Why are earthquakes associated with faults?
Faults represent weaknesses within in the lithosphere. Rock under stress will most likely rupture where it is the weakest. Therefore, earthquakes are most likely to occur somewhere along a preexisting fault. 5: What type of fault is illustrated in figure 3? With what type of stress is it associated? The fault in figure three is a reverse fault since the hanging wall moved up with respect to the footwall. This particular fault motion was due to compression. 6: The San Andreas fault is represented in figure 4. What type of fault is it? The San Andreas fault is the boundary between two plates, the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate. These two plates are moving in the same direction but at different speeds. Thus motion along the fault is typical of a transform fault. 7: What is the difference between the epicenter of an earthquake and the focus? The focus of an earthquake is the point along a fault where the energy is first released. However, the epicenter of an earthquake is the p
