A fault is defined as a break in the earth. Large faults are located at the boundaries of the earth's tectonic plates. A fault (or crack) happens when the surrounding rocks cannot bend as stress increases. This causes the rocks to break at the fault line. Some faults are easy to recognize such as when looking at a bed of Sedimentary rocks that are offset from each other. Good examples of this can be seen when driving through mountainous areas and looking at the road cuts that were made for the highway. Two good examples that I have seen are 1) On highway 14 near Agua Dulce in Southern California and 2) On highway 40 through Kingman, AZ (between the Hwy 93 exit no. 48 and Stockton Hill Rd exit no. 52). In both of these examples, horizontal layers are offset by very distinctive faulting. Easy to recognize.
There are three ways that faults are classified and these are Dip-Slip faults, Strike-Slip faults, and Oblique-Slip faults. There are also three types of Dip-Slip faults and these are Normal, Reverse, and Thrust.
| Slip Fault | Anticlines, Synclines, and Folding |
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