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Strain estimation from flattened parallel folds: Application of the Wellman

method and Mohr circle

Article  in  Geological Magazine · March 2006

DOI: 10.1017/S0016756805001688

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Jyoti Shah Deepak Srivastava

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Geol. Mag. 143 (1 ), 2006, pp. 1–5.

c 2006 Cambridge University Press 1
doi:10.1017/S0016756805001688 Printed in the United Kingdom

R A P I D C O M M U N I C AT I O N

Strain estimation from flattened parallel folds: application

of the Wellman method and Mohr circle
JYOTI SHAH & DEEPAK C. SRIVASTAVA*
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India

(Received 28 June 2005; accepted 8 December 2005)

Abstract – Parallel folds exhibit a characteristic orthogonal relationship between the tangent and the
corresponding isogon drawn at any point on folded surface. Modification of parallel fold to flattened
parallel fold by superimposition of homogeneous strain introduces an angular shear along the tangents
at different points. The angular shears in different directions, obtained by measuring angles between
the tangents and the corresponding isogons, can be used for estimation of flattening strain by a variety
of geometrical and numerical methods. We show that several simple geometrical techniques, such as
the Wellman method and the Mohr circle method, can rapidly decipher the strain from flattened parallel
folds. These methods, in contrast to most of the existing methods of strain estimation, are independent
of the assumption that one of the principal strain directions parallels the axial trace on the profile plane
of fold.

Keywords: flattened parallel fold, oblique flattening, angular shear, Wellman method, Mohr circle.

1. Introduction parallelism between the geometrical elements of folds and

principal strain directions. This article describes two simple
Structural geologists seek ways of deciphering ductile geometrical techniques, namely the Wellman method and
strain in orogenic belts, but there are few reliable ways the Mohr circle method, that can estimate flattening strain in
of measuring ductile strain in rocks that do not contain any flattened parallel fold regardless of the angle between
classic ‘strain markers’, or are folded. In such situations, the principal strain directions and the axial trace of the
flattened parallel folds, developed by superimposition of fold.
a homogeneous strain on parallel folds, can be used as a
potential indicator for revealing the flattening component
of strain history (Campbell, 1951; Ramsay, 1962; Hudleston,
1973a,b,c; Mukhopadhyay, 1965; Naha & Halyburton, 1977; 2. The rationale
Gray & Durney, 1979; Ramsay & Huber, 1987, pp. 349–60). Parallel (class 1B) folds are characterized by the orthogonal
Amongst several methods that are available for estimation relationship between the dip isogon, a line joining the
of the flattening strain in the flattened parallel folds, the points of equal dips on the outer and inner arcs, and the
t α –α method of Ramsay (1962; 1967, p. 413) and the φ–α corresponding tangents on the profile section (Fig. 1a).
method of Hudleston (1973a) have been most widely used. The tangents and the isogons deform as passive lines as
These methods provide estimates of strain by visual matching the superimposition of homogeneous strain on a parallel
of observed t α –α or φ–α plots with standard t α –α or φ– fold modifies its geometry into a flattened parallel (class
α curves designed for various amounts of flattening strain 1C) fold. An important geometrical consequence of such a
(figure 7–29 in Ramsay, 1967, p. 413; fig. 19 in Hudleston, deformation is that the orthogonality between the tangents
1973a). Advantage of the visual curve matching in these and the corresponding isogon is lost at every point, except
methods is, however, offset by the fact that the standard in the principal strain directions (Fig.1b). The angular shears
curves tend to merge with each other, particularly at low obtained by measuring the changes in orthogonality between
angles of limb dip (α) and high amounts of flattening strain. the tangents and the respective isogons at different points
In addition, the application of these methods is subject to the on the folded surface form the basis for deciphering the
satisfaction of two main conditions, namely (1) the profile flattening strain by a variety of methods. These include:
plane represents one of the principal planes of strain ellipsoid, (i) geometrical techniques, such as the Breddin’s graph
and (2) on the profile plane, the axial trace of fold parallels method (Breddin, 1956; Ramsay & Huber, 1983, pp. 129–
one of the principal strain directions. 32), the maximum shear strain method (Ramsay, 1967,
Since the above two conditions are not satisfied by pp. 197–9), the Wellman method (Wellman, 1962; Ramsay,
many natural folds, we need methods that do not assume 1967, p. 242; Ragan, 1985, pp. 175–7) and the Mohr
circle method (Ramsay, 1967, pp. 235–7; Treagus, 1987;
Lisle, 1991); (ii) numerical solutions, e.g. solutions to
* Author for correspondence: [email protected] equations 5.39a and 5.39b in Ramsay (1967, p. 237) and
2 RAPID COMMUNICATION

