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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. [3] [4] A fault zone is a cluster of parallel faults.
A tectonic earthquake begins by an initial rupture at a point on the fault surface, a process known as nucleation. The scale of the nucleation zone is uncertain, with some evidence, such as the rupture dimensions of the smallest earthquakes, suggesting that it is smaller than 100 m while other evidence, such as a slow component revealed by low-frequency spectra of some earthquakes, suggest ...
San Andreas Fault System (Banning fault, Mission Creek fault, South Pass fault, San Jacinto fault, Elsinore fault) 1300: California, United States: Dextral strike-slip: Active: 1906 San Francisco (M7.7 to 8.25), 1989 Loma Prieta (M6.9) San Ramón Fault: Chile: Thrust fault: Sawtooth Fault: Idaho, United States: Normal fault: Seattle Fault ...
A fault trace describes the intersection of a geological fault with the Earth's surface, which leaves a visible disturbance on the surface, usually looking like a crack in the surface with jagged rock structures protruding outward.
For a given stress state in the earth, if an existing fault or crack exists orientated anywhere from −α/4 to +α/4, this fault will slip before the strength of the rock is reached and a new fault is formed. While the applied stresses may be high enough to form a new fault, existing fracture planes will slip before fracture occurs.
Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by relatively uniform lithology. The largest of these fault blocks are called crustal blocks.
The contact between the colliding plates is the megathrust fault, where the rock of the overriding plate is displaced upwards relative to the rock of the descending slab. [5] Friction along the megathrust fault can lock the plates together, and the subduction forces then build up strain in the two plates.
Dip is defined as the angle of the fault relative to the surface of the earth, which indicates the plane on which slip will occur. Lastly, in any non-vertical fault, the block above the fault is called the hanging wall, while the blockbelow the fault is called the footwall. [4] Normal and reverse dip-slip faults with labeled hanging wall and ...