Faults
Breaks/fractures in the Earth’s crust along
which movement has occurred.
Faults with inclined
fault planes have footwalls
(under the fault plane) and hanging walls
(above the fault plane).
.
The general term of "dip-slip faults" is
given to faults where there is vertical movement along the fault plane.
Fault planes can become mineralized (form a channel for mineralizing
fluids).
Faults
are classified according to their relative motion:
Normal
Fault: hanging wall has dropped relative to the footwall.
Reverse
Fault: footwall has dropped relative to the hanging wall
A reverse fault is classified
as a thrust fault if the fault plane
has a shallow dip (<45˚).
Lateral or Strike
Slip faults have almost vertical fault planes and show offsets in
a horizontal plane.
Right-lateral strike-slip faults
– the block on the opposite side of the fault has moved to the right and
vice versa for left-lateral faults.