We introduce four invariants of algebraic varieties over imperfect fields, each of which measures either geometric nonnormality or geometric non-reducedness. The first objective of this article is to establish fundamental properties of these invariants. We then apply our results to curves over imperfect fields. In particular, we establish a genus change formula and prove the boundedness of non-smooth regular curves of genus one. We also compute our invariants for some explicit examples.2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. 14G17, 14D06. Key words and phrases. imperfect fields, generic fibres, positive characteristic. 1 2 HIROMU TANAKA 5.1. Definition 36 5.2. Base changes 37 5.3. Behaviour under morphisms 38 5.4. Frobenius factorisation 39 5.5. Q-Gorenstein index 40 6. Frobenius length of geometric non-reducedness m F (X/k) 42 6.1. Definition 42 6.2. Base changes 43 6.3. Behaviour under morphisms 44 6.4. Frobenius factorisation 44 7. Thickening exponents ǫ(X/k) 45 7.1. Definition 45 7.2. Base changes 47 7.3. Behaviour under morphisms 49 8. Relation between invariants 50 8.1. Geometric generic embedding dimension 50 8.2. Geometric non-reducedness 51 8.3. Geometric non-normality 52 8.4. Summary of relations 53 9. Examples 53 9.1. q-Fermat complete intersections 54 9.2. Curves of genus zero 63 9.3. Curves of genus one 65 10. Genus change formula 67 11. Boundedness of regular curves 70 11.1. Very ampleness 70 11.2. Boundedness 72 11.3. Non-smooth geometrically reduced curves of genus one 75 References 79