I

Statistics and Data Analysis

in Geology
Third Edition

John C. Davis
Kansas Geological Survey
The University of Kansas

~~
'WILEY
INDIA

~pat1al

Ana1ys1s

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology- Chapter 5

treated as though they occurred along a single, straight sampling line. This and
other methods for investigating the density of patterns of lines are reviewed by
Getis and Boots (1978). A computer program for computing nearest-neighbor distances, orientation, and other statistical measures of patterns of lines is given by
Clark and Wilson (1994).

Analysis of Directional Data

Directional data are an important category of geologic information. Bedding planes
fault surfaces, and joints are all characterized by their attitudes, expressed a~
strikes and dips. Glacial striations, sole marks, fossil shells, and water-laid pebbles may have preferred orientations. Aerial and satellite photographs may show
oriented linear patterns. These features can be measured and treated quantitattvely
like measurements of other geologic properties, but it is necessary to use special
statistics that reflect the circular (or spherical) nature of directional data.
Following the practice of geographers, we can distinguish between direction~l
and oriented features. Suppose a car is traveling north along a highway; the car's
motion has direction, while the highway itself has only a north-south orientation;
Strikes of outcrops and the traces of faults are examples of geologic observations .
that are oriented, while drumlins and certain fossils such as high-spired gastropods
have clear directional characteristics.
We may also distinguish observations that are distributed on a circle, such
as paleocurrent measurements, and those that are distributed spherically, such'as
measurements of metamorphic fabric. The former data are conventionally shoWn
as rose diagrams, a form of circular histogram, while the latter are plotte!;l as
points on a projection of a hemisphere. Although geologists have plotted diretl
tional measurements in these forms for many years, they have not used forinal.
statistical techniques extensively to test the veracity of the conclusions they have
drawn from their diagrams. This is doubly unfortunate; not only are these statis
tic:al tests useful, but the development of many of the procedures was origin.ally
inspired by problems in the Earth sciences.
' '
Figure 5-13 is a map of glacial striations measured in a small area of south
ern Finland; the measurements are listed in Table 5-4 and contained in file FIN
LAND.TXT. The directions indicated by the striations can be expressed by plottin&
them as unit vectors or on a circle of unit radius as in Figure 5-14 a. If the circle is.
subdivided into segments and the number of vectors within each segment counted,
the results can be expressed as the rose diagram, or circular histogram, shown as
Figure 5-14 b.
Nemec (1988) pointed out that many of the rose diagrams published by ge-

ologists violate the basic principal on which histograms are based and, as a con
sequence, the diagrams are visually misleading. Recall that areas of columns in a
histogram are proportional to the number (or percentage) of observations occurring
in the corresponding intervals. For a rose diagram to correctly represent a circular
distribution, it must be constructed so that the areas of the wedges (or "petals") of
the diagram are proportional to class frequencies. Unfortunately, most rose dia
grams are drawn so that the radii of the wedges are proportional to frequency. The
resulting distortion may suggest the presence of a strong directional trend where
..
none exists (Fig. 5-15).

~~

~''::to..

'~

~'::t...l~

't ~f' ~

I
#

' '.,.,.

;r

~ ~

'

~
~

~~

'::to..~

~
~

Figure 5-13. Map showing location and direction of 51 measurements of glacial striations
in a 35-km 2 area of southern Finland.

Table 5-4. Vector directions of ~lacial striations

measured in an area of southern ~mland; measurements given in degrees clockw1se from north .
23
27
53
58
64
83
85
88
93
99
100

105
113
113
114
117
121
123
125
126
126
126

127
127
128
128
129
132
132
132
134
135
137

144
145
145
146
153
155
155
155
157
163
165

171
172
179
181
186
190
212

If we define a radius for a sector of a rose diagram that represents either one
observation, or 1%, we can easily calculate t~e appropriate radii that represent any
number of observations or relative frequencres,
lrf
rf = ruw

(5.38)

where r is the unit radius representing one observation or 1%: f is the ~requency
in co~s or ercent) of observations within a class, and rf IS the radius of the
. ~lass sector. ~other words, the radius shoul~ be proportional to the square root
of the frequency rather than to the frequency Itself.
Rose diagrams, even if properly scaled, suffer fro~ ~he same prob~ems as ordin
histograms; their appearance is ext~emel~ s.ensitl~e ~o the chmce. of class
wid~ and starting point and they exhibit variations similar to the histogram
317

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology- Chapter 5

Spatial Analysis

oo

oo

360

360

270

Figure 5-14. Directions of glacial striations shown on Figure 5-13. (a) Directions plotted
as unit vectors. (b) Directions plotted as a rose diagram showing numbers of vectors

within successive ).0 segments.

