Geochronologic ages are one of the most common scalar data types in tectonics. Mathematical operations applicable to scalar quantities are things like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Grain-size, geologic age, density, are all examples of scalar quantities. Scalar quantities are those that can be represented by a single number expressing the magnitude of something (sometimes with an associated error). A common example is the grain-size scale used for describing sedimentary rocks. Sometimes, for speed or convenience, we use a qualitative scale for something that's actually quantitative. Things like colour, rock classifications, the identifications of single minerals or fossil species are examples of qualitative data collected in geologic mapping. Qualitative data can be expressed in words.
For this reason it's worthwhile to consider the types of data that are available, and the different ways of doing structural analysis. However, it's important to know what the computer is doing. We employ computers to handle large amounts of data and do calculations in a fraction of the time that a human would take. In structural research projects it's common to work with large data sets. In earlier courses you have typically used small data sets - descriptions of rocks, strike-and-dip measurements of small numbers of surfaces, observations of single crystals in thin section. Structural geologists use many types of data. Types of data and interpretation in structural geology Some of the equations (written in MathML) in these pages may not display correctly in some browsers if you see strings of miscellaneous characters, try switching to a different browser. Material on this page is copyright © 2020 John W.F.