2.2 Folding

• Meaning of folding and the forces that cause it
• Parts of a fold: limbs, axis, anticline, syncline
• Types of folds
• Resultant features of folding
• World distribution of fold mountains
• Significance of folding to human activities

• distinguish the types of folds resulting from tectonic forces
• describe the resultant features of folding on the Earth's surface
• analyse the significance of folding and the resultant features
• illustrate the distribution of fold mountains in the world
• appreciate the influence of folding and the resultant features on human activities

“How can solid rock bend without breaking?”

“Why are the world's highest mountains found in long narrow belts rather than scattered evenly?”

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1. How rock bends: folding and fold types
   40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
   Why solid rock folds instead of shattering, and the shapes it takes as pressure grows.
2. Fold mountains and why folding matters
   40 min · 2 practice tasks · quiz
   Where the great mountain belts are, why they form in long lines, and what folding means for people.
3. Compressional forces that fold rock
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   How colliding plates squeeze a geosyncline of sediment until the layers buckle.
4. Reading folds after the land is worn down
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   How to tell an anticline from a syncline in the field when erosion has removed the obvious arch.
5. Modelling the types of folds
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   A practical sequence from symmetrical fold to overthrust, using layered plasticine or cloth.
6. How fold mountains are built
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Three stages of orogeny: sediment in a geosyncline, compression and uplift, then erosion of the range.
7. Landforms that folding leaves behind
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Fold mountains, ridge-and-valley relief, rolling plains, intermontane basins and escarpments.
8. Mapping the world fold belts
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Where the Alpine-Himalayan and American cordilleran belts run, and why they are long and narrow.
9. Fold mountains of Africa and the Kenya contrast
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The Atlas and Cape Fold Belt as Africa's true fold ranges, set against Kenya's rift and volcanic highlands.
10. Folding, farming and transport
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How fold relief helps and hinders settlement, farms, roads and water - including rain shadow.
11. Anticlines, oil traps and minerals
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Why oil collects under the crest of an anticline, and how folding can bring minerals within reach.
12. Folding, faulting and Kenya's highlands
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    A comparison of folding, faulting and vulcanicity so learners never confuse the Himalayas with the Rift or Mount Kenya.