On The Structural Age of The Rhoscolyn Antiform

GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Geol. J. 39: 141156 (2004)

Published online 14 May 2004 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/gj.949
On the structural age of the Rhoscolyn antiform,
Anglesey, North Wales
HOSSEINHASSANI
y
, STEPHENJ. COVEY-CRUMP* andERNESTH. RUTTER
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
In the Rhoscolyn area of Anglesey, the late Precambrian interbedded psammites and pelites of the Monian Supergroup are
folded into a kilometre-scale antiform, plunging about 25
NE and with an axial surface dipping about 40
NW. Numerous folds

of up to a few tens of metres in wavelength are present on both limbs of this antiform. These smaller-scale folds also plunge
about 25
NE but clearly belong to two separate episodes of folding, and it has become a matter of longstanding controversy as
to whether the larger antiform belongs to the rst or second of these episodes. Close examination of the cleavage/bedding asym-
metries from all the lithologies, however, shows that the large antiform is a second-generation structure, and that on the gently
dipping northwest limb, the sense of cleavage/bedding asymmetry of the earlier cleavage in the psammitic units has been almost
uniformly and homogeneously reversed (so that it appears to be axial planar to the antiform), while in the pelitic units the sense
of cleavage/bedding asymmetry of the earlier cleavage has been preserved. Many of the small-scale complexities of the
observed cleavage/bedding relationships may be explained by appealing to differences in the timing of the formation of buck-
ling instabilities relative to this reorientation of the early cleavage in the psammites during the second deformation. A rst-order
analysis of the nite strains from around the large-scale antiform shows that the orientation of the rst cleavage prior to the
second deformation was steeply dipping to the southeast. The second deformation correlates with the southeast-verging
Caledonian deformation affecting the Monian and Ordovician units elsewhere in northwest Anglesey, while the northwest-ver-
ging rst deformation event, which is not present in the Ordovician rocks, must have occurred before they were deposited.
Copyright #2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Received 25 September 2002; revised version received 11 February 2003; accepted 20 March 2003
KEY WORDS Anglesey; Rhoscolyn antiform; Monian Supergroup; South Stack Group; cleavage/bedding asymmetry
1. INTRODUCTION
Exposed at Rhoscolyn, on Holy Island in northwest Anglesey, North Wales (Figure 1), is a sequence of late Pre-
cambrian interbedded psammites and pelites (South Stack Group), and overlying pelites (New Harbour Group),
which have been folded into an upward-facing, kilometre-scale, asymmetric antiform, that is overturned to the
southeast. It is generally recognized that the small-scale structures observed around this fold result from two prin-
cipal deformation events. However, no such consensus of opinion has been established over whether the major fold
belongs to the rst or second of these events. This matter has become a longstanding controversy which continues
to arouse strong passions. The abundance and variety of the minor structures make Rhoscolyn a popular location
for undergraduate eld courses on the techniques of structural analysis, and yet the fact that opinions differ about
Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
* Correspondence to: S. J. Covey-Crump, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
E-mail: scrump@fs1.ge.man.ac.uk
y
Now at: Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
how those minor structures should be interpreted seems to stand as an affront to the credibility of the methods of
analysis which are being taught.
The controversy has provoked a large literature. In recent years an earlier (hereafter termed D
1
) age for the
antiform has been favoured by Phillips (1991b), Roper (1992), and Treagus et al. (2003), while a later (D
2
) age
has been favoured by Coward and Siddans (1979), Cosgrove (1980), and Hudson and Stowell (1997). Lisle (1988)
concluded that either interpretation was plausible. We are rmly of the opinion that the antiform is a D
2
structure
but believe that the case for this interpretation has not been fully argued in the literature. Cosgroves account of the
D
1
structures is oversimplied and omits some important observations germane to the argument, whereas the argu-
ment of Hudson and Stowell, with which we are in complete agreement, uses only observations obtained from the
strongly deformed New Harbour Group pelites. Consequently, in this paper we make the case for the D
2
interpre-
tation more comprehensively, while focusing attention on the structures observed in the psammites and pelites of
the South Stack Group. We do this rstly by describing the present geometry of the structures at Rhoscolyn, sec-
ondly by examining the inuence of the D
2
deformation on the geometry of the D
1
minor structures, and thirdly by
setting the structure within the regional context of the structure of northwest Anglesey. Throughout the paper,
where the geometry of folds is being described, it is the geometry of the folds which are dened by the bedding
surfaces to which reference is being made. Vergence is used simply to indicate the sense of overturning of the folds
with respect to the horizontal within the general kinematic framework in which they were formed.
