What is a normal fault simple definition?
normal fault – a dip-slip fault in which the block above the fault has moved downward relative to the block below. This type of faulting occurs in response to extension and is often observed in the Western United States Basin and Range Province and along oceanic ridge systems.
What is the normal fault?
Normal, or Dip-slip, faults are inclined fractures where the blocks have mostly shifted vertically. If the rock mass above an inclined fault moves down, the fault is termed normal, whereas if the rock above the fault moves up, the fault is termed a Reverse fault.
Why is it called a normal fault?
What is Normal and What is Not? The term, ‘normal fault’ actually comes from coal mining, but more about that later. A fault, which is a rupture in the earth’s crust, is described as a normal fault when one side of the fault moves downward with respect to the other side.
How do you identify a normal fault?
If the hanging wall drops relative to the footwall, you have a normal fault. Normal faults occur in areas undergoing extension (stretching). If you imagine undoing the motion of a normal fault, you will undo the stretching and thus shorten the horizontal distance between two points on either side of the fault.
Which is the best description of normal fault?
noun Geology. a fault along an inclined plane in which the upper side or hanging wall appears to have moved downward with respect to the lower side or footwall (opposed to reverse fault).
What is the types of fault?
There are four types of faulting — normal, reverse, strike-slip, and oblique. A normal fault is one in which the rocks above the fault plane, or hanging wall, move down relative to the rocks below the fault plane, or footwall. A reverse fault is one in which the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall.
Which is the best description of thrust fault?
A thrust fault is a break in the Earth’s crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks.
What are the 3 kinds of faults?
There are three main types of fault which can cause earthquakes: normal, reverse (thrust) and strike-slip. Figure 1 shows the types of faults that can cause earthquakes. Figures 2 and 3 show the location of large earthquakes over the past few decades.
What is an example of a normal fault?
An example of a normal fault is the 240-mile (150-kilometer) long Wasatch Fault underlying parts of Utah and Idaho, again caused by the Pacific plate driving under western North America.
Which is the best description of a normal fault?
Normal Fault is a crack that a geological rock formation generally experiences when one portion of the cracked rock moves in one direction relative to other cracked portion.
What is the best description of a normal fault?
Normal Fault. a fracture-type tectonic displacement of rocks. In a normal fault, the relative displacement of rocks occurs either vertically or along a steeply inclined fracture in such a way that the rocks of the hanging wall are shifted downward and the rocks of the footwall move upward.
What happens in a normal fault?
Normal faults happen in areas where the rocks are pulling apart (tensile forces) so that the rocky crust of an area is able to take up more space. The rock on one side of the fault is moved down relative to the rock on the other side of the fault.