Introduction to faults

Faults are shear fractures that are meters or more in length; when they are smaller
(centimetres) they are called shear fractures. Faults are very important structural
elements that affect the topography of the Earth. It is very common that large
faults actually consist of a network of smaller faults.
An inclined fault divides two separate blocks that are called the hanging wall and
the footwall (Fig. 1). The hanging wall is the bottom surface of the upper fault
block, and the footwall is the top surface of the lower fault block. Similarly, the
hanging wall block is the fault block above the fault; and the footwall block is
the fault block below the fault. These terms are of course not applicable to a vertical
fault. In that case geographic directions (north, south, etc.) are used.
High-angle faults are faults with a dip of more than 45 degrees; if it is less than
45 degrees, it is called a low-angle fault. Faults are furthermore divided in three
categories based on the orientation of the relative displacement (called slip): on
dip-slip faults, the slip is approximately parallel to the dip of the fault surface. This
goes for both normal and thrust faults; on strike-slip faults, the slip is more or
less horizontal and parallel to the strike of the fault surface; and on oblique-slip
faults, the slip is inclined obliquely on the fault surface (a combination of both dipslip and strike-slip faults). The dip-slip direction, which is a diagonal movement,
may be described in terms of the vertical displacement vector (throw) and the
horizontal displacement vector (heave).
Faults are also divided in terms of relative movement: on normal faults (Fig. 1),
the hanging wall block moves down relative to the footwall block; on thrust faults,
the hanging wall block moves up relative to the footwall block. High-angle thrust
faults are often called reverse faults; vertical faults cannot be described as normal
or thrust faults, so we simply describe if the left or right side has moved down;
strike-slip faults are right-lateral (dextral; Fig. 1) if the fault block across the fault
as seen from the observers point of view moved to the right; when the block
moved to the left, a strike-slip fault is called left-lateral or sinistral; oblique faults

may be described according to the nature of the strike-slip and dip-slip components
(Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Fault types.

Recognition of faults
Features intrinsic to faults
Faults can often be recognised by the characteristic textures and structures that
develop in rocks as a result of shearing. These textures are typically a function of
the depth of faulting, as temperature and pressure increase with depth (Fig. 2). Two
main rock types are formed: cataclastic rocks and mylonites. Cataclastic rocks
occur at depths less than 10 to 15 km. They occur in fault zones ranging from a few
mm to several km thicknesses. In general, the greater the thickness and the
smaller the grain size, the greater the amount of vertical displacement. Cataclastic
rocks are fractured or ground into powder and individual rock fragments are
generally angular and fractured. Cataclastic rocks usually lack an internal planar or
linear structure. Incohesive cataclasts (fragile, breakable by hand) are usually
formed by faulting at 1 to 4 km depth, and cohesive clasts at depths up to 15 km
(Fig. 2). Cataclastic rocks are divided into the breccia, gouge, cataclasites and
pseudotachylite series (Table 1). The breccia, gouge and cataclasites division is

based on clast size and matrix content. Breccia is a rock consisting of rock
fragments in a finer matrix (Fig. 3). Gouge is a very fine type of breccia that looks
like a fine, white powder. Cataclasites are usually cohesive rocks. Pseudotachylite is
a dark-coloured, massive, very fine-grained or glassy rock that is often found in the
matrix of cataclastic breccia or injected as veins in the surrounding rock in the fault
zone (Fig. 4). It formed by melting of rock under relatively high temperatures; the
molten rock was then injected in small fractures due to the high pressure and
recrystallised into a dark, glass-like material.
Fig. 2.Faults and associated rock structures.

Mylonitic rocks are formed at depths

exceeding 10 to 15 km and generally
occur in shear zones of several mm to
several m in thickness. They are very
fine-grained rocks that formed under
ductile deformation. They show a strong
planar and linear internal structure
called foliation or lineation that trends
(sub)parallel to the fault zone (Fig. 5).
Mylonites form as the result of recrystallinisation of mineral grains during rapid
ductile deformation. They have polygonal grain boundaries and are in this sense
different from the angular breccia series from cataclastic rocks.

Fig. 3. Cataclastic breccia indicating a fault zone.

Table 1. Subdivision of cataclastic and mylonitic rocks.

Fig. 4. Pseudotachylite.

Fig. 5. Mylonite.

