**4.4 Rocks discontinuities**

Discontinuity in geotechnical engineering (in the geotechnical literature it is often referred to as a joint) is a surface or surface that indicates a change in the physical or chemical properties of a soil or rock mass. The discontinuity can be, for example, bedding, schistosomiasis, foliation, joint, splitting, fracture, cleft, crack or failed plane. Mechanical and integral discontinuities are separated. Interruptions may occur multiple times with the same mechanical properties on a large scale in a discontinuity group, or they may be a single interruption. The discontinuity causes the mass of soil or rock to anisotropy [7, 19].
