a curved surface or a stack of

curved surfaces whose initial

curvature has been accentuated
by deformation.
 Fold geometry

Keywords: Hinge line, Axial surface, Limb, Wavelength, Amplitude, Interlimb angle,
Inflection line, Median surface, Enveloping surface
 synclinoria

anticlinoria

Two final terms represent special cases of tilted or folded beds

Monocline Homocline

Antiform closes upward, Synform closes downward.

Anticline: oldest rocks at the core;
Syncline: Youngest rocks at the core.

Antiformal Syncline or Synformal Anticline:

Generally occur on inverted stratigraphic
succession.
 Synformal anticline older
younger

Folds can also be symmetric or asymmetric. The former occurs when the limbs
of the folds are the same length and have the same dip relative to their enveloping
surface . In asymmetric folds, the limbs are of unequal length and dip
Symmetric folds

limb
enveloping surface
Asymmetric fold
E
limb
enveloping surface
Overturned fold

The tops of the more steeply dipping beds are facing or verging to the right in this picture

In asymmetric and overturned folds the concept of vergence or facing is quite important. This
is the direction that the shorter, more steeply dipping asymmetric limb of the fold faces, or the
arrows in the above pictures. Her the vergence is towards E
 Geometry of Folds
Name of the folds on the basis of dip of axial plane and plunge of fold axis
Geometric Classification of folds based
on (i) Plunge of the fold axis: horizontal
(non-plunging), plunging, and vertical
(neutral) folds; (ii) Dip of the axial
surface: upright, inclined, and
recumbent folds; or combinations of
the two parameters, e.g. plunging
inclined, reclined etc.
 Fold classification by Fleuty (1964):

Plunge of fold axis/hinge line: Dip of axial plane:

0-10 : Subhorizontal fold
10-30 : Gently plunging
30-60 : Moderately plunging
60-80 : Steeply plunging
80-90 : Subvertical
90-80 : Upright fold
80-60 : Steeply inclined
60-30 : Moderately inclined
30-10 : Gently inclined
10-0 : Recumbent fold

Reclined fold: a special type of inclined and plunging fold where

the axial plane and the fold axis (hingeline) dips/plunges in the
same direction i.e. pitch of the fold axis on the axial plane is 80-90

Interlimb angle:
180-120 : Gentle fold
120-70 : Open fold
70-30 : Close fold
30->0 : Tight fold
0 : Isoclinal fold
<0 : Fan fold (elastica)
 a) Isoclinal Fold,
b) Conjugate fold

a) Periodic , b) Non-periodic,
c) Polyclinal , d) Disharmonic
folds.
Morphological classification of folds
(profile geometry-based) (Ramsay
1967)

Basic parameters:
1) Thickness of the folded layer:
a) Orthogonal thickness (t).
b) Axial plane-parallel thickness (T).
1) Dip isogons:
(Lines joining points of equal inclination
on the folded surface)
At the hinge, axial planar and orthogonal
thickness are equal to = To.
t /T = cos
The classification uses the variation of t
and T with , where t= t / to, and
T = T / To.
The major fold classes:
Class 1A: Orthogonal layer thickness least at the hinge and increases in the limbs. Dip isogons strongly
convergent, e.g. supratenuous folds.
Class 1B: Orthogonal thickness constant. Dip isogons converge to a point e.g. concentric / parallel fold
Class 1C: Orthogonal thickness maximum at hinge, decreases in the limbs; e.g. flow folds.
Class 2: Axial planar thickness equal all along the folded layer. Dip isogons parallel to the axial trace, e.g.
similar folds (shear folds).
Class 3: Orthogonal thickness max. at hinge. Dip isogons diverge towards fold core. Radius of curvature
of the outer arc is smaller than that of the inner arc, e.g. cuspate-lobate folds formed in layers with very
high competence contrast.
Genetic classification of folds:

Folds can be classified on the mechanism by which fold instabilty initiates:

1. Buckle fold: Developed by shortening of competent layer parallel to the length.
Competence contrast between layers is necessary for buckling.
2. Bending fold: developed by differential rotation of a competent layer under
transverse compressional forces. Competence contrast is not necessary.

Folds can also be classified on the mechanism of folding as:

1. Flexure folds: formed by shortening and rotation of layers (limbs) under
compression. Flexure folds can again be of two-types:
a) Flexural-slip folds: layers slip against each other of accommodate the change in
length along the inner and the outer arc of the fold.
b) Flexural flow folds: there are no discrete slip along layer interfaces. Change in
the length of layers in outer and inner arc creates some strain within the fold
structure, which is accommodated by internal ductile deformation
1. Shear fold: by differential slip on closely spaced surface which distorts a marker
layer across the slip planes.
Buckle fold

