1. Overview of Structural Geology (Chapter 1 in D &R)

2. Why is it important? - fundamental discipline in Earth Sciences- “the study of the architecture of the Earth’s crust” - geometry is key to many ES applications (oil, mining); Our goals: (1) to learn how to make structural observations and present them to others; (2) to interpret the processes that led to the “final “product”- the geologic observations.

3. Primary vs. secondary structures. Primary: depositional contacts, cross-bedding, ripple markes, Ropy textures in lavas, mud-cracks;

4. Secondary: these are the real structures we’re after- and are due to rock regional deformation. Examples: Folds, faults, shear zones, etc.

5. Structural analysis: 1. Descriptive analysis 2. Kinematic analysis- deformational movements- translations, rotations,distorsions, etc. 3. Dynamic analysis - interprets the forces and stresses associated to deformations.

6. Scale of analysis.

7. 4.5 Ga old, structures can be very old. Rates of processes. Geologic time scale

8. Kinematic reconstruction: Rotations, translations, dilations, distortions

9. Dynamic analysis: - physical models (experimental) - mathematical models (theoretical)

10. Read Chapter 1 in DR Next: Large scale deformations