Basics of Seismology

Earthquakes really pose little direct danger to human beings. Their effects like
ground shaking, ground displacement, liquefaction, flooding and fire are posing danger to
human beings. One of the first attempts at the scientific study of earthquakes followed the
1755 Lisbon earthquake. Other especially notable earthquakes that spurred major
developments in the science of seismology include the 1857 Basilicata earthquake, 1906
San Francisco earthquake, the 1964 Alaska earthquake and the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman
earthquake.
Most Destructive Known Earthquakes (Death toll > 200,000)
1. The most destructive earthquake occurred in Shaanxi, (formerly Shensi), China,
on January 23, 1556. The magnitude of the earthquake was ~8 on Richter scale
that killed 830,000 people. The earthquake was felt even more than 800 km away
from the epicenter. Reports of geological effects like ground fissures, uplift,
subsidence, sand blows, liquefaction and landslides were received.
2. The second biggest earthquake occurred in Tangshan, China on July 27, 1976
with magnitude of 7.5 on Richter scale. More than 255,000 people were declared
officially dead, but the estimated death toll was as high as 655,000. The damage
extended as far as Beijing and it is most likely the greatest death toll from an
earthquake in the last four centuries.
3. The 1138 Aleppo earthquake was an earthquake that was located near the town of
Aleppo in northern Syria occurred on October 11, 1138. It is listed as the third
deadliest earthquake in history. However, the death toll of 230,000 is based on a
historical coalesce of this earthquake with other two earthquakes, which occurred
on November 1137 in the Jazira plain and another large seismic event on 30
September 1139 in the Azerbaijani city of Ganja.
4. On December 26, 2004, devastative earthquake of this century occurred in
Sumatra region, which is the third largest earthquake in the world since 1900. In
total number of death toll went up to 227,898. The tsunami caused more
casualties than any other in recorded history. Subsidence and landslides were
observed in Sumatra. A mud volcano near Baratang, Andaman Islands became
active on December 28 and gas emissions were reported in Arakan, Myanmar.
5. The Haiti region experienced a devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010, with
magnitude of 7.0 on Richter scale. According to official estimates 222,570 people
were killed, which include 4 people, killed by a local tsunami.
6. The Damghan Earthquake was an earthquake of magnitude 8.0, which struck a
320 km stretch of Iran on December 22, 856. The earthquake's epicenter was said
to be directly below the city of Damghan, which was then the capital of Iran. It

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caused approximately 200,000 deaths, making it the sixth deadliest earthquake in

recorded history. The earthquake was caused by the Alpide earthquake belt,
which is among the most seismically active areas on earth.
7. On December 16, 1920, Haiyuan, Ningxia (Ning-hsia) of China region
experienced devastative earthquake with magnitude of 7.8 on Richter scale. Total
destruction, XII - the maximum intensity on the Mercalli scale was experienced in
the Lijunbu-Haiyuan-Ganyanchi area. About 200 km of surface faulting was seen
from Lijunbu through Ganyanchi to Jingtai. There were large numbers of
landslides and ground cracks throughout the epicentral area. Some rivers were
dammed, others changed course. Although it was usually called as the “Kansu
(now Gansu) earthquake” by Western countries, the epicenter and highest
intensities were observed in Ningxia Autonomous Region.
Seismology is derived from Greek words “seismos” (earthquake) and “logos”
(study), the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through
the Earth. The events that generate seismic waves are called seismic sources. The most
common seismic sources are tectonic (earthquakes related to plate tectonics) and volcanic
(earthquakes that occur on volcanoes. The field also includes studies of earthquake
effects, such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic,
oceanic, atmospheric, and artificial processes (such as explosions). A related field that
uses geology to infer information regarding past earthquakes is paleo seismology. A
recording of earth motion as a function of time is called a seismogram.
Seismic Waves
Seismic waves are produced due to sudden breaking of rocks either due to natural
cause or due to explosion. These waves propagate in the form of energy that travels
through the earth and is recorded on seismographs.
Types of Seismic Waves
Seismic waves move in different ways with different speeds, based on its
movement they can be categorized into different kinds. Earthquakes, and other sources of
seismic waves, which travel through rock, and provide an effective way to image both
sources and structures deep within the Earth. The two main types of waves are body
waves and surface waves.
Body waves can travel through the earth's inner layers, but surface waves can only
move along the surface of the planet like ripples on water. Earthquakes radiate seismic
energy as both body and surface waves.

