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The layers of rock (strata) we see on the Earth's surface are rarely found in their original flat orientation. Measuring dip and strike is pretty easy, all you need is a compass for the level direction, and a clinometer to measure the vertical angle. For basic dip measurements I use an angle finder from a hardware store costing a couple of pounds (about 3-4 dollars US). I expect your tutor will expect you to sing the praises of the expensive "Brunton" combined compass and clinometer. (I don't know why, I have never found the point of spending huge amounts of money on this - but they remain a venerated item min American geology)

Why bother? Measuring dip and strike is a fundamental part of geological mapping as you can build up a picture of the tilting and folding of the rocks beneath the surface, and start to build up a three dimensional model of the geology from the two-dimensional information at the surface. This is useful in predicting such things as the location and depth of an underground coal seam, or of working out the geological history of an area.

If you cannot measure dip and strike directly, by measuring it off the surface of an exposed outcrop, then you can calculate it by measuring the height and direction an outcrop of the same strata run on opposite sides of a hill or valley, and doing some trigonometry.

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