Interbedded Precambrian metasedimentary shale, siltstone, and sandstone interbeds deformed by folding during the Mazatzal Orogeny. Sand-rich layers mostly maintain layer thickness during folding and exhibit local thrust faulting, while shale-rich layers undergo layer thickness changes during folding that are accommodated by fold-axis parallel cleavage.
The top of a single bed is featured in the along-strike portion of the outcrop, showing that a single bed (thinly interbedded siltstone and shale) shortened by a periclinal folding pattern; this fold interference pattern is a result of the non-cylindrical nature of the larger-scale fold structure. Pieces of the bed above this layer preserved in the outcrop exhibit fold axis-perpendicular slickensides, indicating that some layers accommodate folding at least partially by flexural slip.
These fold patterns are later cut by a set of brittle conjugate shear fractures.
Outcrop is in Barnhardt Canyon, near Payson, Arizona.