Post-Cretaceous Mesostructures and Their Formation Mechanisms, Jordan

In the current work, a variety of deformational mesostructures (tectonic and nontectonic) in the Upper Cretaceous rocks of Jordan are described and attempts have been made to explain their textures, formation and the mechanisms of development. The structures include: undulations, brecciated chert, slickensides, nodules of limestone, deformed fossils, boudinage, geodes, stylolites, flow channels and flowage structures.These structures have been described in previous studies with no correlation to the factors responsible for their formation. In this article, three types of deformation forces or a combination of them are ascribed for these structures: stress fields acting in ENE-WSW, NW-SE and NNW-SSE directions, shock waves produced by earthquakes or meteoritic impacts, and compaction resulting in density inversion and over-pressurized groundwater.