Potassium–argon dating, field relations, geochemical and strontium-isotope compositions are reported for the island of Pantelleria (Strait of Sicily, Italy). These data support the following model for the genesis and evolution through time of the volcanic system: the peralkaline rocks originated from mantle-derived parental magmas; the trachytic magma differentiated in a low pressure magma chamber by crystal–liquid fractionation. This process led to a chemically zoned magma chamber tapped at different levels by successive eruptions. During low-pressure differentiation the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of some of the most evolved Sr-poor rhyolitic magmas increased from 0.703 up to 0.708 by contamination with crustal material.

The chemical variation displayed by the products of each of the defined eruptive cycles in the last 50000 years suggests an open system behaviour of the magma chamber which is episodically refilled by more mafic parent magma, differentiated at high rate and episodically erupted.

The relationship between the supersaturation at the point of crystallization and the rate at which supersaturation increases has been studied from nucleation experiments on barite BaSO4, strontianite SrCO3, witherite BaCO3 and gypsum CaSO4.2H2O. The crystallization experiments have been carried out by the counter-diifusion of cations and anions through a column of porous silica gel transport medium. Nucleation is suppressed in a finely-porous medium resulting in very high values of supersaturation before crystallization from the solution begins. This threshold supersaturation for nucleation depends on the solubility of the salt, the porosity of the medium and the supersaturation rate. Nucleation inhibitors were used to extend the range of supersaturation attainable. In all cases the experimental data fits the general expression: rate of change of supersaturation ∝ (threshold supersaturation)m. These results are compared to previous work from the field of chemical engineering on the relationship between supersaturation, volume and cooling rate in aqueous salt solutions. These experiments have important implications to supersaturation in natural fluids and subsequent crystallization in relation to geological problems including crystallization in low temperature sedimentary environments and fluid-rock ratios in hydrothermal mineral deposits.

Pb–Pb single zircon ages of 546.2 ± 1.2 Ma demonstrate that the augen gneisses in the southern Menderes Massif were generated from Pan-African intrusions. During the Alpine orogenic evolution of the Menderes Massif these granites were metamorphosed and transformed into augen gneiss in an extensional top-to-the-south shear zone, located between augen gneisses and overlying schists. Quartz fabrics suggest a pronounced static recrystallization that post-dates the ductile deformation in the shear zone. Ar–Ar muscovite ages of 43–37 Ma from augen gneisses and schists suggest that ductile deformation and subsequent cooling occurred in the Eocene. These results contradict previous models that (1) interpret the extensional shear zone as late Oligocene in age and (2) regard the augen gneisses as syntectonic with respect to ductile extensional deformation.

The isotopic composition of Sr and Nd together with the abundance data for major and trace elements are reported for Tertiary to Quaternary volcanics from a variety of localities in western Turkey. These data are used to evaluate the role of crust–mantle interaction in the petrogenesis of the western Turkish volcanics. The major and trace element chemistry reveals a general change in the nature of volcanism from dominantly calc-alkaline in Tertiary to alkaline in Quaternary times. The calc-alkaline rocks are quartz-normative and comprise andesitic to rhyolitic compositions of Miocene–Pliocene age; the trace element patterns are typical of continental margin volcanics with high Ba/Nb ratios and negative Ti anomalies. The alkaline rocks are nepheline-normative and dominantly Quaternary in age; they are basic in composition, with a change from potassic nature in Miocene–Pliocene to sodic in Quaternary times. Most of the Tertiary alkaline volcanics display trace element patterns similar to those of the calc-alkaline ones, whereas the Quaternary alkaline volcanics have low Ba/Nb ratios without negative Ti anomalies; they resemble intraplate volcanics.

