Plot a Plane on a Stereonet Given its Strike and Dip

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

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Example

Plot a plane striking 072 degrees and dipping 24 degrees southeast.

Note: Always mark an orientation mark on your overlay (north is best) so you can return it to its original orientation. Also, for clarity, the stereonet on this and other pages is shown with circles only at 30 degree intervals. In practice, most stereonets are ruled with light lines at 2-degree intervals and heavy lines at 10-degree intervals.

1. Mark off the strike of the plane on the circumference of the stereonet. It's a good idea to mark both ends of the strike, and also sketch a little strike and dip symbol with the right orientation. 2. Rotate the overlay so that the strike line is north-south. Count in the dip angle along the equator. 3. Trace the appropriate great circle. 4. Return the overlay to its upright position.

It may happen that the great circle you need to plot does not coincide with a plotted great circle. In that case interpolate between the two nearest plotted circles.

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Created 5 January 1999, Last Update 16 March 1999