2. THE PRESENT GEOMETRY OF THE RHOSCOLYN ANTIFORM
2.1. Local stratigraphy
The rocks of the South Stack Group and New Harbour Group which crop out in the Rhoscolyn area are part of the
late Precambrian to early Cambrian Monian Supergroup which is widely distributed over northwestern Anglesey.
The lithostratigraphy of this supergroup was rst described by Greenly (1919), and his account was later rened by
Shackleton (1969, 1975). Subsequently, a detailed description of the stratigraphic sequence, with an accompanying
sedimentological interpretation, has been given by Phillips (1991a).
Figure 1. A map showing the geographic location of the area studied.
142 h. hassani, s. j. covey-crump and e. h. rutter
Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Geol. J. 39: 141156 (2004)
The base of the South Stack Group is not exposed. It comprises interbedded psammites and pelites which have
been subdivided into the South Stack Formation (>400 m), the Holyhead Formation (500 m), and the Rhoscolyn
Formation (300 m). The South Stack Formation is a series of thin- to medium-bedded interlayered sandy pelites and
pelitic psammites. The units contain a wide range of way-up features including graded bedding, beds with erosive
bases, and dewatering structures, all of which indicate that the sequence is the right way up. It is conformably over-
lain by the Holyhead Formation which comprises thick-bedded psammites containing two mappable, though later-
ally impersistent, quartz-vein-riddled, green-weathering pelite bands, and a 50 m thick quartzite unit. The Holyhead
Formation is conformably overlain by the Rhoscolyn Formation which comprises medium-bedded pelitic psam-
mites with interbedded, quartz-vein-riddled pelites, which grade upwards into much cleaner and thicker-bedded
quartzitic psammites with mappable, though laterally impersistent, red/orange-weathering sandy pelites.
Overlying the South Stack Group, with sedimentary contact, is the New Harbour Group. This comprises a series
of strongly deformed schistose pelites.
2.2. General structure
The present geometry of the Rhoscolyn antiform is illustrated in Figures 24. The antiform plunges about 25
NE,
and has a gently dipping northwest limb and a steep to overturned southeast limb. The axial surface dips moder-
ately to the northwest, suggesting vergence to the southeast, although since the relative limb lengths are not seen
and there is no thinning of the steep limb, this cannot be established denitively. All of the lithologies contain at
least one pervasive cleavage which cuts across bedding. However, the geometric characteristics of the cleavage are
strongly dependent on lithology in the manner described as follows (Figure 5; also Lisle 1988, gure 8).
(1) In the more quartzitic units there is a single strongly developed cleavage which appears to be axial planar to the
major fold, i.e. dipping moderately to the northwest. The cleavage in these units is sometimes seen to be
dened by attened grain shapes, or sometimes by a single set of pressure solution surfaces.
(2) In the less pure psammites, there are two pressure solution cleavages which are dened by planar truncations to
grains and which thereby give the grains a rhomboid shape. In these units the more strongly developed
cleavage is commonly folded within the beds without the bedding surfaces themselves being folded. In these
cases the other cleavage is axial planar to the folds and is itself not folded, and so is unarguably the later of the
two cleavages. The sense of cleavage/bedding asymmetry of the later cleavage is everywhere congruent with
the main Rhoscolyn fold, whereas the sense of cleavage/bedding asymmetry of the earlier cleavage is variable.
However, where the earlier cleavage is folded around minor folds of the bedding, on both limbs of the main
Rhoscolyn fold the sense of bedding/cleavage asymmetry consistently indicates larger fold structures which
verge towards the northwest.
(3) In the pelitic units two cleavages are always present, one folded and the other not. Parallel to the earlier of
these are numerous milky quartz veins up to a few centimetres thick. The orientation of these veins suggests
that they formed parallel to the early cleavage, their orientation reecting the fracture toughness anisotropy
induced in the pelites by the already-formed cleavage. In the hinge region of the major Rhoscolyn fold and on
the gently dipping northwest limb, these early cleavage-parallel veins are intensely buckled into folds which
have a wavelength of the order of a few tens of centimetres. The second cleavage is axial planar to these folds.
