Structural Geology

Faults & faulting

Definitions and
Characteristics
A fault consists of a zone
along which slip (shear
displacement) has
occurred. The zone is
separated from in-tact
rock by two surfaces. The
zone can vary in width
from less than a mm to
more than a km.
A fissure is essentially a joint
with a large aperture
measured in cm to M.

Definitions and
Characteristics
Fault Rock is the material in a fault zone it consists of:
gouge
Breccia
Cataclasite
Pseudotachylite

Gouge is mostly clay sized, poorly

consolidated material pulverized by
fault slip.

Definitions and
Characteristics

Breccia consists of angular,

poorly sorted clasts up to
boulder size that have been
broken up by fault slip.

Cataclasite is a fine grained poorly

sorted breccia that is usually well
lithified.

Definitions and
Characteristics

Definitions and
Characteristics
Tachylite is volcanic
glass.
Pseudotachylite is
also glass, but
formed by melting
rock due the
frictional heat
along a fault .
Normally forms at
depth where rock is
already heated.

Fault terminology

Definitions and
Characteristics

Classification of Faults
Slip and Separation:
Slip is a displacement vector that connects two points on
either side of the fault zone that were connected before
faulting. A bedding surface alone can never be used to
determine slip.
Separation is an apparent displacement parallel to the
strike and/or parallel to the dip. It is not the slip, but may
be a component of the slip.
Strike separation is not the same as strike slip (Next Slide)

Classification of Faults
Terms use to describe fault displacement

Classification of Faults

Examples of Slip and Separation of bedding surfaces:

Classification of Faults

Examples of Slip and Separation of bedding surfaces:

Classification of Faults

Examples of Slip and Separation of bedding surfaces:

Classification of Faults
Faults are classified based on their orientation relative to the
surface (strike and dip) and sense of slip i.e. relative
displacement of the fault blocks.
There are four general categories of faults:
Strike-slip
Dip-slip
Oblique-slip
Rotational-slip

Classification of Faults

Strike-slip Faults
Sense of slip:
Left-Lateral
Right-Lateral

Classification of Faults
High angle Dip-slip
Faults (>50o dip)
Hanging Wall
Foot Wall
Sense of slip:
Normal (extension)
Reverse (shortening)

Classification of Faults
Low angle Dip-slip
Faults (<50o dip)
Hanging Wall
Foot Wall
Sense of slip:
Detachment
(Extension)
Thrust (shortening)

Classification of Faults
Oblique slip
Sense of slip:
Normal/left slip
Normal/right slip
(Not shown)
Reverse/left slip
Reverse/right slip
(not shown)

Classification of Faults
Rotational slip
Looking across fault:
Clockwise
Counter clockwise

Classification of Faults
Classification also described in terms of horizontal strain:
Shortening (contractional) faults
Extensional faults

Slip Direction
Determination of slip
Slip direction can frequently be determined from slickenlines
and fiber lineations.

Slip direction

Slickenlines give only the

direction of slip.
Sometime the sense of
slip can be determined as
well. For example, the
clast causing the groove
is present indicating the
overlying fault block
moved upward.

Slip Direction
Fibrous mineral
growths may
also give the
sense of slip. The
fibers tend to be
stepped because
they grow from
irregularities on
the fault surface.
The steps
indicate sense of
motion of the
block above
them.

What is the sense of slip of the fault

blocks in the picture

Definitions and
Characteristics

Fault Bends
When ever a fault has a bend it will commonly produce folds
in layered sediment.
Dip slip fault bends produce fault bend folds
Strike slip bends produce pop-up folds or sags

Thrust faults usually follow bedding

plane surfaces and then bend up
(ramp) to another bedding plane
producing a stair-step geometry.
A ramp
generates a faultbend fold which
may develop a
flat top if there is
enough
displacement.

Thrust Fault
Bends

Because of the ramp-flat geometry,

thrust belts can be very
complicated.

A ramp cuts off

layering
producing a
hanging wall
cutoff and a
footwall cutoff.
Likewise there
are both
hanging wall
flats and
footwall flats.

Thrust Fault
Bends

Normal Fault
Bends
Listric normal faults
also produce fault
bend folds. These
have been called a
variety of names:
Rollover folds
Reverse Drag Folds

Strike slip
Fault Bends
Strike slip fault bends have
two types:
Releasing bends
produce extensional
structures: sags (basins)
and normal faults
Restraining bends
produce shortening
structures: uplifts, folds
and thrust faults

Strike slip
Fault Bends
The strike slip fault at left
has a bend. What type of
bend is it? That is the
sense of displacement
on the fault?