Figure 5-16. Effect of choice of segment size and origin on appearance of rose diagrams.
Data are directions of glacial striations from file FINLAND.TXT: (a) so segments, oo
origin, outer ring 20%; (b) 15o segments, 0 origin, outer ring 30%; (c) 30o segments,
oo origin, outer ring 40%; (d) 15 segments, 10 origin-compare to (b) . Alternative
graphical forms include (e) kite diagram, 15 segments, oo origin-sometimes used
in statistical presentations; (f) circular histogram, 15 segments, 0 origin-widely
used to plot wind directions.

Figure 5-15. Rose diagram of glacial striations shown on Figure 5-13 plotted in lOo segments. (a) Length of petals proportional to frequency. (b) Area of petals proportional
to frequency.

examples shown in Figure 2-11 on p. 30. Wells (1999) provides a computer program
that quickly constructs rose diagrams with different conventions and also includes
an assortment of graphical alternatives that may be superior to conventional rose
diagrams for some uses (Fig. 5-16).
To compute statistics that describe characteristics of an entire set of vectors,
we must work directly with the individual directional measurements rather than
with a graphical summary such as a rose diagram. (Note that the following dis
cussion uses geological and geographic conventions in which angles are measured
clockwise from north, or from the positive end of the Y-axis. Many papers on directional statistics follow a mathematical convention in which angles are measured'
counterclockwise from east, or from the positive end of the X-axis.)
~

The dominant direction in a set of vectors can be found by computing the

vector resultant. The X- andY-coordinates of the end point of a unit vector whose
direction is given by the angle e are

xi= cos ei

(5.39)

rt = sinei

Three such vectors are shown plotted in Figure 5-17. Also shown is the vector
resultant, R, obtained by summing the sines and cosines of the individual vectors:
Xr = L:r=l cos
Yr = L:f= 1 sin

ei
ei

(5.40)

From the resultant, we can obtain the mean direction, 8, which is the angular average of all of the vectors in a sample. It is directly analogous to the mean value of
a set of scalar measurements

e =tan -1 (Yr!Xr)

/'n

. Li=l cos ei
=tan -1 ('n
Li=l smei

(5.41)

Obviously, the magrlitude or length of the resultant depends in part on the amount
of dispersion in the sample of vectors, but it also depends upon the number of
319

Spatial Analysis

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology- Chapter 5

'fbe quantity R, called the mean resultant. length, will range from zero to one. It i!!
a measure of dispersion analo~ous to the variance, but expressed in the opposite
sense. That is, large values of R indicate that the ~bservations are tightly bunched
together with a small dispersion, while values of R near zero indicate that the vectors are widely dispersed. Figure 5-19 shows sets of vectors having different values
ofR. In order to have a measure of dispersion that increases with increaslng scatter,
JUs sometimes expressed as its complement, the circular variance

I~

Figure 5-17. Dete~mination of mean direction of a set of unit vectors. (a) Three
taken from F1gure 5-16. (b) Vector resultant, R , obtained by combining the
unit vectors. Order of combination is immaterial.

s~ = 1- R = (n- R)fn
thri~ott

(5.45)

J; j;

other directional statistics can be computed, including circular analogs of the standard deviation, mode, and median. Equations for these are given in convenient table
fof,rn by Gaile and Burt (1980).

----------------'.)o.,

-------------. .
c
a

Figure 5-18. Use of length of resultant to express dispersion in a collection of unit

(a) Three vectors tightly clustered around a common direction. Resultant R is
tively long, approaching the value of n . (b) Three widely disperSed vectors
length is less than 1.0.

