Melanges are found in over 70 countries, usually in mountainous areas, near recent or ancient tectonic subduction zones. The Franciscan Complex of northern California is geologically infamous for its many melanges.   There is a connection between Medley "and "Melange": “medley” is an English word loosely meaning “mixture”, for which the French is “mélange”. The acute accent above the “e” in mélange (pronounced "may-LAWN-juh") is generally neglected in the United States. Melange is  pronounced "mell-AHN-juh." In 1919, the British geologist Edward Greenly first described, as “autoclastic mélange”, the chaotic Gwna Melange of Anglesey, in North Wales. The details of melange formation are controversial: there are over 2000 papers on the geologic aspects of melanges but few address the   troublesome geotechnical  aspects (Medley, 1994). The geological literature of melanges is   complicated by many apparent synonyms for melange fabrics,  including: olistostromes, argille scagliose (scaly clay), sedimentary chaos,  mega- breccia, chaotic structure, complex formations, lenticular fabric, tectonic mixtures, friction carpets, Varicolored Clays and wildflysch.

Gwna Melange, North Wales.