Small intrusions (< km²) on the margins of the Henry Mountains intrusive complex of southern Utah are exceptionally well exposed in three dimensions and have a variety of shapes. Our examination of the geometry, structures, and fabric of the Maiden Creek sill, Trachyte Mesa laccolith, and the Black Mesa bysmalith (cylindrical intrusion bounded by vertical faults) suggests that this range of intrusion geometry may reflect a continuum of igneous emplacement as volume increases through magma sheeting. Intrusions begin as thin sills and through incremental injection of additional sheets, inflate into laccoliths. Marginal wall rocks are strained and rotated upward. Further sheet emplacement leads to the formation of a fault at the margin of the inflating intrusion. This fault accommodates piston-like uplift of the intrusion’s roof and results in the formation of a bysmalith.

All three of these intrusions exhibit evidence for sheeting, although the evidence is weakest on the margins of the Black Mesa bysmalith. Solid-state shear zones exist between sheets in the Maiden Creek sill and on the margins of the Trachyte Mesa laccolith. Cataclastic zones also separate sheets within the Trachyte Mesa laccolith. Evidence for sheeting in the interior of the Trachyte Mesa laccolith is solely based on differences in weathering and jointing patterns. Evidence for sheeting on the margins of the Black Mesa bysmalith is based on the differences in lineation patterns and also on the distribution of cataclastic zones.