This second cleavage is a pressure solution cleavage which is locally developed into an intense metamorphic
mineral segregation (e.g. SH 2590 7518). On both limbs of the main antiform the sense of bedding/cleavage
asymmetry of the earlier cleavage consistently indicates folds which verge towards the northwest, whereas the
sense of bedding/cleavage asymmetry of the second cleavage is everywhere congruent with the main
Rhoscolyn fold.
These observations imply that the major Rhoscolyn fold formed after the deformation which produced the early
cleavage, and after the formation of the quartz veins. We interpret the single cleavage seen in the more quartzitic
units as the earlier cleavage, which in the steeply dipping southeast limb has been reinforced by the second
deformation, but which on the gently dipping northwest limb has been homogeneously reoriented towards axial
structural age of the rhoscolyn antiform, anglesey 143
Copyright #2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Geol. J. 39: 141156 (2004)
Figure 2. A map of the Rhoscolyn antiform showing the exposure (shaded) and representative readings of bedding, cleavage, and bedding/
cleavage intersections. All S
1
readings are from the psammites. The planar readings show the orientation of strike with the direction and amount
of dip indicated; the linear readings show the direction of plunge with the plunge amount indicated.
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planarity with the later fold, such that the original cleavage/bedding asymmetry on that limb has been reversed
(Figure 5). In the less pure psammites the earlier cleavage on the gently dipping limb is in places wholly or par-
tially reoriented, whereas elsewhere it is folded with the beds. Consequently, the original cleavage/bedding asym-
metry on that limb is in some places reversed, whereas in others it is preserved. In the pelites the earlier cleavage
everywhere has its original cleavage/bedding asymmetry. Examples of all these relationships are particularly plen-
tiful in the South Stack Formation where the early-formed cleavage can commonly be seen to swing continuously
into its new orientation as it passes from a pelite layer into an overlying psammitic layer (e.g. at SH 2596 7509).
The above observations and interpretations have also been made by other authors (e.g. Coward and Siddans
1979; Cosgrove 1980), but we are unaware of any attention being given to the fold structures associated with
the earlier deformation. Several such folds exist. In what follows, we describe these previously unreported early
folds and their relationship to the geometry of the later structures, before considering the geometric implications of
the reorientation of the early cleavage in the more quartzitic units. Hereafter, we refer to the bedding surfaces as S
0
.
The earlier deformation event with its northwest vergent structures will be called D
1
, and the associated cleavage
as S
1
. The deformation event which produced the main Rhoscolyn fold will be called D
2
, and its axial planar orien-
tation and associated cleavage as S
2
.
2.3. D
1
folds
As described above, the most obvious D
1
structure is the S
1
cleavage. Within the South Stack and Holyhead for-
mations there are no folds unambiguously identiable as F
1
(i.e. formed during D
1
). However, in the Rhoscolyn
Formation, on both limbs of the main Rhoscolyn fold there are F
1
folds with wavelengths of several tens of metres.
On the gently dipping northwest limb of the Rhoscolyn antiform, at Bwa Du (SH 2603 7633), there is an upright
antiformsynform pair in which the pervasive cleavage (S
1
) is axial planar, and where there is a gently dipping
crenulation cleavage (S
2
) that is developed in the sandy pelite unit exposed in the core of the synform (Figure 6).
Locally, thin quartz veins decorate the pervasive cleavage and are folded about the crenulation. If these thin quartz
Figure 4. A global stereoprojection (equal area, lower hemisphere) of the poles to S
0
, S
1
, and S
2
, and the S
1
/S
0
and S
2
/S
0
intersection lineations
obtained from the South Stack Group units around the Rhoscolyn antiform.
veins are of the same generation as the veins parallel to the pervasive cleavage elsewhere at Rhoscolyn, it follows
that the Bwa Du fold pair is of D
1
age. The steeply northwest-dipping orientation of the axial surfaces of the Bwa
Du folds is due to their presence on the northwest limb of a larger F
1
antiform, the amplitude of which has been
signicantly reduced during D
2
as a result of the high angle between the F
1
and F
2
axial surfaces. The core of that
larger F
1
antiform is exposed to the south on the headland (at SH 2582 7605) northwest of Porth Saint. A second F
1
synformantiform pair is exposed on the other ank of the larger F
1
antiform at the northwest corner of Porth Saint
(synform at SH 2588 7595; antiform at SH 2595 7694). This fold pair verges northwest and has an amplitude of
several tens of metres. The S
1
-parallel quartz veins in the pelite layers clearly show that S
1
/S
0
changes asymmetry
across each of these three folds (i.e. the antiform and synformantiform pair), and where it is visible, the S
2
cre-
nulation transects them.