Slickensides are smooth, polished surfaces on the fault plane that are the direct
result of shearing of the fault planes (Fig. 6). They are very important features in
determining the presence and direction of fault movement. Slickensides often show
linear features parallel to the fault called slickenlines or slickenside lineations,
or striations. These linear features may be recognised the presence of ridges and
grooves: the direction in which the grooves step down is the direction of fault
propagation (Fig. 7). Another important characteristic are mineral fibers (also called
slickenfibers). They are long, single-crystal mineral fibers that grow parallel to the
direction of fault displacement.

Fig. 6. Slickensides in clay with striations.

Fig. 7. Slickensides with grooves showing fault propagation (arrows).

Faults that develop at shallow depths increase in volume due to the formation and
accumulation of fractures, which leads to water accumulation. This causes

deposition of secondary minerals in veins in the fault zone such as calcite and silicabearing minerals such as quartz, opal or chalcedony.
Effects of faulting on geologic or stratigraphic units
Faulting usually results in an offset of the stratigraphic units in the two faulted
blocks (Fig. 8). Care should however been taken. A stratigraphic discontinuity can
also be the result of other factors. It may be the result of an intrusive contact, or an
unconformity as a result of erosional channels, other types of depositional contacts
or even local soil formation. The presence of a horse or fault slice along a
discontinuity is a clear indication of a fault. A horse is a volume of rock which is
surrounded on all sides by faults. It is a broken-off piece of rock from either the
hanging wall or the footwall and displaced by faults.

Fig. 8. Stratigraphic offset by faulting.

Repetition of certain strata in borehole logs may be indicative for the presence of a
fault (Fig. 9), but only if the undisturbed stratigraphy is known.
Sometimes a fault is not clearly visible in an outcrop, but local folding of the strata
may indicate the presence of a fault. Drag folds occur where sedimentary layers
trend at high angles to the fault plane (Fig. 10A and B). They are less likely to form
7

when the fault trends at a low angle to the sedimentary layers (Fig. 10C). Drag
folds are often found in conjunction with thrust faults. Rollover anticlines are
often formed in conjunction with normal faults (Fig. 10D).

Fig. 9. Borehole logs indicating faulting and non-faulted sections.

Fig. 10. A) and B) drag folds; C) Low-angle fault without drag lines; D) Rollover anticline.

Physiographic criteria for faulting

There are many criteria on landscape-scale that are indicative for fault activity.
Ongoing research in this field has led to a scientific subdiscipline called tectonic
geomorphology. Below a number of geomorphic elements are discussed:
Fault scarps occur where either normal or thrust faulting has generated a ridge in
the landscape (Fig. 11). Erosion of the ridge often leads to the deposition of alluvial
fans and facets or faceted spurs (Fig. 11). Fault scarps should not be confused
with marine terraces, which form due to a combination of sea level changes and
tectonic uplift, and should not be confused with river terraces, which occur in river
valleys and are the resultant of climate change and tectonic uplift.

Fig. 11. A) Fault scarp; B) alluvial fans and faceted spurs.

Unequal river terrace sequences on opposite sides of a river valley may be

indicative of an active fault underneath the current river bed causing unequal uplift
on both valley sides (Fig. 12). The formation of tectonic basins is a clear indication
for fault activity (Fig. 12). For instance, normal faulting may lead to the formation of
a horst and graben landscape, where the original surfaces on opposite sides of
the valley are the horsts, and the downthrown block forms the valley or the graben.
Normal and thrust faulting may lead to convex reaches (knickpoints) in river
profiles. Rivers tend to form smooth, concave profiles over time, but the presence of
a fault may lead to locally elevated reaches.
Strike-slip activity may lead to offset stream networks and local depressions
(sagponds) that fill up with water through the sheared and fractured rock area.

Fig. 12. A) Unequal river terrace distribution on both river valley sides, indicating differential
uplift on both valley sides; B) Tectonic basin and unequal river terraces on both valley sides,
due to block subsidence and unequal uplift on both valley sides.

