DIASTROPHISM

WARPING,FOLDING, AND
FAULTING
FORCES OF PRESSURE THAT
SHAPE THE EARTHS SURFACE

WARPING
Large portions of the Earths crust are
subjected to uplift or depression.
Uplift possibly due to tectonic as well as
erosion processes.
Depression usually due to glacial weight
added to crust
Isostasy: rebound of the Earths crust as
glacial weight is removed through melting and
global warming

COLORADO PLATEAU: WARPING

Compression
forces over last 20
million years
uplifted Colorado
Plateau

DOMES AND BASINS: WARPING

ISOSTASY: POST-GLACIAL CRUST

REBOUND

FORCES THAT SHAPE THE

EARTHS SURFACE
There are three main types of forces of
pressure that work to shape (and re-shape)
the Earths surface:
Compression forces (squeezing)
Extension (or tension) forces (stretching)
Shearing forces (ripping)

FORCES

COMPRESSION FORCES: FOLDS

Folding
A fold is formed by the bending or buckling of rock layers, as a result of
great force and pressure over extremely long periods of geologic time

There are two primary types of folding:

Synclines and Anticlines

Syncline: Rock layers bend downward in the folding process to form a

trough-like physical feature called a syncline. This physical feature
often shows itself in the form of valleys and lakes.

Anticline: Rock layers buckle upward during folding to form an arch-like

structure called an anticline. This physical features often shows itself
in the form of mountains or ridges.

Structure of Folds

force

force

FOLDS RESPOND TO TECTONICS

A. No compression forces and no folds
B. Compression forces create
somewhat symmetrical upfolds
(anticlines) and downfolds
(synclines)
C. Continued compression pushes
symmetrical upfold over into an
overturned fold
D. Compression forces cause a fault to
form and pushes one limb of the
overturned fold onto the other limb
E. A Recumbent fold along a fault has
developed

Anticline and Syncline

OVERTURNED FOLD

Recumbent Fold

FOLDED STRATA ALONG SAN

ANDREAS FAULT HWY 14

FOLDED MOUNTAINS
COMPRESSION FORCES

Folded Mountains form as the

edges of two adjacent rock layers
are pushed together
The layers buckle like a wrinkled
rug
Mountains form from multiple
parallel synclines and anticlines

Under great pressure and steady

force, rocks can actually bend
rather than breaking.
The Appalachian Mountains in the
North America, the Himalayan
Mountains in India, the Atlas
Mountains in Northwest Africa, and
Swiss Alps in Europe are
examples of folded mountains.

Applachians

Swiss Alps

Himalayas

Atlas
Mountains

FOLDED MOUNTAINS ERODE

OVER TIME
Initial
uplift

Erosion
features

FAULTING COMPRESSION, EXTENSION

AND SHEARING FORCES
When enormous stresses build and push large intact
rock masses beyond their yield limit, faulting of the
surface is likely to occur.
A fault is a fracture in the rock layers along which
movement occurs
Movement is the displacement of once connected blocks of rock
along a fault plane. Displacement can occur in any direction with
the broken blocks moving along the fault in opposite directions
from each other.

Measuring Displacement along a

Fault
Some faults have vertical displacement,
while others have horizontal displacement
The measure of displacement is referred
to as either dip-slip or strike-slip.
Strike: The compass direction of a line of
strata
Dip: The angle in degrees between a
horizontal surface and an inclined surface
measured as perpendicular to strike

Dip versus Strike

UNDERSTANDING FAULT
TERMINOLOGY
Faults are identified by their patterns of
displacement:
Vertical (dip slip)
The movement is along the line of the dip

Horizontal (strike slip)

The movement is along the line of the strike

Dip-slip versus Strike-Slip

TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF
DIP SLIP FAULTS
Fault scarp: steep cliff that represents
edge of vertically displaced rock
Can be 100s of meters in height
Can extend 100s of kilometers in straight lines
Sharp rise in terrain and steep slopes

Fault scarp

Fault scarp

Identifying Dip Slip Fault Structures

NORMAL FAULTS: DIP SLIP

FAULTS
Normal faults are the result of tensional (or
extensional) forces acting to pull apart the
surface.
The hanging wall drops relative to the
footwall.
Normal faults can occur across vast areas
due to lithospheric stretching.
Basin and Range in Western USA

NORMAL FAULT: DIP SLIP

Tension forces
Footwall

Tension forces

Hanging wall

HORSTS AND GRABENS

Tension forces

Tension forces

Mountains and Basins created by a series of parallel Normal

Faults The Basin and Range Province in Western North
America is a topographic example of normal faulting:
Grabens: downdropped basins
Horsts:

