What is a fault line?
A fault line is usually the area on the ground where one observes evidence of a fault at the surface. It may be the evidence of one fault or a series of faults. Often more than one fault will exist and if they can be distinguished the are may identified as a fault zone instead of just a fault line — a fault line is generally used in reference to one fault only. It means that there has been movement of the rocks along that line or zone — one side may have moved up or down or sideways relative to the other side of the line. This relative movement is how faults are then defined. If the movement is up relative to the other block, it is called a reverse fault; if it has dropped down relative to the other block, it is called a normal fault; if it involves sideways movement, it is called a strike-slip fault, or a shear fault. Faults may occur just about anywhere in the geologic realm — some are just better known than others. For example, the San Andreas fault can be seen as a line across t
Look up, Search or google, “The San Andreas Fault ” there are a ‘FEW’, that is JUST ONE in California. An Example: “Scientists have learned that the Earth’s crust is fractured into a series of “plates” that have been moving very slowly over the Earth’s surface for millions of years. Two of these moving plates meet in western California; the boundary between them is the San Andreas fault. The Pacific Plate (on the west) moves northwestward relative to the North American Plate (on the east), causing earthquakes along the fault”. There are ‘Others’ It will give you a better Idea of what a ‘Fault Line’ is.
