Thrust Fault | Geology | Britannica

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fault type

• In fault

  Reverse dip-slip faults result from horizontal compressional forces caused by a shortening, or contraction, of Earth’s crust. The hanging wall moves up and over the footwall. Thrust faults are reverse faults that dip less than 45°. Thrust faults with a very low angle of dip…

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• In metamorphic rock: Structural features

  …the Main Central Thrust, a thrust fault that runs for hundreds of kilometres from east to west and was responsible for the transportation of rocks belonging to the Eurasian Plate southward over those of the Indian Plate. Along much of the length of this fault, the metamorphic rocks in the…

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Precambrian stratigraphy

• In Precambrian: Structure and formation of greenstone-granite belts

  …are upside-down and deformed by thrusts and major horizontal folds (nappes). They have been subsequently refolded by upright anticlines (convex folds of rock) and synclines. The result of this thrusting is the repetition of the same stratigraphic successions on top of one another, creating a massive deposit of material up…

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superposition principle

• In dating: Determination of sequence

  …belts is the presence of thrust faults. Such faults, which are common in compression zones along continental edges, may follow bedding planes and then cross the strata at a steep angle, placing older units on top of younger ones. In certain places, the fault planes are only a few centimetres…

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