EAS 4260 - Structural Geology

(PBS)

Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: one semester of calculus, plus introductory geology course, or permission of instructor. Offered alternate years. One weekend field trip.

R. Allmendinger.

The nature and origin of deformed rocks at submicroscopic to global scales. The course begins with review of elementary principles of continuum mechanics and continues with a discussion of deformation mechanisms commonly observed in earth materials. The geometry, kinematics, and mechanics of faults, folds, are then addressed and the class ends with a description of the tectonic setting of structural families such as thrust belts, rift provinces, and zones of strike slip deformation. A weekend field trip to a region of spectacular folding and thrusting provides an opportunity to apply the concepts learned in lecture.