'

vectors. In order to compare resultants from samples of different sizes, they

be converted into a standardized form. This is done simply by dividing the ""'''~'~'~''-"
nates of the resultant by the number of observations, n
n
\
c = Xrln = n1 Li=l
cos 8i'
n
.
.
s = Yrln = n1 Li=1
smei

Note that these coordinates also define the centroid of the end points of the
vidual unit vectors.
The resultant provides information not only about the average direction
set of vectors, but also on the spread of the vectors about this a:verage.
5-18a shows three vectors that deviate only slightly from the mean direction:
resultant is almost equal in length to the sum of the lengths of the three vec:rors.:.;
In contrast, three vectors in Figure 5-18 b are Widely dispersed; their resultant
very short. The length of the resultant, R, is given by the Pythagorean theorem:

~x; + Yi = ~ (I~=l co!! ei} + (I: 1 sin ei)

2

.R

'

The length of the resultant can be standardized by dividing by the number of

vations. The standardized resultant length can also be found from the
end J?Oints
:._ R
~-2
-2
R=-. = C +S

j,

l t>l

Figure 5-19. Sets of unit vectors illustrating the value ofR produced by different dispersions
of vectors. In all examples, the mean direction is 52: (a) R = 0.997, (b) R = 0.90,
(c)

R = 0.75, (d) R = 0.55, (e) R = 0.40, (f) R = 0.10.

''

'

Orientation data must be modified before mean directions or measures of dispers~~m can be calculated. .Since the orientation of any feature may be expressed
as.either of two opposite directions, some convention must be adopted. to avoid
IJUI~ting the dispersion of the measurements. Krumbein (1939) hit upqn a novel
soJution to this problem while studying the orientations of stream pebbles. If all of
the measured angles are doubled, the same _angles will be recorded regardless of
which directional sense of the oriented features is used. As an example, consider
a fault trace that strikes northeast-southwest. Its orientation could equally well be
~?1

Spatial Analysis

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology- Chapter 5

recorded as 45 or as 225 . If we double the angles, we obtain 45 x 2 = 90
225 x 2 = 4 50, which becomes (450. - 360) =go.
Mean direction, mean resultant length, and circular variance can be found in
usual manner after the orientation angles have been doubled. To recover the trlll~-dR
mean orientation, simply divide the calculated mean direction by two. This
be illustrated using the data in file CAROLINA. TXT, which contains
the major axes of 99 "Carolina bays"-ellipsoidal depressions o.n the southern
of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain. The origin of these geomorphic features
5-20) was at one time the subject of intense controversy; the depressions
attributed to causes as diverse as meteorite impact, karstic solution, or aei1a.~i6n,iilt'
(Prouty, 1952). Subsequent studies (Rasmussen, 1959) have favored a cornpc:>Stt1!!ii
origin involving differential solution by groundwater and eolian removal
rial. Figure 5-21 shows rose diagrams of the axial orientations of the "bays"
(a) incorrectly as vectors (resulting in a bimodal distribution), (b) as vectors
angles have been doubled, and then (c) as vectors after dividing the doubled
of (b) by two, and also plotting the complements of the vectors. Although.
measurement is plotted twice in this diagram, it yields the correct impression of
symmetrical distribution.

;-.

Testing hypotheses about circular

directional data
In order to test statistical hypotheses about circularly distributed data, we

have a probability model of known characteristics against which we can test.

are circular analogs of the univariate distributions. discussed in Chapter 2. The
useful of these is the von Mises distribution. It is a circular equivalent of the
distribution and similarly possesses only two parameters, a mean direction,
concentration parameter, K. The von Mises distribution is unimodal and
about the mean direction. As the concentration parameter increases, the PI<~I.i.b.oo~
of observing a directional mer-surement~~ry close to th~ mean direqion inrr""'c""'
If K is equal to zero, all directions are equally probable, and a circular uuJL.lUlJ.U
distribution results. Figure '5 -22 a shows the form of the von Mises
several values of K. The distribution can also be shown in conventional form
Figure 5-22 b; note that the horizontal scale is given 1n degrees and correspon~s
a complete circle.
.
It is difficult to determine K directly, but the concentration parameter can
estimated from R if we assume that the data are a sample from a population
a von Mises distribution; AppendiX Table A.9 gives maximum likelihood <>ctirn,,t..a
of K for a calculated R. We will use these estimated values of K in some ,,..1u'""Ylucu~
statistical tests.,
,

1 km

Figure 5-20. Aerial photo of "Carolina bays," subparallel ellipsoidal depressions on Atlantic
Coastal Plain of southeastern U.S. in Bladen County, North Carolina (Prouty, 1952).

e,

. I

..

' '

;).

Test for randomness.-The simplest hypothesis that can be statistically tested

that the directional observations are randoin." Iri other words, there is no
.
direction, or. the probability of occurrence is the same for all directions. If, .
sume that the observations come from a von Mises distribution, the hnnnlth<>-ct
is equivalent to 'statiilg that the concentration parameter, K; is eqtialto zero,cl
cause then the distribution becomes a circularunifofm. In formal: terms, the
hypothesis and alternative 'are ; " , . '-' ~ . . '
''
1H
)

, .
. , ....

rI

,,

-: . .
.

