GEOLOGY REPORT

GROUP 2
OVERTURNED FOLDS
 These are folds with inclined axial planes in which both the limbs are dipping essentially in the
same general direction.
 The amount of dip of the two limbs may or may not be the same.
 Overfolding indicates very severe degree of folding.
 One of the two limbs (the reversed limb) comes to occupy the present position after having
suffered a rotation through more than 90 degrees.
 The other limb is known as the normal limb.
OVERTURNED FOLDS

• In certain cases, both the limbs of a fold may get overturned because of very high lateral
compression.
• It may be originally either an anticline or a syncline but the extreme compression from opposite sides
results in bringing the limbs so close to each other that the usual dip conditions may get reversed —anticlinal
limbs dip towards each other and the synclinal limbs dip away from each other.
• Such a type of fold is commonly referred to as a fan fold
• In such folds, the anticlinal tops are said to have opened up into a broad, fan shaped outline due to
intense compression in the lower region.
ISOCLINAL FOLDS

 These are group of folds in which all the axial planes are essentially parallel, meaning. that all the
component limbs are dipping at equal amounts.
 They may be made up of series of anticlines and synclines.
RECUMBENT FOLDS

 These may be described as extreme types of overturned folds in which the axial plane acquires an almost horizontal
attitude.
 In such folds, one limb comes to lie exactly under the other limb so that a drill hole dug at the surface in the upper
limb passes through the lower limb also.
 The lower limb is often called the inverted limb or the reversed limb.
 Other parts of a recumbent fold are sometimes named as follows:
• the arch, which is zone of curvature corresponding to crest and trough in the upright folds;
• The core, which is the innermost part of the fold and maybe made mostly of crystalline igneous or
metamorphic rocks;
• the root or the root zone, which is the basal part of the fold and may or may not be easily traceable; once traced
it can throw light whether the fold was originally an anticline or syncline that has suffered further inversion.
RECUMBENT FOLDS
CONJUGATE FOLDS

 In certain cases, a pair of folds that are apparently related to each other may have mutually
inclined axial planes.
 Such folds are described as conjugate folds.
 The individual folds themselves may be anticlinal or synchnal or their modifications.
BOX FOLD

It may be described as a special type of fold with exceptionally flattened top and steeply inclined
limbs almost forming three sides of a rectangle.
BOX FOLD

 In both the anticlinorium and synclinorium, presence of large number of secondary folds, faults
and fracture systems is a characteristic feature.
 Similar folding but signifying still larger bending and uplifting of strata on subcontinental scales is
expressed by the terms GEANTICLINES AND GEOSYNCLINES respectively.
 Great importance is attached to the major depressions, the geosynclines, in the process of
mountain building discussed elsewhere.
 The geosynclines are believed to serve as depositional fields or basins of sedimentation to which
sediments derived by the erosion of the adjoining gentilities get accumulated and compacted.
 This material is then compressed and uplifted in the second stage of orogeny, to gradually take the
shape of mountain systems.
BOX FOLD
BOX FOLD
CAUSES OF FOLDING

•The Tectonic Folding may be due to any one or more of the following mechanisms:

•Folding Due to Tangential Compression

Lateral Compression is believed to be the main cause for throwing the rocks of the crust into
different types of folds depending upon the types of rocks involved in the process and also the
direction and magnitude of the compression effecting those rocks.

In general, this primary force is believed to act at right angles to the trend of folds. under the
influence of the tangential stresses, folding may develop in either of the three ways: flexural folding,
flowage folding and shear folding.
FLEXURAL FOLDING.

•It is that process of folding in which the competent or stronger rocks are
thrown into folds due to their sliding against each other under the influence
of lateral compression.

•This is also distinguished as flexural-slip-folding in which the slip or

movement of the strata involved takes place parallel to the bedding planes of
the layers.
FLEXURAL FOLDING.

•It has been established that in flexural folding, the amount of slip (and hence the ultimate
type of fold) depends on a number of factors such as:

 thickness of the layers and nature of the contact; thicker the layers, greater is the slip; further,
cohesionless contacts favour easy and greater slips;
 distance from the hinge point; greater the distance from the hinge points, larger is the displacement, so
much so that it may be negligible at the hinge point;
 type of the rocks involved; siltstones, sandstones and limestones are more prone to flexure slip folding
compared to soft clays and shales.
FLEXURAL FOLDING.
FLOWAGE FOLDING

 It is the principal process of folding in incompetent or weaker, plastic type of rocks such as clays,
shales, gypsum and rock salt etc.
 During the compression, the material of the involved layers behaves almost as a viscous or plastic
mass and gets buckled up and deformed at varying rates suffering unequal distortion.
 In such cases the thickness of the resulting fold does not remain uniform.
SHEAR FOLDING.

 In many cases, folding is attributed to shearing stresses rather than simple

compression.
 It is assumed that in such a process, numerous closely spaced fractures
develop in the rock at the first stage of the process.
 This is followed by displacement of the blocks so developed by different
amounts so that ultimately the rocks take up folded or bent configuration.
 The folded outline becomes more conspicuous when the minor fractures
get sealed up due to subsequent recrystallisation.
FOLDING DUE TO LNSRUSIONS

 Intrusion of magma or even rock salt bodies from beneath has been found
to be the cause of uparching of the overlying strata.
 In magmatic intrusions, highly viscous magma may be forced up very
gradually and with considerable force so that the overlying sedimentary
host rocks are bodily lifted up to provide space for the rising magma.
 In extreme cases, the magma may even rupture the overlying strata to
flow out as lava
FOLDING DUE TO LNSRUSIONS
 FOLDING DUE TO DIFFERENTIAL COMPRESSION

 Strata that are being compacted under load in a basin of sedimentation

develop, with passage of time, downward bending especially in the zones
of maximum loading.
 If the strata in question is not homogeneous, the bending may not be
uniform in character and results in warping or folding of different types.
 Such folds are, however, totally dependent on the load from above and are
attributed to superficial causes.
 These are, therefore, non- tectonic folds.
ENGINEERING CONSIDERATIONS

 Folds developed in the areas of work are important for a civil engineer in that these
make his work more complicated.
 If these structures are not thoroughly investigated and properly interpreted, any civil
engineering project standing on or driven through the folded rocks may prove not only
uneconomical in the ultimate analysis but also, unsafe as well.
 Due consideration is, therefore, always to be given to the presence of folds in deciding
about the designing and construction of such structures as driving of traffic and
hydropower tunnels, selection of sites for dams and reservoirs and in fixing the
alignments of roads, bridges and highways.