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Fig 1: Chart showing types of Seismic Waves

1) Body Waves
Traveling through the interior of the earth, body waves arrive before the surface
waves emitted by an earthquake. These waves are of a higher frequency than surface
waves.
a) P Waves
P wave or Pressure waves or Primary waves are longitudinal waves that
travel at maximum velocity within solids. The first wave originates as body wave
from the focus of the earthquake. This is the fastest kind of seismic wave and
recorded at a seismic station first. The P wave can move through solid rock and the
liquid layers of the earth. It propagates as a longitudinal wave, so it pushes and pulls
the rock as it moves through them. Sometimes animals can hear the P waves of an
earthquake. Dogs, for instance, commonly begin barking hysterically just before the
surface waves arrive. Also a kind of a parrot called “Budgerigar” jumps abnormally
before the earthquakes occur, but people can only feel the bump and rattle of these
waves. Some scientists are trying to give warning signal after recording of P – waves,
but which has little use in terms of saving life and property, since the time difference

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between P – waves and S – waves are more if the distance from the epicenter is more.
The location nearer to the epicenter may not have the time to get the warning in time,
where the effect of tremor will be more.

Figure 1 – Model of P wave propagation through a medium. The arrow shows the direction that
the wave is moving. The P – wave propagation is similar to the propagation of longitudinal
waves propagates through the medium by means of compression and dilation. Image Courtesy:
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html
Due to their pushing and pulling nature, P waves are also known as
compressional waves. When P waves are propagating through rocks, they move the
particles of the rocks in the same direction of wave propagation.
b) S Waves
The another type of body wave originated from an earthquake, shear waves
or secondary wave or S wave, which is the second wave arrived after P wave. S
wave is slower than a P wave and can only move through solid rock, not through any
liquid medium like water since, shear waves do not exist in fluids with essentially no
shear strength, such as air or water. S waves propagate in the form of transverse
wave, so it moves rock particles up and down or side-to-side. So the particle
displacement is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation.

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Figure 2 – Model of S wave propagation through a medium. The arrow shows the direction that
the wave is moving. The S – wave propagation is similar to the propagation of transverse waves
propagates through the medium by means of crust and trough, which propagate in both vertical
and horizontal planes. Image Courtesy: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html

2) Surface Waves
These waves propagate only through the crust. In comparison to body waves these
waves are low frequency waves. These waves can easily be detected in the
seismogram, since these waves propagates slower than P-waves and S-waves, but
because they are guided by the surface of the Earth and their energy is thus trapped
near the Earth's surface, they can be much larger in amplitude than body waves, and
can be the largest signals seen in earthquake seismograms and hence the strength of
the surface waves are more in shallow earthquakes than the deep seated earthquakes.
This is the reason behind the devastating nature of the shallow earthquakes.
As these waves propagate at low velocity, they are responsible for the damage and
destruction of lives and properties associated with earthquakes.

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Figure 3: Showing propagation of P – Wave and S – waves.

Note: 1) Solid lines marked P are compressional waves dashed lines marked S are shear
waves, 2) S waves do not travel through the core but may be converted to compressional
waves (marked K) on entering the core (PKP, SKS), 3) Waves may be reflected at the
surface (PP, PPP, SS).
Love Waves
It is named after A.E.H. Love, a British mathematician given the
mathematical model for this wave in 1911. It fastest of all surface wave and
propagates in the ground from side-to-side. Since these waves are confined to the
surface of the crust, they produce entirely horizontal motion.

Figure 4 – Model of Love wave propagation through a medium. The arrow shows the direction
that the wave is moving. The Love propagation is similar to tr. The propagation transverse
waves, but the crust and trough of these seismic waves are in the horizontal plane only. Image
Courtesy: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html

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a) Rayleigh Waves
Rayleigh waves are mathematically predicted by John William Strutt Lord
Rayleigh in 1885. Like an ocean waves, Rayleigh wave rolls along the ground just
like a wave rolls across a lake or an ocean. Since it rolls, it moves the ground up and
down and side-to-side in the same direction of wave propagation, most of the shaking
felt from an earthquake is due to the Rayleigh wave. The shaking produced by these
waves is much larger than the other type seismic waves.

Figure 5 – Model of a Rayleigh wave propagates through a medium. The arrow shows the
direction that the wave is moving. These seismic waves are similar to oceanic waves, rolls the
ground up side down as well as side to side in the direction of propagation. Image Courtesy:
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html

Where Do Earthquakes occur?