Figure 2. Principle for application of the Wellman method.

(a) acbd and aebf are two typical rectangles obtained by drawing
Figure 1. (a) Orthogonal relationship between the isogons i1 lines paralleling the isogons and the corresponding tangents at
and i2 , and the corresponding tangents t1 and t2 , on the profile two points on the profile section of a parallel fold. By scaling
section of a parallel (class 1B) fold. A reference circle is drawn the diagonals of rectangles to a common length ab, the locus
below the fold. (b) Profile section of the class 1C fold developed of vertices of the rectangles is obtained as a circle of diameter
due to flattening of the class 1B fold in (a). Note that the axial
√ ab. (b) Flattened parallel fold developed due to superimposition
trace√of the fold does not parallel principal strain directions, λ1 of homogeneous strain on the parallel fold in (a). ACBD and
and λ2 , along the major and minor axes of the stain ellipse. ψ 1 AEBF are parallelograms with sides paralleling the isogons and
and ψ 2 are respectively the angles of shear along the tangents the corresponding tangents. The diagonals of parallelograms are
t1 and t2 . Orientation of strain ellipse, representing flattening scaled to a common length AB, so that the locus of vertices of
strain, can be measured in terms of the angle between the major the parallelograms is the required strain ellipse.
axis and the tangents or isogons.

(iii) computer-based techniques, such as the retrodeforma- 3. The Wellman method

tional method (Srivastava & Shah, 2006). Herein, we briefly
describe the procedures of the application of the Wellman On the profile section of a class 1B fold, it is possible to draw
method and the Mohr circle method, which involve simple a set of rectangles such that the two adjacent sides of each
geometrical constructions but produce rapid and accurate rectangle parallel the isogon and the corresponding tangents
results. (Fig. 2a). These rectangles can be represented in a common
RAPID COMMUNICATION 3

Figure 3. The Mohr circle method. (a) Profile section of the given class 1C fold. t1 and t2 – tangents at any two points; n1 and n2 –
normals to the tangents t1 and t2 respectively; i1 and i2 – dip isogons; β – the angle between t1 and t2 . Inset shows the criterion for sense
of angular shear. (b) λ –γ  cartesian frame showing two lines OA and OB that pass through the origin and make angles + ψ 1 and – ψ 2

√ λ axis. (c) A circle of arbitrary radius. 2β is the angle between radii CD and CE. (d) Mohr diagram showing a
with respect to the
unique solution. OG/OF – axial ratio of strain ellipse. Major axis of strain ellipse is inclined at angles θ 1 and θ 2 with respect to the
tangents t1 and t2 , respectively.