!
,

,,,

~'"; ~

),

Ho: k=Of'l
Hr: K > 0 -~

':

!1

J.: !.~#ut'J

.-.

'"'

Figure 5-21. Effect of doubling angular direction i~ order to calculate mean orientation.
(a) Orientations of major axes of 99 "Carolina bays" plotted as vector directions. Resultant mean direction is 20i and !s near zero i~ length (R = 0.008). (b) Orientation
measurements plotted as vector directions after angles are doubled . Distribution is
no longer bimodal. Resultant reflects correct. trend of dciubl~d angles and is near
unity in length (mean direction is 97.4; R = 0.98) :. (c). OrientatiOilS replotted at
original angles, and their complemenr True resl!l~ant direction, {48.7) is found by
halving resultant airecticin in (b). .
'' '
''
'
'
The test is ~xtremely simple and involv_es only the ~alculation of R accorcling to
Eqqation (5.44).. This statistic. is compared,to a. criticai value of1 R for the .desir~d
level of significance. if the observations do come froma circular uniform 'd istributl!?n. we would exi>e_c t R to b~ $mall, as in Figure' 5-19 f. Ho,wever, if the computed
statistic is so large that it exceeds the critical value, the null hypothesis niust be
rejected and the observations may be presumed to come from a population having
323 ".

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology- Chapter 5

Spatial Analysis

oo

a preferred orientation. This test was originally developed by Lord Rayleigh at

the turn of the nineteenth century; a modem ~rivation is given by Mardia (1972).
Appendix Table A.lO gives critical values of R for Rayleigh's test of a preferred
trend for various levels of significance and numbers of observations.
Remember that Rayleigh's test presumes that the observed vectors are sampled
from a von Mises distribution. That is, the population of vectors is either uniform
(if K = 0) or has a single mode or preferred direction. If the vectors .areactually
sampled from a bimodal distribution such as that shown in Figure 5-21 a, the test
will give misleading results.
We will test the measurements of Finnish glacial striations at a 5% level of
significance to determine if they have a preferred direction. Since there are 51
observations, Appendix Table A.lO yields a critical value of R 50 ,516 = 0.244. The
test statistic is simply the normalized resultant, R. The sum of the cosines of the
vectors is Xr = -25.793 and the sum of the sines is Yr = 31.637. The resultant
length is
R = ~(-25.793) 2 + (31.637) 2 = 40.819
which, when divided by the sample size, yields a mean resultant length of

R = 40.819/51

180

= 0.800

Since the computed value of R far exceeds the critical value, we reject the null
hypothesis that the concentration parameter is equal to zero. The striations must
have a preferred trend.

0.40

Test for a specified trend.-On some occasions we may wish to test the hypothesis
that the observations correspond to a specified trend. For example, the area of
. Finland where the measurements of glacial striations were taken is located within a
broad topographic depression aligned northwest-southeast at approximately 105.
Does the mean direction of ice movement. as indicated by the striations, coincide
with the axial direction of this depression?
c.
Exact tests of the hypothesis that a sample of vectors has been taken: from a
population having a specified mean direction require the use of extensive charts in
order td set the critical value (Stephens, 1969). A simpler alternative is to detel'IlliD.e
a confidence angle around the mean direction of the sample and see if this angle is
sufficiently broad to.encompass the hypothetical mean direction. This confidenc'e
angle is based on the standard error of theestimate of the mean direction, and
thus considers both the size of the sample and its dispersion.
'
'
L; Before computing the confidence angle, the Rayleigh test should .be applied
to confirm that a statistically significant mean direction does exist. Then the mean
resultant length R must be computed and the concentration parameterK estimated
using Appendix Table A.9. The approximate standard error of the mean direction(
1, r t.i ~ ' 1
given in radiansi is

0.30

0.20

e.

0.10

0.00
180 225 270 315 360 45 . 90 135 .180
b

.-

Figure 5-22. Von Mises distributions having different concentration parameters.

.

tributiort plotted in. polar form. (b) Distribution plotted as conventional

distribution . Note that horizontal axis is given in degrees. After Gumbel 1
and Durand (1953).
., .

uru1ud1unn

(5.46).

_,' .