Earthquakes can occur along plate edges and along faults. The earth's crust (the
outermost layer of the planet) is made up of several pieces, called plates. These plates are
moved around by the motion of a deeper part of the earth (the mantle) that lies
underneath the crust. These plates are always bumping into each other; pull away each
other, or sliding past each other. The plates usually move at about the same speed that
your fingernails grow. Earthquakes usually occur where two plates are running into each
other or sliding past each other. The plates under the oceans are called oceanic plates and
the rest are continental plates.
Plate Tectonic Theory – Origin of Earthquakes
Earthquakes can occur at any time and at any in the world. They occur along the
plate edges and faults. This theory was the outcome of the hypothesis of continental drift
proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912. In his hypothesis, he suggested that the present

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continents once formed a single land mass which had drifted apart thus formed separate
the continents from the Earth's core, which is much similar to the "icebergs" of low
density granite floating on a sea of more dense basalt. The theory was sidelined, due to
lack of detailed evidence and calculation of the forces involved in their drift.

Figure 6: Positions plate tectonics during different time periods.

Key principles
The division of the outer parts of the Earth's interior into lithosphere and
asthenosphere is based on mechanical differences and in the ways that heat is transferred.
The lithosphere is cooler and more rigid, whilst the asthenosphere is hotter and
mechanically weaker. Also, the lithosphere loses heat by conduction whereas the
asthenosphere also transfers heat by convection and has a nearly adiabatic temperature
gradient. This division should not be confused with the chemical subdivision of the Earth
into (from innermost to outermost) core, mantle, and crust.

Figure 7: 1) continental crust, 2) oceanic crust, 3) upper mantle, 4) lower mantle, 5) outer
core and 6) inner core

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A: Mohorovičić discontinuity, B: Gutenberg Discontinuity and C: Lehmann discontinuity

The lithosphere contains both crust and some mantle. A given piece of mantle
may be part of the lithosphere or the asthenosphere at different times, depending on its
temperature, pressure and shear strength. The key principle of plate tectonics is that the
lithosphere exists as separate and distinct tectonic plates, which ride on the fluid-like
(visco-elastic solid) asthenosphere. Plate motions range up to a typical 10-40 mm yr -1
(Mid-Atlantic Ridge; about as fast as fingernails grow), to about 160 mm yr -1 (Nazca
Plate; about as fast as hair grows). The plates are around 100 km thick and consist of
lithospheric mantle overlain by either of two types of crustal material: oceanic crust and
continental crust. The two types of crust differ in thickness, with continental crust
considerably thicker than oceanic (50 km vs. 5 km).

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The distinction between continental crust and oceanic crust is based on the density
of constituent materials. Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust because of
presence of large amount silicon. Oceanic crust is denser because it has less silicon and
heavier elements. As a result, oceanic crust generally lies below sea level (for example
most of the Pacific Plate), while the continental crust projects above sea level.
Plate Boundaries
One plate meets another along a plate boundary, and plate boundaries are
commonly associated with geological events such as earthquakes and the creation of
topographic features like mountains, volcanoes and oceanic trenches. The majority of the
world's active volcanoes occur along plate boundaries, with the Pacific Plate's Ring of
Fire being most active and most widely known.
As the giant plates move, along their borders, tremendous energies are unleashed
resulting in tremors that transform to Earth’s surface. All the plates appear to be moving
at different relative speeds and independent of each other. But the whole jigsaw puzzle of
plates is interconnected. No single plate can move without affecting others, and the
activity of one can influence another thousands of miles away. For example, as the
Atlantic Ocean grows wider with the spreading of the African Plate away from the South
American Plate, the Pacific sea floor is being consumed in deep subduction trenches over
ten thousand miles away.
Plate Edges
Most earthquakes occur along the edge of the oceanic and continental plates.
The earth's crust (the outer layer of the planet) is made up of several pieces, called
plates. The plates under the oceans are called oceanic plates and the rest are continental
plates. The plates are moved around by the motion of a deeper part of the earth (the
mantle) that lies underneath the crust. These plates are always bumping into each other,
pulling away from each other, or past each other. The plates usually move at about the
same speed that your fingernails grow. Earthquakes usually occur where two plates are
running into each other or sliding past each other.
Rates of motion
These average rates of plate separations can range widely. The Arctic Ridge has
the slowest rate (less than 2.5 cm/yr), and the East Pacific Rise near Easter Island, in the
South Pacific about 3,400 km west of Chile, has the fastest rate (more than 15 cm/yr).
Evidence of past rates of plate movement also can be obtained from geologic
mapping studies. If a rock formation of known age -- with distinctive composition,
structure, or fossils - mapped on one side of a plate boundary can be matched with the
same formation on the other side of the boundary, then measuring the distance that the
formation has been offset can give an estimate of the average rate of plate motion. This

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simple but effective technique has been used to determine the rates of plate motion at
divergent boundaries, for example the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and transform boundaries,
such as the San Andreas Fault.

