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Fault Terminology

The document defines key fault terminology. It explains that a fault plane separates the Earth into two fault blocks. It also defines the footwall and hanging wall, which are independent of fault orientation. There are two classes of faults: dip-slip faults where movement is along the dip of the fault plane, and strike-slip faults where movement is along the strike. Dip-slip faults include normal faults, where the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall, and reverse faults, where the hanging wall moves up. Strike-slip faults are left-lateral or right-lateral depending on the direction of displacement.

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paul macharia
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336 views

Fault Terminology

The document defines key fault terminology. It explains that a fault plane separates the Earth into two fault blocks. It also defines the footwall and hanging wall, which are independent of fault orientation. There are two classes of faults: dip-slip faults where movement is along the dip of the fault plane, and strike-slip faults where movement is along the strike. Dip-slip faults include normal faults, where the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall, and reverse faults, where the hanging wall moves up. Strike-slip faults are left-lateral or right-lateral depending on the direction of displacement.

Uploaded by

paul macharia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Fault Terminology

Each side of the fault plane (labeled 2) represents a separate fault block (labeled 1a
and 1b). If you know the orientation of the fault plane, you can add a compass
direction to the fault blocks (e.g., eastern fault block, southern fault block etc.). The
diagram also shows the fault line (labeled 3) and the fault scarp (labeled 4). The fault
scarp is the cliff that represents the portion of the fault plane exposed above the
surface of the Earth.
Faults are frequent targets for economic geologists because they act as pathways for
hydrothermal fluids. The problem is that underground, it's hard to keep track of
directions. So mining geologists came up with the concept of footwall (the fault block
that your feet are standing on) and the hanging wall (the fault block that you would
hang a lantern on). The nice thing about these two annoying terms is that they are
independent from the orientation of the fault plane. The diagram below attempts to
show how orientation and footwall/hanging wall terminology works.

Page 1 of 5
Types of faults
The type of fault you get when rock breaks depends upon the type of stress they were
experiencing and the direction of movement along the fault plane. Geologists recognize
two distinct classes of faults,
 dip slip faults, where movement is in the dip direction of the fault plane, and
 strike slip faults, where movement is in the strike direction of the fold.
You will (hopefully!) recall the terms strike and dip from earlier lectures about inclined
bedding and folds. If you think about it, a fault plane is just an inclined plane, so it is
obvious that you can provide strike and dip orientation of a fault plane.

The act of tension stretches the rocks, and even though the rocks have broken (brittle
deformation), the rocks have still stretched from their original length (see part A of the
next diagram). This type of dip slip fault is called a normal dip slip fault (or a normal
fault for short). Had the operating force been compression, the direction of movement
along the fault plane would have been the exact opposite. The rocks would have been
shortened and the sense of motion would have been up the dip direction of the fault
plane (see part b of the next diagram).
Page 2 of 5
This type of dip slip fault is called a reverse dip slip fault (or a reverse fault for short)
and they are common components of mountain belts around the planet.

Structural geologists keep track of the type of dip slip fault by the relationship of
movement between the footwall and the hanging wall. To them, a normal fault is one
where the hanging wall has moved downward relative to the footwall. A reverse fault is
one where the hang wall has moved upward relative to the footwall
Strike slip faults occur as a result of shear stress and like dip slip faults, there are two
types. It is called a left lateral strike slip fault if the movement results in a leftward
displacement or a right lateral strike slip fault if the movement is rightward. This is
more difficult to explain than to draw, so check out the diagram to the right to see how
the nomenclature works.

Page 3 of 5
Normal Fault

Reverse Fault

Page 4 of 5
Right Lateral Strike Slip Fault

Oblique Slip Fault

Page 5 of 5

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