What happens to a fault when an earthquakes occurs?
Earthquakes occur on faults. When an EQ occurs on one of these faults, the rock on one side of the fault slips with respect to the other. The fault surface can be vertical, horizontal, or at some angle to the surface of the earth. The slip direction can also be at any angle. • Q: What are the names of the 2 basic earthquakes? A: Strike-slip earthquakes–occurs on an approximately vertical fault plane as the rock on one side of the fault slide horizontally past the other. Dip-slip earthquake — the fault is at an angle to the surface of the earth and the movement of the rock is up or down. • Q: How do we know a fault exists? A: (1) if the earthquake left surface evidence, such as surface ruptures or fault scarps (cliffs made by earthquakes); (2) if a large earthquake has broken the fault since we began instrumental recordings in 1932; and (3) if the faults produces small earthquakes that we can record with the denser seimographic network established in the 1970s. • Q: What is “surface r
