Normal Fault Hanging Wall And Footwall

Where the fault plane is sloping as with normal and reverse faults the upper side is the hanging wall and the lower side is the footwall.

Normal fault hanging wall and footwall.

They bound many of the mountain ranges of the world and many of the rift valleys found along spreading margins. The hanging wall slides down relative to the footwall. If the hanging wall drops relative to the footwall you have a normal fault. In a normal fault the hanging wall moves downward relative to the footwall.

A type of fault in which the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall and the fault surface dips steeply commonly from 50 o to 90 o groups of normal faults can produce horst and graben topography or a series of relatively high and low standing fault blocks as seen in areas where the crust is rifting or being pulled apart by plate tectonic activity. Its strike and its dip. A downthrown block between two normal faults dipping towards each other is a graben. Other articles where normal fault is discussed.

The strike is the direction of the fault. Any fault plane can be completely described with two measurements. Normal faults occur in areas undergoing extension stretching. Normal dip slip faults are produced by vertical compression as earth s crust lengthens.

An upthrown block between two normal faults dipping away from each other is a horst. Normal faults are common.