Fault (geology)

In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant
displacement as a result of rock-mass movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust result from the action of plate
tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such as subduction zones or transform faults.
Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes.

A fault plane is the plane that represents the fracture surface of a fault. A fault trace or fault line is a place where the fault
can be seen or mapped on the surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a
fault.[1][2]

Since faults do not usually consist of a single, clean fracture, geologists use the term fault zone when referring to the
zone of complex deformation associated with the fault plane.

Contents
Mechanisms of faulting
Slip, heave, throw
Hanging wall and foot wall
Fault types
Strike-slip faults
Dip-slip faults
Oblique-slip faults
Listric fault
Ring fault
Synthetic and antithetic faults
Fault rock
Impacts on structures and people
See also
Notes
References
External links

Mechanisms of faulting
Because of friction and the rigidity of the constituent rocks, the two sides of a fault cannot always glide or flow past each
other easily, and so occasionally all movement stops. The regions of
higher friction along a fault plane, where it becomes locked, are called
asperities. When a fault is locked stress builds up, and when it reaches a
level that exceeds the strength threshold, the fault ruptures and the
accumulated strain energy is released in part as seismic waves, forming
an earthquake.

Strain occurs accumulatively or instantaneously, depending on the

liquid state of the rock; the ductile lower crust and mantle accumulate
deformation gradually via shearing, whereas the brittle upper crust
reacts by fracture – instantaneous stress release – resulting in motion
along the fault. A fault in ductile rocks can also release instantaneously Normal fault in La Herradura Formation,
Morro Solar, Peru. The light layer of rock
when the strain rate is too great.
shows the displacement. A second normal
fault is at the right.
Slip, heave, throw
Slip is defined as the relative movement of geological features present on
either side of a fault plane. A fault's sense of slip is defined as the relative
motion of the rock on each side of the fault with respect to the other side.[3]
In measuring the horizontal or vertical separation, the throw of the fault is
the vertical component of the separation and the heave of the fault is the
horizontal component, as in "Throw up and heave out".[4]

The vector of slip can be

qualitatively assessed by
studying any drag folding of
strata, which may be visible on
either side of the fault; the
direction and magnitude of
heave and throw can be
measured only by finding
A fault in Morocco.The fault plane is common intersection points on
the steeply leftward-dipping line in Microfault showing a piercing point
either side of the fault (called a
the centre of the photo, which is the (the coin's diameter is 18 mm)
piercing point). In practice, it is
plane along which the rock layers to
usually only possible to find the
the left have slipped downwards,
relative to the layers to the right of slip direction of faults, and an approximation of the heave and throw vector.
the fault.
Hanging wall and foot wall
The two sides of a non-vertical fault are known as the hanging wall and footwall. The hanging wall occurs above the fault
plane and the footwall occurs below it.[5] This terminology comes from mining: when working a tabular ore body, the
miner stood with the footwall under his feet and with the hanging wall above him.[6]

Fault types
Based on direction of slip, faults can be categorized as:

strike-slip, where the offset is predominantly horizontal, parallel to the fault trace.
dip-slip, offset is predominantly vertical and/or perpendicular to the fault trace.
oblique-slip, combining strike and dip slip.

Strike-slip faults
In a strike-slip fault (also known as a wrench fault, tear fault or transcurrent
fault),[7] the fault surface (plane) is usually near vertical and the footwall
moves laterally either left or right with very little vertical motion. Strike-slip
faults with left-lateral motion are also known as sinistral faults. Those with
right-lateral motion are also known as dextral faults.[8] Each is defined by
the direction of movement of the ground as would be seen by an observer on
the opposite side of the fault.

A special class of strike-slip fault is the transform fault, when it forms a plate Satellite image of the Piqiang Fault, a
northwest trending left-lateral strike-
boundary. This class is related to an offset in a spreading center, such as a
slip fault in the Taklamakan Desert
mid-ocean ridge, or, less common, within continental lithosphere, such as the
south of the Tien Shan Mountains,
Dead Sea Transform in the Middle East or the Alpine Fault in New Zealand. China (40.3°N, 77.7°E)
Transform faults are also referred to as "conservative" plate boundaries,
inasmuch as lithosphere is neither created nor destroyed.

Dip-slip faults
Dip-slip faults can be either "normal" ("extensional") or "reverse".

In a normal fault, the hanging wall moves downward, relative to the footwall.
Schematic illustration of the two
A downthrown block between two normal faults dipping towards each other
strike-slip fault types.
is a graben. An upthrown block between two normal faults dipping away from
each other is a horst. Low-angle normal faults with regional tectonic
significance may be designated detachment faults.
A reverse fault is the opposite of a normal fault—the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall. Reverse faults indicate
compressive shortening of the crust. The dip of a reverse fault is relatively steep, greater than 45°. The terminology of
"normal" and "reverse" comes from coal-mining in England, where normal faults are the most common.[9]

A thrust fault has the same sense of motion as a reverse fault, but with the dip
of the fault plane at less than 45°.[10][11] Thrust faults typically form ramps,
flats and fault-bend (hanging wall and foot wall) folds.

Flat segments of thrust fault planes are known as flats, and inclined sections
of the thrust are known as ramps. Typically, thrust faults move within Normal faults in Spain, between
formations by forming flats and climb up sections with ramps. which rock layers have slipped
downwards (at photo's centre)
Fault-bend folds are formed by movement of the hanging wall over a non-
planar fault surface and are found associated with both
extensional and thrust faults.

