Fault Zone Application Software Download Free

Application software download free Fault Zone

A fault zone is a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement, usually resulting from the rupture of an earthquake on a fault line. Fault zones vary in size and shape, and are of great interest to scientists because they preserve records of crustal deformation and may provide clues about the mechanism of earthquake occurrence.

Fault zone structures evolve during deformation, affecting fault-zone mineralogy and fluid composition. Evidence of these processes is difficult to obtain from surface observations because the lithosphere is usually denuded by uplift and erosion. Faults also produce changes in lithology, pore pressure and seismic velocity through their deformation. For example, fractured rocks exhibit a significant reduction in seismic velocity (with the magnitude of the reduction proportional to the density of the fractures), and highly strained rocks show changes in lithology and a loss of mechanical strength.

Tectonic plates move along fault zones, and these movements are the source of plate tectonics and continental earthquakes. Some faults are purely compressional, while others such as those found in thrust belts or subduction zones are mainly shear-slip. The latter are more dangerous than other types of faults because they can produce the largest and most destructive earthquakes.

A fault plane can be vertical, horizontal or at an angle of inclination to the Earth’s surface. A fault whose strike is in the direction of a plate boundary is called a transform fault; one which has a component of dip-slip is called a oblique fault.