On the steep limb of the main Rhoscolyn fold, where S
1
and S
2
are of similar orientations, observation of the
behaviour of the S
1
-parallel quartz veins is essential for establishing the age of the minor folds exposed there.
Figure 5. A composite gure showing schematically the cleavage/bedding relationships around the Rhoscolyn antiform in the pelites and
relatively pure psammites. The cleavage/bedding relations on the gently dipping limb are particularly well seen in the South Stack Formation on
the coast between SH 2588 7520 and SH 2603 7512; a good example of the relationships on the steeply dipping limb is present in the Rhoscolyn
Formation at SH 2645 7495.
Although there are minor folds in sandy pelitic layers which are clearly seen to fold S
1
, and which are therefore
unarguably F
2
minor folds (Figure 5), in the more thickly bedded psammitic units to the north of Porth yr Hwngan
(between SH 2661 7484 and SH 2667 7474) there are two fold pairs of about 50 m wavelength, which are approxi-
mately congruent to the major structure and which have a single pervasive cleavage axial planar to them. The geo-
metry of these folds is picked out by thin pelite bands. These contain S
1
-parallel quartz veins on both limbs which
are clearly axial planar to the folds (Figure 6), indicating that these fold pairs are F
1
structures. Several further F
1
folds with axial planar S
1
-parallel quartz veins may be seen in the crags immediately to the southeast of Porth yr
Hwngan (between SH 2673 7479 and SH 2679 7462).
The orientation of the F
1
fold axes and S
1
/S
0
intersection lineations is close to that of the F
2
minor folds but locally
they differ by up to 20
(Figure 4), and in the core of the main Rhoscolyn fold (at SH 2621 7510) there are examples
of minor F
2
folds where the S
1
/S
0
intersection lineation can be seen to be folded around the F
2
fold hinges.
Figure 6. A composite gure showing, semi-schematically, the geometry in down-plunge view of the F
1
folds on both limbs of the Rhoscolyn
(F
2
) antiform, with sketches of the Bwa Du (SH 2603 7633), Porth Saint (between SH 2583 7611 and SH 2598 7594), and steep limb (at SH
2661 7482) F
1
folds.
2.4. D
2
folds
The geometry of F
2
(i.e. formed during D
2
) may be determined from numerous minor folds in the South Stack
Formation that are congruent to the major structure (Figure 7). There is a signicant refraction of the S
2
crenulation
cleavage between the more pelitic (S
2
typically oriented 098/38N) and more psammitic units (S
2
typically oriented
078/59N in the more quartzitic beds). Where the S
1
cleavage is seen to be folded around F
2
minor folds, S
1
/S
0
intersection lineation measurements taken from around the folds are found to lie approximately in a plane, and
this yields a tectonic a-direction for F
2
(using the method of Ramsay 1967, pp. 469480) of about 48/299
(Figure 7). This is the same, within the variability of the measurements, as the F
2
a-direction obtained from folded
lineations in the New Harbour Group pelites, both near to the contact with the South Stack Group units on each
limb of the fold (at Bwa Du [SH 2605 7635] and Borthwen [SH 2716 7480]), and further to the northwest of
Rhoscolyn (Ramsay (1967, gure 8.20) and Hudson and Stowell (1997), in which our F
2
is their F
3
they identi-
ed the earliest cleavage as itself a crenulation, which might also be the case in the thicker pelitic beds of the South
Stack Group, e.g. at SH 2639 7501). This is in agreement with the widely held opinion that the South Stack Group
and New Harbour Group have experienced the same deformation histories, and that the more intensely deformed
condition of the New Harbour Group simply reects the difference in mechanical properties of the two units.
Figure 7. A stereoprojection (equal area, lower hemisphere) showing the geometry of the F
2
minor folds in the South Stack Formation in the
core of the Rhoscolyn antiform (at SH 2622 7510).
2.5. Later structures
The lithologies at Rhoscolyn, particularly on the steep limb of the major fold structure, contain numerous kink bands
of approximately conjugate geometry, which indicate a small and late, near-vertical shortening. There are also
several steeply dipping, oblique-slip faults, predominantly with displacements of no more than several metres.
