Find the Apparent Dip of a Plane Using a Stereonet

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay


Example

A bed strikes 065 degrees and dips 24 degrees NW. What is its apparent dip in a road cut trending 052 degrees?. This amounts to finding the intersection of two planes except that it's simpler because one is vertical.

1. Plot the bed as a great circle.

2. Draw a radial line with the azimuth of the road cut. The road cut is a vertical plane, hence a vertical great circle.

3. Rotate the road cut until it lies on a great circle (it does not matter which one) and count off the apparent dip.

4. Rotate the overlay to its original orientation.


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Created 5 January 1999, Last Update 16 March 1999