McConnel Thrust at Mount Yamnuska, AB

Structural Geology and Tectonics EAS 421/521

Structual Geology is primarily concerned with the deformation of the solid Earth. We see structures produced by deformation in outcrops, in geologic maps, and under the microscope. The Structural Geology and Tectonics course is concerned with understanding, and where possible measuring, the deformation that produced those structures. We use this information to understand both the tectonic causes of deformation and the importance of structures for exploration of the Earth's lithosphere.

Like the lithosphere, this site is permanently under construction: please be patient if not all the links are connected yet

If you are a member of the class and you see a broken link or other problem, please email the instructor john.waldron "at" ualberta.ca!

What's the difference between EAS 421 and 521?

• EAS 421 is an second undergraduate course in structural geology and tectonics, built upon the foundation of EAS 233 'Geologic Structures'. You should take EAS 421 if you want a broad understanding of the processes that have moved plates, deformed rocks, and built mountains, over 4 billion years of Earth history. If you are registered in EAS421 and you took EAS 233 in 2008 or before, please let the instructor know before the first week of classes. Because EAS233 covered slightly different material before 2009, some special additional material may be provided.
• EAS 521 is a graduate-level version of EAS 421. It is aimed at graduate students who have completed an undergraduate program with only one structural course, equivalent to EAS 233. EAS 521 is not suitable for graduate students who have already taken an advanced undergraduate course in structural geology equivalent to EAS 421. Students who register in EAS 521 will attend the same lectures and labs as EAS 421 students, but the assigned work will involve some different components, appropriate to graduate-level study. EAS 421 and 521 will be marked and graded separately.
   

Course Outlines EAS421/EAS521

(Note that a typo in the distributed version of the EAS 421 outline is fixed in this version.)

Topics covered in lectures, with supplementary materials

• Lines, Planes and orientation data statistics
  • Notes
  • Formulas
  • Animations
    • Stereographic projection
    • Subsurface structure of the Stellarton Basin, Nova Scotia (Large file - may take a while to download)
• Plate Kinematics
  • Reading: Earth Structure (Van der Pluijm & Marshak) Ch. 14. (p.336-367)
  • Notes
  • Formulas
  • Animations
    • Animations of plate motion in the east Pacific by Tanya Atwater, University of California at Santa Barbara http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu/
      • Pacific Plate
      • Animation of plate motion at the west edge of the North American Plate
  • Animations of plate movement in the east Pacific, illustrating effects on Cordilleran Magmatism, after JK Madsen et al. Cenozoic to Recent plate configurations in the Pacific Basin: Ridge subduction and slab window magmatism in western North America: Geosphere; February 2006; v. 2; no. 1; p. 11–34
    • Animation 1
    • Animation 2
  • Animation of one possible convection model for the mantle, after the Department of Geophysics, Charles University, Prague http://geo.mff.cuni.cz/main_en.htm
• Stress
  • Reading: Earth Structure Ch. 3 (p. 40-61)
  • Notes
  • Formulas
  • Web site on stress and fracturing at http://www.hydrofrac.com/ - source of some diagrams used in the lectures
• Rifts and extension
  • Reading: Earth Structure Ch. 16 (except section 16.3)
  • Notes
  • Animation
    • Opening of the Atlantic by Tanya Atwater, University of California at Santa Barbara
• Deformation and Strain in 2D
• Reading: Earth Structure Ch. 4 (p. 62-89)
• Notes
• Formulas
• Introduction to orogens
  • Reading: Earth Structure Ch. 17 (section 17.2-17.6)
  • Notes
• Foreland fold-thrust belts
  • Reading: Earth Structure Ch. 18
  • Development of thrust-related folds
  • Notes
  • Formulas
• Rheology
• Plastic behaviour and creep. Reading: Earth Structure Ch 9.
• Notes
• Formulas
• Subduction and mélange
  • Reading: Earth Structure Ch. 17 (section 17.1, 17.2)
  • Notes
• Metamorphic belts
  • Deformation, metamorphism and time: Reading: Earth Structure Ch. 11,13
  • Core complexes and extension within orogens: Reading: Earth Structure Section 16.3
  • Notes
• Strain in 3D
  • Notes
• Strike-slip tectonics
  • Reading: Earth Structure: Ch. 19
  • Notes

Supplementary evaluative material

(i.e. Examples of the format and types of questions to be asked in tests)

Midterm 1: Sample questions, diagrams to go with the questions, sample answers)

Midterm 2: Sample questions

Final exam: Sample

Other animations and links

Note: most of the animations here are © John Waldron 2010. They are made available for non-commercial, educational use provided their source is acknowledged and this notice is included when they are displayed; please contact John Waldron john.waldron@uaberta.ca for conditions of use.

• Strain simulations
  • Strain axes: perpendicular before and after simple shear
  • Progressive deformation: Increments of pure shear and rotation combined to produce simple shea
• Animations of deformation mechanisms and rheology
  • Several animations shown in the lectures are from the VIEPS/Mainz Deformation Microstructures Course, available at http://virtualexplorer.com.au/special/meansvolume/contribs/jessell/index.html
• Faults
  • An excellent and growing collection of seismic profiles is available at the Virtual Seismic Atlas http://see-atlas.leeds.ac.uk
  • Fault Analysis Group at University College Dublin http://www.fault-analysis-group.ucd.ie

• Salt tectonics
  • Animations from Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin http://www.beg.utexas.edu/indassoc/agl/animations_ifcontent.html

• Useful techniques for folds from the structural methods page of Steven Dutch, University of Wisconsin
  • Busk or arc method of cross-section construction
  • Kink method method of cross-section construction

Gallery of structural images

Animations and images on this site are copyright © John Waldron 1998-2010. (For non-commercial, educational use of this material, contact john.waldron@ualberta.ca)