3. D
2
MODIFICATION OF THE GEOMETRY OF THE D
1
STRUCTURES
The interpretation given above of the Rhoscolyn antiform as a D
2
structure involves the observation that during D
2
,
on the gently dipping northwest limb of the antiform, the sense of S
1
/S
0
asymmetry in the quartzitic psammites was
largely homogeneously reversed but the sense of S
1
/S
0
asymmetry in the pelites was preserved (Figure 5). The
deformation was accommodated within the quartzitic psammites by a uniformly distributed strain in which S
1
was (nominally) passively rotated, whereas in the pelites S
1
was buckled. The less pure psammites behaved in
an intermediate fashion. The difference in the behaviour of the lithologies may be attributed to the markedly
greater mechanical anisotropy of the pelites, which would have been further enhanced by the presence of the quartz
veins oriented parallel to S
1
.
In order to provide some insight into (a) the magnitude of the D
2
strains required to produce the observed angu-
lar relationships between S
0
, S
1
and S
2
, (b) the timing of the change in S
1
/S
0
asymmetry in the psammites with
respect to the development of the main D
2
fold, and (c) the orientation of S
1
prior to D
2
, we present a simple, rst-
order analysis of the D
2
strains.
The information available for estimating the D
2
strains in the pelites and psammites includes the angles between
S
2
and S
0
in both the pelites and the psammites, the angles between S
1
and S
0
in both the pelites and the psammites,
and the strain parallel to S
1
in the pelites as determined from the present (as buckled) length of the quartz veins (on
the assumption that they were planar prior to D
2
). The D
2
strains in both the pelites and the psammites may then be
estimated subject to the following additional assumptions: (a) that there was plane strain (in the prole plane of the
main Rhoscolyn antiform); (b) that the trace of S
1
in the prole plane behaves as a passive line marker during D
2
;
(c) that the trace of S
2
in the prole plane is locally parallel to the principal strain (1 e
1
) during D
2
; (d) that the
deformation in the prole plane was at constant area, so that (1 e
1
) 1/(1 e
2
); and (e) that the linear strain
parallel to the trace of S
0
in the prole plane is the same in pelite and psammite (i.e. no slip parallel to S
0
). These
are extremely demanding assumptions, especially the fourth one given that pressure solution was an important
contributor to the deformation. However, to obtain the type of quantitative information which would allow such
assumptions to be relaxed is a non-trivial task. Moreover, since any violation (within reason) of the assumptions
will not signicantly inuence the general conclusions of the type of rst-order strain analysis which is attempted
here, we believe that they form a reasonable starting point.
Given these assumptions, the principal strains in the pelites and psammites are conveniently determined in three
steps:
(1) from the strain parallel to S
1
, the angle between S
1
and S
0
, and the angle between S
2
and S
0
(all in the pelites),
the principal strains in the pelites may be obtained by solving the equation for an ellipse in terms of its semi-
axes;
(2) from these principal strains and the angle between S
2
and S
0
in the pelites, the strain parallel to S
0
may be
determined using a Mohr circle diagram for the strain in the pelites;
(3) from the strain parallel to S
0
and the angle between S
2
and S
0
in the psammites, the principal strains in the
psammites may be obtained, again by solving the equation for an ellipse in terms of its semi-axes.
The accuracy of the eld measurements of the four angles and of the shortening of the quartz veins, all deter-
mined in the F
2
prole plane at a particular contact between pelite and psammite beds, is subject to the quality of
the exposure (which is generally such that one or more of the angles is difcult to determine at any given locality).
Moreover, the values vary with the pelitic content of the psammites. Accordingly, in keeping with the rst-order
nature of the analysis, rather than acquiring a large number of readings of each of these variables and subjecting the
results to statistical analysis, representative and typical values were obtained at two locations, one on the gently
dipping northwest limb in the South Stack Formation (at SH 2575 7535) and the other on the steeply dipping
southeast limb in the Rhoscolyn Formation (at SH 2649 7492). These are stated in Table 1 and Figure 8A. On
the gently dipping limb the measured variation in the angles and the strain parallel to S
1
in the pelites was typically
10
and 0.1, respectively, about the values stated. On the steep limb the variation in the angles measured was
larger (30
, with the representative values for each angle chosen to be near the large angle end of the range
observed) but the variation in the strain parallel to S
1
in the pelites was less (0.05). The principal strains in both
the pelites and the psammites, as calculated from these representative values, are given in Table 1, together with the
strain parallel to S
1
in the psammites. The Mohr circle diagrams for strain on each limb are shown in Figure 8B and
the geometry of the corresponding strain ellipses is shown in Figure 8A. The change in orientations of S
0
and S
1
implied by the strain analysis, in both the pelites and the psammites on each limb, are given in Table 1. These
strain-induced rotations were calculated using the principal strains (for each lithology in turn) in Wettsteins equa-
tion (Ramsay and Huber 1983, p. 294):
tan 1 e
1
=1 e
2
tan
0
where, in the present instance, in the S
0
calculations is the angle between the traces of S
2
and S
0
in the prole
plane before deformation, and
0
is the angle between the traces of S
2
and S
0
after deformation, while in the S
1
calculations, is the angle between the traces of S
2
and S
1
before deformation, and
0
is the angle between the
traces of S
2
and S
1
after deformation.