reference frame by drawing the lines parallel to the isogons 4. The Mohr circle method
and the corresponding tangents from the ends a and b of a
line ab of arbitrary length. As shown in Figure 2a, such a con- Different techniques for construction of the Mohr circles
struction results in a geometrical condition where the locus for determining the strain ratio and the principal strain
of the vertices of the rectangles is a circle of diameter directions are described by Ramsay (1967, p. 78), Treagus
ab. (1987) and Lisle (1991). We use the angular shears ψ 1 and
As the superimposition of homogeneous strain flattens a ψ 2 along the tangents t1 and t2 drawn at any two points on the
class 1B fold into a class 1C fold, the rectangles on the flattened parallel fold and adopt the procedures explained by
class 1B fold transform into parallelograms such that the Ramsay (1967, p. 237) and Ramsay & Huber (1983,
two adjacent sides of each parallelogram parallel the isogon pp. 132–4) for drawing the Mohr circle in a λ –γ  cartesian
and the corresponding tangents on class 1C fold (Fig. 2b). frame (Fig. 3).
These parallelograms can be transferred into a common The Mohr circle intersects the λ axis at two points F
reference frame by drawing the lines that pass through the (kλ1  , 0) and G (kλ2  , 0), respectively
√ (Fig. 3d). The square
ends A and B of an arbitrarily chosen reference line AB, root of ratio OG/OF equals to (λ2  / λ1  ), which is the axial
and parallel the isogon and the corresponding tangents at ratio of the finite strain ellipse for the flattening component in
different points on the given class 1C fold. The locus of the the given class 1C fold. The direction of maximum stretching
vertices of such parallelograms is the required strain ellipse is located at angles θ 1 or θ 2 from the tangents t1 or t2 ,
that represents the flattening strain (Fig. 2b). respectively, measured according to the standard conventions
4 RAPID COMMUNICATION

Figure 4. (a) Profile section of a flattened parallel fold (taken from figure 19.11 in Ramsay & Huber, 1987, p. 393), along with the
isogons and corresponding tangents. Tangents t1 and t2 and the√corresponding isogons are highlighted. (b) Wellman’s construction for
fold in (a). θ – angle between axial trace (AT) and major axis ( λ1 ) of the strain ellipse. (c) Mohr circle solution on λ –γ  graph. Mohr
circle intersects λ axis at λ 1 and λ 2 . Orientation of strain ellipse with respect to tangents t1 and t2 and axial trace of the fold (AT) is
shown in the strain ellipse.

Table 1. Results of strain analysis on the natural example of a nature of the strain during the flattening process (Flinn, 1962;
flattened parallel fold Treagus & Treagus, 1981).
The condition of orthogonality between the isogon and the
Wellman method Mohr circle method
√ √ corresponding tangents on the profile section of a class 1B
Example λ1 /λ2 θ λ1 /λ2 θ fold opens up the possibility of the application of a large
number of simple techniques for estimation of flattening
Figure 4 1.69 8◦ 1.73 7◦ strain in class 1C folds. Of these, the Wellman and the Mohr
√
λ1 /λ2 – axial ratio of strain ellipse representing flattening strain. circle methods, proposed by us, have several distinct merits
θ – angle between the direction of maximum stretching and the over the commonly used t α –α and the φ–α methods. In
axial trace. particular, on account of being independent of the condition
of parallelism between principal strain direction and axial
trace of the fold, these methods are capable of providing
of the Mohr circle (Ramsay, 1967, p. 73). Alternatively, the estimates of strain from obliquely-flattened parallel folds. In
same solution can be obtained by drawing the Mohr circle this regard, these approaches are comparable to the inverse
through the pole to the Mohr circle (Lisle, 1991). thickness method, which is free from the assumption of
parallelism between axial trace and principal strain direction
(Lisle, 1992).
5. Example
We demonstrate application of the Wellman method and the Acknowledgements. This work is funded by the Depart-
Mohr circle method on a natural example of the flattened ment of Science and Technology Grant of the Government of
parallel fold taken from figure 19.11 in Ramsay & Huber India and the Ministry of Human Resource Development
(1987, p. 393). This example represents a ptygmatic fold Fellowship to Jyoti Shah. Constructive suggestions from
in the siltstone layer within shale beds exposed near Hope Susan H. Treagus and Richard J. Lisle have improved the
Cove, South Devon, England (Fig. 4a). The results of strain quality of paper considerably.
analysis on this fold show that the axial ratios and the orient-
ations of strain ellipses obtained by the Wellman method and
the Mohr circle method are quite consistent (Figure 4b,c and
Table 1). References

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