Send it as a pdf please, make sure you answer all of the questions please.
I have notes that would help you too.
Structural Geology
Lab 6: Faults
Questions and Google Earth placemarks partially adapted from Essentials of Geology: Geotours, 3rd Ed.
by Wilkerson, Marshak, and Wilkerson.
Download and open the Faults.kmz file from Canvas and the Lab 6 Notes pdf. Make sure you read the
notes pdf before beginning the lab! Expand the Faults1.kmz layer in the ‘Temporary Places’ folder on the
left side of your screen so you can see the subfolders. I will reference these folder names to help you
locate placemarks for various questions. Now, go into the ‘Tools’ tab at the top of your screen and select
‘Options’. A window should open to the tab ‘3D view’ and in that tab, find the box for units of
measurement and select ‘meters, kilometers’. Hit ‘ok’ to close the window. Finally, make sure ‘Terrain’ is
selected in the ‘Layers’ window on the left side of your screen.
Part 1: Strike –Slip Faults in Google Earth
We can do rough estimates of bed orientation in Google Earth. This is great, particularly if you can’t visit
a site in person, for finding areas to do field work. Expand the “Strike and Dip in GE” folder so you can
see all the placemarks.
1. Check all three of the layers, then double-click on the “Problem 1a-strike” placemark. The pink/purple
outline is a flat iron. Flat irons are typical for tilted sedimentary rock units. We can estimate the strike of
the beds exposed in this flat iron by using the Measuring Tool (top of the screen, looks like a ruler). Click
the measuring tool, select degrees from the drop down menu, then hover the crosshairs over the bottom of
the placemark. Note the elevation at this point (shown in the lower right-hand corner of your screen- I get
about 1836 m), then click once to set one end of the line at that point. Now move your cursor to the right,
drawing a line along the screen as far as you can within the flat iron. Find the point at the exact same
elevation as your first point and click again to set the end of the line. In the ‘ruler’ box you should see a
heading given in degrees. This is the strike of this bed.
Strike
To find the dip, use the measure tool to draw a line perpendicular to the strike line that goes downhill
along the surface of the flat iron to the “Problem 1a-dip” placemark. Note that your strike line will
disappear when you do this, so you’ll have to estimate its location. In the ‘ruler’ box you should see a
heading given in degrees. This is the orientation of the dip line of this bed, NOT the dip itself!
Orientation of dip line
To find the actual dip, you need to do some math. Find the elevation of the dip placemark and then
subtract that elevation from the elevation of your strike line. Now go back to your ‘ruler’ box and change
the drop down to meters. This is the length of the dip line. Take the difference in elevation you just
calculated and divide it by the length of the dip line. Take the arctan of this value to get the dip angle in
degrees.
Calculated dip
Cool, isn’t it?
2. Now let’s take a look at some faults. Uncheck the “Strike and Dip in GE” folder and expand the “San
Andreas Fault” folder. Select the “San Andreas Fault-Overview”, “San Andreas Fault Trace”, and
“Garlock Fault Trace” layers. (Hint: Read the text under the placemarks)
a. What direction does the San Andreas Fault trend?
b. Is the San Andreas a left or right lateral fault?
c. What direction does the Garlock fault trend?
d. Is the Garlock a left or right lateral fault?
3. Double-click on the “San Andreas Flyover” movie. What do you notice about how topography relates
to the fault?
4. Double-click on the ‘Lake Palmdale Sag Pond’ placemark. What is a sag pond?
5. Check and double-click the ‘offset stream’ layer.
a. What is the sense of motion of offset on this stream (right lateral or left lateral)?
b. Using the measuring tool, how far has this stream been offset (in meters)? (Hint: Turn on the
two ‘stream’ placemarks and measure between them.)
c. Assume that the present slip rate of this fault is about 6 cm/year. How many years has it taken
to develop the observed offset of the stream?
6. Check and double-click the ‘San Andreas Fault, Wallace Creek’ layer and the two placemarks for
Wallace Creek.
a. What is the strike of the fault in this area?
b. What is the sense of motion of offset on this creek (right lateral or left lateral)?
c. Does this make sense with what you know about the San Andreas? Why or why not?
7. Using the measuring tool, how far has Wallace Creek been offset (in meters)?
8. Assume that the present slip rate of the fault is about 6 cm/year. How many years has it taken to
develop the observed offset of Wallace Creek?
9. Why do you think Wallace Creek is offset a different amount than the stream in #5 even though they
are on the same fault?
Part 2: Wasatch Front, Utah
Turn off all the San Andreas placemarks and turn on the “Wasatch Front, Utah” layers.
10. Double-click on the “Salt Lake City, UT-Overview” placemark. What is causing deformation in the
Basin and Range?
11. Double-click on the “Salt Lake City, UT-Wasatch Front” placemark. What fault-associated landscape
feature is represented by the Wasatch Front?
12. What component of fault motion could we directly measure along the Wasatch Front?
13. What type of faulting formed the Wasatch Front? Is the Great Salt Lake on the hanging wall or the
footwall of this fault?
14. Double-click on the “Basin and Range Province” placemark. Is the town of South Rim on a horst or
graben? (You may need to zoom in to see the town just north of the placemark.)