The results of the analysis suggest that after removing the above strain-induced rotations, the pre-D
2
apparent
dip (Figure 8C) of S
0
in the D
2
prole plane (relative to the present-day horizontal), is about 30
SE on the gently
dipping northwest limb and 78
SE on the steeply dipping southeast limb. This leaves the rigid body rotations of the
two fold limbs to be removed, but to do that would require their pre-F
2
folding attitudes to be known. The results
indicate that there was a signicant cleavage refraction between the pelites and the psammites prior to D
2
and that
the amount of refraction was approximately the same on both limbs. The D
2
strains on the gently dipping limb are
signicantly larger than on the steeply dipping limb, but on both limbs the difference in strain between the pelites
and psammites is not large. On both limbs the sense of rotation of S
1
is clockwise looking down-plunge, and on the
Table 1. The input data and results of the strain analysis. The indicated dips of each limb are the apparent dips in the prole
plane of the Rhoscolyn antiform.
0
are the present angles between the trace of the subscripted surface and that of S
2
in the
prole plane of the Rhoscolyn antiform, whereas are those angles after removing the D
2
strain-induced rotations implied by
the results of the strain analysis. is the change in angle (magnitude of
0
) of the subscripted surface which occurred during
the formation of the antiform, with acw (anticlockwise) and cw (clockwise) indicating the sense of rotation looking down-
plunge. For perfect consistency, on a given limb
S0
for the pelites should be the same as
S0
for the psammites. The small
differences in these values of
S0
obtained here probably reect violations of the assumptions used in the strain analysis
Gently dipping (6
NW) limb Steeply dipping (80
SE) limb
Pelites Psammites Pelites Psammites
Input
(1 e
//S1
) 0.45 0.94
0
S0
30
35
75
80
0
S1
80
35
57
30
Results
(1 e
//S0
) 0.84 0.84 0.90 0.90
(1 e
1
) 2.26 1.94 1.13 1.12
(1 e
2
) 0.44 0.51 0.88 0.89
(1 e
//S1
) 0.84 1.05
S0
71
69
78
82
S1
88
69
63
36
S0
41
acw 34
acw 3
cw 2
cw
S1
8
cw 34
cw 6
cw 6
cw
Figure 8. Results of the D
2
strain analysis on the two limbs of the Rhoscolyn antiform. (A) The measured angles between the fabric elements.
Also shown are the nal calculated strain ellipses in the pelite and psammite layers. (B) Mohr circle diagrams for strain illustrating the strain in
the pelites and psammites on each limb. (C) The orientations of the traces of S
0
and S
1
, for both the gently dipping and steeply dipping limbs, in
the prole plane of the Rhoscolyn antiform after removing the strain-induced rotations (but not the rigid body rotations) of these traces by the
amounts
S0
and
S1
stated in Table 1.
steeply dipping limb this is opposite to that which would have been produced by exural slip, which is in accor-
dance with the general absence of exural slip features on the bedding surfaces around the Rhoscolyn antiform.
These results are consistent with the suggestion that the main D
2
antiform can be considered essentially as a
large kink fold in which the gently dipping limb underwent signicantly less rigid body rotation than the steeply
dipping limb (Cosgrove 1980). In this scenario, prior to the development of the buckling instability during D
2
, all
the rocks were subjected to a deformation which involved a component of top-to-the-southeast shear. Once the
buckling instability started to grow, the gently dipping limb continued to experience this shearing but on the steeply
dipping limb the deformation was primarily accommodated by rigid body rotation. In so doing, the particular
combination of strains on the two limbs did not lead to signicant differences in layer thicknesses.
