DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAULTS
Faults
are surfaces across which Earth material has lost cohesion and across
which there is perceptible displacement.
Though the faults that we will focus on in this chapter have
experienced multiple slip events, and, as result of those events have
accumulated displacements of kilometers to hundreds of kilometers,
faults with displacements as small as a few millimeters or so are also
rather common. In addition, though many faults break the Earth’s
surface, others do not. These latter structures are called blind faults.
FAULTS
Faults are defined when two adjacent blocks of rock have moved past
each other in response to induced stresses.
The conception of localized movement leads to two genetically different
classes of faults reflecting the two basic
responses of rocks to stress: Brittle and Ductile
FAULTS
•A fault is any surface or zone along which measurable slip
(shear displacement) develops.
• Faults are fractures on which slip develops primarily by brittle
deformation processes
• • Fault zone is a brittle structure in which loss of cohesion and
slip occurs on several faults within a band of definable width.
• Shear zone: occurs at depth without definable displacement
on the surface
FAULTS COMPONENTS/TERMINOLOGIES
Rocks ADJACENT to the fault surface is the WALL of the fault, and the
body of rocks that moved as consequence of slip on the fault is
FAULTBLOCK
If the FAULT is NOT VERTICAL, we can distinguish between the
HANGING-WALL block, which is the rock body above
• the fault plane, and the FOOTWALL block, which is the rock body
below the fault plane
HOW TO DESCRIBE THE ATTITUDE OF FAULT
WE NEED TO MEASURE:
• STRIKE
• DIP ANGLE, DIP DIRECTION
• NET SLIP VECTOR (RAKE)
• STRIKE-SLIP COMPONENT (HEAVE AND THROW )
COMPONENTS OF SEPARATION
DIP SEPARATION has two (2) components:
1.) HEAVE: Horizontal component of the dip separation
2.) THROW: Vertical component of the dip separation
STRIKE SEPARATION:
Distance between the offset
horizons
measured along the strike direction.
BASIC CLASSIFICATION OF BRITTLE FAULTS
BRITTLE
FAULTS
DIP-SLIP FAULT SRIKE-SLIP FAULT OBLIQUE FAULTS
NORMA REVERSE
DEXTRAL SINISTRAL
L FAULTS FAULTS
DIP SLIP FAULT
NORMAL FAULT
A NORMAL FAULT brings younger bring rocks over
older ones.
Such faults are also termed EXTENSION FAULTS
DIP SLIP FAULT
REVERSE FAULT
Consequently, old rocks are brought over younger ones.
Such faults exhibit a repetition or overlap of a geological
horizon,
and are accordingly also termed compression fault.
A tear fault is a strike slip fault that runs across the strike of a
contractional or extensional belt and accommodates differential
displacement between two segments of the belt. Such faults are usually
confined to hanging walls of detached systems (i.e. not affecting their
basement).
A transform fault is a strike slip fault occurs at plate
boundaries
• Ridge-Ridge transforms link two segments of a constructive
plate boundary.
• Trench-Trench transforms link two segments of a destructive
plate boundary
• Ridge-Trench transforms link a constructive plate boundary
to a destructive one.
Change in Fault attitude (Fault bends)
• Fault bends or steps along strike-slip faults cause abrupt changes in the strike
• of the fault and in the associated structural features.
• • Where movement across a segment of a strike-slip fault results in
• compression, known as transpression (restraining bends).
• form Pressure ridges.
• • Where movement results in extension, known as transtension (releasing
• bends).
• • form sag pond (local area)
• • or pull-apart basin (regional scale, example is the Gulf of California).
• Thrust Fault: A thrust is a low-angle (< 30° ) reverse fault where the hanging
wall has been transported over the footwall. Thrust faults bring older rocks on
top of younger rocks, and rocks of higher metamorphic grade on top of rocks
of lower metamorphi
• Autochthon: A body of rocks that remains at its site of origin, where it is
rooted to its basement. Although not moved from their original site.
• Allochthon: A mass of rock that has been moved from its place of origin by
tectonic processes, as in a thrust sheet .
• Many allochthonous rocks have been moved so far from their original sites
that they differ greatly in facies and structure from those on which they now lie.
Nappe (Allochthon):
• • Large body or sheet of rock that has been moved far from
• its original position by faulting or folding.
• • A nappe may be the hanging wall of a low-angle
• thrust fault , or it may be a large recumbent fold.
• • In both processes position older rocks over younger rocks.
Window (Fenster):
• • In places, erosion may cut into the nappe so deeply that a
• circular or elliptical patch of the younger, underlying rock is
• exposed and completely surrounded by the older rock.
• • this patch is called a fenster, or window.
• • Triangular teeth point outward fenster are used on a map.
Klippe:
• • If erosion leaves an isolated remnant of thrust sheet,
• surrounded by exposed footwall, the remnant is called a
• klippe (German for cliff).
• • Klippe are indicated on a map by inward pointing teeth.
Brittle Failure of Rock
• In order to understand what makes a rock break, you need to have a basic understanding of forces and
stresses. A force is a vector because it has a magnitude and a direction.
• Forces that act on every point within a given body of Earth material are called body forces. In contrast,
those that act on specific surfaces are called surface forces. Gravity tends to pull all bodies on the surface
of the Earth towards its center, and is therefore a body force. For example, if you jump off a 5 meter cliff
into a lake, the falling sensation that you feel is entirely due to gravitational forces pulling you toward the
center of the Earth.
• Though a similar sensation is achieved on a large water park slide, the results are instead due to surface
forces acting on the relatively frictionless interface between your body and the underlying slide.
• The position of a given body of rock can be changed by accelerating the entire body through either the
application of a surface or body force. However, if the intensity of the force being applied across the body
of rock varies, then acceleration of the various parts of the body would be unequal, and as a result the
shape of the body would change, i.e., become distorted. A distortion or change in shape is referred to as
strain while a measure of the intensity of the applied force is stress.
• Maps