Geologic fault

In geology, faults are discontinuities (cracks) in the Earth's crust that are the result of differential motion within the crust. Faults are the source of many earthquakes that are caused by slippage vertically or laterally along the fault. The largest examples are at tectonic plate boundaries, but many small faults are known to exist that are far from active plate boundaries.

Related Topics:
Geology - Crust - Earthquakes - Tectonic plate

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The two sides of a fault are called the hanging wall and footwall. By definition, the fault always dips away from the footwall. Faults can be categorized into three groups: normal faults, transform (or strike-slip) faults and reverse (or thrust) faults. For all naming distinctions, it is the orientation of the original dip and movement of the fault as it was active which must be considered, and not the present day orientation, which may have been altered by local or regional folding or tilting.

Related Topics:
Dip - Transform (or strike-slip) faults - Reverse (or thrust) faults - Folding

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