GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -A fault is formed in the Earth’s crust as a brittle response to stress. Generally, the movement of the tectonic plates provides the stress, and rocks at the surface break in response to this. Faults have no particular length scale.

Detailed explanation-2: -It forms when rock above an inclined fracture plane moves downward, sliding along the rock on the other side of the fracture. Normal faults are often found along divergent plate boundaries, such as under the ocean where new crust is forming. Long, deep valleys can also be the result of normal faulting.

Detailed explanation-3: -Stress causes the build up of strain, which causes the deformation of rocks and the Earth’s crust. Compressional stresses cause a rock to shorten. Tensional stresses cause a rock to elongate, or pull apart. Shear stresses causes rocks to slip past each other.

Detailed explanation-4: -Faults are cracks in the earth’s crust along which there is movement. These can be massive (the boundaries between the tectonic plates themselves) or very small. If tension builds up along a fault and then is suddenly released, the result is an earthquake.

Detailed explanation-5: -Faults occur when rocks break due to the forces acting on them. Stress may build up over a period of many years until the fault suddenly moves – perhaps a few centimetres, or even a few metres. When this happens, it releases a huge amount of energy in an earthquake.