Fault (geology) :- crack in the crust of the earth along which

there has been movement of the rocks on either side of the crack. A
crack without movement is called a joint. Faults occur on a wide
scale, ranging in length from millimeters to thousands of
kilometers. Large-scale faults result from the movement of tectonic
plates, continent-sized slabs of the crust that move as coherent
pieces .

How Faults Are Created: -

Faults are created by stress in the earth’s crust. Stress is a force,
such as squeezing or stretching, that changes the shape of an
object. When a material is stressed, the material may respond in
three different ways. It can deform (stretch or compress)
elastically, which means that when the stress is removed, the
material goes back to its original shape. An elastic deformation is,
therefore, reversible. Alternatively, a stressed material can deform
inelastically, which means that when the stress is removed, the
material stays in its new, deformed shape. An inelastic
deformation is irreversible. Lastly, a stressed material can fracture,
or break into pieces.
Most solid materials, including rocks, deform elastically under
small stress. Ductile materials are materials that will deform
inelastically under moderate stress and will fracture under higher
stress. Brittle materials fracture with little or no inelastic
deformation. Rocks tend to be brittle when they are cold and
become more ductile when they are hot. Rocks also tend to become
more ductile when they are under pressure. For these reasons, most
rocks are brittle near the surface of the earth where there is less
heat and pressure, and they become more ductile with depth. Most
faults occur in the top 10 km (6 mi) of the crust. Below this depth,
most rocks bend and fold in response to stress.
Rocks can experience three different kinds of stress: tension,
compression, and shearing. Tension pulls rocks apart, pushing
opposite sides away from each other. Compression squeezes rocks,
pushing opposite sides toward each other. Shearing pushes opposite
sides past each other in opposite but parallel directions. These
different kinds of stress create different classes of faults, as

discussed below.
Terminology and Classification : -
The two sides of a fault are separated by a fault plane. Two
different terms are used to describe a fault plane’s orientation, or
position in the crust. These terms are strike and dip. The strike
describes the orientation of a fault plane in terms of compass
directions. The dip describes how steeply a fault plane dips into the
ground. Dip varies between 0° for a horizontal fault and 90° for a
vertical one.
Geologists are also interested in how far the two sides of a
fault have moved along that fault. The total distance that the two
sides have moved relative to each other is called the net slip. The
net slip is made up of slip measured along the direction of strike
and along the direction of dip of the fault plane. The strike-slip
distance is the horizontal motion measured in the direction of the
strike. The dip-slip distance is measured in the direction of the dip.
The dip-slip distance is similar to the throw, which is the vertical
movement along the fault.
Unless the dip is exactly 90°, one side of a fault will hang
over the other. The side overhanging the fault plane is called the
hanging wall and the side underlying the fault plane is called the
footwall.
When the hanging wall has moved downward relative to the
footwall, the fault is known as a normal fault. Such faults are
associated with crustal tension and represent areas where the crust
is being stretched. They are common at divergent-plate boundaries
where two crustal plates move away from each other.
When the hanging wall has moved upward relative to the
footwall the fault is called a reverse fault unless the dip is nearly
horizontal, in which case it is called a thrust fault. Both of these
kinds of faults are associated with crustal compression and
represent areas where the crust is being shortened. They are
common at convergent-plate boundaries where two crustal plates
are colliding. Thrust faults can push old rocks over younger rocks,
reversing the normal pattern of younger rocks lying on top of older
rocks.
When the net slip is entirely horizontal (with no vertical
component), the fault is known as a strike-slip fault because the
net displacement is parallel to the strike. Such faults are associated
with crustal shearing. They are common at transform-plate
boundaries where two crustal plates are moving past each other.
The San Andreas Fault in California is an example of a strike-slip
fault that occurs at a transform boundary where the North
America plate is sliding past the Pacific plate. If, when facing a
strike-slip fault, the far block is displaced to the right, then the
fault is known as a right-lateral fault. If the far block is displaced
to the left, then the fault is known as a left-lateral fault. A fault
that combines some motion along the strike and along the dip is
known as an oblique-slip fault.

Earthquakes and Faults: -

Earthquakes are sudden movements in the earth’s crust. They
occur along faults when stress building up in the crust is suddenly
released. Most earthquakes occur along plate boundaries.
Landforms Associated with Faults
Faults create several unique landforms. One of the most
common is a fault scarp, a cliff produced when the earth’s surface
on one side of the fault plane rises relative to the surface on the
other side of the fault. Another common landform produced by
faults, especially normal faults, is a graben. A graben is a low
block of rock surrounded on two sides by parallel fault scarps
leading to higher land. The valley comprised of the graben and the
fault scarps on either side is called a rift valley. The Great Rift
Valley in Africa is an extensive example of a rift valley that
stretches more than 4800 km (more than 3000 mi) from Syria to
Mozambique. Sometimes, large sets of parallel normal faults
produce an alternating pattern of raised and sunken blocks. The
Basin and Range region in the southwestern United States
consists of hundreds of sunken blocks (basins) and raised blocks
(ranges). See Basin: Basin and Range
Effects on Rocks
Faults affect the rocks in which they occur. Movement on
the fault surface can produce grooves or scratches, called striae,
and the polished surface on which striae occur is termed a
slickenside surface. Movement that is more extensive can result in
the crushing of rock along the fault surface. This produces a zone
of crushed rock called either a fault breccia (if the material is
coarse grained) or a fault gouge (if the material is fine grained).
Because breccia is porous, zones of breccia are extremely important
as pathways for the flow of groundwater or hydrothermal fluids.
The presence of fluids can lubricate the fault surface, promoting
further movement. If the fluids that flow along fracture surfaces
and brecciated zones carry dissolved metal, they can leave behind
significant ore deposits along these zones.1