FACULTY : CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING NO.

OF PAGES: 1/9
DEPARTMENT : GEOTECHNICAL & EDITION: LAB 4a
TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING NO. OF CHECKING:
LABORATORY : ENGINEERING GEOLOGY &
EFECTIVE DATE :
GEOPHYSIC LABORATORY
TOPIC : PLOTTING POLES AND CONTOURING OF
AMENDMENT DATE:
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) Students should able to use the geological compass.
b) Students should able to measures the dip and dip direction of any planes.
c) Students should able to plot poles of the structural geology data.
d) 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 stereonet 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.
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DEPARTMENT : GEOTECHNICAL & EDITION: LAB 4a
TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING NO. OF CHECKING:

TOPIC : PLOTTING POLES AND CONTOURING OF

AMENDMENT DATE:
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY DATA (LAB 4a)

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

This kind of technique is generated from geological maps and can be seen as vertical slices through a map area
showing a profile view of subsurface structure. Cross-sections are either 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 (e.g. bedding, faults) at depth on the basis of surface geometries. Some aid in this regards may exist in the form
of borehole or geophysical data. However, this is often the exception and skills should be tuned for cross section
construction without such subsurface information.

30

A cross section of the map Dip and strike of a bedding plane

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GEOPHYSIC LABORATORY
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AMENDMENT DATE:
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY DATA (LAB 4a)

b) Streonet Techniques

In this technique, all circles on the sphere plot as circles on the plane, making it easier to construct the projection.
The projection is conformal, meaning that angles and small shapes on the sphere project are true on the plane. Each
projection represents the important data in the map so the contour can be made. Small regions on the sphere project true on
the plane, making the stereographic a good map projection for small areas, but radial distortion increases away from the
tangency point.
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TOPIC : PLOTTING POLES AND CONTOURING OF
AMENDMENT DATE:
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY DATA (LAB 4a)

(2)
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DEPARTMENT : GEOTECHNICAL & EDITION: LAB 4a
TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING NO. OF CHECKING:
LABORATORY : ENGINEERING GEOLOGY &
EFECTIVE DATE :
GEOPHYSIC LABORATORY
TOPIC : PLOTTING POLES AND CONTOURING OF
AMENDMENT DATE:
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY DATA (LAB 4a)

8.0 CONCLUSION

This experiment is about plotting poles and contouring of structural geology data. From this experiment, the
students should able to measures 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 polar net, kalsbeek counting net, tracing paper and pencil to come to the experiment objectives.
From this experiment that we have done in geology lab, we should know how to plot poles and carry out
contouring of the structural geology data now. Poles can be plotted on the polar stereonet on which the dip direction is
indicated on the periphery of the circle and the dip is measured along racial lines wih zero degrees at the center. It should
be noted that the stereonet is the lower hemisphere plot in which the direction scale starts at the bottom of the circle and
increase following the clockwise directionwith the north arrow corresponding to the dip diection of 180. There is reason
why do we set the scale in this way is that if the field reading as measured with structural compass are plotted directly on
the stereonet, the poles are correctly plotted on the lower hemisphere plot.
Then all the datas are being used to make the projection and form the contour on the tracing paper using all the
requirements that we have. The procedure for plotting is 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 steely dipping discontinuities lie close the periphery of the
circle.