Figure 1 - An image of the world's plates and their boundaries. Notice that many plate
boundaries do not coincide with coastlines.

Current plate movement can be tracked directly by means of ground-based or

space-based geodetic measurements; geodesy is the science of the size and shape of the
Earth. Ground-based measurements are taken with conventional but very precise ground-
surveying techniques, using laser-electronic instruments. However, because plate motions
are global in scale, they are best measured by satellite-based methods. The late 1970s
witnessed the rapid growth of space geodesy, a term applied to space-based techniques
for taking precise, repeated measurements of carefully chosen points on the Earth's
surface separated by hundreds to thousands of kilometers. The three most commonly
used space-geodetic techniques -- very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), satellite
laser ranging (SLR), and the Global Positioning System (GPS) -- are based on

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technologies developed for military and aerospace research, notably radio astronomy and
satellite tracking.
Major plates
African Plate, Antarctic Plate, Arabian Plate, Australian Plate, Caribbean Plate,
Cocos Plate, Eurasian Plate, Indian Plate, Juan de Fuca Plate, Nazca Plate, North
American Plate, Pacific Plate, Philippine Plate, Scotia Plate and South American Plate
Minor plates
Aegean Sea Plate, Altiplano Plate, Amurian Plate, Anatolian Plate, Balmoral Reef
Plate, Banda Sea Plate, Bird's Head Plate, Burma Plate, Caroline Plate, Conway Reef
Plate, Easter Plate, Futuna Plate, Galapagos Plate, Hellenic Plate, Iranian Plate, Jan
Mayen Plate, Juan Fernandez Plate, Kermadec Plate, Manus Plate, Maoke Plate, Mariana
Plate, Molucca Sea Plate, New Hebrides Plate, Niuafo'ou Plate, North Andes Plate, North
Bismarck Plate, Okhotsk Plate, Okinawa Plate, Panama Plate, Rivera Plate, Sandwich
Plate, Shetland Plate, Solomon Sea Plate, Somali Plate, South Bismarck Plate, Sunda
Plate, Timor Plate, Tonga Plate, Woodlark Plate and Yangtze Plate.

UNDERSTANDING PLATE MOTIONS

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Most movement occurs along narrow zones between plates where the results of
plate-tectonic forces are most evident. There are four types of plate boundaries:
 Divergent boundaries -- where new crust is generated as the plates pull away from
each other.
 Convergent boundaries -- where crust is destroyed as one plate dives under
another.
 Transform boundaries -- where crust is neither produced nor destroyed as the
plates slide horizontally past each other.
 Plate boundary zones -- broad belts in which boundaries are not well defined and
the effects of plate interaction are unclear.
Divergent boundaries
Divergent boundaries occur along spreading centers where plates are moving
apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle. Picture two giant
conveyor belts, facing each other but slowly moving in opposite directions as they
transport newly formed oceanic crust away from the ridge crest.
Perhaps the best known of the divergent boundaries is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This
submerged mountain range, which extends from the Arctic Ocean to beyond the southern
tip of Africa, is but one segment of the global mid-ocean ridge system that encircles the
Earth. The rate of spreading along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge averages about 2.5 centimeters
per year (cm/yr), or 25 km in a million years. This rate may seem slow by human
standards, but because this process has been going on for millions of years, it has resulted
in plate movement of thousands of kilometers. Seafloor spreading over the past 100 to
200 million years has caused the Atlantic Ocean to grow from a tiny inlet of water
between the continents of Europe, Africa, and the Americas into the vast ocean that exists
today.

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The volcanic country of Iceland, which straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, offers
scientists a natural laboratory for studying on land the processes also occurring along the
submerged parts of a spreading ridge. Iceland is splitting along the spreading center
between the North American and Eurasian Plates, as North America moves westward
relative to Eurasia.

