What is a Fault?

-In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or

discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which
there has been significant displacement as a
result of rock-mass movement.
Types of Faults

A. Normal Fault
B. Reverse Fault
C. Strike-slip Fault
D. Oblique Fault
Normal Fault
- a geologic fault in which the hanging wall has moved
downward relative to the footwall.
Reverse Fault
- are exactly the opposite of normal faults. If the
hanging wall rises relatively to the footwall, you have a
reverse fault.
Strike-slip Fault
- a fault in which rock strata are displaced mainly in a
horizontal direction, parallel to the line of the fault.
Oblique Fault
- a fault which has a component of dip-slip and a
component of strike-slip .
Active Faults may be classified on the basis of their geometry and direction
of relative slip. The parameters used to describe fault motion and its
dimensions are as follows:

Azimuth() the angle between the trace of fault, i.e. the

intersection of the fault plane with the horizontal, and northerly
direction (0 360).
Dip() the angle between the fault and the horizontal plane (0
90).
Slip or Rake() - the angle between the direction of relative
displacement and the horizontal direction (-180 180).
Relative Displacement(u) the distance travelled by a point on
either side of the fault plane.
Area(S) Surface area of the highly stressed region within the fault
plane.
Several fault in mechanism exist depending on how the plates move wit
respect to one another. The most common mechanism of earthquake
sources are described below:

Dip-Slip Faults In turn, when the hanging wall moves upward in

relation to the footwall, the faults are reversed. (Compressive forces
cause the failure.)

Strike Slip Faults - a fault in which rock strata are displaced mainly in
a horizontal direction, parallel to the line of the fault.
What is Hypocentre ?

Is the point under the surface where the rupture is said to

have originated. The projection of the focus on the surface
is termed epicentre. The depth of the focus from the
epicentre is the focal depth. Earthquakes are sometimes
classified into shallow focus, intermediate focus, and deep
focus earthquakes based on its focal depth. Most
damaging earthquakes are shallow focus earthquakes.