Geologic Structure

Rock Deformation
• Stress
– Force applied to an area
– Pressure
– Differential stress – magnitude of stress is
greater in one direction
• Rock Strength
– Rock’s resistance to deformation (stress)
 Rock Deformation Cont.
• Strain
– A rock’s response to stress
– Deformation resulting in change of shape or position
• Elastic deformation
– Deformation is reversible, after stress is removed, materials
return to original shape, i.e. A rubber band
• Plastic deformation
– Deformation is permanent
– Rock flow in response to stress
– Need high pressures and temperatures, generally deep in
earth’s interior, i.e. Taffy
 Rock Deformation Cont.
• Brittle deformation
– Deformation is permanent
– Rock break (fracture) or lose cohesion
– Generally low temperature and low pressure,
common in shallow crust, i.e. Peanut brittle
 Types of Stress
• Tensional (Extension) Stress
• Compressional Stress
• Shear Stress
 Tension or Extensional Stress
• Stress move away from each
other (pull apart)
• Rock lengthens
• Common in divergent
boundaries, but not sole
locale
• Ductile deformation –
stretching and thinning of
rock
• Brittle deformation –
fracturing and faulting
 Compressional Stress
• Stress presses (squeezes)
rock together
• Rock shortens
• Common at convergent
boundaries
• Ductile deformation –
shortening and
thickening of rock – rock
folds
• Brittle deformation –
fracturing and faulting
 Shear Stress
• Stress creates a
lateral shift in the
rock
• Rock slides past other
rock
• Common at
transform boundaries
• Results in faults
 Folds
• Ductile deformation
• Compressional stress
• Horizontal rocks are deformed
 What is a fold?

• Definition:
• A surface (in a rock body) that has undergone a
change in its curvature (at least locally)
• All kinds of rocks can be folded, even granites
• C Consider a folded piece of paper…
 Fold Terminology
• Limb – the sides of the fold
• Axial plane (hinge plane) –
imaginary plane that divides
the fold into two equal parts,
marks location of maximum
curvature
• Fold axis (hinge line) – the
line formed by the
intersection of the hinge
plane and a bedding plane
 Folds
• A fold is when the earth’s crust is pushed up from its sides. There are
six types of folds that may occur:
• Anticline
• Syncline
• Tight Fold
• Overfold
• Recumbent Fold
• Nappe Fold
 Anticline
• An anticline occurs when a
tectonic plate is compressed by
movement of other plates. This
causes the center of the
compressed plate to bend in an
upwards motion.
• Fold mountains are formed when
the crust is pushed up as tectonic
plates collide. When formed,
these mountains are usually
enormous like the newly formed
Rocky Mountains in Western
Canada and the United States
• To the top right is a picture of an
anticline. Beneath is a picture of
the Rocky Mountains.
 Syncline
• A syncline is similar to an
anticline, in that it is formed by
the compression of a tectonic
plate. However, a syncline occurs
when the plate bends in a
downward motion.
• The lowest part of the syncline is
known as the trough.
• To the top right is a diagram of a
syncline fold (The bottom of the
fold center is the trough).
Beneath, is an example of a
syncline in California. Can you
distinguish the trough in this
picture?
Tight Fold
• A tight fold is a sharp peaked
anticline or syncline.
• It is just a regular anticline or
syncline, but was compressed
with a greater force causing the
angle to be much smaller.
• Folds such as these occur to form
steep mountain slopes like those
in Whistler, British Columbia.
• To the left is a photo of a tight
fold formed by extreme pressure
on these rocks.
 Overfold
• An overfold takes place when folding rock becomes bent or
warped.
• Sometimes the folds can become so disfigured that they may
even overlap each other.
• An example of overfolding is shown in the diagram below.
 Recumbent Fold
• This type of fold is
compressed so much that it
is no longer vertical.
• There is a large extent of
overlapping and it can take
the form of an “s”.
• To the right is a diagram
that shows the process of
recumbent folding.
Nappe Folding
• This fold is similar to a
recumbent fold because of
the extent of folding and
overlapping. However,
nappe folding becomes so
overturned that rock layers
become fractured.
• To the right is a picture of
someone standing under a
fractured fold.
 Syncline
• A fold with the
youngest beds in
the middle
• Generally trough
shaped, with
limbs dipping
toward the center
 Anticline
• A fold with the
oldest beds in the
middle
• Generally arched
shaped, with
limbs dipping
away the center
 Fold Symmetry
• Symmetrical fold – • Asymmetrical fold –
limbs of the fold dip at limbs of the fold dip at
the same angle different angles
 Overturned
Fold
• Fold where one
limb has been
tilted beyond
vertical
 Plunging Fold

