Short description
Structural Geology is the study of the 3D configuration of rock units and their relation to their deformation history. It enables us to learn and understand the creation of geological structures (e.g. faults, folds, joints, fractures, veins, shear zones). It involves dealing with forces, stresses, deformation, and displacement of rocks. It also covers the interplay between plate tectonics and geological structures.
Tectonics is the process that controls the Earth's outer shell and its evolution through time. These include the ways in which the rigid plates that form the Earth's crust interact with each other. Tectonics provides a framework for understanding the processes of mountain building and the activities of earthquakes and volcanoes.
The practical applications of structural geology and tectonics are wide-ranging. Their value in petroleum exploration, ore-deposits geology, and hydrogeology for instance relates to the understanding of the formation of geological structures, their faulting and fracturing in the subsurface, and how fracture permeability created by networks and systems of brittle structures influences fluid transport (e.g. oil and gas, hydrothermal fluids, and water). They are also very important in understanding the processes that affect the safety and well-being of people such as mitigating natural disasters related to earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes, and tsunamis.
Track Coordinator
- The Bisri dam project: a dam on the seismogenic Roum fault, Lebanon.
- The potential for reservoir-induced seismicity from the Bisri dam project, Lebanon.
- The Hasbaya fault, Lebanon: a non-active fault within an active restraining bend.
- A geoscience study of the Beirut port explosion.
- Seismic hazard assessment of the Lebanese Restraining Bend.