10

Determination of fault displacement

Complete determination of the displacement on a fault requires knowledge of the

magnitude and direction of its displacement. The magnitude of fault displacement
is often difficult to establish in an absolute sense especially when the fault is not
located in sedimentary rocks that help to determine the amount of displacement by
their stratigraphy. In those cases intrusions, quartz veins, or even older fractures
that are found on both sides of the fault plane may be of use to establish the
absolute amount of displacement. When this is not possible often local reference
levels, such as sea level, or the relative fault motion between blocks is used to
establish the relative amount of displacement. In the case of normal and thrust
faults, it is possible that both blocks show displacement, but one block a bit more
than the other. It is possible to partially establish the fault displacement by a
number of small-scale structures that are found in the fault planes. The already
mentioned slickensides with their striations are a good tool.
Another excellent indicator is secondary fractures that form perpendicular to the
shear plain (see Fig. 1.2 Fractures Chapter). Those fractures may either be
extension or shear fractures (see Fig. 1 Fractures Chapter for extension and shear
fractures). Secondary extension fractures are usually not striated and may be filled
with secondary minerals. Secondary shear fractures are usually striated. Secondary
fractures may both form steps that are comparable to the ridges on the slickensides
that are used to determine the direction, but contrary to the slickensides, they
cannot be used to determine the direction of fault propagation because they may
form in both the downstream direction (congruous steps) and upstream direction
(incongruous steps) on the fault plane. There are however other ways to use
secondary fractures to determine the direction of fault displacement:
a) extension fractures cut in the fault surface at an angle of 30 to 50 degrees in the
direction of movement (Fig. 13A);
b) sometimes those extension fractures are crescent-shaped. The hollow part of the
fracture is in the direction of fault propagation (slip, see Fig. 13B);

11

c) striated secondary shear fractures may cut into the wall of the main fault plane
and are oriented towards the direction of fault movement (Fig. 13C). Sometimes
incongruent steps are formed that are either linear-shaped (Fig. 13C) or lunarshaped (Fig. 13D);
d) sometimes the secondary striated fractures may occur together with the
extension fractures, leading to a combination of incongruous steps and extension
fractures that cut deep into the fault wall indicating direction of fault displacement
(Fig. 13E). Or there may be very little evidence of fracturing at all (Fig. 13F).

Fig. 13. Secondary fracturing

Gouging of the fault surface is another way to deduct the movement of brittle fault
displacement (Fig.14). Gouging occurs by fragments of hard rock or minerals on the
wall of the relatively downward moving block that cut into the fault plane of the
other block. Depending on how the rock fragment cuts into the fault plane of the
opposite block, and whether the rock fragment breaks of, various patterns are
formed (Fig. 14). These patterns can only be used if the point on the fault plane
where the gouging began (the pluck face) can be located (Fig. 14).

12

Fig. 14. Gouging

Ductile shear zones may contain a number of small-scale structures that indicate
the shear sense. Platy minerals may become aligned to form a foliation. The
alignment is about at 45 degrees to the fault plane close to the plane, and less
inclined in the centre of deformation (Fig. 15A). Another structure is formed by
sheat folds that form parallel to the direction of slip on the ductile fault (Fig. 15B);
sometimes porphyroclasts are formed. Those are relict crystals that survived the
shearing and reduction in grain size from the original rock. They are very common
in mylonites. They grow tails of very fine mineral grains during ductile shearing
(Fig. 5), indicating the shear direction (Fig. 15CD). Porphyroblasts are mineral
grains such as garnet and staurolite that grow to relatively large size in a rock
during metamorphism. During ductile shear they do not deform, but they rotate like
a wheel and during this process they enclose adjacent minerals. In doing so, the
enclosed minerals attain a spiral-like form, which can be used to indicate the sense
of shear in a rock (Fig. 15EF).

13

Fig. 15. Shear sense criteria in ductile shear zones

Partial determination of displacement from large-scale structures.

Sometimes large-scale landscape features can be used to determine the amount of
fault displacement. The most well-known method is measuring the amount of
14

horizontal displacement due to strike-slip faulting. Off-set river systems are often
used, but also the occurrence of certain types of sediment or rocks can be used. See
for instance the displacement along the San Andreas fault in California, which was
determined on basis of off-set marine terrace sediments (Fig. 16).

Fig. 16. San Andreas fault displaced marine sediments

Nonunique constraints on fault displacement

Frequently, the principal evidence for a fault consists of the offset of a planar
structure, typically sedimentary bedding. This offset alone can never define the
displacement on the fault, regardless of the appearance of the outcrop pattern. Fig.
17 explains why. The true displacement vector (D) defines the actual movement
on the fault plane and incorporates both a vertical displacement vector n with
respect to the fault, and a horizontal vector p (strike-slip component). In an outcrop

