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L5 Structural Folds
L5 Structural Folds
AND MAPPING
ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
Lecture 5
FOLDS
Example of Fold
If you've studied how to describe folds you can now get involved in more
complex ideas. Folds needed sit upright but can have
various orientations. They can be symmetric or asymmetric about their
axial surfaces. Their hinge lines can be straight (like wrapping a cloth
around a broom handle) or be curved along their length. Folds can be
considered as wave-forms and so can be harmonic or disharmonic
through a sequence of layers - click here to find out more. In many rock
sequences folds form on different scales. The smaller ones are described
as being parasitic upon the backs of larger ones.
Fold Orientation
Vergence, Facing
Harmony
Parasitic Folds
Use them
Measuring Folds
Tightness of Fold
Tightness of Fold
Cleavage often goes hand in hand with folding. You can find out more about
the different sorts of cleavage elsewhere [link to go in later]. However, the
neat thing about cleavage is that in ideal cases its orientation is parallel to
the axial surface of local folds - when it is refered to as "axial planar
cleavage". In this ideal situation, and even if it fans a bit, the intersection of
cleavage planes with the bedding planes (the intersection of two planes is a
line of course) will be parallel to the hinge line of the fold. You can study
these relationships by next slide. Cleavage-bedding relationships can also be
used to help unravel large-scale structure using the vergence concept.
Vergence
concept
Folds on Maps
Maps are a good way of studying folds
and they can give precise information
about their 3D shape. You can study the
two examples here to find out more. Both
have hard-copy files that you can print out
for revision purposes. The key thing is to
develop strategies to visualise the
structures in 3D while making the
interpretation. And at some stage you'll
need to construct structure contours - on
axial surfaces!
3. Fold Mechanisms
There are lots of different types of folds.
How do they all form? One thing is clear there's no single mechanism that explains
all types of folds. They form in different
ways. The pages linked from the icons
take you through the different types of
folds and how they might form.
(a) Types of Folding
(b) How do they do it.
Shear Fold
Forced Folds
Buckle Folds
Shear Fold
Shear Fold
Forced Folds
Forced folds" is an unusual term for those folds that are
required to form geometrically as the result of another
process. A common type of fold results because of
movement along irregularly-shaped faults. These are
termed "fault-bend folds" and you can see an example
by next slide. Other folds can develop as a result of
sediments draping over pre-existing basement
topography. Others again can form as a consequence of
magma being intruded - inflating a magma chamber. You
can return to the menu on the types of folds by clicking
here.
Forced fold
Buckle Fold
Buckle folds are extremely common. They form when layers are
compressed along their length. These structures have been studied
for many years. You can even make your own - by squeezing
plasticene layers in a vice or between your hands. This sequence
looks are simple buckles of single layers. But rocks contain many
layers and these can interact. To see these effects, including how
parasitic folds may form. However, if layering is very intense,
folds develop with highly angular hinges - kinks
Buckle Folds
Flexural Flow
Flexural slip
Tangential longitudinal Strain
Flexural Flow
Flexural slip
Ramsay 1
Ramsay 2
Ramsay 3