Microfabrics of a recumbent fold in cross-bedded sandstones

Summary A thin-section study of the orientation of long-axes of quartz grains was conducted for a similar type fold of overturned cross-bedding in Carboniferous sandstones. Preferred orientation of detrital grains of the fold shows that (a) apparent long-axes of grains are parallel to the axial plane in a plane normal to the fold axis, (b) long-axes of grains in the axial plane are oriented in a high angle to the fold axis, and (c) grains are aligned parallel to the fold axis in a plane perpendicular to the other two directions. From the dimensional orientation of quartz grains in this sample, it is concluded that the overturned fold was made by a shear mechanism immediately following sedimentation in which the original quartz grains were reorientated by small-scale slippage along the shear planes.