Much of the observed variability in the sense of S
1
/S
0
asymmetry in the less pure psammites may be attributed to
the development of local D
2
buckling instabilities at different times during the D
2
shearing. Figure 9 shows a set of
folds developed in one pelitic psammite bed within the South Stack Formation in the core of the main antiform (at
SH 2619 7509). Some of the folds appear to have an axial planar S
1
and some fold S
1
. However, in the underlying
pelite layer there are quartz veins which are folded around all of these folds suggesting that all the folds are of D
2
age. Moreover, the sense of S
1
/S
0
asymmetry in the pelites which is implied by the quartz veins given that they are
parallel to S
1
, consistently indicates antiform to the northwest. The implication is that the differing behaviour of S
1
between the folds reects the timing of the moment when the buckling instability responsible for each fold ampli-
ed relative to the D
2
modication of the S
1
orientation in this psammitic layer.
The conclusion that the difference in D
2
strain between the pelites and psammites is not large emphasizes the
importance of considering the information presented by both the pelites and psammites in interpreting the
Rhoscolyn structure: the argument that the greater apparent intensity of the deformation features in the pelites
implies that they were much weaker than the psammites and so merely accommodated the deformation of the lat-
ter, is spurious. The relatively small longitudinal strains parallel to S
1
in the psammites also explains why S
1
remained approximately planar in those units during D
2
.
Figure 9. A set of minor folds (down-plunge view) developed in one pelitic psammite bed within the South Stack Formation (at SH 2619 7509)
showing that although the S
1
/S
0
asymmetry is variable, the geometry of the quartz veins (parallel to S
1
) in the underlying pelite layer indicates
that these are not a mixture of F
1
and F
2
folds, but rather that they are all of D
2
age.
"
Figure 10. Interpretations of that part of Greenlys one inch map which covers northwest Anglesey (Greenly 1920). (A) A simplied version of
Greenlys map showing the relationships between the Ordovician cover rocks (shaded light grey), the underlying Monian Supergroup basement
complex to the southwest and southeast (white), and the nappe above the Carmel Head thrust which repeats the succession. Outcrop and
orientation data are taken from Greenlys map. Interpretive traces of bedding are shown as bold lines, and some major fold axial traces are also
shown. The map highlights the structural contiguity between the fold structures in the basement and in the Ordovician cover. (B) A schematic
down-plunge section (assuming an average fold plunge of 20
NE) showing the relations between the Monian Supergroup basement and the
unconformably overlying Ordovician cover rocks. The repetition of the stratigraphy by the Carmel Head nappe is shown at the top of the section,
but the positions shown for the cut-offs of the unconformity on the thrust plane are entirely conjectural and do not represent a displacement
estimate. Bedding traces are shown schematically in bold lines, together with the axial traces of the major fold structures and traces of foliation
(undifferentiated).
The calculated pre-D
2
orientation of S
1
relative to bedding on the gently dipping limb (which is here interpreted
to have experienced less rigid body rotation than the other limb), is dipping at a high angle to the southeast in
accordance with the nearly upright orientation and northwest vergence of the D
1
structures. The D
1
structures were
not recumbent as has been suggested, albeit with considerable reservation, by Cosgrove (1980).
4. REGIONAL CONTEXT OF THE RHOSCOLYN STRUCTURES
The South Stack Group and New Harbour Group rocks which are exposed on Holy Island are overlain in the wes-
tern part of the main island of Anglesey by younger units of the Monian Supergroup. A major angular (about 20
)
unconformity separates these Monian metasediments from clastic sediments of Lower Ordovician age, with the
unconformity cutting up the stratigraphic section from southeast to northwest. Part of the sequence (including
the Ordovician unconformity) is repeated in north Anglesey as a result of southeast directed displacement on
the Carmel Head thrust. The general distribution of Ordovician rocks relative to the underlying basement units
is shown on Figure 10A, which is a simplied version of the classic map of Greenly (1920). From this map it
is evident that, except for the repeated sequence above the Carmel Head thrust, the Monian Supergroup metasedi-
ments lie in the core of a major upward-facing antiformal structure, overturned towards the southeast, and with an
envelope which comprises the Ordovician rocks (Figure 10B; also Coward and Siddans 1979, gure 3). A com-
plementary synformal structure to the southeast can be inferred from the distribution of rock units. Where the
unconformity is exposed, rocks above and below it share a cleavage which is axial planar to the regional scale
antiformal structure. In the Ordovician rocks the foliation forms a divergent cleavage fan, and is weakest in the
hinge region where a nite neutral point might be expected to form.
