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In geology, a fault is a fracture in the earth. These cracks will run through rock and soil and anything else that gets in the way. If you have ever felt an earthquake, you know what it feels like for the earth to move along one of these fractures. When the earth moves parallel to the fracture, we call it a strike-slip fault. Another way to think of this is as a side-to-side motion.
There are two different types of strike-slip fault, which are really only different based on your perspective. If you stand on one side of the fault and see the other side move to the right, we call that a dextral, or a right-lateral strike-slip fault. If you see it move to the left, we call it a sinistral, or left-lateral strike-slip fault. A dextral fault to you may be a sinistral fault to someone facing you on the other side of the line. The other types of faults move up and down rather than side to side.
Earthquakes occur because the crust of the earth moves along its fractures, or faults. The circulation patterns of the mantle, which is the fluid rock layer beneath the crust, are responsible for the crust moving. As you can imagine, rock moving against rock doesn't go very smoothly. There is a whole lot of friction between layers of rock and earth. As the two sides of a strike-slip fault try to move past each other, they get stuck and then stress builds up. When they finally overcome it and move past each other, you get the literally earth-shaking experience of an earthquake.
When a fault includes vertical movement, that is, one side moves up and the other side moves down, we call it a dip-slip fault. Sometimes a fault has characteristics of both the dip and the strike. We call this an oblique-slip fault. The rock on each side of the fault moves horizontally, as in a strike-slip fault, but also vertically, as in a dip-slip fault.
Another type of strike-slip fault is called a transform fault. This is a strike-slip fault that is connected to other faults at each end. A transform fault also makes up part of the boundary between two tectonic plates. Most transform faults are found on the ocean floor, where they connect plate boundaries that separate to create new seafloor. As the seafloor spreads, it opens up and magma flows through the opening to make new rock on the bottom of the ocean. The transform faults zigzag between these spreading points, relieving tension in the crust.
The most well-known fault in the U.S. is both a strike-slip and a transform fault. The San Andreas Fault runs through the west side of California and makes up part of the boundary between the North American and Pacific plates. The movement along this strike-slip fault has caused a number of devastating earthquakes and plenty of smaller disruptions as well. Other examples of transform faults include the Anatolian Fault in Turkey and the Alpine Fault in New Zealand.
Faults are fractures in the earth's crust. A strike-slip fault is a fault that moves laterally, or side to side. Faults that move to the right are called dextral, or right-lateral. Faults that move to the left are called sinistral, or left-lateral. However, this all depends on which side of the fault you're on. When the stress builds up during this kind of movement and releases suddenly, it causes an earthquake. A transform fault is a type of strike-slip that is common on the ocean floor and relieves stress caused by seafloor spreading. The San Andreas Fault is a transform strike-slip fault. A strike-slip fault can also be oblique, meaning it moves vertically as well as laterally.
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College Earth Science: Help and Review23 chapters | 247 lessons | 1 flashcard set
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