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Diastrophism is the process of deformation of the Earth's crust which involves folding and faulting. Diastrophism can be considered part of geotectonics. The word is derived from the Greek διαστροϕή diastrophḗ 'distortion, dislocation'. [1]
The thin-skinned style of deformation is typical of many fold and thrust belts developed in the foreland of a collisional zone or back arc of a continental volcanic arc. This is particularly the case where a good basal decollement exists, usually in a weaker layer like a shale , evaporite , or a zone of high pore fluid pressure. [ 2 ]
Such plate convergence forms orogenic belts that are characterized by "the folding and faulting of layers of rock, by the intrusion of magma, and by volcanism". [5] [6] Epeirogenic movements may divert rivers and create drainage divides by upwarping of the crust along axes.
Intraplate deformation is the folding, breaking, or flow of the Earth's crust within plates instead of at their margins. This process usually occurs in areas with especially weak crust and upper mantle, such as the Tibetan Plateau (Figure 1). Intraplate deformation brings another aspect to plate tectonic theory.
Compressive stresses can also result in folding of rocks. Because of the large magnitudes of lithostatic stress in tectonic plates, tectonic-scale deformation is always subjected to net compressive stress. [1] Compressive stresses can result in a number of different features at varying scales, most notably including Folds, and Thrust faults.
Fold mountains form in areas of thrust tectonics, such as where two tectonic plates move towards each other at convergent plate boundary.When plates and the continents riding on them collide or undergo subduction (that is – ride one over another), the accumulated layers of rock may crumple and fold like a tablecloth that is pushed across a table, particularly if there is a mechanically weak ...
The most significant areas of thrust tectonics are associated with destructive plate boundaries leading to the formation of orogenic belts. The two main types are: the collision of two continental tectonic plates (for example the Arabian plate and Eurasian plate , which formed the Zagros fold and thrust belt ) and collisions between a continent ...
Plate tectonics is a theory developed during the 1960s which describes the movement of continents by way of the separation and collision of crustal plates. It is in a sense structural geology on a planet scale, and is used throughout structural geology as a framework to analyze and understand global, regional, and local scale features.