Bending fold
 Folds developed by Buckling
Buckling applies to a single folded layer of finite thickness, or to
multiple layers with high cohesive strength between layers

perpendicular before and after

deformation, so no shear parallel
to the folded layer

Neutral Surface

Neutral Surface
 Buckle fold

Note how in the picture the outer arc gets longer and the inner arc
gets shorter
In the middle, there must be a line that is the same length before
and after the folding. In three dimensions, this is called the neutral
surface
Bedding thickness remains constant; thus, the type of fold produced
is a parallel or class 1b fold.
Because a line perpendicular to the layer remains perpendicular,
there can be no shear strain parallel to the layer. In an anticline-
syncline pair, the maximum strains would be in the cores of the
folds, with zero strain at the inflection point on the limbs
 Buckle fold

The strain pattern in Buckle fold

Common structures associated with Buckle folds: veins, boudins, normal faults
reverse faults, stylolites and cleavage

Nature of deformation in buckled layer outer layer, inner layer

and neutral surface

Veins, Boudins, Normal Faults, thrust faults, stylolites

 Buckle Fold
Biot and Ramberg shown that in an embedded medium (material with
viscosity 1 and thickness t embedded in a medium of lower viscosity
2 is subjected to a compressive strain at a constant rate parallel to
the layer) deflection resulted by instability that is set up in the
material leads to the production of folds of various wavelengths
The rate of growth of folds of these various wavelengths is not
uniform. One is generated more rapidly than the others. This is known
as the dominant wavelength (Wd)
Wd = 2t (1/62)1/3
This formula is valid only for small wavelength and breaks down when
Wd/t takes small values (less than 5), i. e. when competency
difference is small
Wd is independent of compressive load and strain rate, however, at
high strain rate the rock is unlikely to behave as a viscous fluid and
the equation of dominant wavelength is invalid
In elastic or viscous materials Wd is directly proportional to the t of the
competent layer and Wd /t depends on 1/2
 Shear Parallel to Layers
There are two end member components to this kinematic model. The
only difference between them is the layer thickness:

1. Flexural Slip -- multiple strong stiff layers of finite thickness with low
cohesive strength between the layers
2. Flexural Flow -- the layer thickness is taken to be infinitesimally thin
Because shear is parallel to the layers, the layers do not change length
during the deformation. The slip between the layers is perpendicular
to the fold axis. You can think of this type of deformation as
telephone book deformation. When you bend a phone book
parallel to its binding, the pages slide past one another but the
individual pages dont change dimensions; they are just as wide
(measured in the deformed plane) as they started out

Because the layers of flexural slip (as opposed to flexural flow) folds have
finite thickness, you can see that they must deform internally by some
other mechanism, such as buckling. Thus, buckling and flexural slip are
not by any means mutually exclusive
 Flexural Folding

Characteristic strain pattern in flexural folding

 Flexural Slip fold
Flexural Slip Fold

no shear in the hinge

Note that the sense of shear changes

only across the hinge zones but is
consistent between anticlinal and
Flexure folds
synclinal limbs
a) Flexural slip fold; b) Flexural flow fold.
 Shear Oblique To Layers
This type of mechanism will produce similar folds. In this case, the
shear surfaces, which are commonly parallel to the axial surfaces of
the folds, are parallel to the lines of no finite and infinitesimal
elongation.
 Pure Shear Passive Flow

In this type of mechanism, the layers, which have already begun to fold by
some other mechanism behave as passive markers during a pure shear
shortening and elongation. The folds produced can be geometrically identical
to the previous kinematic model
Kink Bands and chevron folds:
When a strongly layered system (mechanically anisotropic, is compressed parallel to its length,
discrete deflection (knick-like) of layering forms a kink band within which the layering changes its
orientation sharply across the limiting planes of the band, called kink planes.
When a kink-band reduces the length of the layered system, it is known as a reverse or negative,
or contractional kink band, whereas those extending the layers are called normal, or positive, or
extensional kink bands. In contractional kink bands, , whereas for extensional bands, << .
Kink bands generally form in conjugate arrays either symmetric or asymmetric. The angle
between the conjugate arrays are such that the acute angle bisector parallels the max. stretching
direction, and the obtuse angle bisector coincides with the maximum shortening direction. This is
reverse of what we see in conjugate faults/shear fractures.
When two conjugate kink bands intersect each other, the layers in such zone forms sharp-hinged
chevron folds.
Disharmonic folds on competent (siliceous) layers in calcitic
marble. Note the disharmonic nature of folding; Junewani Reserve
Forest area, Sausar Fold Belt
Reclined fold in quartz-mica schist; Sausar Fold Belt,
Maharashtra. Arrow indicates plunge of fold axis.
S-shaped folds in Calc-silicate rock, west of Maharajpur, Sausar
Fold Belt
Recumbent fold in Migmatite Gneiss (TBG), west of Naka
Dongri, Sausar Fold Belt, Maharashtra
 SF2
SF2

Upright Sausar (SF2) folds refolding earlier reclined folds

(pre-Sausar fold/Sausar-F1) in biotite gneiss; north of
Nakadongri
Vertical fold in BIF band; Ramagiri fold belt, Andhra Pradesh.
Tight F2 folds in BIF showing boudinaged layers; Ramagiri, Andhra Pradesh.
Outcrop patterns of folds:
A result of intersection of the 3D fold structure along a surface which is commonly, but
not necessarily, the sub-horizontal Earth surface.