Hanging Wall Footwall Normal Fault

Other articles where normal fault is discussed.

Hanging wall footwall normal fault.

An upthrown block between two normal faults dipping away from each other is a horst. They bound many of the mountain ranges of the world and many of the rift valleys found along spreading margins. The hanging wall on the left slides down relative to the footwall. Block position under the hanging wall.

The hanging wall moves up relative to the foot wall. Its strike and its dip. A downthrown block between two normal faults dipping towards each other is a graben. 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.

The hanging wall slides down relative to the footwall. Low angle normal faults with regional tectonic significance may be designated detachment faults. A n fault forms when the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall a. The strike is the direction of the fault.

Normal dip slip faults are produced by vertical compression as earth s crust lengthens. When the fault plane is vertical there is no hanging wall or footwall. If the hanging wall drops relative to the footwall you have a normal fault. The hanging wall on the right slides down relative to the footwall.

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. Normal faults are common. Formed by tensional stress rocks are stretched away from each other reverse fault. 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.

Any fault plane can be completely described with two measurements. Normal faults occur in areas undergoing extension stretching. Two parallel normal faults form. Normal fractures in rock with no offset where there has been no motion are called.