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Geomorphic expression of faults

Faults in which the hanging Wall moves only vertically, that is, directly up or down the fault plane,
are termed “dip-slip” faults, whereas pure horizontal motion results in “strike-slip” faults. Few
faults, however, are purely dip-slip or strike slip. Most have some component of both horizontal and
vertical motions.

Nonetheless, it is useful to describe the structures and geomorphic features that are expected for
the primarily dip—slip and strike-slip end-members, because their contribution to a given natural
fault setting can then be more readily recognized. Experimental results using homogeneous
materials with known physical characteristics often depict and idealized array of structures that are
associated with a particular stress field. Such structures are described in the following paragraphs.
Natural heterogeneities in rocks, however, dictate that they will not deform uniformly, so that few
natural situations exactly duplicate model predictions.

We typically envision a fault as an irregular, but singular, surface dipping into the crust. In fact, at
the scales of less than 10 km, many fault consist of a tabular volume of typically unconnected or
anastomosing smaller faults (Scholz, 1998). These component faults will span a broad spectrum of
sizes, ranging from a few meters to several kilometers. Thus, whereas some faults appear to slip
along a single plane at depth with a compact damage zone surrounding it (Fig. 4.17A), others display
highly fractured zones hundreds of meters thick with multiple actively slipping fault surfaces (Fig.
417 B) (Faulkner et al., 2003). Even at the surface, however, the complexity of many fault systems
is commonly difficult to delineate. Where fault traces on the ground are obscured by deposition in
basins, erosion on hillslopes, or vegetation, remotely sensed data may serve to illuminate fault
systems more completely. For example, aerial imagery can detect subtle changes in vegetation that
responses to variations in the water table or soil types due to faulting. In actively aggrading basins,
high-resolution aeromagnetic surveys (Grauch, 2001) have been successfully used to expose
intricate fault systems that were previously unknown (Fig. 4.17C and D). The complexity or surface
deformation, therefore, is not solely attributable to the heterogeneous materials of the crust, but
also to the fact that, during an earthquake, hundreds of small rupture surfaces actually
accommodate the total displacement. Over time, slip accumulates on numerous surfaces, and block
between faults rotate and shear. Not surprisingly, the resulting deformation pattern can be
complex, too!

Fig.4.17 Fault zone complexity in models and maps. A. Traditional model of a strike-slip fault with a
fault core of a few centimeters and a zone of damaged bedrock extending about 100m on either side.
B. Complexly fractured strike-slip fault zone with bands of fault gouge separating a fractured lens of
commonly rotated and sheared bedrock within a broad (1 km wide) damage zone. A, B: Modified from
Faulkner et al. (2003). C. Quaternary faults in the Rio Grande rift near Albuquerque, New Mexico,
compiled from previous geological studies. D. Quaternary faults in the same area as interpreted from
aeromagnetic anomalies that are attributed to thickness changes in Quaternary sediments across
faults. C, D: Modified from Grauch (2001).
Strike- Slip faults

Some of the best-Known faults in the world, such as the San Andreas, Altyn Tagh, and North
Anatolian Faults, are strike-slip faults that have caused widespread destruction in 20th-century
earthquakes. Strike-slip faults develop where the maximum compressive stress (omega 1) is
horizontal and there is a horizontally oriented deviatoric tensile stress (Fig. 4.1C). Commonly, this
stress orientation prevails where two crustal blocks are moving essentially horizontally and
approximately parallel to the boundary between them, but in opposite directions. Thus, a shear
couple is created across this boundary zone.

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