Energy budget during fold tightening of a multilayer fold

The Canyon Range syncline, Central Utah, is composed of an alternating sequence of competent quartzite and incompetent argillite layers and is used here as a natural case study of multilayer folding processes. Geometric details of this fold are evaluated in terms of energy consumption in order to determine which kinematic components of folding are dominant at various stages of fold tightening. In addition, this paper attempts to evaluate what mechanism(s) (e.g. kink folding, fracture formation and sliding along surfaces) are involved in each kinematic component.In general, the patterns preserved in the Canyon Range syncline are comparable to multilayer folding models. In more detail, the following is concluded from this case study. (1) The competent and incompetent members deformed primarily by cataclastic flow and consumed approximately equal amounts of energy. (2) The roles of original competent and incompetent layers reversed during folding. (3) As the syncline tightened, less energy was consumed with increasing hinge fractions. (4) The least amount of energy was consumed with 40° limb dips (i.e., 100° interlimb angle). (5) With an open fold geometry (interlimb angle ≥140°), the hinge region consumed 70% of the fold's total energy. (6) Once the fold reached an interlimb angle of 60°, the limbs consume close to 70% of the total energy. (7) When the fold reached an interlimb angle of ≤60°, the incompetent layer(s) consumed 90% of the fold's energy.