ABSTRACT
A mineral is an inorganic natural solid, which is found in nature. Discontinuities in rocks are termed as cracks, fractures, joints, bedding planes, schistosity or foliation planes and faults. Discontinuities are products of some certain phenomena to which rocks were subjected in their geological past, and they are expected to be regularly distributed within rock mass. The discontinuities may be filled by some infilling materials such as calcite, quartzite or weathering products of host rock or transported materials, or they may exist from the beginning as thin films of clay deposits in sedimentary rocks along bedding planes. Rock mass is considered to be the sum total of the rock as it exists in place, taking into account the intact rock material as well as joints, faults and other natural planes of weakness that can divide the rock into interlocking blocks of varying sizes and shapes.
