Structural Geology

Ragan, Donal M.
Don Ragan was educated at Occidental College, University of Southern California and at the University of Washington at Seattle, receiving his PhD in 1960. He spent a year as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Innsbruck, and later, with a National Science Foundation Fellowship, at Imperial College, London, where he received a Diploma of Membership in Geology (DIC). His teaching career at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and at Arizona State University has spanned a total of 34 years, and has focused on imbuing students with a thorough understanding of geometrical and analytical techniques in structural geology. His research interests centre on the role of structural settings in structure-making processes, including studies of Alpine peridotites, glacial ice and welded tuffs.

This combination of text and lab book presents an entirely different approach to structural geology. Designed for undergraduate laboratory classes, it provides a step-by-step guide for solving geometric problems arising from structural field observations. The book discusses both traditional methods and cutting-edge approaches, with emphasis given to graphical methods and visualization techniques that support students in tackling challenging two- and three-dimensional problems. Numerous exercises encourage practice in using the techniques, and demonstrate how field observations can be converted into useful information about geological structures and the processes responsible for creating them. This updated fourth edition incorporates new material on stress, deformation, strain and flow, and the underlying mathematics of the subject. With stereonet plots and solutions to the exercises available online at cambridge.org/ragan, this book is a key resource for undergraduates, advanced students and researchers wanting to improve their practical skills in structural geology. This volume, a combination of undergraduate text and lab book, provides students with a step-by-step guide to solving geometric problems in structural geology. Updated to incorporate new material on stress, deformation, strain and flow, it emphasises the underlying mathematics and provides numerous homework exercises for which solutions are available online.

An updated fourth edition of this practical, step-by-step guide for undergraduate students to solving geometric problems in structural geology.

Preface; 1. Structural planes; 2. Thickness and depth; 3. Lines and intersecting planes; 4. Planes and topography; 5. Stereographic projections; 6. Rotations; 7. Vectors; 8. Faults; 9. Stress; 10. Faulting; 11. Deformation; 12. Strain; 13. Flow; 14. Folds; 15. Parallel folds; 16. Similar folds; 17. Folds and topography; 18. Structural analysis; 19. Tectonites; 20. Drill hole data; 21. Maps and cross sections; 22. Block diagrams; Appendix A. Descriptive geometry; Appendix B. Spherical trigonometry; Index.