Convergent boundaries
The size of the Earth has not changed significantly during the past 600 million
years, and very likely not since shortly after its formation 4.6 billion years ago. The
Earth's unchanging size implies that the crust must be destroyed at about the same rate as
it is being created. Such destruction (recycling) of crust takes place along convergent

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boundaries where plates are moving toward each other, and sometimes one plate sinks (is
subducted) under another. The location, where sinking of a plate occurs, is called a
subduction zone.
Convergence can occur between an oceanic and a largely continental plate, or
between two largely oceanic plates, or between two largely continental plates.
Oceanic-continental convergence
When an oceanic plate pushes into and subducts under a continental plate, the
overriding continental plate is lifted up and a mountain range is created. Even though the
oceanic plate as a whole sinks smoothly and continuously into the subduction trench, the
deepest part of the subducting plate breaks into smaller pieces. These smaller pieces
become locked in place for long periods of time before moving suddenly and generating
large earthquakes. Such earthquakes are often accompanied by uplift of the land by as
much as a few meters. For example, Sumatra 2004 earthquake caused uplift due to
subduction of Indian plate into beneath the overriding Burma plate.
In Pacific Ocean, number of long narrow, curving trenches for thousands of
kilometers long and they cuts 8 to 10 km deep into the ocean floor. Trenches are the
deepest parts of the ocean floor and are created by subduction.

Off the coast of South America along the Peru-Chile trench, the oceanic Nazca
Plate is pushing into and being subducted under the continental part of the South
American Plate. In turn, the overriding South American Plate is being lifted up, creating
the towering Andes Mountains, the backbone of the continent. Strong, destructive
earthquakes and the rapid uplift of mountain ranges are common in this region. Even
though the Nazca Plate as a whole is sinking smoothly and continuously into the trench,
the deepest part of the subducting plate breaks into smaller pieces that become locked in
place for long periods of time before suddenly moving to generate large earthquakes.
Such earthquakes are often accompanied by uplift of the land by as much as a few
meters.
Oceanic-continental convergence also sustains many of the Earth's active
volcanoes, such as those in the Andes and the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest.

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The eruptive activity is clearly associated with subduction. Ring of fire region, which
often experiences earthquake and volcanic activity due to Oceanic – Continental
convergence.

Ring of Fire

Quake rattled Earth orbit, had little jogging

Some of the smaller islands off the southwest coast of Sumatra may have moved
to further southwest by about 20 meters. The northwestern tip of the Indonesian territory
of Sumatra may also have shifted to the southwest by around 36 meters. A shift of mass
towards the Earth's centre during the quake caused the planet to spin faster by three
microseconds, and to tilt about 2.5 centimeters on its axis.
Oceanic-oceanic convergence
As with oceanic-continental convergence, when two oceanic plates converge, one
is usually subducted under the other, and in the process a trench is formed. The Marianas
Trench (paralleling the Mariana Islands), for example, marks where the fast-moving
Pacific Plate converges against the slower moving Philippine Plate. The Challenger
Deep, at the southern end of the Marianas Trench, plunges deeper into the Earth's interior
(nearly 11,000 m) than Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain, rises above sea level
(about 8,854 m).

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Subduction processes in oceanic-oceanic plate convergence also result in the

formation of volcanoes. Over millions of years, the erupted lava and volcanic debris pile
up on the ocean floor until a submarine volcano rises above sea level to form an island
volcano. Such volcanoes are typically strung out in chains called island arcs.

As the name implies, volcanic island arcs, which closely parallel the trenches, are
generally curved. The trenches are the key to understanding how island arcs such as the
Marianas and the Aleutian Islands have formed and why they experience numerous
strong earthquakes. The Aleutian Islands are a chain of more than 300 small volcanic
islands forming part of the Aleutian Arc in the Northern Pacific Ocean. Occupying an
area of 17,666 km² and extending about 1,931 km westward from the Alaska Peninsula
toward the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Continental-continental convergence
When two continents meet head-on, neither plate subducted, since the continental
rocks are relatively light and, like two colliding icebergs, resist downward motion.
Instead, the crust tends to buckle and be pushed upward or sideways. The collision of
India into Asia 50 million years ago caused the Eurasian Plate to crumple up and override
the Indian Plate.
After the collision, the slow continuous convergence of the two plates over
millions of years pushed up the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to their present
heights. The Himalayan mountain range dramatically demonstrates one of the most
visible and spectacular consequences of plate tectonics. Most of this growth occurred
during the past 10 million years. The Himalayas, towering as high as 8,854 m above sea
level, form the highest continental mountains in the world. Moreover, the neighboring
Tibetan Plateau, at an average elevation of about 4,600 m, is higher than all the peaks in
the Alps except for Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa, and is well above the summits of most
mountains in the United States.

