Talk:Foliation (geology)

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When editing this, be careful to remember that a foliation is more than just mica orientation and gneissic banding. It is also rarely planar on any scale, and especially in shears, it is highly misleading to simply imply it is formed 90 degrees to stress. in mylonites and extremely stretched rocks, a foliation may even be parallel with the principal stress. Cheers, Rolinator 07:41, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This article needs much attention

This very long article explains the cause of foliation in rocks. All appear to be one, predicted by equilibrium thermodynamics. If the diffusion of granitic components is significant, this same theory predicts a gneissose structure, foliated when possible. Did a deeply buried rock really respond elastically, and grow foliated minerals; or did it respond plastically and not grow them? There is a credibility problem with this thermodynamic explanation. If any mechanism is to be offered, it needs a separate, explanatory reference.

Geologists I know describe foliation by the rock's response to a hammer blow. If you can split it into an indefinite number of surfaces (or think you might), it is foliated. Surfaces of breakage in a homogeneous rock that are distinct are partings. A non-homogeneous rock that splits along the bands one sees displays gneissose structure. A photo is worth a thousand words.

The article could be much shorter, with a separation between the visual classification of foliations (as first done by Bruno Sander) and the current explanations of the origin of each class (with references). Note also that 'foliation' used to be an abstract noun in the literature. I've never met one in the field. :-) Geologist (talk) 03:10, 26 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The first sentence reads 'Foliation is any penetrative planar fabric present in rocks.' One has to ask who the audience is, since this is comprehensible only to professional structural geologists. BTW, unless terminology has changed, this is the American definition. In Britain, I believe, foliation is the presence in a hand specimen of layers that differ in color or texture (thin strata): cleavage & schistosity are used for other parallel aspects of hand specimens. Geologist (talk) 17:32, 1 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See also discussion at Talk:Cleavage (geology). Darwin was actually first to define the term, which came as a surprise, but the most recent pronouncement of the 'IUGS sub-commission on the systematics of metamorphic rocks' accepts that the American definition has taken over. Mikenorton (talk) 17:46, 1 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do People Foliate?

I've wondered this a long time, but found little to no research on the subject. Is there anyone here with expertise enough to shed some light on this? Do people foliate? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.237.212.157 (talk) 19:43, 9 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]