The calc-alkaline rocks have high 87Sr/86Sr (from 0.705011 to 0.709529) and low 143Nd/144Nd ratios (from 0.512294 to 0.512691). With the exception of two Tertiary samples, all the alkaline volcanics plot within the so-called mantle array of the isotope correlation diagram, 87Sr/86Sr ratios ranging from 0.703128 to 0.703628 and 143Nd/144Nd ratios ranging from 0.512749 to 0.512998. The two Tertiary alkaline samples, with trace element patterns similar to those of the calc-alkaline ones, have considerably higher Sr (0.707741–0.707918) and lower Nd (0.512494–0.512514) isotope compositions. The combined isotope and chemical data suggest the derivation of the western Turkish volcanics from variable mixtures of melts generated in two different mantle regions. The calc-alkaline volcanics were essentially derived from the continental lithospheric or shallow asthenospheric mantle which was contaminated with upper crustal material during earlier subduction events. The generation of the alkaline volcanics was controlled by melts derived from relatively deep, isotopically depleted mantle regions. Most of the volcanics were subjected to contamination at crustal levels, through the operation of an assimilation–fractional crystallization (AFC) process. The nature of contaminant changed from upper crustal in the calc-alkaline to lower crustal in the alkaline volcanics, accompanying the overall decrease in the amount of contamination from about 50% down to about 10%, and broadly paralleling the transition from compressional to extensional tectonics in the region.

Strata of Permian – Early Triassic age that include a record of three major extinction events (Capitanian Crisis, Latest Permian Extinction and the Smithian/Spathian Extinction) were examined at the Festningen section, Spitsbergen. Over the c. 12 Ma record examined, mercury in the sediments shows relatively constant background values of 0.005–0.010 μg g–1. However, there are notable spikes in Hg concentration over an order of magnitude above background associated with the three extinctions. The Hg/total organic carbon (TOC) ratio shows similar large spikes, indicating that they represent a true increase in Hg loading to the environment. We argue that these represent Hg loading events associated with enhanced Hg emissions from large igneous province (LIP) events that are synchronous with the extinctions. The Hg anomalies are consistent across the NW margin of Pangea, indicating that widespread mercury loading occurred. While this provides utility as a chemostratigraphic marker the Hg spikes may also indicate loading of toxic metals to the environment, a contributing cause to the mass extinction events.

A perturbation in the carbon-isotope record at the time of the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary (~ 184 Ma) in the Early Jurassic is reported, based on new data from Yorkshire, England. Two sharp δ13Corg negative excursions, each with a magnitude of ~ −2.5 ‰ and reaching minimum values of −28.5 ‰, are recorded in the bulk organic-matter record in sediments of latest Pliensbachian to earliest Toarcian age. A similar pattern of negative carbon-isotope excursions has been observed at the stage boundary in the SW European section at Peniche, Portugal in δ13Ccarbonate, δ13Cwood and δ13Cbrachiopod records. The isotopic excursion is of interest when considering the genesis and development of the later Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE), as well as the second-order global extinction event that spans the stage boundary. Furthermore, the isotope excursion potentially provides a chemostratigraphic marker for recognition of the stage boundary, which is currently achieved on the basis of different ammonite faunas in the NW European and Tethyan realms.

A general model for pedogenic carbonate development in alluvial sediments is based upon of rates flood sediment accretion versus time taken for particular carbonate profiles to develop. Conclusions regarding rates of Holocene carbonate pedogenesis and the changing morphology and thicknesses of carbonate profiles with time are used to predict critical values of floodbasin accretion rates which would have enabled particular ancient profiles to develop. Local (intra-drainage basin) and regional profiles are separated and a number of models for calcrete genesis are outlined. The presence or absence of particular genetic stages of calcrete may be used as a rough guide to estimate ancient floodbasin accretion rates.

697 taxa of planktonic graptolites are recorded, and their stratigraphical ranges are given, through 60 biozones and subzones in the Ordovician and Silurian strata of England, Wales and Scotland, in the first such stratigraphical compilation for Great Britain since the synthesis of Elles & Wood (1901–1918).

The opening of the Arctic oceanic basins in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic proceeded in steps, with episodes of magmatism and sedimentation marking specific stages in this development. In addition to the stratigraphic record provided by sediments and fossils, the intrusive and extrusive rocks yield important information on this evolution. This study has determined the ages of mafic sills and a felsic tuff in Svalbard and Franz Josef Land using the isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) U–Pb method on zircon, baddeleyite, titanite and rutile. The results indicate crystallization of the Diabasodden sill at 124.5 ± 0.2 Ma and the Linnévatn sill at 124.7 ± 0.3 Ma, the latter also containing slightly younger secondary titanite with an age of 123.9 ± 0.3 Ma. A bentonite in the Helvetiafjellet Formation, also on Svalbard, has an age of 123.3 ± 0.2 Ma. Zircon in mafic sills intersected by drill cores in Franz Josef Land indicate an age of 122.7 Ma for a thick sill on Severnaya Island and a single grain age of ≥122.2 ± 1.1 Ma for a thinner sill on Nagurskaya Island. These data emphasize the importance and relatively short-lived nature of the Cretaceous magmatic event in the region.

