A model for low amplitude detachment folding and syntectonic stratigraphy based on the conservation of mass equation

Solutions of these two models are in excellent agreement with geometric, and stratigraphic relations documented in fold-and-thrust belts, and analog experiments. Moreover, the model indicates that fold growth in this class of structures is a self-affine process. A compilation of detachment folds around the world indicates that these structures share a common profile. Moreover, fold amplitude and wavelength of these folds are scaled by different amounts, confirming this result. The stratigraphy obtained with the growth strata model exhibits the typical thinning, and truncation of timelines toward the core of the anticline, cross-cutting relations often observed in seismic cross-sections and field data.