Faults may be reactivated at a later time with the movement in

the opposite direction to the original movement (fault
inversion). A normal fault may therefore become a reverse fault
and vice versa.

Thrust faults form nappes and klippen in the large thrust belts.
Subduction zones are a special class of thrusts that form the
largest faults on Earth and give rise to the largest earthquakes. Cross-sectional illustration of normal and reverse
dip-slip faults

Oblique-slip faults
A fault which has a component of dip-slip and a component of
strike-slip is termed an oblique-slip fault. Nearly all faults have
some component of both dip-slip and strike-slip, so defining a
fault as oblique requires both dip and strike components to be
measurable and significant. Some oblique faults occur within
transtensional and transpressional regimes, and others occur
where the direction of extension or shortening changes during
the deformation but the earlier formed faults remain active.

The hade angle is defined as the complement of the dip angle; it

is the angle between the fault plane and a vertical plane that
strikes parallel to the fault.

Listric fault
Listric faults are similar to normal faults but the fault plane curves, the dip being steeper near the surface, then shallower
with increased depth. The dip may flatten into a sub-horizontal décollement, resulting in horizontal slip on a horizontal
plane. The illustration shows slumping of the hanging wall along a listric fault. Where the hanging wall is absent (such as
on a cliff) the footwall may slump in a manner that creates multiple listric faults.

Ring fault
Ring faults, also known as caldera faults, are faults that occur within
collapsed volcanic calderas[12] and the sites of bolide strikes, such as the
Chesapeake Bay impact crater. Ring faults are result of a series of overlapping
normal faults, forming a circular outline. Fractures created by ring faults may
be filled by ring dikes[12].

Oblique-slip fault
Synthetic and antithetic faults
Synthetic and antithetic faults are terms used to describe minor faults
associated with a major fault. Synthetic faults dip in the same direction as the
major fault while the antithetic faults dip in the opposite direction. These
faults may be accompanied by rollover anticlines (e.g. the Niger Delta
Structural Style).

Fault rock
All faults have a measurable thickness, made up of deformed rock Listric fault (red line)
characteristic of the level in the crust where the faulting happened, of the
rock types affected by the fault and of the presence and nature of any
mineralising fluids. Fault rocks are classified by their textures and the
implied mechanism of deformation. A fault that passes through different
levels of the lithosphere will have many different types of fault rock developed
along its surface. Continued dip-slip displacement tends to juxtapose fault
rocks characteristic of different crustal levels, with varying degrees of
overprinting. This effect is particularly clear in the case of detachment faults
and major thrust faults.

The main types of fault rock include:

Salmon-colored fault gouge and
Cataclasite – a fault rock which is cohesive with a poorly developed or associated fault separates two
absent planar fabric, or which is incohesive, characterised by generally different rock types on the left (dark
angular clasts and rock fragments in a finer-grained matrix of similar gray) and right (light gray). From the
composition. Gobi of Mongolia.
Tectonic or Fault breccia – a medium- to coarse-grained cataclasite
containing >30% visible fragments.
 Fault gouge – an incohesive, clay-rich fine- to ultrafine-grained cataclasite, which may possess a planar fabric
and containing <30% visible fragments. Rock clasts may be present

Clay smear - clay-rich fault gouge formed in sedimentary sequences

containing clay-rich layers which are strongly deformed and sheared into
the fault gouge.
Mylonite - a fault rock which is cohesive and characterized by a well-developed
planar fabric resulting from tectonic reduction of grain size, and commonly
containing rounded porphyroclasts and rock fragments of similar composition to
minerals in the matrix
Pseudotachylite – ultrafine-grained glassy-looking material, usually black and
flinty in appearance, occurring as thin planar veins, injection veins or as a matrix
to pseudoconglomerates or breccias, which infills dilation fractures in the host
rock.

Impacts on structures and people Inactive fault from Sudbury

In geotechnical engineering a fault often forms a discontinuity that may have a large to Sault Ste. Marie, Northern
Ontario, Canada
influence on the mechanical behavior (strength, deformation, etc.) of soil and rock
masses in, for example, tunnel, foundation, or slope construction.

The level of a fault's activity can be critical for (1) locating buildings, tanks, and pipelines and (2) assessing the seismic
shaking and tsunami hazard to infrastructure and people in the vicinity. In California, for example, new building
construction has been prohibited directly on or near faults that have moved within the Holocene Epoch (the last 11,700
years) of the Earth's geological history.[13] Also, faults that have shown movement during the Holocene plus Pleistocene
Epochs (the last 2.6 million years) may receive consideration, especially for critical structures such as power plants, dams,
hospitals, and schools. Geologists assess a fault's age by studying soil features seen in shallow excavations and
geomorphology seen in aerial photographs. Subsurface clues include shears and their relationships to carbonate nodules,
eroded clay, and iron oxide mineralization, in the case of older soil, and lack of such signs in the case of younger soil.
Radiocarbon dating of organic material buried next to or over a fault shear is often critical in distinguishing active from
inactive faults. From such relationships, paleoseismologists can estimate the sizes of past earthquakes over the past
several hundred years, and develop rough projections of future fault activity.