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Physical Process

Reverse Faulting

Tectonics and Volcanism

Reverse faulting is the dip-slip motion in which the hanging wall block above an inclined fault plane is pushed upward and over the footwall block as the crust shortens under horizontal compression. A thrust fault is a shallow-dipping reverse fault carrying especially large horizontal displacement, and reverse and thrust faulting together are the mechanism that builds compressional mountain belts and generates the great subduction-zone earthquakes along convergent plate margins such as the Himalaya and the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Facts
Timescale
Timescale (category)
Seconds 1
Timescale (category)
Years 1
Timescale (category)
Thousands of Years 1
Timescale (category)
Millions of Years 1
Process Type
Tectonic 1
Timescale
An individual rupture is seconds; the fault system itself develops over thousands to millions of years. 1
First Proposed Year
1905 1
Connections

Associated With

Sources
1. Reverse Faulting (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Timescale (category): Seconds
  • Timescale (category): Years
  • Timescale (category): Thousands of Years
  • Timescale (category): Millions of Years
  • Process Type: Tectonic
  • Timescale: An individual rupture is seconds; the fault system itself develops over thousands to millions of years.
  • First Proposed Year: 1905
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