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EGU Blogs » Divisions » Tectonics and Structural Geology » Features from the field: Foliation

Features from the field: Foliation

Samuele Papeschi  ·  August 30, 2019  ·  Features from the field
 ·  4 Comments

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Jurassic slate in La Grave (Hautes-Alpes, France). These rocks easily split along foliation surfaces that dip towards the left of the image.
Don’t believe me? Try to hammer them! Photo © Samuele Papeschi
Have you ever walked on a mountain trail, passing past outcrops of rocks and noticed that many rocks appear to be
split along a well-defined orientation? IfGeoLog
you have,
you
Network
seen
might have Divisions  most important structures in
one of the
metamorphic rocks – called foliation.

The term ‘foliation’ derives from the Latin folium, meaning ‘leaf’. A rock with a foliation looks like a pile of ‘leaf-
sheets’ that appear piled up one upon the other. Any set of planes that is pervasively repeated in a rock volume
defines a foliation, irrespective of its origin, thickness or composition. In the example shown on top of the page, the
rock easily splits along foliation surfaces that dip to the left. In this case, the foliation is defined by the preferred ori-
entation of tiny platy minerals – called phyllosilicates – that cause the rock to break apart easily along a specific
direction.

In the example on the left, a deformed breccia, the foliation

is defined by clasts that were flattened by tectonic forces and
that are now all oriented parallel to each other.

There are many processes that can lead to the development

of a foliation in rocks (I will save them for another post).
What is important is that a foliation is a pure and simple geo-
metric term, which means that you can use it to describe any
pervasive set of planes in a rock, even if you don’t know their
origin or composition.

Given this definition, foliations are not restricted just to

Triassic metabreccia from Punta Bianca (La Spezia, Italy).
Note the foliation defined by deformed clasts of white
metamorphic rocks. Bedding planes in sedimentary rocks
marble. The image is 90 cm in width. Photo © Samuele define a foliation, and so do flow structures in volcanic rocks
Papeschi
or compositional bands (schlieren) in intrusive rocks. This
kind of foliation is called primary foliation – formed during
deposition or igneous crystallization of rocks – to distinguish them from secondary (or tectonic) foliation that de-
velops when rocks are deformed.

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There is a foliation inside this granitic dyke from the Calamita Peninsula (Elba Island, Italy). In this case it is defined by black bands rich in
tourmaline and changes in grain size. Photo © Samuele Papeschi

Tectonic foliations are widespread in metamorphic rocks. They form as a result of different processes, which re-
quire two basic ingredients:

First, you need deformation processes. Luckily, we are on a trembling planet and at depth rocks are squeezed by
tectonic forces.

Second, you need heat and pressure. You can squeeze rocks as much as you want, but if temperature is not
high enough, they will break rather than develop a foliation. Some rocks can deform at relatively low temperat-
ure (claystones for instance) while others -for example a granite, require several hundreds of degrees to start
deforming.

If all the conditions above are satisfied, congratulations! Your rock will develop a foliation. During deformation, old
grains rotate and parallelize with each other. Eventually, new minerals will grow already oriented parallel to the foli-
ation. This is because the foliation plane lies perpendicular to the direction of maximum tectonic force (called stress
in geology) and mineral grains find less resistance to their growth along the foliation plane. Difficult? Here is a
sketched example, modified after Raymond (1995).

 
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The progressive development of a foliation overprints primary structures leading to the development of a new, metamorphic structure.
Redrawn after Raymond (1995).

The more deformation goes on, the more primary structures are obliterated. A foliation progressively overprints
primary structures, becoming more and more penetrative as deformation continues. If rocks face only limited de-
formation or are deformed at relative low temperatures, they can preserve original structures, but if the intensity of
deformation or temperature (or both) are high, primary structures will likely be destroyed.

We have barely started to scratch the surface of this interesting topic. In the next chapters of the ‘Features from the
Field’ series I will look in greater detail at the complicated world of foliation. Stay tuned!

References and further reading

Dieterich, J.H., 1969. Origin of cleavage in folded rocks. American Journal of Science 267, 155-165.

Fossen, H., 2016. Structural Geology. Cambridge University Press.

Ramsay, J.G., and Huber, M.I., 1983. The techniques of Modern Structural Geology. Vol. 1: Strain Analysis. Academic Press,
London.

Raymond, L. A., 1995. Petrology: the study of igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic rocks. Dubuque, IA : Wm. C. Brown
(editors)

deformation Features from the field Field Geology metamorphic rock metamorphism rock deformation Structural Geology

By Samuele Papeschi

Samuele Papeschi is a postdoc at JAMSTEC (Kochi, Japan). He studies rocks to understand the
deformation and tectonic evolution of the Earth's crust, but his secret love is for the field, where he
loves to hike and work, sharing snapshots of Features from the Field.

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4 Comments

Mohammed Dan-Hassan, PhD.  · 

September 2, 2019, 1:08 pm
An important element in structural geology explained in simple, clear and concise manner.

Great contribution to fundamentals of Structures.

Reply

Samuele Papeschi  · 

September 2, 2019, 2:11 pm
Thank you very much, Mohammed!
Reply

Igbudu Blessing  · 

December 27, 2019, 10:40 am
The Thanks for this wonderful content. It was very insightful and enjoyable. I have learnt a lot from
reading this article.

Reply

Samuele Papeschi  · 

December 27, 2019, 10:44 am
Thank you very much, Igbudu!

Reply

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