During Cambrian and earliest Ordovician times, Avalonia was an area forming an integral part of the huge Gondwanan continent, probably along the northern margin of Amazonia, until in early Ordovician (late Arenig or Llanvirn) time it split off from Gondwana, leaving a widening Rheic Ocean to its south. Today, its southern margin with Gondwana extends northeast from east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, through Nova Scotia north of the Meguma terrane, and thence below sea level to the south of Newfoundland. On the eastern side of the present Atlantic, the southern margin may separate southwest Portugal from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula; it can be traced eastwards with more certainty from the south Cornwall nappes to a line separating the Northern Phyllite Belt (on the southern margin of the Rhenohercynian terrane) and the Mid-German Crystalline High. There is no certain evidence of Avalonian crust to the northeast of the Elbe Line. The northern margin of Avalonia extends westwards from south of Denmark to the British Isles, where it merges with the Iapetus Ocean suture between Scotland and England. Traced westwards, it crosses Ireland and reappears in northern Newfoundland to the east of New World Island, where it may follow the trace of the Dog Bay Line and the Cape Ray Fault. Recent work suggests that the northern margin of Avalonia may clip the northern tip of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and then enter the North American mainland at the Bay of Chaleur; it may then be traced from north and west of the Popelogan and Bronson Hill arcs to Long Island Sound near Newhaven, Connecticut. The Cambrian to Devonian faunas reflect the history of Avalonia: initially they were purely Gondwanan but, as Ordovician time proceeded, more genera crossed firstly the Tornquist Ocean as it narrowed between Avalonia and Baltica to close in latest Ordovician and early Silurian times, and secondly the Iapetus Ocean, so that by the early Silurian most of the benthic shelly faunas, apart from the ostracods, were the same round the adjacent margins of all three palaeocontinents.

The plutonic rocks of the Antarctic Peninsula magmatic arc form one of the major batholiths of the circum-Pacific rim. The Antarctic Peninsula batholith is a 1350 km long by < 210 km wide structure which was emplaced over the period ˜240 to 10 Ma, with a Cretaceous peak of activity that started at 142 Ma and waned during the Late Cretaceous. Early Jurassic and Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous gaps in intrusive activity probably correspond to episodes of arc compression. In a northern zone of the Antarctic Peninsula, the batholith intrudes Palaeozoic–Mesozoic low-grade meta-sedimentary rocks, and in a central zone it intrudes schists and ortho- and paragneisses which have Late Proterozoic Nd model ages and were deformed during Triassic to Early Jurassic compression. In a southern zone the oldest exposed rocks are Permian sedimentary rocks and deformed Jurassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks. All these pre-batholith rocks formed a belt of relatively immature crust along the Gondwana margin. With few exceptions, Jurassic plutons crop out only within the central zone: many are peraluminous, having ‘S-like’ mineralogies and relatively high 87sr/86sri. They are considered to consist largely of partial melts of upper crust schists and gneisses and components of mafic magmas that caused the partial fusion. By contrast, Early Cretaceous plutons crop out along the length of the batholith. Few magma compositions appear to have been affected by upper crust, the bulk being compositionally independent of the type of country rock they intrude. They are dominated by metaluminous, calcic, Si-oversaturated, 1-type granitoid rocks with relatively low 87sr/86sri intermediate-silicic compositions (< 5% MgO). We interpret these to represent partial melts of basic to intermediate, igneous, locally garnet-bearing, lower crust. Contemporaneous mafic magmas (e.g. syn-plutonic dykes) form a more alkaline, Si-saturated series having higher 143Nd/144Nd at the same87sr/86sr than the intermediate-silicic series, to which they are not petrogenetically related. The change from limited partial fusion of upper crust in Jurassic times to widespread partial fusion of lower crust in Early Cretaceous times is considered to be a result of an increasing volume of basaltic intrusion into the crust with time.

