 Cleavage:

It is the property of rock where they break along completely parallel surfaces. It is secondary feature of rock.
-Most of rock cleavage is inclined to bedding, but in some instances it may be parallel to the bedding.
- Cleavage refers to the ability of a rock to split or cleave into more or less parallel surfaces.
 Cleavage development:
i. Compaction:
Cleavage develops due to reorientation of mineral grains and collapse of pore space. Some
dissolution.
ii. Pencil cleavage:
Develops due to tectonic stress and development of a secondary cleavage. Pressure solution
important in it. In case of pencil cleavage clay minerals oriented in two planes.
iii. Slaty cleavage:
Develops due to tectonic shortening, reorientation of clay grains, and solution of quartz. QF-
and M-domains.
- Slaty cleavage is used to describe rocks that split into thin, planar slabs when hit with a
hammer.
-Slaty cleavage commonly occurs under low-grade metamorphic conditions,
iv. Phyllitic Cleavage : (thin wavy foliation)
In phyllitic cleavage QF- and M-domains become more pronounced because of increasing of
grain size as temperature increase with depth.

 Foliation:
It is the property of rock where they break along approximately parallel surfaces.
-In some rock this is primary feature inherent from the time of their formation. It is caused by flaty and
elongate grains more or less parallel to the stratification. Secondary foliation develops after millions of years
from the original formation of rock. Such foliation may develop in rock of sedimentary or igneous rock and
the product is foliated metamorphic rock.
-A laminated structure formed by segregation of different minerals into layers that are parallel to the
schistosity.
-Foliation is broadly defined as any planar arrangement of mineral grains/structural features in a rock.
-Foliation is easily recognized if there is an alternate of quartz and feldspars with mica and amphibole.
- Types:
i. Primary:
-Primary forms during deposition of sediments and formation of magmatic rocks. In granite
there is primary foliation. Flow banding in rhyolite or granite
-Structures related to the original rock-forming process.
-Originated by sedimentary processes such as transport and deposition: Bedding
-Originated by primary igneous processes such as lava flow and crystallization: Magmatic
layering in igneous rocks (cumulates)
ii. Secondary:
- Forms after lithification and/or crystallization of rocks. Secondary foliation is the product of
stress and strain (tectonic foliation).
Examples are cleavage, schistosity, and mylonitic foliations.
- Secondary foliation—the result of microscopically penetrative deformation and distortion of
sedimentary, volcanic, or intrusive igneous rocks, usually under metamorphic condition.
 Schistosity:
It is a term applied to the variety of the rock cleavage. It is found in rocks that are sufficiently recrystallized to
be called schist. Schist is a meta-rock that possesses Schistosity.
-Secondary foliation of slate would be called cleavage but a similar structure in mica would be termed
Schistosity.
- Higher metamorphic grades lead to schistosity. Schistosity describes rocks with foliated mineral grains that
are large enough to see without magnification
-Schistosity tends to affect all the different mineral components.
-Rocks with schistosity are generally referred to as schist.

 Gneissic foliation:
Gneissic textures occur when the silicate minerals in the rock separate and recrystallized into alternating bands
of light (quartz and feldspar) and dark (biotite, amphibole, or hornblende) grains of silicate minerals.

 Unconformity:
Major breaks in sedimentation are called unconformities. It is surface of erosion or non-deposition (mostly)
separates younger strata from older rocks (separating rocks of different ages).
-It represents short break of time during which the new deposition over older rock is not taking place.
-Origin involves erosional, deposition as well as tectonic processes. It is sometimes confused with fault.
-It is studied for dating of rock and rock structures. Valuable deposit of petroleum and minerals are associated
with unconformities.
-Unconformities represent gaps in the geologic record; periods of time that are not represented by any rocks
-Develops in several stages:-
- First the formation of older rock takes place.
- Most commonly it is followed by uplift and sub aerial erosion
- Finally the younger strata are deposited over it.
-Rocks of various origins may participate in an unconformity.
-Rocks involved:
i. Sedimentary rocks are both above and below the unconformity
ii. Volcanic rocks above sedimentary rocks below
iii. Volcanic rocks above and below
iv. Sedimentary rocks above, plutonic rocks below
v. Volcanic rocks above and plutonic rocks below
vi. Sedimentary rocks above, volcanic rocks below
 Types of unconformity:
there are various kinds of unconformities, the distinction depending upon the rocks involved and the
tectonic history that is implied.
i. Disconformity:
In which the formation on opposite side of the unconformity are parallel.
-Covers a large area. Represents a considerable interval of time. Rock above or below are
volcanic.
-At a disconformity, beds of the rock sequence above and below the unconformity are parallel to
one another, but there is a measurable age difference between the two sequences.
ii. Angular unconformity:
-An angular unconformity forms when rock deposited in horizontal layers is folded or tilted and
then eroded. When erosion stops, a new horizontal layer is deposited on top of a tilted layer. •
When the bedding planes of the older rock layers are not parallel to those of the younger rock
layers deposited above them, an angular unconformity results.
-At an angular unconformity, strata below the unconformity have a different attitude than strata
above the unconformity.
-The sub-unconformity strata were deformed (tilted or folded) and then were truncated by erosion
prior to deposition of the rocks above the unconformity. Therefore, angular unconformities are
indicative of a period of active tectonism.
iii. Non conformity:
Kind of unconformity in which the older rocks are of plutonic origin.
-A nonconformity exists between sedimentary rocks and metamorphic or igneous rocks when the
sedimentary rock lies above and was deposited on the pre-existing and eroded metamorphic or
igneous rock.
iv. Local unconformity:
-It is disconformity of small extent representing a short interval of time.
It is similar to disconformity but local in extent. Represents a short interval of time.
-Local unconformity is a similar to disconformities, but as the name implies, it is distinctly local
in extent; the time involved is short .
In the deposition of continental sediments such as gravels, sands and clays the streams may
wander back and forth across the basin of deposition. E.g. in times of flood (which might have
scour out much sediments away) and after flood subsides, the deposition started again.
v. Others:
a. Para conformity:
A Para conformity is a type of unconformity in which strata are parallel; there is no
apparent erosion and the unconformity surface resembles a simple bedding plane. It is
also called non-depositional unconformity or pseudo conformity.
b. Blended unconformity:
A blended unconformity is a type of disconformity or nonconformity with no distinct
separation plane or contact, sometimes consisting of soils, paleosols, or beds of pebbles
derived from the underlying rock.
-An unconformity that is not sharp because the original erosion surface was covered by a
thick residual soil that graded downward into the underlying rock.
c. Buttress (on-lap) unconformity:
-A buttress unconformity (also called onlap unconformity) occurs where beds of the
younger sequence were deposited in a region of significant predepositional topography.
The younger layers are truncated by rugged unconformity (difference with angular
unconformity). Beds above and below the unconformity may or may not be parallel the
unconformity.
Example: Imagine a shallow sea in which there are islands composed of older bedrock.
When sedimentation occurs in this sea, the new horizontal layers of strata terminate at the
margins of the island. Eventually, as the sea rises, the islands are buried by sediment. But
along the margins of the island, the sedimentary layers appear to be truncated by the
unconformity. Rocks below the unconformity may or may not parallel the unconformity,
depending on the pre-unconformity structure.

Blended unconformity Buttress unconformity