'

since the standard error is a measure of the chance variation eXpected from sample
td sample iri. estimates of. the mean direction,we can use it to define probabilistic
limits ori the location of the true or population mean direction. Assuinirig that
estimat~on errors are normally distributed; the interval
-,
., f ~

0 ZaSe .

. i

(5.47)

325

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology- Chapter 5

Spatial Analysis

should capture (or include) the true population mean direction oc% of the tin'J.~.
example, if we collected 100 random samples of the same size from a ... ~ .... ~... uu"'
of vectors and computed the mean directions and 95% confidence intervals
each, we would expect that all but about five of those intervals would contciin
true mean direction. Of course, we would not know which five of the intervals
to capture the true direction, so we must assign a probabilistic caveat to anof
We might,for example, make the statement that "the interval, plus and
many degrees around the mean direction of this particular sample, cm1t atr.ts' th
true population mean direction. The probability that this statement is 1nrnn,,,...
5%X ' t.
'
L{
We have already applied Rayleigh's test and rejected the hypothesis of nnno,,.,., ...,
in the observations of the striations. The approximate standard error of the
direction can now be found:
. 'r; :;f
'I

s =
e

1
= - -1- - = 0.0924 radians = 5.29 1
v'51 0 ..8004 : 2.87129 10.826,

Therefore,. tbe probability

is 95% that Jhe interval. .,
.
.
129 : 2~

1.9Q >.< 5.2.9::

of elongated pores in thin sections from two cored samples of sandstone from a
petroleum r~servoir.
The equality of two mean directions may be tested by comparing the vector
resultants of the two groups to the vector resultant produced when,the two sets of
rneasurements are combined or pooled. If .the two samples actually are drawn from
die same population, the resultant of the pooled samples should be approximately
equal to the sum of .their two resultants. If the mean directions of the: tWo 1;amples
are significantly different, the pooled resultant will be shorter than the suin of their

<'
'
resultants':
If K is a large value (greater than 10).an F-test statistic can be computed by
_

hn~2 -

'

';'lj

;~

,:jJ

118.8

::5

,!

'

::(f.tJ,~:\ .. -.:.-.~"::J=.

!_}n_

~~-

1ti!

.J"

;;

I:

'

. -;., '~\ \'":' ":

'l~

; i

If K is less\than 2,

!J,q-:.

Test of, gpodness .of fit."-A simple nonparametric alternative to the Rayleigh
of uiuformity involves dividing the unit circle into a convenient number of .
segments~ ; If. these segments are equal in. size and tfie observed vectors are
tributed at random, we should observe approxi.J:hately equal- numbers of.ve<::tor~JII
each segm~nt; . The.number actually observed can. be compared to those' ex])e~:tea
by a X~- test. The expected frequency in ea<:hsegment must be at least 5~
should: be between tt./ 1S and n 15 .segment!? . The xl statistic: is ... u,:u~,Jut:u,.....,.......
usuafin,anner (see Eq~ 2.4 5) and has k -1 degrees offteedont, wl!ere k is : thle"~lllJI1ibe1
of segments. ,
,. 1 . :\. ' ' :.t.>' !. ::: ::(: c .c :: :' .t,.., .., .,..:bi
'l',,The same procedure. can. be u~ed to test the gobctlless of.fit ofthe< nh!~PrverJ
vector's to other theoretical models, such as a.v on Mises distribution with a .,.,,,,.,,.,n
concentration>parameter' K great.er; than zerO> anci>a ~pecified; niearr. CllrectJtO:Q.
Comp_uting' the expected frequencies; howevei', can be complicated:t J..J\.Ow.J..&IJ~;.,
given by Gumber; Greenwood, and Durand (1953) and Batschelet (1965)u;1 '4-
'}':.,_~-

)/.:_:,,..'

'~~.

Testing the equality of two sets of'dihktional vectors.'7'We may An1lt>tinu<>t.UUll,

to. ~.E,!,St..~YP,o_tp.~se~ about the eqW.yal~,.c~ , qf. ~o , s~p~~~ or1 c.oll!'!c!ioq~
tiOJ.lal me;~sur!'!inent~. ,Fon exam~le, we,Jlli,I.Y, hayt:. pal~p<!l;We:qt; n;.~ep~sq.rerQ.~d!S
~<;)5 di,ffer~t. stratigraphic units ,and want,,tq; pete.rnWte _if the.lt m.E~~~1ru~tel"!!.t!ID
are the same, or w,e may wish; tq~ ~ee if fu:e. 9rie.ntation~ o~
.. .
satellite image cdiricide with the orientation~ of faults known to exist
tographed area. At a much smaller scale, we may want to comi?are the ali!:JU.l~en

_,-

t ,

'

.\

/ _, (: . 3-) (n- 2) (R1. + R~ , !. . Rp)

'

Since thil! interval doe.s not include the direction of hligiunent of the tOJ~O!lfl"al~hli
depressionl ~e _must conclude that the. axis of the. depression does ndv cotnotl[f8
With-the mean:direc~on of the striations: \, A lr, -~ ,. ~-~, " ;. .

