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Geology & Earth Sciences vocabulary · Plate Tectonics & Structures

Fault

Meaning in geology & earth sciences, with examples

/fɔːlt/nounCore term

In geology & earth sciences, fault means: A fracture in the Earth's crust along which the rocks on either side have moved. Sudden slip on a fault causes an earthquake.

In Turkish: fay, kırık

How it is used

Faults are named by their movement: normal, reverse, thrust and strike-slip faults. A fault zone is a wide band of faults, and a fault line is the trace of a fault at the surface. Faults slip, rupture or are reactivated.

Example sentences

  1. The North Anatolian Fault is a right-lateral strike-slip fault.

  2. We mapped the fault where it cuts across the road.

Common collocations

  • active fault
  • fault zone
  • strike-slip fault
  • normal fault
  • fault line
  • earthquakeA sudden shaking of the ground caused by rocks breaking and slipping along a fault, which releases energy as seismic waves.
  • plate boundaryThe zone where two tectonic plates meet. Plates move apart at divergent boundaries, towards each other at convergent boundaries and past each other at transform boundaries.
  • foldA bend or curve in layers of rock, formed when the rocks are slowly squeezed by tectonic forces without breaking.
  • strike and dipTwo measurements that describe the orientation of a rock layer or fault: strike is the compass direction of a horizontal line on it, and dip is its angle of tilt.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Plate Tectonics & Structures

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