Session 1 - Rock Mechanics

A rock is categorized by its minerals included, chemical composition, and:

• Its age.

• The way it is formed.

• Its color.

• Its hardness.

The term used to describe the intact rock between discontinuities, often represented by a hand specimen, is:

• Rock mass.

• Rock structure.

• Rock material.

• Mineral aggregate.

The total in situ medium containing bedding planes, faults, joints, folds, and other structural features is known as the:

• Rock material.

• Rock mass.

• Primary structure.

• Secondary structure.

Structures formed before or at the same time the material is in the process of becoming rock are called:

• Secondary Structures

• Post-depositional structures

• Primary Structures

• Tectonic structures

Which structural feature divides sedimentary rocks into beds or strata and represents interruptions in deposition?

• Folds.

• Faults.

• Bedding planes.

• • Dykes.

Fractures on which identifiable shear displacement has taken place are defined as:

• Joints.

• Folds.

• Veins.

• Faults.

Long, narrow intrusions of generally fine-grained igneous rock with steep or vertical and approximately parallel sides are called:

• Shear zones

• Dykes

• Veins

• Joints

Which of the following is described as the "most common and generally the most geotechnically significant structural features in rocks," characterized by no visible displacement along the break?

• Faults

• Dykes

• Joints

• Shear zones

The process of giving numerical values to rock mass features such as joint density, joint roughness, or rock type from observations or measurements is called:

• Rock classification

• Rock characterization

• Structural analysis

• Geological mapping

Which geomechanical property of discontinuities describes the perpendicular distance between adjacent discontinuities?

• Persistence

• Orientation

• Roughness

• Spacing