Modes in the frequency of distribution of fission track ages obtained from detrital zircon grains may prove characteristic of individual sandstone bodies, supporting the identification of the sources from which a particular flow of sedimentary detritus was derived and thus allowing new inferences to be made concerning palaeogeography. A computer program has been written and used to identify modes in the zircon fission track age distribution within two Lower Cretaceous sandstone samples from the Weald of southern England. Pronounced modes appear in one rock around 119 Ma, 160 Ma, 243 Ma and 309 Ma and in the other around 141 Ma, 175 Ma, 257 to 277 Ma and 394 to 453 Ma. The geological implications of these quite dissimilar zircon age spectra are discussed. It is concluded that they support the palaeogeographical models of Allen (1981) and indicate that the provenance of the first sample, from the Top Ashdown Sandstone member at Dallington in East Sussex, was almost entirely southerly, while that of the second, from the Netherside Sand member at Northchapel in West Sussex, was more varied, but predominantly westerly and northerly.

The Zagros fold-and-thrust belt of SW Iran is a young continental convergence zone, extending NW–SE from eastern Turkey through northern Iraq and the length of Iran to the Strait of Hormuz and into northern Oman. This belt reflects the shortening and off-scraping of thick sediments from the northern margin of the Arabian platform, essentially behaving as the accretionary prism for the Iranian convergent margin. Distribution of Upper Cretaceous ophiolites in the Zagros orogenic belt defines the northern limit of the evolving suture between Arabia and Eurasia and comprises two parallel belts: (1) Outer Zagros Ophiolitic Belt (OB) and (2) Inner Zagros Ophiolitic Belt (IB). These belts contain complete (if disrupted) ophiolites with well-preserved mantle and crustal sequences. Mantle sequences include tectonized harzburgite and rare ultramafic–mafic cumulates as well as isotropic gabbro lenses and isolated dykes within the harzburgite. Crustal sequences include rare gabbros (mostly in IB ophiolites), sheeted dyke complexes, pillowed lavas and felsic rocks. All Zagros ophiolites are overlain by Upper Cretaceous pelagic limestone. Limited radiometric dating indicates that the OB and IB formed at the same time during Late Cretaceous time. IB and OB components show strong suprasubduction zone affinities, from mantle harzburgite to lavas. This is shown by low whole-rock Al2O3 and CaO contents and spinel and orthopyroxene compositions of mantle peridotites as well as by the abundance of felsic rocks and the trace element characteristics of the lavas. Similarly ages, suprasubduction zone affinities and fore-arc setting suggest that the IB and OB once defined a single tract of fore-arc lithosphere that was disrupted by exhumation of subducted Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone metamorphic rocks. Our data for the OB and IB along with better-studied ophiolites in Cyprus, Turkey and Oman compel the conclusion that a broad and continuous tract of fore-arc lithosphere was created during Late Cretaceous time as the magmatic expression of a newly formed subduction zone developed along the SW margin of Eurasia.

A revised Stratigraphical scheme based on numerous measured sections and extensive mapping is proposed for the Carboniferous and Permian sequences of Spitsbergen and Bjørnøya, the important Arctic archipelago, in order to provide an up-to-date framework for future work there. New data on the fusulinid zones is summarized and the age of the sequence discussed. A brief Stratigraphical interpretation with four maps showing outcrops, thicknesses, active faults, and main lithological boundaries is given and recent published and unpublished work is reviewed.