/ .' '

.hn-z= 1 + -

'. ~

e ::5 139.6

(5.48)

where ri i~> the total number of observations, R1 and Rz are the resultants of the
. ~o sampies of vectors, and.Rp is the resultant of the set of vecto~s .after the two
grgups haye been pooled. , . .
. . . . .
.. .. .
.' Using Appendix Table A.9, we can estimate the value of K from :R;,, the length
of the mean
resultant 0(. the t}VO pooled, samples.
If K is smallE_!r
than
1b bu,t<greater
}
'
.
.
, I

than 2, then a more accurate F-test is ; : 1

1 (
..,

contairls the population mean direction:. In other words, ' ' '
-

(~-2) (R1 +Rz ~Rp)

. (n _ R1 _ Rz) 'J: '..,.

8K . .:;

(n

- R1 -

Rz)

.,

(5 49)

s~eciat tables '(such~; thosk mven in Mardia,1972) eri-e necessary.

It is also possible t<;> test the equalitY of the concentration paramete:fs of two sets

of\rectors; but the. comput'a~ons are invoived. Referito Mardia (197,2)1ror a detailed
discussion, and to Gaile and Burt (I 980) for a wor~ed example from geomorphology.
A fold be)t, expressed topographically as 'the Naga Hills andtherr extensions,
oecurs at the junture between the India!?- subcorltinen~ ~4 the hidochiiiese 'pe.nin. sula. Apparently related to .compressive movements that created tile Himalayas,
the' fold belt bidudE_!s a s,eri~s(. of subparallel anticlines along the eastern border
of Bangiadeslh 'OU,arid gas hci e be~n found in structural traps in t]Jis region; so
d~lineati'on of t~e ~old~ -is pf economic a~ weil' as scientific interest. Pr~sumably the~
fo~ds occur, perhaps With:reduced magrutude, to the west of the Naga1Hills, but are
concealed!by mo~em ~ediments deposited by theGcritgeS'.River and its tributaries . .
seismic
data that
could
reveal
the buried
structures are
Unfortunately,
reflection
.
. .t .
.
}
~
~.
~.
~i . .
verys:par~e:
. ...,I. ,
~ '' . _;: .. ;~.
~ \J !'
..
Interpretations of Landsat satellit.e image~ of this region iridicate numerous
lineations1ofunkno'wn. ori~ It is possible that the ilneation~ rt:fl'et subsurface
folds, andj if so, they may provide valuabl clues tb structural geology. and possible
petroleum deposits. :
.
(.:,. :,:/
' .
:
. i, "' ,.'
Figu'r~ 5-;23 is a map of easte.rJ1 Bangladesh showing the 1traces of_axial planes
of major e){posed anticlines'and the Hrrger lineaments' measured on Landsat iffi,
ag~s. Th,~ qrientations of' these, two sets
shown on Figure 5.-24.: Because the
lines have
'seiise' of diTection, the plots are bilnodal; and~~ must" double 'the
~bserved angles to 'obtain the cbrred distributionof vectors. Table' 5-5 list~ the
o~ehtati0ris10f b'o th the axiru planes and the lineiUrients, which also afe-contciirted
in file BANGIJ\,ixF:. ~hefe is <hi.obvious difference ~tWe~ the~ two sets1but is
this difference statistically significant or could it have arisen through the vagaries.
of sampling? . ' >,
..
..
., ,'. :'!,,,
<

no

..

I'

<

are

327

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology- Chapter 5

.,

Spatial Analysis

-- . . . .-... . . ._________...... ____ ;--- -.

g
Figure 5-24. Rose diagrams of orientation data from eastern Bangladesh.

