Encyclopedia > Dip

  Article Content

Dip

In the context of geology, stratigraphic dip is defined as the maximum angle from the horizontal in the plane of a stratigraphic unit. The direction in which the dip should be measured is known as the dip-direction. If the surface of the unit is not accessible (for instance, only a cross-section of the unit is visible, as in a cliff-face), only the apparent dip[?] can be measured.

In the field, the dip-direction is commonly identified using either a clinometer[?], or by pouring water on the surface of the rock(if it is accessible) and observing the direction of flow. For any inclined surface, there will also be two directions of zero-dip. The direction that is anti-clockwise of the dip-direction is known as the strike.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
East Islip, New York

... to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 11.3 km² (4.4 mi²). 10.6 km² (4.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 22.9 ms