A Presentation on Folds,

Faults and Unconformity

Submitted by:
Rakesh Kumar (17)
Sasangkajeet Konwar (18)
Pitágoras Manuel M. Soares (19)
Folds
• A fold is represented by a curved surface
or a stack of curved surfaces whose initial
curvature has increased by deformation.

• Folds are bends or flexures in the earth’s

crust, and therefore can be identified by a
change in the amount and direction of dip
of rock units.

• Most folds result from the ductile

deformation of rocks when subjected to
compressional or shear stress.
Elements of a Fold:
• Fold Axis
• Hinge
• Hinge Line
• Limb
• Axial Plane
• Crest and Trough
• Inflection Point
• Median Surface
• Cylindrical Fold
• Non-Cylindrical Fold
Classification of Folds:
Based on basis of direction of
dip of limbs:
• Antiform
• Synform
If the relative ages of the
folded units are known:
• Anticline
• Syncline
Synformal Anticline
Antiformal Syncline
Continued:
On the basis of Position
of Axial Plane
• Symmetrical
• Asymmetrical
• Overturned
• Isoclinal
• Recumbent
• Conjugate
• Box
Causes of Folding:
• May be due to tectonic causes or due to non-
tectonic causes
• Tectonic causes means those responses to the
forces originating from within the Earth body.
• Non tectonic includes bending of rocks
Folding due to Tangential Compression:
It may be of three types:
1. Flexural Folding

2. Flowage Folding

3. Shear Folding
Folds due to Intrusion:
• Main cause is intrusion of magma and salt
bodies
Folds due to Differential Compression:
• Non tectonic
• In this case strata are compacted due to the load
in the basin of sedimentation develop.
Faults
• A fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of
rock. Faults allow the blocks to move relative to each other.
 
• This movement may occur rapidly, in the form of an
earthquake - or may occur slowly, in the form of creep. Faults
may range in length from a few millimeters to thousands of
kilometers. 
Continued…
• Faults may range in length from a few millimeters to
thousands of kilometers. 
• Most faults produce repeated displacements over
geologic time. 
• During an earthquake, the rock on one side of the
fault suddenly slips with respect to the other. 
Causes of faults
• Faults are generally caused under the influence of stresses
acting upon the rocks of the crust of the earth from within.
• Any rock on or below the crust may withstand all the
operating stresses up to a limit, which depends upon its
cohesive strength and internal friction.
• Immediately after the development of these fractures, the
blocks created along the fractures suffer sudden displacement
along those fractures under the influence of the same stresses
that caused the fracturing of the rocks at the first place.
• The displacement may take place essentially along the fracture
surface or in different directions and for different distances
depending upon the magnitude of the operating stresses thus
giving rise to different types of faults.
Effects of fault
Its effect may involve:
• Changes in the elevation of the ground

• Omission of some strata where they are normally expected,

• Repetition of some strata in a given direction against the

normal order of superposition, and,

• Displacements and shifts in the continuity of the same rocks in

certain regions.
Classification of faults
Following factors are more commonly considered important in
classification of faults:

1. Apparent movement as basis;

2. Attitude of fault as basis;

3. Slip as basis;

4. Mode of Occurrence as basis.

Continued…
1. Apparent Movement as Basis:

In a faulted sequence of rock layers, one part may appear to have

moved up or down, or moved right or left with respect to the other
part of the same layer. The emphasis in this case is only on
appearance because actually it may require to be established which
of the two parts, the hanging wall and the foot wall, has moved
during faulting and by how much. There can be four fundamental
types:

• Normal faults,
• Reverse faults,
• Strike slips faults and
• Hinge Faults.
1.Normal Faults
• Such a fault in which hanging wall has apparently moved
down with respect to foot wall is classified as a Normal Fault.
• In normal faults, the fault plane may be inclined at any angle
between horizontal and vertical, but most commonly, the fault
angles are between 45° and vertical.
• Further, due to the inclined nature of the fault plane and
downward displacement of a part of the strata, normal faults
cause an extension in the crust wherever they occur.
2.Reverse Faults:
• It is such a type of fault in which the hanging wall appears to
have moved up with respect to the foot wall.
• In reverse faults, the fault plane is generally inclined between
horizontal and 45 degrees although reverse faults with steeply
inclined fault surface have been also encountered.
• By virtue of their inclination and direction of movement,
reverse faulting involves shortening of the crust of the Earth
(compare with normal faults).
These types of faults can further be classified into:
1. Thrust Faults
2. Nappes:
Continued…..
1. Thrust
• The thrust faults or simply
thrusts are of very common
occurrence in folded
mountains and seem to have
originated as a further step
(after folding) in the process
of adjustment of rocks to the
imposed stresses.
• At convergent plate
boundaries ancient rocks can
be thrust over younger rocks.
3.Strike-Slip Faults:
• This is the third major category of faults known to occur in
nature and on a very large scale.
• These may be defined as faults in which faulted blocks have
been moved against each other in an essentially horizontal
direction. The fault plane is almost vertical and the net slip
may be measured in great distances.
• There are some other terms used for strike slip faults such as
lateral faults, transverse faults, wrench faults and transform
faults.
4. Hinge Faults:
• These are also called pivotal faults or rotational faults. A hinge
fault is characterised by a movement of the disrupted blocks
along a medial point called the hinge point.
• The movement is, therefore, rotational rather than translational
(as in the first three cases). In such faults, the amount of
displacement increases away from the hinge point. These are
rather rare type of faults.
2. Attitude of Fault as Basis:
The mutual relationship of attitude (dip and strike) of fault and of
the disrupted rock has also been used in some cases for
classifying faults into three types:
1. Strike faults,
2. Dip faults and
3. Oblique faults.