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Above: The collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates has pushed up the
Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. Below: Cartoon cross sections showing the meeting
of these two plates before and after their collision. The reference points (small squares)
show the amount of uplift of an imaginary point in the Earth's crust during this
mountain-building process.

Transform boundaries
The zone between two plates sliding horizontally past one another is called a
transform-fault boundary, or simply a transform boundary. The concept of transform
faults originated with Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson, who proposed that these
large faults or fracture zones connect two spreading centers (divergent plate boundaries)
or, less commonly, trenches (convergent plate boundaries). Most transform faults are
found on the ocean floor. They commonly offset the active spreading ridges, producing

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zig-zag plate margins, and are generally defined by shallow earthquakes. However, a few
occur on land, for example the San Andreas Fault zone in California. This transform fault
connects the East Pacific Rise, a divergent boundary to the south, with the South Gorda --
Juan de Fuca -- Explorer Ridge, another divergent boundary to the north.

The San Andreas is one of the few transform faults exposed on land.
The San Andreas Fault zone, which is about 1,300 km long and in places tens of
kilometers wide, slices through two thirds of the length of California. Along it, the
Pacific Plate has been grinding horizontally past the North American Plate for 10 million
years, at an average rate of about 5 cm/yr. Land on the west side of the fault zone (on the
Pacific Plate) is moving in a northwesterly direction relative to the land on the east side
of the fault zone (on the North American Plate).

Aerial view of the San Andreas Fault slicing through the Carrizo Plain in the
Temblor Range east of the city of San Luis Obispo.
Plate-boundary zones

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Not all plate boundaries are as simple as the main types discussed above. In some
regions, the boundaries are not well defined because the plate-movement deformation
occurring there extends over a broad belt (called a plate-boundary zone). One of these
zones marks the Mediterranean-Alpine region between the Eurasian and African Plates,
within which several smaller fragments of plates (micro-plates) have been recognized.
Because plate-boundary zones involve at least two large plates and one or more
microplates caught up between them, they tend to have complicated geological structures
and earthquake patterns.

Faults
Earthquakes can also occur far from the edges of plates, along faults. Faults are
cracks in the earth where sections of a plate (or two plates) are moving in different
directions. Faults are caused by all that bumping and sliding the plates do. They are more
common near the edges of the plates. Faults away from plate boundaries are called as
intra – plate faults.

Types of Faults
Normal faults are the cracks where one block of rock is sliding downward and
away from another block of rock. These faults usually occur in areas where a plate is very
slowly splitting apart or where two plates are pulling away from each other. A normal
fault is defined by the hanging wall moving down relative to the footwall, which is
moving up.

Normal fault - the 'footwall' is on the 'up thrown' side of the fault, moving upwards. The
'hanging wall' is on the 'downthrown' side of the fault, moving downwards.

Reverse faults are cracks formed where one plate is pushing into another plate.
They also occur where a plate is folding up because it's being compressed by another

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plate pushing against it. At these faults, one block of rock is sliding underneath another
block or one block is being pushed up over the other. A reverse fault is defined by the
hanging wall moving up relative to the footwall, which is moving down.

Reverse fault - this time, the 'footwall' is on the 'downthrown' side of the fault, moving
downwards, and the 'hanging wall' is on the 'up thrown' side of the fault, moving
upwards. When the hanging wall is on the up thrown side, it 'hangs' over the footwall.

A thrust fault is a dip-slip fault in which the upper block, above the fault plane,
moves up and over the lower block. This type of faulting is common in areas of
compression, such as regions where one plate is being subducted under another as in
Japan and along the Washington coast. When the dip angle is shallow, a reverse fault is
often described as a thrust fault.

Strike-slip faults are the cracks between two plates that are sliding past each
other. The San Andreas Fault is a strike-slip fault. It's the most famous California fault
and has caused a lot of powerful earthquakes.

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Strike-slip faults - (Left) a left-lateral strike-slip fault. No matter which side of the fault
you are on, the other side is moving to the left. (Right) a right-lateral strike-slip fault. No
matter which side of the fault you are on, the other side is moving to the right. The San
Andreas Fault in California is an example of a right lateral fault.

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