The metamorphic sole along the base of the Semail ophiolite in Oman records the earliest thrust slice subducted and accreted to the base of the ophiolite mantle sequence. In the Bani Hamid area (United Arab Emirates) a c. 870 m thick thrust slice of granulite facies rocks includes garnet+ diopside amphibolites, enstatite+cordierite+sillimanite+spinel±sapphirine quartzites, alkaline mafic granulites (meta-jacupirangites) quartzo-feldspathic gneisses and calc-silicates. The latter contain garnet+diopside+scapolite+plagioclase±wollastonite. P–T conditions of granulite facies metamorphism are in the range 800–860°C and 10.5±1.1 kbar to 14.7±2.8 kbar. Garnet+clinopyroxene+hornblende+plagioclase amphibolites from the metamorphic sole record peak P–T conditions of 840±70°C and 11.6±1.6 kbar (THERMOCALC average P–T mode) and 840–870°C and 13.9–11.8 kbar (conventional thermobarometry) with low degrees of partial melting producing very small melt segregations of tonalitic material. Pressure estimates are equivalent to depths of 57–46 km beneath oceanic crust, much deeper than can be accounted for by the thickness of the ophiolite. 40Ar39Ar hornblende ages from the amphibolites range from 95–93 Ma, synchronous with formation of the plagiogranites in the ophiolite crustal sequence (95 Ma), eruption of the Lasail (V2) volcanic sequence and deposition of Cenomanian–Turonian radiolaria in metalliferous sediments between the Geotimes (V1) and Lasail (V2) lavas. Protoliths of the metamorphic sole were Triassic–Jurassic and early Cretaceous Haybi volcanic rocks, Exotic limestones and quartzites and were clearly not equivalent to the Semail ophiolite rocks, showing that initiation of subduction could not have occurred at the ridge axis. Heat for metamorphism was derived from the mantle sequence harzburgites and dunites which were at or around 1100–1500°C. All data from the sub-ophiolite metamorphic sole in Oman and the United Arab Emirates indicate that the ophiolite was formed in a Supra-Subduction zone setting and that obduction occurred along a NE-dipping high-temperature subduction zone during Late Cretaceous times.

During the postcumulus stage of solidification in layered intrusions, fluid dynamic phenomena play an important role in developing the textural and chemical characteristics of the cumulate rocks. One mechanism of adcumulus growth involves crystallization at the top of the cumulate pile where crystals are in direct contact with the magma reservoir. Convection in the chamber can enable adcumulus growth to occur to form a completely solid contact between cumulate and magma. Another important process may involve compositional convection in which light differentiated melt released by intercumulus crystallization is continually replaced by denser melt from the overlying magma reservoir. This process favours adcumulus growth and can allow adcumulus growth within the pore space of the cumulate pile. Calculations indicate that this process could reduce residual porosities to a few percent in large layered intrusions, but could not form pure monomineralic rocks. Intercumulus melt may also be replaced by more primitive melt during episodes of magma chamber replenishment. Dense magma, emplaced over a cumulate pile containing lower density differentiated melt may sink several metres into the underlying pile in the form of fingers. Reactions between melt and matrix may lead to changes in mineral compositions, mineral textures and whole rock isotope compositions. Another important mechanism for forming adcumulate rocks is compaction, in which the imbalance of the hydrostatic and lithostatic pressures in the cumulate pile causes the crystalline matrix to deform and intercumulus melt to be expelled. For cumulate layers from 10 to 1000 metres in thickness, compaction can reduce porosities to very low values (< 1%) and form monomineralic rocks. The characteristic time-scale for such compaction is theoretically short compared to the time required to solidify a large layered intrusion. During compaction changes of mineral compositions and texture may occur as moving melts interact with the surrounding matrix. Both compaction and compositional convection can be interrupted by solidification in the pore spaces. Compositional convection will only occur if the Rayleigh number is larger than 40, if the residual melt becomes lower in density, and the convective velocity exceeds the solidification velocity (measured by the rate of crystal accumulation in the chamber). Orthocumulates are thus more likely to form in rapidly cooled intrusions where residual melt is frozen into the pore spaces before it can be expelled by compaction or replaced by convection.

The Andaman Islands, the central part of Burma–Java subduction complex, expose tectonostratigraphic units of an accretionary prism in an outer-arc setting and turbidites of a forearc setting. A number of N–S-trending dismembered ophiolite slices of Cretaceous age, occurring at different structural levels with Eocene trench-slope sediments, were uplifted and emplaced by a series of E–dipping thrusts. Subsequently, N–S normal and E–W strike-slip faults resulted in the development of a forearc basin with deposition of Oligocene and Mio-Pliocene sediments. Metapelites and metabasics of greenschist to amphibolite grade occur in a melange zone of ophiolites. The Eocene Mithakhari Group represents pelagic trench sediments and coarser clastics derived from ophiolites. Evidence of frequent facies changes, predominance of mass flow deposits, syn-sedimentary basinal disturbance and wide palaeogeographic variation indicate deposition of Eocene sediments in isolated basins of an immature trench-slope setting. Deposition of the Oligocene Andaman Flysch Group in a forearc setting is indicated by the large-scale persistence of beds, lack of small-scale lithological variation, bimodal provenance, less deformation, a well-defined submarine fan sequence and development predominantly on the eastern part of the outer arc. The Mio-Pliocene Archipelago Group includes alternations of siliciclastic turbidites and subaqueous pyroclastic flow deposits in the lower part and carbonate turbidites in the upper part, suggesting its deposition in the shallower forearc compared to the siliciclastic Oligocene sediments.

