Normal Fault Hanging Wall And Footwall

Generally speaking the hanging wall and footwall of a fault are in contact with each other.

Normal fault hanging wall and footwall.

When the fault plane is vertical there is no hanging wall or footwall. Block position under the hanging wall. The hanging wall slides down relative to the footwall. Low angle normal faults with regional tectonic significance may be designated detachment faults.

Normal faults are common. A downthrown block between two normal faults dipping towards each other is a graben. Its strike and its dip. Any fault plane can be completely described with two measurements.

If the hanging wall drops relative to the footwall you have a normal fault. An upthrown block between two normal faults dipping away from each other is a horst. The strike is the direction of the fault. A type of fault in which the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall and the fault surface dips steeply commonly from 50 o to 90 o groups of normal faults can produce horst and graben topography or a series of relatively high and low standing fault blocks as seen in areas where the crust is rifting or being pulled apart by plate tectonic activity.

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. In a normal fault the hanging wall moves downward relative to the footwall. Where the fault plane is sloping as with normal and reverse faults the upper side is the hanging wall and the lower side is the footwall. True in a reverse fault the hanging wall block moves up relative to the footwall block.

Formed by tensional stress rocks are stretched away from each other reverse fault. In some kinds of mineral deposits there is ore directly in the fault so. Other articles where normal fault is discussed. They bound many of the mountain ranges of the world and many of the rift valleys found along spreading margins.

Formed by compressional stress rocks are pushed towards each other thrust fault. Normal faults form in response to horizontal tensional stresses that stretch or elongate the rocks. Normal dip slip faults are produced by vertical compression as earth s crust lengthens. The hanging wall moves down relative to the foot wall.