Inversion of fold-hinge in superposed folding: An example from the Precambrian of central Rajasthan, India

Abstract

Abstract Axial culminations and depressions of folds are common in regions of superposed deformations involving two sets of folds at high angles to each other. If the intensity of the later folding in these cases exceeds a particular limit, plunge reversal of the early folds gives way to “plunge inversion”. In such instances, segments of early folds rotate through end-on or reclined geometry while being refolded. And instead of plunge reversal at the hinge zones of later folds, the early folds plunge in the same direction in both limbs of the later folds. As a result, an antiform will pass along the axial trend to a synform. A particularly clear instance of plunge inversion has been noted from the “Sawar outlier” comprising a metasedimentary sequence within the older Banded Gneissic Complex in central Rajasthan. In Sawar, the southern segment of a south-southwest-trending synformal early fold has been inverted to attain an antiformal geometry because of superposition of a later fold at high angles to the early fold axes and axial planes. The deformation history of the large-scale folds has been traced and the stratigraphic implications of the plunge inversion discussed. From the movement pattern, it seems justifiable to correlate the metasedimentary sequence of the outlier with the Late Precambrian Delhi Group of parametamorphic rocks.