Structural Geology
Joints and Faults
Joints are fractures in rock sequence formed due to
subjecting competent rocks to stresses.
Joints are found in several positions; vertical tilted or
even horizontal depending on the direction of acting
stresses
Horizontal joints Tilted joints Vertical joints
Structural Geology
Faults
Continuation effect of the forces or stresses push fault blocks up and
down relative to each other, In this case the joint developed into other
structure called Fault. The parts of a faulted block is illustrated
hereunder.
Joint
Based on the above information, can you define the terms fault, hanging
wall, foot wall, throw & creep?
Fault
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
1) Normal Fault is the fault which has the
hanging wall in a lower position relative to the foot
wall.
Check Your Understanding:
What type of force would cause normal (gravity) fault)?
What would happen to the original area due to faulting? Shrinks or
gets wider !!
Is there any repetition of beds due to faulting? Yes or No
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
2) reverse Fault is the fault which have the hanging
wall in a higher position relative to the foot wall.
Check Your Understanding:
What type of force would cause a reverse fault)?
What would happen to the original area due to faulting? Shrinks or gets
wider !!
Is there any repetition of beds due to faulting? Yes or No
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
3) Thrust Fault is a reverse fault (which have the
hanging wall in a higher position relative to the foot wall), yet
the angle of the fault plane is small sometimes too small the
fault plane becomes near horizontal (look it up in the photos)
Check Your Understanding:
What type of force would cause the thrust fault)?
What would happen to the original area due to faulting? Shrinks or gets wider !!
Is there any repetition of beds due to faulting? Yes or No
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
4) Diagonal Normal Fault is the fault which
has the hanging wall in a lower position relative to
the foot wall with additional movement in the strike
or horizontal direction.
5) Diagonal reverse Fault is the fault which
has the hanging wall in a higher position relative to
the foot wall with additional movement in the strike or
horizontal direction.
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
5) Strike-slip Faults: faults with throw is entirely
horizontal (=0) and the vertical displacement is none. If
the block that moves towards the observer is on his
right-hand side, the fault is then called right-lateral
strike-slip fault. If the block that moves towards the
observer is on his left-hand side, the is then called
left- lateral strike-slip fault
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
Check your understanding:
1. What is the difference between joint and Fault?
2. Compare between normal fault and reverse fault in terms of type of stresses,
relative position of blocks and the area after faulting.
3. What are the similarity and difference between reverse and thrust faults?
4. Name the following structures and justify your answer:
3 4
1 2 5
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
Fault groups
Step faults: a group of faults where all
of them throw in one direction.
Horst & Graben: group of faults where adjacent faults
throw opposite to each other, resulting in blocks higher than
the adjacent ones (horsts) and blocks lower than the
adjacent ones (Grabens).
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
Special types of Faults
Listric Fault: it is a fault with curved fault
plane, which cause the rotation of one block
on the fault plane. The depression formed
between the two blocks is called Half-Graben
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
Special types of Faults
Hinge fault: rotation of the blocks around an end
point. This cause the throw to increase progressively away
from this point.
Pivotal Fault (Scissor
Fault): rotation of the blocks
around a mid point. This cause
the throw to increase
progressively away from this
point and reverse its direction
on the opposite side.
Structural Geology
Types of Faults
Check your understanding:
1. What is the difference between hinge and normal Fault?
2. What is the difference between hinge and pivotal Fault?
3. Compare with drawing the difference between Graben and Half Graben.
4. What does the term step fault mean?
5. What does the term listric fault mean?
6. Draw simple diagram showing horst and graben.
7. Compare between normal diagonal fault and left-lateral strike slip fault, in
terms of type of stresses, relative position of blocks.
8. What are the similarity and difference between left-lateral and right-lateral
strike-slip faults?