Faults are approximately elliptical in shape

with maximum displacement near the
center and displacement diminishing
outward to the edge. The edge of the
fault, with zero displacement, is called
the tip line.

Fault
Terminations

Terminology
Blind fault
Emergent fault
Exhumed Fault

Fault
Terminations

Fault
Terminations
When faults terminate,
folding commonly
occurs to
accommodate the
change in
displacement.
Both fault bends and fault
terminations can
generate folds

Fault
Terminations
Folds at fault terminations are called
fault propagation folds if they
form at a ramp (left) or
detachment folds if they form
along a flat

Identify the type of folds depicted below

Fault
Terminations

The sense of displacement on faults

is often important, so be familiar
with the following ways this can be
determined.
Offset piercing points
Asymmetry of folds related to the
fault
Steps on fiber lineations
En echelon extension veins
Pinnate fractures

Sense of Shear
on Faults

Sense of Shear on Faults

Determine slip direction and fold asymmetry

Sense of Shear on Faults

Determine slip direction using Z and S asymmetric folds in
fault zones

Sense of Shear on Faults

Determine slip direction using
Tension Gashes in fault
zones
The extension direction points
in the shear direction along
the zone

Sense of Shear on Faults

Slip direction from Fiber
lineations

Sense of Shear on Faults

Pinnate fractures are small
shear fractures (Reidel
shears) that are
associated with a larger
fault. The shortening
direction bisects the
acute angle between the
small fractures and the
larger one.
The extension direction
(Perpendicular to max
shortening) again points
in the direction of shear,
just like the en echelon
veins.

Recognition of Faults

A fault scarp is an offset of the topographic surface that is

produced by recent movement on a fault.

Definitions and
Characteristics

A fault line scarp is also a step in the topography, but

represents differential erosion along an old fault that has
rock on one side that erodes faster than that on the other
side.
In the photo the fault block on which the person is standing
has actually moved up. It appears the opposite because of
differential erosion.

Identification and Expression of Faults

Faults truncate and offset layering and other types of
boundaries in rock. Faults may be difficult to identify on a
map if they parallel the strike of the layering.

Identification and Expression of Faults

Depending on
the type of
fault and its
dip relative
to layering,
faults either
omit strata,
duplicate
them, or
truncate
them.

Identification and Expression of Faults

Faults in the
subsurface can
be detected by
contouring
stratigraphic
boundaries from
drill hole data
(structural
contour maps

Identification and Expression of Faults

Subsurface faults can be detected by geophysical methods
such as seismic (below) as well as gravity and magnetic
methods.

Strain, Stress & Faults

Normal faults produce horizontal extension. And vertical
shortening (sag, rift, basin)

Strain & Faults

Reverse faults produce horizontal shortening. And vertical
extension (uplift)

Strain & Faults

Strike slip faults produce both horizontal shortening and
extension. No vertical strain (ideally). Look at the figure
below as a map, not a x-section.

Stress & Faults

Andersons Theory of
Faulting relies on the
Mohr-Coulomb failure
criterion:
( c o)/ = Tan( );

o and Tan( vary with the

rock type and are called
the cohesion and
internal friction.
Its the ratio of shear stress
to normal stress on a
surface that determines
whether a fault will
occur.

Andersons Theory of Faulting

Stress & Faults

Mohr-Coulomb
failure criterion:
( c o)/ = Tan( )
Is usually written as

c = o + Tan( )
This plots as a
straight line on
the Mohr
diagram

is the angle of the

failure line and
Tan( ) is the
slope.

Andersons Theory of Faulting

The Mohr circle

shows the
normal and
shearing
stresses on all
the surfaces in a
rock.
When the circle
becomes
tangent to the
failure line, then
one surface has
the right amount
of normal and
shearing stress
to fracture.

Stress & Faults

Andersons Theory of Faulting

Stress & Faults

Andersons Theory of Faulting

The orientation of
that fracture
surface relative
to 1 can be
determined from
the Mohr circle.
(Remember that
is the angle to
the surface
normal!)

