Contorted Strata are beds which are highly folded, plicated, and twisted—the folds being extremely irregular, and giving rise to rapid changes in the direction and angle of inclination. Contorted strata are frequently crumpled and puckered—the fossils and pebbles which they may chance to contain being compressed, flattened, and distorted—facts which show that the beds have been subjected to great crushing and squeezing.
Contorted Strata
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 3: Catarrh to Dion
Source scan(s): p. 0455