The Khanka Massif is a crustal block located along the eastern margin of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) and bordered to the east by Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous circum-Pacific accretionary complexes of the Eastern Asian continental margin. It consists of graphite-, sillimanite- and cordierite-bearing gneisses, carbonates and felsic paragneisses, in association with various orthogneisses. Metamorphic zircons from a sillimanite gneiss from the Hutou complex yield a weighted mean 206Pb/238U age of 490 ± 4 Ma, whereas detrital zircons from the same sample give ages from 934–610 Ma. Magmatic zircon cores in two garnet-bearing granite gneiss samples, also collected from the Hutou complex, yield weighted mean 206Pb/238U ages of 522 ± 5 Ma and 515 ± 8 Ma, whereas their metamorphic rims record 206Pb/238U ages of 510–500 Ma. These data indicate that the Hutou complex in the Khanka Massif records early Palaeozoic magmatic and metamorphic events, identical in age to those in the Mashan Complex of the Jiamusi Massif to the west. The older zircon populations in the sillimanite gneiss indicate derivation from Neoproterozoic sources, as do similar rocks in the Jiamusi Massif. These data confirm that the Khanka Massif has a close affinity with other major components of the CAOB to the west of the Dun-Mi Fault. Based on these results and previously published data, the Khanka Massif is therefore confirmed as having formed a single crustal entity with the Jiamusi (and possibly the Bureya) massif since Neoproterozoic time.

The motion of Arabia was stable with respect to Eurasia over the past 22 Ma. Deformation and exhumation in the Zagros is seen to initiate at the same time as argued by new detrital thermochronologic constraints and increasing accumulation rates in synorogenic sediments. A recent magnetostratigraphic dating of the Bakhtyari conglomerates in the northern Fars region of the Zagros further suggests that shortening and uplift in the Zagros Folded Belt accelerated after 12.4 Ma. Available temporal constraints from surrounding collision belts indicate that shortening and uplift focused in regions bordering the Iranian plateau to the south between 15 and 5 Ma. As boundary velocity was kept constant this requires concomitant decreasing strain rates in the Iranian plateau. Slab detachment has been proposed to explain the observed changes as well as mantle delamination, but the insignificant change in the Arabian slab motion and lack of unambiguous constraints make both hypotheses difficult to account for. It is proposed based on a review of shortening estimates provided throughout the Arabia–Eurasia collision that the total 440 km of convergence predicted by geodesy and plate reconstruction over the past 22 Ma can be accounted for by distributed shortening. I suggest that the topography and expansion of the Iranian plateau over Late Miocene–Pliocene time can be reproduced by the progressive thickening of the originally thin Iranian continental lithosphere presumably thermally weakened during the Eocene extensional and magmatic event.

A variety of host-fabric elements (HE) cut by cross-cutting elements (CE) in rocks defines flanking structures (FS) on mesoscopic and microscopic scales. There has been renewed interest in studying and classifying the FS for their morphologies, useful as shear sense indicators and geneses. Existing non-genetic morphologic parameters for the FS are reviewed, and two new classification schemes are presented. One of these is based on the nature of the CE and whether HE penetrates it. The other scheme takes account of all the potential combinations of drag/no drag and slip/no slip of the HE. Deciphering the shear sense of the rock body from FS is complicated because the angular relationship between the CE and the primary shear planes might be opposite to what is found between S- and C- ductile shear fabrics. Further, single CEs can curve and several similar FS occur in reverse forms. As with mineral fish, the shape asymmetries of microscopic CEs indicate the shear sense. Conjugate FS (with non-parallel CEs) with interfering perturbation fields around the CEs are more reliable shear-sense indicators than FS with single CE. During low but increasing bulk strains, FS may evolve from one type to another, e.g. from a- to s-type. At high strain, FS can resemble intrafolial or sheath fold. Whether the drag is normal or reverse depends fundamentally on the initial angle between the HE and the CE and the relative magnitudes of throw and vertical separation.