Folded rocks may seem unlikely, because it requires a great deal of force to bend a rock. Folding usually happens when moving plates of rock are pushed against each other.
Pioneer geologist Charles Lyell explained that folding was like what happens when you take a number of pieces of cloth, put a book on top of them, then squeeze the cloth pile between two other books, but the forces in the rocks are far greater. Just look at this Canadian mountain:
Cascade Mountain, Banff, Canada. These formed deep underground, and were later lifted up, eroded and exposed.
And (above) this is the limestone of Mt Pilatus in Switzerland.
On their temples,
the ancient Greeks built the stone columns close together so the beams on top
would not break. So why don’t the folding rocks just break?
The difference between the two situations is that the bending rock is deep inside the Earth, where there is a lot of pressure and a great deal of heat. In simple terms, the conditions are very different. To fimnbd out why, you will need to dig.
No, not with a pick and shovel: it all happens far too deep underground. You need to dig for information!
On the south coast of New South Wales, every determined rock hunter should visit the Aragunnu campground in the Mimosa Rocks National Park. At the back of Aragunnu Beach, you can explore the many folds in the rocks.
You can also see folded rocks between Yass and Wee Jasper in New South Wales, where some paddocks close to the road contain folded strata. These layers show up faintly, because some of the layers of rock are more resistant to weathering, so they poke through the grass, delicately tracing the shape of the geology that lies beneath the hill.
This last one is at Mystery Bay in the south of New South Wales. Take it from there...
Another way: use the index!
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