• The hinge line

or fold axis is
inclined
 aspect ratio
• The aspect ratio P is the ratio of
the amplitude A to half the
wavelength M
P = A/M.
 Bluntness
• The bluntness of a fold is a measure of how round or
angular the hinge zone is. The bluntness ratio is
defined as B = rh/ri , where rh is the radius of
curvature of the hinge zone and ri is the radius of the
circle tangent to the limbs at the two inflections points
(Fig. 14.6b).
 Fold tightness
• Fold tightness is expressed by the fold angle
φ, which is the angle between the two radii
of the reference circle through the inflection
points (Fig. 14.6b).
• This is the angle through which the two
limbs have been rotated; it is the
supplement of the interlimb angle (θ =
180−φ).
Some special fold geometries

Monocline
• Folds with only one limb
• Often Associated with faults
 Monocline
• Monoclines are fold structures with only one tilted
limb; the beds on either side of the tilted limb are
horizontal. Monoclines typically result from a
vertical offset in the subsurface near the tilted
portion of the structure. The fault uplifts a block of
relatively rigid igneous or metamorphic rock, and
the overlying sedimentary layers drape over the
edge of the uplifted block to form the monocline
(Figure 10.18). Spectacular examples are found in
the Colorado Plateau of the western United States.
 Kink folds
Kink folds are small folds (less than a
meter) that are characterized by straight limbs
and sharp hinges. Typically they occur in
finely laminated (that is, strongly anisotropic)
rocks, such as shales and slates (Figure
10.19). Sharply bending a deck of cards is a
good analogy for the kinking process, because
kink folds are formed by displacements
between individual laminae (individual cards
in the analogy).

F I G U R E 1 0 . 1 9 Kink folds in mica-rich portion of

greywackes of the Cantabrian Mountains (northern Spain)
 Chevron folds
• Chevron folds
(Figure10.8) are the
larger-scale
equivalent of kink
folds.

F I G U R E 1 0 . 8 Chevron folds in Franciscan chert of California, USA

(Marin County).
 Box fold
• The term box fold
describes a geometry that
is pretty self-explanatory
(Figure 10.5). In order for
a box fold to form, a layer
must be detached from the
underlying and overlying
layers. They are therefore
common in areas with
weak basal layers, such as
in the Jura Mountains of
Switzerland.
 Ptygmatic folds

• Ptygmatic folds are irregular and isolated

fold structures that typically occur as tightly
folded veins or thin layers of strongly contrasting
lithology (and, thus, contrasting competency;
Figure 10.20).
Most metamorphic regions around the world
contain ptygmatic folds, which, unglamorously,
resemble intestines.
 Doubly plunging folds
• Doubly plunging folds are structures with hinge lines that
laterally change curvature. Along the trend of plunge the
folds may die out or even change from antiforms to
synforms.
• The high point of the hinge line in a doubly plunging fold
is called the culmination and the low point along the same
hinge line is called a depression.
• The change in plunge angle is normally less than 50°.
 En echelon folds
• When additional folds are present, changes in
plunge may result in en echelon folds, in which a
gradually opening fold is replaced by a
neighboring, gradually tightening fold of opposite
form. Such a geometry occurs on all scales, from
hand specimens (Figure 10.21) to the size of
mountain ranges (such as the Valley-and-Ridge of
the central Appalachians).
• Note that doubly plunging folds are, by definition,
noncylindrical.

F I G U R E 1 0 . 2 1 En echelon folds on the scale of

centimeters; coin for scale.
 Sheath folds
• Sheath folds show extreme hinge line
curvature, to the extent that hinge line
curvature approaches parallelism (change in
plunge up to 180°!).
• What is typically found in outcrop is the
elliptical cross section of the nose of the
fold (see Figure 12.28); however, such a
pattern itself does not necessarily imply a
section through a sheath fold.
 Faults
• A results of brittle deformation
• Fractures in the Earth's crust where
displacement has occurred
 Fault Terminology
• Hanging wall – block
that lies below the
fault plane

• Footwall – block that

lies above the fault
plane
 Classes of Faults
• Dip-Slip
– Movement is primarily
vertical

• Strike Slip
– Movement is along
strike

• Oblique-Slip
– Movement is both
vertical and along
strike
 Dip-Slip Fault – Normal Fault
• Extensional Stress
• Hanging wall moves
down with respect to
footwall
FOOTWALL HANGINGWALL
 Normal Fault
• Horst – raised
block of material
bounded by two
normal faults
• Graben – trough
(valley) bounded
by two normal
faults
 Dip-Slip Fault – Reverse Fault
• Compressional Stress
• Hanging wall moves
up with respect to
footwall
 Dip-Slip Fault – Thrust Fault

• Compressional Stress
• Low-angle reverse
fault (fault plane <
45o)
• Displacement can be
100’s km (~60 miles)
• Typically associated
with folds
Strike-Slip Left-lateral strike-slip faults:
movement of opposite plate
Fault is to the left

• Shear Stress
• No vertical movement
• Movement parallel to
fault plane

Right-lateral strike-slip faults:

movement of opposite plate is
to the right
 Joints
• Brittle deformation at low
pressure
• Tension fractures with NO
DISPLACEMENT