Mean orientations indicated by arrows. Top row shows plots of vector directions from file
BANGLA .TXT: (a) Anticlinal axes (mean direction is 86.2 ; R = 0:05). (b) Lineaments (mean direction is 334.6; R =: 0 .15). (c) Pooled vectors (mean direction is
352.5"; R = 0.70) . Middle row shows plots of doubled vector directions: (d) Anticlinal axes (mean direction is 341.5"; R = 0.85). (e) Lineaments (mean direction is
30.1; R = 0.77) . (f) Pooled vectors (mean djr~tion is 5.3; R = 0.74) . Bottom row
shows orientations replotted at original angles and their complements. True resultant
directions found by halving resultant directions shown in middle row: (g) Anticlinal
axes (mean direction is 350.8; R = 0.85-). (h) Lineaments (mean direction is 15.0;
R = 0.77) . (i) Pooled vectors (mean direction is 2.6; R = 0.74) .

Figure 5-23. Map of eastern Bangladesh showi~g axial planes of major a~ticlines (solid
lines) and large lineaments interpreted from Landsat images (dashed lmes) .

To test the hypothesis that the meari directions of the anticlinal axes and the
Landsat lineaments are the same, we must first compute the resUltants of each of
th_e two groups and the resultant of the two groups combined. The resultant of the
329

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology- Chapter 5

Spatial Analysis

Table 5-5. Orientation of axial planes of anticlines

and Landsat lineations in eastern Bangladesh; measurements
given in degrees clockwise from north .

Landsat Lineaments, n = 36

Anticlinal Axes, n = 34

12
192
186
343
339
351
152
348
330

16
202
186
346
150
156
162
158
162

14
169
24
161
169
159
341
156
20

5
163
344
341
336
352
181

350
214
356
350
160
2
184
354
42

32
192
218
18
205
171
246
213
354

15
16
198
221
35
196
175
26
13

8
26
221
342
337
14
25
212
202

34 doubled measlll'ements of the fold axial planes is R1 = 38.97 and the

of the 36 doubled measlU'ements of the Landsat lineament is R2 = 27.79 ..
two groups can be combined into a pooled collection of 70 obser-Vations that has
resultant of Rp = 51.73. The mean resultant of the pooled group is
\

Rp =

multivariate procedlll'es described in Chapter 6. Here we deal with three physical

djnlensions; later we will apply the same steps to the analysis of multidimensional
data in which each "dimension" is a different geologic variable.
Examples of three-dimensional directional data in the Earth sciences include
measlll'ements of strike and dip taken for structlll'al analyses, vectorial measureinents of the geomagnetic field, directional permeabilities measured on cores from
petroleum reservoirs, measlll'ements of orientation and dip of crossbeds, and determinations of crystallographic axes for petrofabric studies.

As with two-dimensional data, we must first establish a standard method of

notation. W,~ can regard three-dimensional directional observations as consisting
of vectors; ~mce we are concerned primarily with their angular relationships, these
can be cons1dered to be of unit length. If all of the directional measurements from
' an area are collected together at a common origin, the tips of the unit vectors will
lie on the Slll'face of a sphere; hence the term spherical distribution.
, Some oriented featlll'es do not have a sense of direction md can be referred
to as axes. Examples include the lines of intersections between sets .o f dipping
planes, axes of revolution, md perpendiculars to plmes. In addition, it is sometimes advmtageous to disregard the directional aspect of vectors md to treat them
as. axes.
Z-axis

~~ 3 = 0.74

z -------------------

and by use of Appendix Table A.9, we can estimate the concentration fa~to~,
K = 2.2893.
.
.
.
Since K is greater than 2 but less than 10, the appropriate test staqstic is
by Equation (5.49). Substituting values we have calculated into that equatio11
F= (1 .+

'

3
) ((70-2)(38.97.+27..79-51.73)) = 367X1~~-.
8(2.2893)
(70-38.97-27.79)
' '
.

The test has v1 = 1 and v2 = (70- 2) degrees of freedom. From the values ofF
Appendix Table A.3, we can interpolate to find the critical value for F at the 5%
of significance (X= 0.05) with 1 and 68 degrees of freedom; the value is F =
Since the test value far exceeds the critical value, we must regretfully conclude
the Landsat lineaments and the fold axes are not drawri from a con:llnon
Although Landsat lineaments may be useful guides for exploration, :In this
they apparently do not reflect the trends of structlll'al folds.

Spherical Distributions .
Statistical tests of directional data distributed in three dimensions have been
oped ot:lly in recent years, in part because the mathe~atics of the distributions
- '

very complicated. However,

geologic problems
involve
.
. that
. -
.
tors are exceedingly common, and we should not shy away from the use of the
able statistical techniques for theit interpretation. Some of these.methods
matrix algebra, although the matrices are no't large; and the' extraction df
values-- and eigenvectors. Tlie geometric' interpretation of eigenvectors' n .. , >C!Olnnt
in Chapter 3 will be of direct application. The mathematics ate closely
~

,
0 ' '-,,,,_.

