Monocline

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Geological structure

title: "Monocline" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["structural-geology", "deformation-(mechanics)"] description: "Geological structure" topic_path: "science/earth-science" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocline" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Geological structure ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Monocline01.svg" caption="block diagram of a monocline"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Grandview-Phantom_Monocline.jpg" caption="The Grandview-Phantom Monocline in the [[Grand Canyon]], Arizona"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Monocline.JPG" caption="Monocline at [[Colorado National Monument"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Minor_thrust_monocline.JPG" caption="Monocline formed at tip of small thrust fault, Brims Ness, [[Caithness]], Scotland"] ::

A monocline (or, rarely, a monoform) is a step-like fold in rock strata consisting of a zone of steeper dip within an otherwise horizontal or gently dipping sequence.

Formation

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/MonoclineMonoclinalFr02.gif" caption="Possible modes of formation of monoclines"] ::

Monoclines may be formed in several different ways (see diagram)

By differential compaction over an underlying structure, particularly a large fault at the edge of a basin due to the greater compactibility of the basin fill, the amplitude of the fold will die out gradually upwards.
By mild reactivation of an earlier extensional fault during a phase of inversion causing folding in the overlying sequence.
As a form of fault propagation fold during upward propagation of an extensional fault in basement into an overlying cover sequence.
As a form of fault propagation fold during upward propagation of a reverse fault in basement into an overlying cover sequence.

Examples

Waterpocket Fold in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Comb Ridge in southern Utah
Grandview-Phantom Monocline in Grand Canyon, Arizona
Grand Hogback in Colorado
Lebombo Mountains in Southern Africa
Lapstone Monocline in the Blue Mountains (Australia)
Beaumaris Monocline in Victoria (Australia)
Purbeck Monocline on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England
Fore-Sudetic Monocline, Poland
Sindh Monocline, Pakistan
Torres Flexure, southern Brazil

References

Skuce, A.G.. (1996). "Modern Developments in Structural Interpretation, Validation and Modelling". Geological Society.
Chadwick, R.A.. (1993). "Aspects of basin inversion in southern Britain". Journal of the Geological Society.
Willsey, S.P.. (2002). "Early evolution of an extensional monocline by a propagating normal fault: 3D analysis from combined field study and numerical modeling". Journal of Structural Geology.
Finch, E.. (2003). "Discrete element modelling of contractional fault-propagation folding above rigid basement fault blocks". Journal of Structural Geology.
(23 December 2017). "Geology". [[National Park Service]].
(2019-11-24). "Comb Ridge, Utah".
(2004). "Hiking the Grand Canyon's Geology". The Mountaineers Books.
Murray, Frederick N.. (1967). "Jointing in Sedimentary Rocks along the Grand Hogback Monocline, Colorado". The Journal of Geology.
Klausen, M.B.. (2009). "The Lebombo monocline and associated feeder dyke swarm: Diagnostic of a successful and highly volcanic rifted margin?". Tectonophysics.
"L001 : Lapstone Monocline". Office of Environment and Heritage, [[Government of New South Wales]].
(8 June 2017). "61. Beaumaris Cliffs 3 - Monocline". Agriculture Victoria.
Nowell, D.A.G.. (1997). "Structures affecting the coast around Lulworth Cove, Dorset and syn-sedimentary Wealden faulting". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association.
(2013). "The Werra cyclotheme (Upper Permian, Fore-Sudetic Monocline, Poland): Insights into fluctuations of the sedimentary environment from organic geochemical studies". Applied Geochemistry.
(1999). "Tectonics of the Sindh monocline, Pakistan and their effects on hydrocarbons". Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology.
Seth, H.. (2018). "Tectonic Deformation of Flood Basalt Provinces". Springer.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::