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An active fault is a fault that is likely to become the source of another earthquake sometime in the future. Geologists commonly consider faults to be active if there has been movement observed or evidence of seismic activity during the last 10,000 years. [1] Active faulting is considered to be a geologic hazard – one related to earthquakes as
Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. Faults may also displace slowly, by aseismic creep. [2] 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.
Types of faulting. Anderson's theory of faulting, devised by Ernest Masson Anderson in 1905, is a way of classifying geological faults by use of principal stress. [1] [2] A fault is a fracture in the surface of the Earth that occurs when rocks break under extreme stress. [3] Movement of rock along the fracture occurs in faults.
This list covers all faults and fault-systems that are either geologically important [clarification needed] or connected to prominent seismic activity. [clarification needed] It is not intended to list every notable fault, but only major fault zones.
The Sierra Nevada Fault Zone. The Sierra Nevada Fault is an active seismic fault along the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada mountain block in California.It forms the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, extending roughly 600 km (370 mi) from just north of the Garlock Fault to the Cascade Range.
A fault scarp is a small step-like offset of the ground surface in which one side of a fault has shifted vertically in relation to the other. [1] [2] The topographic expression of fault scarps results from the differential erosion of rocks of contrasting resistance and the displacement of land surface by movement along the fault.
The differences in faulting motions might favour or disfavour certain permeability altering mechanisms to occur. [1] However, the main controlling factor of the permeability is the rock type. [ 1 ] Since the characteristics of rock control how a fault zone can be developed and how fluids can move.
Tilted block faulting, also called rotational block faulting, is a mode of structural evolution in extensional tectonic events, a result of tectonic plates stretching apart. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] When the upper lithospheric crust experiences extensional pressures, the brittle crust fractures, creating detachment faults . [ 3 ]