Factors affecting stablilty

Strength of rock (not much of a factor, consider sandstone cliffs in central utah) Strength of discontinuities (also important) Abundance of discon.* Orientation of discon.*** most important Slope height* Slope angle* Size of excavation* Shape of excavation Regional stress regime Water pressure Time

 Rock fabric is the orientation, length, and spacing of fractures Mapping methods
fracture set mapping Detailed line
Strike and dip measure

Cell mapping
Map all the structures you can see, in cells

Orientation (oriented core

Drill a core, then orient it so that you can measure the strike and dip of every intersection. Takes at least two holes in 90* apart, inclined, so that you can get x,y,z components

 Steeper = less stripping = cheaper Steeper = higher cost of failure Pick pit slope of maximum pit benefit.
Assumes that you can maintain safe working conditions.

 Notation for orientation of discontinuities

Strike bearing and dip (right hand rule) S 25*E @ 70* SW