1. Forces in Earth’s Crust
Section 1
Forces in Earth’s Crust

2. Types of Stress
Stress is a force that acts on rock to change its shape or volume.
A rock’s volume is the amount of space that the rock takes up.
Stress adds energy to the rock
3 Different kinds of stress in the crust:
Tension
Compression
Shearing

3. Tension
Tension pulls the crust stretching the rock so that it becomes thinner in the middle. Think of when we pulled apart the Milky Way Bar.
Tension occurs when 2 plates pull apart.

4. Compression Compression squeezes rock until it folds or breaks
One plate pushes against another.

5. Shearing
Shearing is a type of stress that pushes mass of rock in two opposite directions
Shearing causes rock to break or slip apart or change its shape

6. Kinds of Faults
A fault is a break in the rock of the crust where rock surfaces slip past each other.
Most faults occur along plate boundaries, where the forces of plate motion push or pull the crust so much that the curst breaks.
There are 3 main types of faults:
Normal Faults
Reverse Faults
Strike-Slip Fault

7. Normal Fault Tension in Earth’s crust pulls rock apart
In a normal fault, the fault is at an angle, so one block of rock lies about the fault while the other block lies below.
The block of rock that lies above is called the hanging wall.
The block of rock that lies below is called the footwall.
In a normal fault, the hanging wall slips downward.

8. Normal Fault

9. Reverse Fault
In reverse faults, the rock of the crust is pushed together.
The rock forming the hanging wall of a reverse fault slides up and over the footwall.
Part of the Rock Mountains were produced due to reverse faults.

10. Reverse Fault

11. Strike-Slip Fault
In places where plates move past each other, shearing create strike-slip faults.
In a strike-slip fault, the rocks on either side of the fault slip past each other sideways.
A strike-slip fault between plate boundaries is called a transform fault.

12. Strike-slip Fault

13. Changing Earth’s Surface
Over millions of years, the forces of plate movement can change a flat plain into landforms such as anticlines and synclines, folded mountains, fault-block mountains, and plateaus.

14. Anticlines and Synclines
Anticline is a fold that bends upward into an arch.
Syncline is a fold that bends downward to form a valley.
This is produced when two plates have compression (come together).

15. Fault-Block Mountain
When 2 normal faults cut through a block of rock, a fault-block mountain is formed.
As the two faults are pulled apart, land is left in the middle. The hanging wall of each fault goes down and the block in between move up, creating a mountain.

16. Plateau
Plateaus are large areas of flat land that elevated high above sea level.
Some plateaus form when forces in Earth’s crust push up a large, flat block of rock.
Plateaus consist of many flat layers that are wide.