15

assuming that it is oriented exactly parallel to the strike of the fault often the
vertical component can be observed, but it is impossible to tell if there has been any
horizontal movement towards or away from us. Fig. 17. clearly shows that for a
given vertical offset as defined by the vector n, different horizontal offsets p still
lead to the same observed offset of the footwall and the hanging wall blocks. Thus,
we cannot talk about the slip or displacement on the fault because we cannot
determine it. We speak instead of the separation, which is the distance measured
in a specified direction between the same planar feature on opposite sides of the
fault. The separation enables us to determine only the component of displacement
normal (vector n) to the cutoff line.
Fault geometry
Smaller faults are much more
common than larger faults. In fact, it
has been shown that the relation
between fault length of a fault system
and the number of faults can be
scaled using a power-law function.
When observing a large dataset of
faults, one can therefore expect to
find a small number of large faults,
but a large number of small faults.
Similarly, the measured total
displacement along a fault is often an
accumulation of many small
displacements over time.
Fault displacement is largest along the
Fig. 17. Nonunique indicators of fault
displacement

central part of the fault, and

approaches zero displacement at its

tips. For that reason there is no 1:1 scaling relationship between fault length and
fault displacement. Typically a fault of several meters will only show several

16

centimeters of displacement; a fault of several kilometers will shows several

hundreds of meters of displacement. A rule of thumb indicates that fault
displacement is about 3% of the total fault length. The termination line end of a
fault is a tip line, where the fault displacement has decreased to the extent that it
can be accommodated by coherent deformation distributed through the solid rock.
It should be realised that faults and their tip lines may look like lines in an outcrop.
In reality however, they are three-dimensional, often elliptical features that form a
3-D surface (the fault plain; see Fig. 17).
If one fault terminates against another of the same age, the intersection line of the
faults must be parallel to the displacement direction on both faults (Fig. 18A). If a
younger fault terminates against an older fault, the displacement vector on the
younger fault must parallel the termination line (Fig. 18B). If an older fault is cut
and offset by a younger fault the termination line of the older fault against the
younger has no relationship to the slip direction on either fault (Fig. 18C).

Fig. 18. Fault termination lines and fault traces

17

A fault in the subsurface that reaches the Earth surface is called a fault trace; one
that does not reach the Earths surface is called a blind fault. Sometimes a fault
splits into two fault surfaces when it intersects with another fault surface. This is
called a branch line. In Fig. 19 the horse is bounded on all edges by branch lines.
Faults of all types commonly die out in a set of splay faults, which are smaller
subsidiary faults that branch off from the main fault. Where splay faults branch off
from the main fault at fairly regular intervals and have comparable geometries, they
form an imbricate fan, which can be either extensional or contractional (reverse).

Fig. 19. Splay faults and a horse

Fault surfaces are not necessarily planar. It is quite common for the attitude of the
fault to change down dip or along strike. Sometimes the dip of fault decreases with
depth, so that the fault overall has a concave-up shave. These types of faults are
called listric faults. If the dip and/or strike of a fault abruptly changes, the location
of the change is called a fault bend. Some faults run parallel to bedding, called
flats, and some cut across bedding, called ramps. If the fault has not been folded
subsequent to its formation, flats are (sub)horizontal, whereas ramps have dips of
about 30 to 45 degrees.
18

Fault bends (or steps) along strike-slip faults cause changes in the strike of the
fault. Locations where the bend is oriented such that blocks on opposite sides of the
fault are squeezed together are restraining bends (Fig. 20), whereas locations
where the bend is oriented such that blocks on opposite sides of the fault pull away
from each other are releasing bends (Fig. 20).

Fig. 20. Restraining and releasing bends

Where movement across a segment of a strike-slip fault results in some

compression, transpression is occurring. Where movement results in extension,
transtension is occurring.
If a fault is segmented but the segments are not connected by a distinct ramp
structure, the structure is a step-over.
Because individual faults die out along the fault system, the total displacement
across the system is maintained by the transfer of slip from one end of a fault to the
adjacent parallel fault. Such zone is called a transfer zone or relay zone. If this
zone consists of one fault, it is called a transfer fault or relay fault.
Where faulting occurs, a damage zone is created as well. This is an area
surrounding the fault, or extending from the fault tips, where fracturing occurs. This
area can be of variable extent, but in some cases it can be considerably wider than

19

the fault zone itself. Characteristics of the secondary fracturing at a fault tip depend
in part on the orientation of the displacement vector relative to the tip line. Damage
zones that develop at mode II (shearing; strike-slip) tip lines may develop
extension fractures,
splay faults or branch
faults. Examples of such
secondary fracture
zones include wing
cracks, horsetail
splays, synthetic
branch faults and
antithetic faults (Fig.
21). Damage zones also
develop in step-overs,
where one strike-slip
fault ends and an
adjacent parallel strikeslip fault begins.
Depending on the local
shear sense, either
extenstional steps (e.g.
pull-apart basins) or
contractional steps (e.g.
rotated blocks) form
(Fig. 21).
Fig. 21. Secondary fracture zones

20