Measured normal to the general plunge direction of the antiformal structure (about 25
NE), a sequence about

10 km thick is presently exposed in Anglesey. The northeast-directed fold plunge which is seen on Holy Island is,
however, not constant, as may be inferred from the general distribution of lithologies, particularly towards the
northeast. Basement rocks are brought to the surface in antiformal cores along the coast to the south of Point Lynas,
and along a tract parallel to the northeast prolongation of the axial trace of the Rhoscolyn fold (basement high in
Figure 10A). These observations suggest that in the northeast part of the Ordovician outcrop the average fold
plunge is approximately horizontal, and locally even plunges to the southwest.
The pattern of attitudes of bedding and foliation implies that there has been local low-amplitude refolding about
northsouth trending axes, particularly along the southeastern margin of the Ordovician outcrop. This suggests that
the line of outcrop of the Ordovician unconformity may not be quite as linear through this poorly exposed tract of
land as it is portrayed on the Greenly geological map. A further signicant local anomaly is that in the synformal
zone containing the Ordovician rocks in the southwest and which reaches the coast at Rhosneigr, bedding and
foliation are signicantly oblique to the trend of the outcrop as a whole. This suggests that the synformal zone
pre-dates the main foliation-producing deformation. Since the basal part of the Ordovician sequence in the syn-
formal zone consists of a thick wedge of coarse clastic sediments, it is suggested that the synform may have
nucleated upon a pre-existing narrow trough which received those sediments.
The D
2
tectonic transport direction and sense of overturning in the Rhoscolyn area is consistent with that of the
Carmel Head thrust to the northeast. The attitude of the axial planes of the F
2
folds in the Rhoscolyn area is also
consistent with the axial planes of the folds which affect the Monian Supergroup and the overlying Ordovician
rocks over the entire western part of Anglesey. There are no regionally pervasive earlier deformation structures
affecting the Ordovician rocks. It is therefore reasonable to infer that the F
2
folding at Rhoscolyn formed during
or after Ordovician times and is part of the Caledonian orogenic activity. The northwest-vergent, early deformation
structures of the Monian Supergroup rocks must be of pre-Ordovician age. These same conclusions were stated
explicitly by Coward and Siddans (1979).
The accommodation of the major structures within the Ordovician rocks must have involved coeval deformation
within the underlying rocks of the Monian Supergroup. This could have been accomplished by the F
2
folding
which is observed in these rocks, as is concluded from the present study. Alternatively, if it were to be argued that
the F
2
folds in the Monian Supergroup rocks were pre-Ordovician, a pattern of thrust faults superimposed upon the
F
2
structures, and around which the Ordovician cover would be draped, would be required in these rocks. This
would also require some detachment and sliding at the unconformity to account for the internal deformation
and cleavage formation in the Ordovician rocks without the complementary deformation in the underlying rocks.
We are unaware of any evidence in support of the latter explanation, and conclude that the basement and cover
rocks must have been approximately homogeneously deformed together after Lower Ordovician time.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The formation of the Rhoscolyn antiform is of D
2
age. This deformation event is interpreted to be the same as that
which generated the southeast-vergent fold structures observed in the Monian Supergroup and Ordovician units
throughout northwest Anglesey and which is dated to during or after the Ordovician at the same time as the principal
movement on the Carmel Head thrust. Several earlier northwest-vergent D
1
fold structures have been identied
within the Rhoscolyn area. Since this deformation event is not present in the Ordovician rocks elsewhere on Angle-
sey, it is concluded that it was of pre-Ordovician age. The controversy concerning the interpretation of the structural
age of the Rhoscolyn antiform serves as an example of the need to consider all lithologies when using cleavage/
bedding asymmetries to infer the age of structures in areas where there is more than one phase of deformation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
H. H. acknowledges postgraduate studentship funding from the Iranian Embassy. This paper was written while
S. J. C. C. held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. S. J. C. C. acknowledges extensive discussions
on the structure of the Rhoscolyn area with Graeme Herrington, and the assistance of Rob Holloway in collecting
the data used for the strain analysis. We greatly appreciate the constructive comments of Sue Treagus, Richard
Lisle, and Alex Maltman, which led to improvements to the nal version of the paper.
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Scientic editing by Alan Boyle.

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GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL

Geol. J. 39: 141156 (2004)

NE and with an axial surface dipping about 40

NW. Numerous folds

NW) limb Steeply dipping (80

NE), a sequence about

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