FOLDING AND FAULTING

 Tectonic forces result in earth movements

 These movements involve vertical or horizontal movements of the earth’s crust
 These movements result in the land being raised or uplifted, depressed or lowered, folded/bent or
fractured or erupting

FOLDING
 Folding is the bending of rock layers in the earth’s crust
 Folds form when compressed rock fails to break and only bends.
 Folding results from compressional forces acting on the earth’s crust
 These forces act horizontally on a land mass and this results in the different types of folds
 The nature of folds depend on the amount of force exerted on the rock

1. Anticline Fold

 This is an arch-like shaped fold with oldest bedrocks at its core.

 It is convex up in which the crest is the location where curvature is greatest
 One slope is steeper than the other.

2. Symmetrical fold/ Simple fold

  In a symmetrical fold, the limbs/slopes are of the same steepness
 The limbs bend upwards.

3. Syncline Fold

 This is the opposite of an anticline

 This is a downfold because the limbs are curving downwards
 The oldest bed rock layers are found near the core of the fold
 Horizontal layers (strata) are bent upwards

4. Overfold
  This forms when compressional forces continue to be exerted on the limbs.
 This too much compression forces one limb over the other leading to an overfold/ overthrust or
recumbent structure.
 NB: if faulting then occurs over a plane, a nappe is formed as shown below.

LANDFORMS RESULTING FROM FOLDING

1. Fold mountains

 The formation of Fold Mountains is called orogenesis which means the beginning of mountain
formation. (oros in Greek means mountain, genesis means formation or beginning)
 Fold mountains result due to the convergence of plates at plate margins
 In Africa most of the well-known mountain chains such as Cape folded ranges of South Africa, the
Eastern Highlands (Chimanimani uplands) in Zimbabwe and the Atlas mountains are classical
examples of fold mountains
 Outside Africa examples of fold mountains include the Himalayas, the Rockies of North America,
the Andes of South America and the Appalachians of North America

GROUPS OF FOLD MOUNTAINS

 Fold mountains are classified into two major groups determined by their age as seen in their
altitude or elevation
A. OLD FOLD MOUNTAINS
  These are mountains that have been downwarped by denudational processes such as erosion,
weathering and mass fall
 These mountains are plateau-like shaped and as a result they are not very high
 Fold mountains that were built 400 million years ago (in the Caledonian Orogeny) and 300 million
years ago (in the Hercynian Orogeny) belong to this group
 Their altitude range between 2000 and 3000meters on average
 Example include the Harz mountains of Germany

B. YOUNG FOLD MOUNTAINS

o These fold mountains were built during the last Orogeny called the Alpine Orogeny (35 million years
ago)
o They have great heights of over 6000 meters high
o Examples include Alps, Pyrennes, Rockies, Andes and Himalayas
o Young fold mountains are rugged and jagged ranges or ridges form

OTHER FEATURES RESULTING FROM FOLDING

2. Anticlinal mountains

 This is the initial landform produced by folding

 This mountain does not last for a long geological period since it is quickly downwarped by
denudation (weathering and erosion)

3. Synclinal valleys
 This is the initial landform produced by folding
 A Zimbabwean example is the famous Mberengwa Greenstone Belt.

4. Anticlinal valleys

 These form when an anticline’s top is attacked by erosion. This quick erosional attack is because
the compressional forces are operating away from the fold axis.
 When the anticline is eroded, an anticlinal valley forms.

5. Synclinal mountains
  Due to the fact that compressional forces are operating towards the centre of the fold axis, the
syncline is more resistant to erosion
 Therefore it remains standing as the surrounding anticlines are eroded.

FAULTING

 This involves an upward or downward movement of a rock along a fault line

 A joint differs from a fault in that a joint is simply a crack in a rock
 There is no displacement of the rock along the crack/ fracture but fault results in displacement of
rock
 Faulting results from tensional and compressional forces that causes stress in the rock

MOVEMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH FAULTING

 Vertical displacement of a block (a very large rock ) is known as the throw

 Lateral displacement is called the heave
 The angle between the fault plane and the horizontal is called the hade
 Tensional forces result in normal faults while compressional forces result in reverse faults or
thrust faults

Types of Faults

1. Tear Fault

 This is formed where there is horizontal movements along a fault, resulting in a sideward or
lateral displacement

2. Step Faults
 This is when faults are arranged in the form of steps resulting from tensional forces
 Examples include parts of the Great African Rift Valley and Rhone Rift valley in Europe.
3. Oblique Fault

 This fault forms when displacement is both vertical and horizontal

4. Reverse Faults/ Normal faults

  These form as a result of tensional forces which results in downward displacement of the block

LANDFORMS RESULTING FROM FAULTING

A. FAULT SCARPS

 A fault scarp is the steep slope created on the face of a block when displacement occurs along a
fault line
 On diagrams it is indicated by a an ‘f’
 A fault scarp is simply referred to as a scarp and sometimes it develops into an escarpment.
 Example is the Zambezi escarpment in northern Zimbabwe which includes the Matusadonha and
Mamvuradonha scarps

B. A HORST OR BLOCK MOUNTAIN

Chizarira Mountain Range (Horsts)

  Normal faulting may occur, raising a central block and lowering the two adjacent blocks
 The raised block is called a horst or a block mountain
 Examples include Ruwenzoni range of mountains in Uganda, Kenya highlands, the great Kharas
mountains of Namibia and the Chizarira range to the south of Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe
 Horsts are characterized by flat tops and steep sides

C. A GRABEN
 A graben is the downthrow segment usually between the horst features
 It results in the formation of rift valleys such as the Great East African Rift Valley
 Grabens can be formed by tensional forces or by compressional forces

FORMATION OF RIFT VALLEYS

 Formation of rift valleys can be explained using the compression theory or tension theory

1. The compression theory

 This theory explains that the middle block is downthrown resulting in a fault-bounded rift valley

2. The tension theory

 Here the tensional forces are responsible for pulling apart blocks of rock and the middle block is
downthrown to result in a rift valley
  This theory explains the divergence of plates. Therefore the rift valleys are associated with mid-
oceanic points which mid-oceanic ridges.
 Down warping also lead to natural depressions such as Lake Victoria and Lake Cahorra Bassa.

VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKES