How does the development of recumbent folds have anything to do with continental crust thickening??

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01 Mar

Please help! Thank you…

2 Comments

jl4736

March 1, 2010 at 2:43 am

Try to think of a cloth or towel, fold it in half, and then in half again. A recumbent fold will do exactly the same, the folds will pile on top of each other and make an area or continental crust thicker. Kinda like how mountains are built =)
SallyC

March 1, 2010 at 3:39 am

If you imagine stacking up a bunch of layers of thick blankets, say, then flipping them so they fold the stack will be twice as thick where the fold is, and shorter by the amount that was folded. Folding is the result of compression in the crust, which responds by thickening, and recumbent folding is one way of doing this. See the site below for illustrations of folds and how they would thicken the crust. Recumbent folding is common in collision zones like the Alps, where huge overturned, recumbent fold nappes are recognised.

Best Recumbent Bike