Uplifted mountains and ranges

Basin and Range

Western USA exhibits
horst and graben
structures due to
extensional tectonics.
The Western edge of the
Basin and Range
includes the Sierra
Nevada in California.
The Eastern edge of the
Basin and Range
includes the Wasatch
Range in Utah

Faults across Basin Range Province

TENSION FORCES ARE PULLING THIS AREA APART

REVERSE FAULT DIP SLIP

Reverse faults are the result of
compression forces
The footwall drops relative to the hanging
wall

Reverse Fault Dip Slip

Hanging wall

Footwall

REVERSE THRUST FAULT

Reverse thrust faults
are the result of very
low angle faults,
pushing the hanging
wall up and over the
foot wall

Hanging
wall
Footwall
Compression forces

BLIND REVERSE THRUST FAULT

A blind reverse
thrust fault does not
extend to the
surface we only
know of their
existence because
of earthquakes and
surface deformation
Hanging wall lifts up
and over footwall

Hanging wall
footwall

TRANSFORM FAULTS:
SHEARING FORCES
Transform faults can be found at plate
boundaries as one plate slides horizontally
past another.
Strike-slip faults

Most transform faults are found on the

ocean floor as part of the active offset
along divergent plate boundaries.

TRANSFORM FAULT SEA

FLOOR SPREADING

TRANSFORM FAULTS: PLATE

BOUNDARIES
At plate boundaries, when two tectonic
plates grind past each other, there is
usually no volcanism or mountain building
occurring.
One of the largest transform faults in the
world is the San Andreas Fault
Separating the North American Plate from the
Pacific Plate in southern California.

TRANSFORM FAULTS: SAN ANDREAS

San Andreas Fault

FORMATION OF SAN ANDREAS

FAULT
The northwest-southeast trending fault
zone extends from the East Pacific rise in
the Gulf of California (between Baja
California and the Mexican mainland) to
the Mendocino fracture zone offshore of
northern California - approximately 800
miles

San Andreas Fault Zone

The San Andreas fault zone includes the
main fault trace and many other major and
minor fault strands.
The relative rate of motion between the
North American plate and the Pacific plate
is approximately 3.5 to 4.6 cm per year,
most of which (2.0 to 3.5 cm per year) is
accounted for by horizontal displacement
along the San Andreas fault zone.

Evolution of San Andreas Fault

Before 30 million years ago, the western edge of
the North American plate met the eastern
Farallon Plate in a convergent plate boundary
complete with subduction.
The western edge of the Farallon Plate was
diverging from the Pacific Plate
East Pacific Rise spreading center

The rate of convergence was greater than the

rate of divergence and the spreading center
moved towards the subduction zone.

Evolution of San Andreas Fault

Approximately 30 million years ago, the
spreading center (East Pacific Rise) came
into contact with the active subduction
zone.
The Farallon plate was split into two
pieces which are still being subducted
beneath the North American plate
Juan de Fuca (northern plate)
Cocos (southern plate

Evolution of San Andreas Fault

The relative motion between the Pacific
plate and the North American plate was
altered to become a transform boundary.
Subduction along the transform boundary
stopped.
New motion of this portion of Pacific Plate is
to the northwest, parallel to the North
American plate

CONSEQUENCES OF SAN
ANDREAS FAULT
Along the San Andreas Fault, the Pacific plate slowly
grinds to the north.
Los Angeles lies on the Pacific plate side of the fault,
while San Francisco is on the North American side.
About 25 million years in the future, if movement continues in the
same direction, Los Angeles will be a suburb of San Francisco
(or vice versa)

The San Andreas is a right-lateral transform fault, which

means that if you imagine standing on either side of the
fault and looking across to the opposite side, it seems to
you that the people and objects on the opposite side are
moving to your right.

Features of San Andreas Fault

Linearity: This fault exhibits an almost
straight line in appearance on the Earths
surface.
Beheaded streams: Streams that cross
the San Andreas are displaced as the
Pacific Plate slowly moves along
Sag Ponds: Groundwater, under pressure
from the two plates grinding together, is
forced to the surface.

San Andreas Fault in the

Carrizo Plain
View is looking south. Fault
is in the center of the folded
ridge area

Wallace Creek

Sag Pond Along San Andreas Fault

FOLDS, FAULTS AND FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas are produced
through decomposition and heating of organic materials
in marine sediments.
Oil and natural gas are collected in reservoir rocks.
Folding and faulting of reservoir rocks aids in the hunt for
fossil fuels.
Anticlines offer the best prospect for finding pools of oil
or natural gas that have migrated upward (they are less
dense that surrounding rocks).
Faulting moves impermeable surfaces against
permeable surfaces allowing oil to collect along the
fault plane.