Joint orientation measurements in Western Alberta and British Columbia

Abstract

Joint orientations were measured in the mountains of Western Alberta
and British Columbia. These were then evaluated statistically according
to the standard method of Kohlbeck and Scheidegger. If the bisectrices
of the preferred joint orientations are interpreted as principal directions
of the neotectonic stress field, the maximum compression in the latter
is found to be from NE-SW (in the South) to NNE-SSW (in the North).
This agrees well with data regarding the neotectonic intraplate stresses
observed from oil-well break-out data.