Hanging Wall Faults

Occurs where the hanging wall moves up or is thrust over the foot wall.

Hanging wall faults.

A downthrown block between two normal faults dipping towards each other is a graben. The block below is called the footwall. When movement along a fault is the reverse of what you would expect with normal gravity we call them reverse faults. When the hanging wall moves horizontally it s a strike slipearthquake.

If the hanging wall moves to the left the earthquake is called right lateral if it moves to the right it s called a left lateral fault. The fault strike is the direction of the line of intersection between the fault plane and earth s surface. In fault fault plane is called the hanging wall or headwall. The line it makes on the earth s surface is the fault trace.

This type of faulting is common in areas of compression when the dip angle is shallow a reverse fault is often described as a thrust fault. When the fault plane is vertical there is no hanging wall or footwall. Occurs when the hanging wall moves down relative to the foot wall reverse fault. Its strike and its dip.

The dip of a fault plane is its angle of inclination measured from the horizontal. 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. You probably noticed that the blocks that move on either side of a reverse or normal fault slide up. It is a flat surface that may be vertical or sloping.

An upthrown block between two normal faults dipping away from each other is a horst. Strike slip faults have a different type of movement than normal and reverse faults. Moving the hanging wall up an inclined fault requires work to overcome friction on the fault and the downward pull of gravity. In a normal fault the hanging wall moves downward relative to the footwall.

The hanging wall will slide upwards right.