Part 3: Faulting in Canada
Turn off all the Wasatch Front placemarks and turn on the “Banff, Canada” layers. Double-click on the
“Palliser Formation” placemark to zoom to your first location.
15. Reverse faults, particularly thrust faults, duplicate rock units by stacking the same units on top of each
other over and over. How many major repetitions of the Devonian-aged Palliser Formation (DPa, the light
blue unit) are seen in the map north of the Bow River? (You can ignore the small slivers from minor
thrust faulting.)
16. Double-click on the Mt. Yamnuska placemark. The photo at this location shows a low-angle thrust
fault (the McConnell thrust fault) which places older Paleozoic rocks (gray) on top of the tree-covered
Mesozoic rocks. The gray rocks are interpreted to have been uplifted over 5 km and transported more than
40 km from their original site of deposition. Zoom out from the image to see the map. Which direction
were these rocks transported? (Hint: the ‘teeth’ on the fault are on the hanging wall block.)
17. Double-click on the Mt. Kidd placemark. Toggle the image on and off so you can compare the photo
to the map.
a. How many thrust faults are in the mountains from the photo?
b. Note that the mountain is not just thrust faulted, but a fold as well. Classify the fold as best you
can with the given information from the map and the photo. Be specific!
18. Double-click the Barrier Mtn placemark and locate the fault. What key characteristic shown in the
photo helped you recognize the fault?
19. Double-click on the Mt. Rundle placemark. This photo shows part of the same thrust fault (the Rundle
thrust) that you saw in #17, just at a different location.
Which direction are the beds in this photo dipping?
In this case, the dip of the beds roughly parallels the dip of the fault. Knowing this, which
direction are the over-thrusting beds moving?
20. Double-click the “Cascade Mtn” placemark. This is not just a fault; it is a beautiful example of a fold.
The sketch below is of the same area from roughly the same viewpoint.
a. Classify the fold as best you can. Be specific!
b. What major feature(s) can you see in the sketch but are harder to see (or can’t be seen) in the
photo?
c. Why are field sketches so important to geologists?
Part 4: Structures and Landscapes
We don’t just see faults in Google Earth, we can see plenty of other structures too! Turn off all the
Canada placemarks and expand the “Structure and Landscapes” folder.
21. Double-click on the “Strasburg, VA” placemark. This is a great example of structurally controlled
drainage (river patterns are controlled by the underlying geology). What is controlling the river meanders
in this area?
22. Double-click on the “Faults and Folds, Makran Range” placemark.
a. What type of faults are these?
b. How many major faults can you see when you minimize the text window?
23. Double-click on the “Zagros Fold Belt, Iran” placemark. What is causing deformation in this area?
24. Check and double-click on the “Sheep Mountain, WY” folder. This location may look a bit familiar,
as you have seen it before in the Folds 1 photos. Take a look at the area, first with the geologic map layer
on, then with the map off.
a. Double-click on the first placemark. This location mirrors that of the photo from the Folds 1
lab, looking south along the nose of the fold. Toggle the map on and off. Can you see how the
dips of the beds change from one limb to the other and how that change is represented in the
photo and the map respectively? Can you see more layers than you could with just the photo?
Neat, huh!?!
b. Watch the Flyover movie (make sure the map layer is still turned on). Does the trace of the fold
follow the topography? If not, where is the trace relative to the ridge?
Close the Sheep Mountain folder and expand the “Arches National Park” folder.
25. Your first placemark shows a set of beautiful faults just outside the park entrance. What type(s) of
faults are these based on the image? (Be specific!)
26. Double-click on the “Joints in Arches NP- Vertical” placemark. What are joints (check your
textbook)? What is the bearing of the joints in this image (measure it!)?
27. Turn on both ‘joints’ layers and double-click on the “Joints in Arches NP- Oblique” placemark. What
two things work together to make the arches in Arches National Park? (Double-click on the ‘Delicate
Arch’ placemark to see one of these arches.)
Close the Arches National Park folder and expand the “Canyonlands National Park” folder.
28. Turn on the ‘Regional Faults’ layer and read the ‘Horst and Grabens’ placemark. What types of faults
are these (be specific)?
29. Turn on and double-click the ‘Problem 29’ placemarks. Which of these three placemarks represent
grabens? Which represent horsts?
30. What have you learned about structural geology through using Google Earth that you might not have
understood otherwise?
Part 5: Geologic Histories
Answer the following questions regarding features on the geologic map shown in Figure G-25. Use the
spaces provided on Fig. G-25. This exercise will require you to integrate information from previous
chapters as well as this one.
1. For each fault (A, B, C, D, and E) determine the type of faulting that has occurred and bracket the age
of faulting as precisely as possible.
2. Identify the following features indicated by circled, lower-case letters on the map.
a. Type of contacts at localities a, b, c, and d.
b. Specific geologic structure present at localities e, f, g, and h.
3. The strike and dip directions that are shown are correct; however, three of the dips are actually
overturned. Correct these directly on the map by substituting the correct symbol for overturned beds.
4. Is the unit on the east side of the map labeled ‘‘Tm’’ older or younger than the other Miocene rocks on
the map? Give a reason for your answer.
5. Determine the minimum amount of displacement on fault C.
6. Write a list highlighting the geologic history of the map area. Include all episodes of deposition,
erosion, and plutonism. Also indicate when specific deformational styles (folding and faulting) occurred.