Plot a Plane on a Stereonet Given its Strike and Dip

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.

Find the Strike and Dip of a Plane Plotted on a Stereonet

Example

1. Find the strike and dip of the plotted plane. 2. Count off the strike. Note that there are two possible answers differing by 180 degrees. 3. Rotate the overlay so the strike is northsouth and count in along the equator to find the dip. 4. Final result.

Example
Plot a line trending 222 degrees and plunging 37 degrees. 1. Count off the trend around the circumference of the stereonet and mark it. 2. Rotate the overlay so the trend lies along one of the vertical great circles. It does not matter which one. 3. Count in along the great circle and plot the point at the appropriate plunge. 4. Rotate the overlay to its original position. In most constructions involving plotting lines, it does not matter whether you use the equator or the north-south prime meridian to measure plunge. Both circles are the same (can you see why?) But it does matter in plotting planes because most of the time we either want to draw a great circle or measure a plotted one. In either case we have to line up the overlay so that we can either plot the great circle or line a plotted circle up along one of the circles on the net.

Example
1. Find the trend and plunge of the plotted line. 2. Rotate the plotted point to one of the vertical great circles (it does not matter which one). Draw a tick mark to indicate the trend. 3. Count in along the great circle to find the plunge. 4. Return the overlay to its original orientation and count off the trend.

Example
1. Mark the strike of the plane and sketch a strike and dip symbol. 2. Rotate the strike until it is north-south. Count off the dip of the plane. An additional 90 degrees in the same direction locates the pole. Note that this is the same as counting off the dip outward from the center of the net in the direction opposite the dip. 3. Mark the pole. The corresponding great circle is shown in light green. 4. Rotate the overlay to its original position.