen? Normal faults can be huge. They are responsible for uplifting mountain ranges in regions experiencing tensional stress (**Figure** [|below]). The Teton Range in Wyoming rose up along a normal fault. A **strike-slip fault** is a dip-slip fault in which the dip of the fault plane is vertical. Strike-slip faults result from shear stresses. (**Figure** [|below]). Imagine placing one foot on either side of a strike-slip fault. One block moves toward you. If that block moves toward your right foot, the fault is a right-lateral strike-slip fault; if that block moves toward your left foot, the fault is a left-lateral strike-slip fault. California’s San Andreas Fault is the world’s most famous strike-slip fault. It is a right-lateral strike slip fault (**Figure** [|below]). A strike-slip fault animation http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/animations/animation.php?flash_title=Strike-Slip+Fault&#38;flash_file=strikeslip&#38;flash_width=240&#38;flash_height=310 The San Andreas is a massive transform fault. People sometimes say that California will fall into the ocean someday, which is not true. This animation shows movement on the San Andreas into the future: @http://visearth.ucsd.edu/VisE_Int/aralsea/bigone.html
 * Slip** is the distance rocks move along a fault. Slip can be up or down the fault plane. Slip is relative, because there is usually no way to know whether both sides moved or only one. Faults lie at an angle to the horizontal surface of the Earth. That angle is called the fault’s **dip.** The dip defines which of two basic types a fault is. If the fault’s dip is inclined relative to the horizontal, the fault is a **dip-slip fault** (**Figure** [|below]).

Stress and Mountain Building
Two converging continental plates smash upwards to create mountain ranges (**Figure** [|below]) and (**Figure** [|below]). Stresses from this **uplift** cause folds, reverse faults, and thrust faults, which allow the crust to rise upwards. The world The crumpling of the Indian and Eurasian plates of continental crust creates the Himalayas. Subduction of oceanic lithosphere at convergent plate boundaries also builds mountain ranges (**Figure** [|below]). The Andes Mountains are a chain of continental arc volcanoes that build up as the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate. When tensional stresses pull crust apart, it breaks into blocks that slide up and drop down along normal faults. The result is alternating mountains and valleys, known as a basin-and-range (**Figure** [|below]) and (**Figure** [|below]). In basin-and-range, some blocks are uplifted to form ranges, known as horsts, and some are down-dropped to form basins, known as grabens. Mountains in Nevada are of classic basin-and-range form. The photographer is in the Nopah Range, and is looking across a basin to the Kingston Range beyond. This is a very quick animation of movement of blocks in a basin-and-range setting: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/animations/animation.php?flash_title=Horst+%26amp%3B+Graben&#38;flash_file=horstandgraben&#38;flash_width=380&#38;flash_height=210

Lesson Summary

 * Stress is the force applied to a rock, and may cause deformation. The three main types of stress are typical of the three types of plate boundaries: compression at convergent boundaries, tension at divergent boundaries, and shear at transform boundaries.
 * Where rocks deform plastically, they tend to fold. Brittle deformation brings about fractures and faults.
 * The two main types of faults are dip-slip (the fault plane is inclined to the horizontal) and strike-slip (the fault plane is perpendicular to the horizontal).
 * The world’s largest mountains grow at convergent plate boundaries, primarily by thrust faulting and folding.

Review Questions

 * 1) Why don’t rocks deform under confining stress?
 * 2) What type of stress is compression and at what type of plate boundary is this found?
 * 3) What type of stress is tension and at what type of plate boundary is it found?
 * 4) What type of stress is shear and at what type of plate boundary is it found?
 * 5) What is the difference between plastic and elastic strain?
 * 6) Under what conditions is a rock more likely to deform plastically than to break?
 * 7) In the Geologic Structures lesson, there's a picture of the Grand Canyon geologic column. What type of fold do you see?
 * 8) While walking around in the field, you spot a monocline. The fossils indicate that the oldest rocks are at the top and the youngest at the bottom. How do you explain this?
 * 9) Describe an anticline and name the age order of rocks.
 * 10) Describe a syncline and name the age order of rocks.
 * 11) What are domes and basins and what is the age order of rocks in each?
 * 12) Name one similarity and one difference between a fracture and a fault.
 * 13) What are the two types of dip-slip faults and how are they different from each other?
 * 14) Why are so many severe earthquakes located along the San Andreas Fault?
 * 15) Describe the plate tectonics processes and associated stresses that have led to the formation of the Himalayas, the world’s largest mountain range.

Vocabulary
uplift The upward rise of rock material. thrust fault A reverse fault in which the dip of the fault plane is nearly horizontal. tension Stresses that pull material in opposite directions. syncline A fold in rocks that bends downward, in which the youngest rocks are at the center. strike-slip fault A fault in which the dip of the fault plane is vertical. stress Force per unit area in a rock. strain Deformation in a rock because of a stress that exceeds the rock’s internal strength. slip The distance rocks move along a fault. shear Parallel stresses that move past each other in opposite directions. reverse fault A dip-slip fault in which the hanging wall pushes up relative to the footwall. plastic deformation Strain in which the rock deforms but does not return to its original shape when the strain is removed. normal fault A dip-slip fault in which the hanging wall drops down relative to the footwall. monocline A bend in a set of rocks that causes them to be inclined relative to the horizontal. joint A break in rock along which there is no movement. fracture A break in rock caused by stresses, with or without movement of material. fold A bend in a set of rocks caused by compression. fault A fracture along which one side has moved relative to the other. elastic deformation Strain that alters the shape of a rock, but that is not permanent. dome A circular anticline; oldest rocks are in the center and the youngest are on the outside. dip-slip fault A fault in which the dip of the fault plane is inclined relative to the horizontal. dip The angle of a fault relative to horizontal. deformation Strain. The change of shape that a rock undergoes when it has been altered by stresses. confining stress Stress from the weight of material above a buried object; reduces volume. compression Stresses that push toward each other, causing a decrease in the space a rock takes up. basin A circular anticline; oldest rocks are in the center and the youngest are on the outside. anticline A fold that arches upward; older rocks are in the center and the younger rocks are at the outside.

Points to Consider

 * Where in an ocean basin would you find features that indicate tensional stresses? Where would you find the features that indicate compressional stresses?
 * Earthquakes are primarily the result of plate tectonic motions. List the three types of plate boundaries and what you think the stresses are that would cause earthquakes there.
 * Which type of plate boundary do you think has the most dangerous earthquakes? How do earthquakes cause the greatest damage?