Stress & Faults

Andersons Theory of Faulting

There is a
relationship
between and

= 45 + /2

Stress & Faults

The Mohr fracture
criterion
predicts that
fault normals
will always
occur about 60o
to the maximum
compressive
stress 1
Or, the fault surface
will be about 30o
to 1

Andersons Theory of Faulting

Stress & Faults

The Mohr fracture
criterion also
predicts that
there will be two
fault surfaces
about 30o on
either side of 1
These are called a
conjugate set

Andersons Theory of Faulting

Stress & Faults

Andersons Theory of Faulting

Thrust faults are

generated when 1
is horizontal and
3 is vertical. 2
is horizontal and
parallel to the
intersection of the
fault surfaces.

Stress & Faults

Andersons Theory of
Faulting

Normal faults occur

when 1 is vertical

and 3 is horizontal.

2 is horizontal and
parallel to the
intersection of the
fault surfaces.

Stress & Faults

Andersons Theory of
Faulting

Strike-slip faults occur

when both 1 and 3

are horizontal. 2 is
vertical and parallel to
the intersection of the
fault surfaces.

Stress & Faults

Caveats
The Mohr-Coulomb fracture
criteria applies to uniform,
intact rock. If there are
weak zones in the rock
like bedding surfaces and
preexisting fractures, then
Andersons theory of
faulting cannot be
applied.

Origin of Listric Faults

All stress (like politics) is local, and changes both
horizontally and vertically. Faults are curved because the
stress that generates them changes from place to place.

Problems with Faulting

There are two problems
associated with the
origin of faults:
Strength of rock
increases with
pressure (depth) so
that the rocks at
depth are too strong
for the available
stresses in the Earth
to break them.

Problems with Faulting

The other problem is
Large, nearly
horizontal thrust
faults cannot move
because the
horizontal stress on
the hanging wall
block would crush
the end before it
moved the block.

Problems with Faulting

One solution is low effective
pressure produced by high
pore pressure ( * = pp)
If there is no fluid in the fault
zone, the shear stress
(related to the radius of the
Mohr diagram) is not great
enough to overcome the
strength of the rock at high
pressures (the center of the
Mohr Diagram)

Problems with Faulting

If pore pressure in the fault zone
increases to reduce the
effective stress, then the
effective stress may exceed
the rock strength as the
effective pressure is reduced
(the center of the Mohr
Diagram).

Fault Arrays

Groups of faults that formed at the same time are called

fault systems, or fault arrays. Some general
terminology:
Thin Skinned Fault arrays that are confined to the
sedimentary sequence and do not penetrate basement
Thick skinned Fault arrays that do penetrate
basement
Master faults large regionally significant faults
Synthetic faults smaller faults that parallel the master
fault
Antithetic faults smaller faults that are conjugate to
the master fault.

Fault Arrays

Terms describing fault arrays in

map view.
Parallel array
Anastomosing
En echelon
Relay
Conjugate
Nonsystematic usually from
reactivation of older faults.

Terms describing extensional fault arrays in profile.

Listric faults are usually thin skinned (but not always)
Horsts & graben
Half graben
Rift large regional feature that contains horsts & graben
and/or half graben.

Fault Arrays

Terms describing shortening fault arrays in

profile.
Listric faults are usually thin skinned
(but not always)
Structures occur in fold-thrust belts
Flats & ramps
Imbricate fans

Fault Arrays

More terms describing shortening fault

arrays in profile.
Duplex & horses (multiple, closely spaced
ramps)
Roof Thrust & floor thrust

Fault Arrays

Strike slip systems in profile

Flower structures master fault
branches upward forming a stem with
petals
Negative & positive flowers.

Fault Arrays

Faults,
Resources &
Earthquakes
Faults and earthquakes are usually associated, but
aseismic fault creep does occur.
Displacement on large faults is accumulated from smaller,
sudden displacements producing earthquakes
An earthquake displacement event does not occur over
the whole length of a large fault so displacement is
not only accumulated over time, but also over space
only a small area of a fault will displace at one time
with another area displacing at another time.

Faults,
Resources &
Earthquakes
An Earthquake and fault displacement at one particular
zone along a large fault may occur at regular intervals
of time the recurrence interval
The recurrence interval has a large standard deviation
its not Old Faithful.
Predicting regions with a high probability of a major
earthquake is critical for land use planning, especially
for critical installations like nuclear power plants and
dams.

Faults,
Resources &
Earthquakes
Faults are also economically important for resource
recovery:
They can form barriers or channels for fluid flow, whether
groundwater or petroleum
They are sources and zones for mineralization and ores
They may offset economically valuable strata (coal,
petroleum reservoirs) leading to recovery
complications.