Statistical classification of macroscopic folds as cylindrical, circular conical, or elliptical conical

A folded surface can be represented by the orientation of normals to the surface measured at several locations. When plotted on the unit sphere, the pattern of normals determines the type of fold. Poles from a cylindrical fold give a great circle on the unit sphere, whereas poles of a circular conical fold give a small circle, and poles from an elliptical conical fold give the projection of an ellipse onto the surface of the sphere. Several statistical tests that appear in the literature for classifying folds are discussed and compared. All but one of the tests use quantities obtained from an iterative least-squares procedure that fits the appropriate curve on the sphere. The classification procedure is illustrated with folds from the Canadian Rocky Mountains and uses for examples a cylindrical fold and a circular conical fold from the Smoky River coal field near Grande Cache, Alberta, and an elliptical conical fold near Jasper, Alberta. This methodology has resulted in new coal reserves in the Grande Cache area.This paper was presented at Emerging Concepts, MGUS-87 Conference, Redwood City, California, 13–15 April 1987.