~-

'{k.

',,

--------------------------~-~...~:::::l<--'

X-axis

. __. . ........ ..

Y:axis

//

Figure ~-25. Notational system for three-dimensional vector OP in space defined by Caite!lT . s1an .axe~ X. Y, and Z. Angles between OP and the axes are a, b, and c..
,

Stmdard mathematic<U notation utilizes three Cartesim ~~orclliJ.ates to de~S}ibe a ve~tor in space (~ig; .~-;-~5). The direction .of the vect.o r OP is specified
DY;}he cosin,e~ of ,the mgles 'Qetween the ve,ctor md each of the coordinate axes.
Til~ coordinates df the point P eire equal .to
'
'
'.I_,

x =cos a
y =cos b
' z =cos c

Since the vector is considered to have unit len~h,

l
.
x2 + y2 + z2 = 1

t'J

!'I

1._

_,

(5.51)
331

'J1

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology

Table A.9. Maximum likelihood estimates of the concentration parameter K
for calculated values of R (adapted from Batschelet, 1965;
and Gumbel, Greenwood, and Durand, 1953).

R
0.00
.01
.02
.03
.04
.OS
.06
.07
.08
.09

.10
.11
.12
.13
.14
.15
.16
.17
.18
.19
.20
.21
.22
.23
.24
.25
.26
.27
.28
.29
.30
.31
.32
.33
.34

0.00000
.02000
.04001
.06003
.08006
.10013
.12022
.14034
.16051
.18073
.20101
.22134
.24175
.26223
.28279
.30344
.32419
.34503
.36599
.38707
.40828
.42962
.45110
.47273
.49453
.51649
.53863
.56097
.58350
.60625
.62922
.65242
.67587
.69958
.72356

R
0.35
.36
.37
.38
.39
.40
.41
.42
.43
.44
.45
.46
.47
.48
.49

.so

.51
.52
.53
.54
.55
.56
.57
.58
.59
.60
.61
.62
.63
.64
.65
.66
.67
.68
.69

0.74783
.77241
.79730
.82253
.84812
.87408
.90043
.92720
.95440
.98207
1.01022
1.03889
1.06810
1.09788
1.12828
1.15932
1.19105
1.22350
1.25672
1.29077
1.32570
1.36156
1.39842
1.43635
1.47543
1.51574
1.55738
1.60044
1.64506
1.69134
1.73945
1.78953
1.84177
1.89637
1.95357

Appendi
Table A.lO. Critical values of R for Rayleigh's test for the resence
P
of a preferred trend. From Mardia ( 1972 ).

Level of Significance, oc
K

0.70 2.01363
.71 2.07685
.72 2.14359
.73 2.21425
.74 2.28930
.75 2.36930
.76 2.45490
.77 2.54686
.78 2.64613
.79 2.75382
.80 2.87129
.81 3.00020
.82 3.14262
.83 3.30114
.84 3.47901
.85 '3.68041
.86 3.91072
;s? 4.17703
.88 4.48876
.89 4.85871
.90
5.3047
.91
5.8522
.92
6.5394
.93
7.4257
8.6104
.94
.95 10.2716
.96 12.7661
.97 16.9266
.98 25.2522
.Q9 50.2421
00
1.00

.10

.05

.025

Sample size,
n=

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
30
35
40
45

so

.01
,,.'

0.768
.677
.618
.572
.535
.504
.478
.456
.437
.420
.405
.391
.379
.367
.357
.348
.339
.331
.323
.316
.309
.303
.277
.256
.240
.226
.214

0.847
.754
.690
.642
.602
.569
.540
.516
.494
.475
.458
.443
.429
.417
.405
.394
.385
.375
.367
.359
.351
.344
.315
.292
.273
.257
.244

0.905
.816
.753
.702
.660
.624
.594
.567
.544
.524
.505
.489
.474
.460
.447
.436
.425
.415
.405
.397
.389
.381
.348 .
.323
.302
.285
.270

0.960
.879
.825
.771
.725
.687
.655
.627
.602
.580
.560
.542
.525
.510
.496
.484
.472
.461
.451
.441
.432
.423
.387
.359
.336
.318
.301