1. DIASTROPHISM –WARPING,FOLDING, AND FAULTING
FORCES OF PRESSURE THAT SHAPE THE EARTH’S SURFACE

2. WARPING
Large portions of the Earth’s crust are subjected to uplift or depression.
Uplift possibly due to tectonic as well as erosion processes.
Depression usually due to glacial weight added to crust
Isostasy: rebound of the Earth’s crust as glacial weight is removed through melting and global warming

3. COLORADO PLATEAU: WARPING
Compression forces over last 20 million years uplifted Colorado Plateau

4. DOMES AND BASINS: WARPING

5. ISOSTASY: POST-GLACIAL CRUST REBOUND

6. FORCES THAT SHAPE THE EARTH’S SURFACE
There are three main types of forces of pressure that work to shape (and re-shape) the Earth’s surface:
Compression forces (‘squeezing’)
Extension (or tension) forces (‘stretching’)
Shearing forces (‘ripping’)

7. FORCES

8. COMPRESSION FORCES: FOLDS
Folding
A fold is formed by the bending or buckling of rock layers, as a result of great force and pressure over extremely long periods of geologic time
There are two primary types of folding:
Synclines and Anticlines
Syncline: Rock layers bend downward in the folding process to form a trough-like physical feature called a syncline. This physical feature often shows itself in the form of valleys and lakes.
Anticline: Rock layers buckle upward during folding to form an arch-like structure called an anticline. This physical features often shows itself in the form of mountains or ridges.

9. Structure of Folds
force
force

10. FOLDS RESPOND TO TECTONICS
No compression forces and no folds
Compression forces create somewhat symmetrical upfolds (anticlines) and downfolds (synclines)
Continued compression pushes symmetrical upfold over into an ‘overturned fold’
Compression forces cause a fault to form and pushes one limb of the ‘overturned fold’ onto the other limb
A Recumbent fold along a fault has developed

11. Anticline and Syncline

12. OVERTURNED FOLD

13. Recumbent Fold

14. FOLDED STRATA ALONG SAN ANDREAS FAULT – HWY 14

15. FOLDED MOUNTAINS – COMPRESSION FORCES
 Folded Mountains form as the edges of two adjacent rock layers are pushed together
The layers buckle like a wrinkled rug
Mountains form from multiple parallel synclines and anticlines
Under great pressure and steady force, rocks can actually bend rather than breaking.
The Appalachian Mountains in the North America, the Himalayan Mountains in India, the Atlas Mountains in Northwest Africa, and Swiss Alps in Europe are examples of folded mountains.

17. Applachians
Swiss Alps
Himalayas
Atlas Mountains

18. FOLDED MOUNTAINS ERODE OVER TIME
Initial uplift
Erosion features

19. FAULTING – COMPRESSION, EXTENSION AND SHEARING FORCES
When enormous stresses build and push large intact rock masses beyond their yield limit, faulting of the surface is likely to occur. 
A fault is a fracture in the rock layers along which movement occurs
Movement is the displacement of once connected blocks of rock along a fault plane. Displacement can occur in any direction with the broken blocks moving along the fault in opposite directions from each other.

20. Measuring Displacement along a Fault
Some faults have vertical displacement, while others have horizontal displacement
The measure of displacement is referred to as either “dip-slip” or “strike-slip”.
Strike: The compass direction of a line of strata
Dip: The angle in degrees between a horizontal surface and an inclined surface – measured as perpendicular to strike

21. Dip versus Strike

22. UNDERSTANDING FAULT TERMINOLOGY
Faults are identified by their patterns of displacement:
Vertical (dip slip)
The movement is along the line of the dip
Horizontal (strike slip)
The movement is along the line of the strike

23. Dip-slip versus Strike-Slip

24. TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF DIP SLIP FAULTS
Fault scarp: steep cliff that represents edge of vertically displaced rock
Can be 100s of meters in height
Can extend 100s of kilometers in straight lines
Sharp rise in terrain and steep slopes

25. Fault scarp
Fault scarp

26. Identifying Dip Slip Fault Structures

27. NORMAL FAULTS: DIP SLIP FAULTS
Normal faults are the result of tensional (or extensional) forces acting to pull apart the surface.
The hanging wall drops relative to the footwall.
Normal faults can occur across vast areas due to lithospheric stretching.
Basin and Range in Western USA

28. NORMAL FAULT: DIP SLIP Tension forces Footwall Tension forces
Hanging wall

29. HORSTS AND GRABENS
Tension forces
Tension forces
Mountains and Basins created by a series of parallel Normal Faults – The Basin and Range Province in Western North America is a topographic example of normal faulting:
Grabens: downdropped basins
Horsts: Uplifted mountains and ranges

