TOPIC : PLOTTING POLES AND CONTOURING OF

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY DATA ( LAB 4a )

1.0

OBJECTIVE
To plot poles and carry out contouring of the structural geology data.
2.0 LEARNING OUTCOMES

a)
b)
c)
d)

Students should able to use the geological compass.

Students should able to measures the dip and dip direction of any planes.
Students should able to plot poles of the structural geology data.
Students should able to plot contour from the structural geology data.
3.0 THEORY
Analysis of the orientation of structural geology data involves;

Plotting poles representing the dip and dip direction of each discontinuity. This plot
will help to identify discontinuity sets, for which both the average orientation and the
scatter (dispersion) can be calculated.

The second step in the analysis is to plot great circles representing the average orientation
of each set, major discontinuities such as faults, and the dip and dip direction of the cut
face.
4.0 EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

Equal-area for plotting poles and great circles (Appendix C)

Equal-area polar net (Appendix D)
Kalsbeek counting net (Appendix E)
Tracing paper
Pencil

5.0 PROCEDURE

Poles can be plotted on the polar stereo net on which the dip direction is indicated on
the periphery of the circle, and the dip is measured along radial lines with zero
degrees at the center.

The procedure for plotting poles is to lay a sheet of tracing paper on the printed polar
net and mark the north direction and each quadrant position around the edge of the
outer circle. A mark is then made to show the pole that represents the orientation of
each discontinuity as defined by its dip and dip direction. Poles for shallow dipping
discontinuities lie close to the center of the circle, and poles of steeply dipping
discontinuities lie close to the periphery of the circle.

Concentrations of pole orientations can be identified using Kalsbeek counting net.

The Kalsbeek net is made up of mutually overlapping hexagons, each with an area of
1/100 of the full area of the stereonet.

Contouring is performed by overlaying the counting net on the pole and counting the
number of poles in each hexagon; this number is marked on the net. These numbers of
poles are converted into percentages by dividing each by the total number of poles and
multiplying by 100. Once a percentage is written in each hexagon, contours can be
developed by interpolation.

6.0 RESULT AND ANALYSIS

Discontinuities pattern.

Equal-area equatorial net for plotting poles and great circles.

7.0 QUESTION AND DISCUSSION

(1) Give two (2) methods to draw the structural geology data and discuss based on what
situation we choose that method (each method).
a. Cross section techniques
- Geologic cross-section is an interpretation of a vertical section through the Earth's
surface, most usefully a profile, for which evidence was acquire by geologic and
geophysical techniques or from a geologic map. Cross-sections sometimes are trial
sections, drawn to solve structural problems, or are drawn to supplement a fair copy
map or illustrate a report. They are also drawn to site boreholes in the search for a
lost aquifer or ore body. The geological cross sections drawing are not a small or
trivial undertaking and methods for their generation have become sophisticated. This
is because we are trying to make interpretations about the geometry of features.
However, this is often the exception and skills should be tuned for
cross section construction without such subsurface information.

b. Streonet Techniques
- A stereonet is a lower hemisphere graph on to which a variety of geological data
can be plotted. all stereonets will be plotted by hand using card stereonets and tracing
paper. This is best done learning to plot by hand. In the field, for those using
notebooks, it is useful to be able to draw a sketch stereonet to test a theory on the
geometry of a structure being mapped.
(2) Explain the type of geological structure plotted in the stereo net with the aid of
diagram.
- According to the geological structure that has been plotted in this experiment by the
stereonet, we can determine the earth terrain such as the hill, mountain and many other
earth surface that represent by the contour. There are several data that required in this
experiment such as the dip directions and dip angles in the geological map. It can be
plotted on polar stereonet which dip direction and dip degree is being used. In this
experiment, we have 120 data to be plotted. Using the tracing paper, we have plotted
120 dotes on it which is requires focus on the plotting work or else the result will be
slightly unaccurate base on the data. After the data were plotted, there are groups of
plotted dotes then calculated. After that, another tracing paper was used to plot the
contour. By using this kind of plotting contour method, the slope stability and the
failure of slope can be determined. The failure of slope is whether planar, wedge,
circular or toppling.

(3) Explain the methodology to determine the discontinuities survey data.

- Discontinuities can be defined as any form of mechanical breaks or fractures within
a rock mass which can cause tensile strength across the fracture planes to approach
zero or even lower. To determine the discontinuities survey data, we need to collect
some data and assuming some parameters in order to measure he discontinuities. To
collect such data, the best tool is the geological compass. Collecting data by using
geological compass is a better method because it can save a lot of time while using
other method that wasting much time on calculation to find the data needed. There are
another kind of method to determine the discontinuities which called Scan line
Survey. Before conducting this job, there is some preliminary preparation before we
do the right procedure smoothly. The discontinuities survey data sheet is prepared
which is containing all of the data that we need to measure on the site.
8.0 CONCLUSION
- This experiment is about plotting poles and contouring of structural geology data.
From this experiment, student should be able to measure the dip and dip direction of
any planes, plotting poles of structural geological data and able to plot contour from
the structural geology data. In this experiment, we are using equal-area for plotting
poles and great circles, equal-area for polar net, kalsbeek coutingnet, tracing paper
and pencil to come to the experiment objectives.

No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

Distance
m
0.0
0.5
1.5
1.9
3.0
3.5
3.8
4.1
0.3
6.7
7.0
8.2
9.0
9.5
9.9
10.3
10.8
11.9
12.4
12.8
13.9
14.2
15.5
15.8
16.0
16.9
17.7
18.5
19.8
20.6
21.0
22.5
22.7
23.1
23.8
24.3
24.8
25.0
26.0
27.6
28.0
28.7
29.2
30.0
31.6
32.0
32.7
33.7
34.0
35.2

Type
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
3
1
4
4
1
3
1
3
1
1
1
4
3
1
3
1
1
1
4
1
3
1
1
3
1
3
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
1

Dip Direction
Dip
Persistence
Aperture Infilling
degree
degree
m
212
70
20
1
2
160
85
20
1
2
138
86
20
1
2
147
85
20
1
2
105
46
20
1
2
150
78
20
1
4
260
65
20
1
4
200
64
20
1
4
262
65
20
1
4
205
75
20
1
2
262
52
20
1
2
145
75
20
2
2
128
75
20
2
2
70
40
20
1
3
320
74
20
1
3
215
74
20
1
3
95
38
20
1
3
168
85
20
1
3
310
35
20
2
4
190
40
20
3
2
352
64
20
1
2
88
62
20
1
2
213
60
20
1
2
80
48
20
1
2
200
58
20
1
2
205
60
20
1
2
165
88
20
1
2
206
54
20
2
2
85
42
20
1
2
205
55
20
1
2
90
42
20
1
2
235
60
20
1
2
310
36
20
1
2
200
58
20
1
2
350
60
20
1
6
212
76
20
1
2
98
50
20
1
2
310
50
20
1
2
205
62
20
1
2
98
48
20
1
2
354
86
20
1
2
94
50
20
1
2
194
75
20
1
2
275
44
20
1
2
95
46
20
1
2
210
75
20
1
2
303
25
20
1
2
355
80
20
1
2
207
75
20
1
2
260
50
20
1
2

Roughness

water

5
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
5
3
5
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
5
3
5
3
3
3
3
3
3

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

TABL
E 1 ORIENTATION AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DISCONTINUITIE

continues

Continues

Pole data
Data
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

Percentage %
0.8
1.6
2.4
3.2
4.0
4.8
5.6
6.4
7.2
8.0
8.8
9.6
10.4
11.2
12.0
12.8
13.6
14.4

Scale contour
3%

6%
9%

12%

15%