Quantification of the geometrical parameters of non-cylindrical folds

The geometrical parameters of natural folds are used by structural geologists to estimate finite strain and rheological properties of deformed rocks. The relation between geometry and rheology is well understood in cases of cylindrical folds, but is still limited for non-cylindrical folds, although the latter are frequent in nature. The sparsity of quantitative geometrical data of non-cylindrical folds can be explained by the small number of 3D exposures and by the lack of robust methods to quantify their geometrical parameters in 3D space. We present a new workflow, which can be used to quantify geometrical parameters of non-cylindrical folds. 3D fold geometry is described using fold wavelength, λ, arc-length, L, and amplitude, A. As most natural folds do not show ideal shapes, but are affected by various types of discontinuities, the new procedure is not fully automatic, but requires the manual selection of measuring profiles along which the geometrical parameters are constrained. The new workflow is tested using natural and experimentally produced non-cylindrical folds. The geometric parameters obtained can be used to improve our understanding of fold kinematics and fold mechanics and should assist the quantitative analysis of non-cylindrical folds present in gneiss and salt domes and in rocks containing reservoirs of hydrocarbons and minerals deposits.