30. Basin and Range
Western USA exhibits ‘horst and graben’ structures due to extensional tectonics.
The Western edge of the Basin and Range includes the Sierra Nevada in California.
The Eastern edge of the Basin and Range includes the Wasatch Range in Utah

31. Faults across Basin Range Province
TENSION FORCES ARE PULLING THIS AREA APART

32. REVERSE FAULT – DIP SLIP
Reverse faults are the result of compression forces
The footwall drops relative to the hanging wall

33. Reverse Fault – Dip Slip
Hanging wall
Footwall

34. REVERSE THRUST FAULT
Reverse thrust faults are the result of very low angle faults, pushing the hanging wall up and over the foot wall
Hanging wall
Footwall
Compression forces

35. BLIND REVERSE THRUST FAULT
A blind reverse thrust fault does not extend to the surface – we only know of their existence because of earthquakes and surface deformation
Hanging wall lifts up and over footwall
Hanging wall
footwall

36. TRANSFORM FAULTS: SHEARING FORCES
Transform faults can be found at plate boundaries as one plate slides horizontally past another.
Strike-slip faults
Most transform faults are found on the ocean floor as part of the active offset along divergent plate boundaries.

37. TRANSFORM FAULT – SEA FLOOR SPREADING

38. TRANSFORM FAULTS: PLATE BOUNDARIES
At plate boundaries, when two tectonic plates grind past each other, there is usually no volcanism or mountain building occurring.
One of the largest transform faults in the world is the San Andreas Fault
Separating the North American Plate from the Pacific Plate in southern California.

39. TRANSFORM FAULTS: SAN ANDREAS

40. San Andreas Fault

41. FORMATION OF SAN ANDREAS FAULT
The northwest-southeast trending fault zone extends from the East Pacific rise in the Gulf of California (between Baja California and the Mexican mainland) to the Mendocino fracture zone offshore of northern California - approximately 800 miles

43. San Andreas Fault Zone
The San Andreas fault zone includes the main fault trace and many other major and minor fault strands.
The relative rate of motion between the North American plate and the Pacific plate is approximately 3.5 to 4.6 cm per year, most of which (2.0 to 3.5 cm per year) is accounted for by horizontal displacement along the San Andreas fault zone.

44. Evolution of San Andreas Fault
Before 30 million years ago, the western edge of the North American plate met the eastern Farallon Plate in a convergent plate boundary – complete with subduction.
The western edge of the Farallon Plate was diverging from the Pacific Plate
“East Pacific Rise” spreading center
The rate of convergence was greater than the rate of divergence and the spreading center moved towards the subduction zone.

46. Evolution of San Andreas Fault
Approximately 30 million years ago, the spreading center (East Pacific Rise) came into contact with the active subduction zone.
The Farallon plate was split into two pieces which are still being subducted beneath the North American plate
Juan de Fuca (northern plate)
Cocos (southern plate

48. Evolution of San Andreas Fault
The relative motion between the Pacific plate and the North American plate was altered to become a transform boundary.
Subduction along the transform boundary stopped.
New motion of this portion of Pacific Plate is to the northwest, parallel to the North American plate

52. CONSEQUENCES OF SAN ANDREAS FAULT
Along the San Andreas Fault, the Pacific plate slowly grinds to the north.
Los Angeles lies on the Pacific plate side of the fault, while San Francisco is on the North American side.
About 25 million years in the future, if movement continues in the same direction, Los Angeles will be a suburb of San Francisco (or vice versa)
The San Andreas is a right-lateral transform fault, which means that if you imagine standing on either side of the fault and looking across to the opposite side, it seems to you that the people and objects on the opposite side are moving to your right.

53. Features of San Andreas Fault
Linearity: This fault exhibits an almost ‘straight line’ in appearance on the Earth’s surface.
Beheaded streams: Streams that cross the San Andreas are displaced as the Pacific Plate slowly moves along
Sag Ponds: Groundwater, under pressure from the two plates grinding together, is forced to the surface.

54. San Andreas Fault in the Carrizo Plain
View is looking south. Fault is in the center of the folded ridge area

55. Wallace Creek

56. Sag Pond Along San Andreas Fault

57. FOLDS, FAULTS AND FOSSIL FUELS
Fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas are produced through decomposition and heating of organic materials in marine sediments.
Oil and natural gas are collected in ‘reservoir rocks’.
Folding and faulting of reservoir rocks aids in the hunt for fossil fuels.
Anticlines offer the best prospect for finding ‘pools’ of oil or natural gas that have migrated upward (they are less dense that surrounding rocks).
Faulting moves impermeable surfaces against permeable surfaces – allowing oil to collect along the fault plane.