1. Strike Faults:
These are the faults that develop parallel to the strike of the strata.
In other words, the strike of the fault and that of the disrupted
layers are essentially parallel. Sometimes the faults are developed
along the bedding planes; in such cases they are aptly called
bedding faults.
Continued….
2. Dip Faults:
These are the faults which develop parallel to the dip of the
strata. In other words, the fault strike is parallel to the dip of the
layers broken and disrupted by the fault.

3. Oblique Faults:
These are sometimes called diagonal faults. In such a fault, the
fault strike makes an oblique angle with the strike of the rocks in
which it has caused the displacement.
3. Slip as Basis:
The direction of slip forms the most important basis for classifying
the faults into three main types:
I. The strike-slip faults;
II. The dip-slip faults and
III. The oblique-slip faults

I. Strike-Slip Faults:
These are those faults in which the net slip is essentially parallel to
the strike of the faults, the slip along the dip being almost absent.
These are the most important and widely developed faults in the
crust of the earth, which have been observed both on the continental
and oceanic environments. Eventually a number of other names
depending upon the environment under which these faults have been
developed have been specially used for strike-slip faults.
Continued….
II. Dip-Slip Faults:

All those faults in which the net slip has taken place parallel
to the dip of the fault are classified as Dip-slip faults. They are
often also called normal-dip-faults.

III. Oblique-Slip Faults:

These may be defined as faults in which the direction of net

slip is neither parallel to the dip of the fault nor to the strike of
the fault but is inclined to both these directions.
4. Mode of Occurrence as Basis:
In their actual existence faults may occur in groups and show a
variety of relationship with each other, offering another basis for
their classification.
Some common types recognized on this basis are:
1. Parallel Faults:
A group of faults occurring in close proximity, having their
fault planes striking essentially in the same direction and
having parallel and equal dips form what are commonly
called parallel faults. In some cases, the intervening blocks
are down thrown in the same general direction so that
viewed from one side; the group gives a step-like
appearance in the structure. These are then called STEP
FAULTS.
Continued…
2. Enechelon Faults:
These may be defined as a group of small sized faults that overlap
each other in the region of their occurrence. A second fault appears
on the surface at a distance before the first fault ends and so on.
3. Peripheral Faults:
When in any given region the majority of faults are concentrated
along the border or margin of the area, the faulting is termed
peripheral. In such a case the individual faults are generally
arcuate in character.
4. Radial Faults:
A group of faults that appear emerging outward from a common
central region are classed as Radial Faults. The area is divided into
blocks with inwardly tapering ends.
Unconformity
• The fundamental "laws" of stratigraphy, formulated in the 17th
Century by Nicolas Steno, is the law of Original
Horizontality, which is known as Conformity. That is, any
deposition when takes place is totally in horizontal fashion.
• An unconformity is a break in the rock record produced by
erosion and/or non deposition of rock units. It represents lost
time.
• Unconformities are resulted due to tectonic activity in form of
uplift or subsidence of land.
• It is referred to a period of non-deposition.
Continued…
• Unconformities usually result from changes in the
sedimentary history of an area, which may be due to vertical
movements(e.g. upliftment followed by erosion and
deposition), deformation(also followed by deposition),
changes in sea level,etc.
• Unconformities of regional extent may change from one type
to another.
• They may not represent the same amount of geologic time
everywhere.
Reasons for Unconformities
• Horizontal or conformable strata or beds are formed.
• Break in sedimentation or deposition.
• Happens due to tectonic movements, that causes uplift or
subsidence of land surface.
• Next phase of Deposition or sedimentation cycle, where new
sedimentation produce another set of conformable beds.
Types of Unconformities
Non-conformity
• When the underlying rocks are Igneous or Metamorphic (i.e.
unstratified) and the overlying younger rocks are sedimentary
(stratified).
Continued…
Disconformity
• When the underlying (older) and overlying (younger)
sedimentary rock strata are parallel and the contact plane is an
erosional surface.
Continued…
Angular unconformity
• When the underlying (older) rocks and overlying (younger)
rock strata show some angle with respect to one another.