Minor structures Click here to see how to use cleavage to aid understanding of folds . Beware - you may find it hard to navigate back to this site.
Cleavage is a new fabric the develops in rocks during deformation.
There are several ways in which cleavage can form. In slates the cleavage can come to dominate the rock so that you have to look really hard to find features like bedding. Slatey cleavage results from the mechanical realignment or growth of platey minerals such as clays and micas, essentially so that they are flattened perpendicular to the direction of maximum compression. When rock layers with different mechanical properties are interlayered cleavage is often found to refract through the layers . Cleavage planes can also form by dissolution of material - although in these situations it is commonly spaced.