<p>Crack formation in blasting is governed by the combined action of blasting stress waves and detonation gas, but distinguishing their respective contributions remains difficult, especially for cylindrical charges. In this study, blasting experiments with cylindrical charges were conducted on PMMA plates and cylindrical specimens to distinguish and characterize the two crack types. Stress wave-caused cracks formed dense clusters of radial micro-cracks along the blasthole wall, whereas gas-caused cracks exhibited fan-shaped patterns. Along the charge axis, stress wave-caused cracks were shortest near the initiation point and progressively increased in length toward the opposite end, whereas gas-caused cracks were longest at the initiation end and gradually shortened away from it. Although stress wave-caused cracks were more numerous, their total surface area and volume were much smaller than those of gas-caused cracks. These results show that blasting stress waves and detonation gas dominate different aspects of crack development and produce distinct axial damage patterns in cylindrical-charge blasting.</p>