Earth:Oblique-slip fault
In geology, an oblique-slip fault is a fault whose displacement has both strike-slip and dip-slip components, producing diagonal motion along the fault plane.[1] Oblique-slip faults are classified by the relative proportions of strike‑ and dip‑slip movement.[2] Most natural faults have at least some oblique component.[1]
Oblique-slip faults may be normal or reverse in the dip‑slip sense, combined with a strike‑slip component.[1] At mid-ocean ridges, oblique spreading can occur when transform faults deviate from the plate‑motion direction, forming obliquely spreading ridge segments and associated fracture zones.[3]
Characteristics
Oblique-slip faults are common at plate boundaries where the relative motion vector is neither purely parallel nor purely perpendicular to the fault trace.[2] Field evidence from modern plate boundaries, such as the Fairweather Fault, shows oblique slip with both vertical offsets of terraces and significant strike‑slip motion.[4]
Oblique rifting is another clear example: oblique divergence between tectonic plates localizes continental break‑up and strongly controls rift architecture and three‑dimensional basin geometry.[5]
Evolution of fault kinematics
Example
In the United States, the San Andreas Fault has segments with oblique characteristics, reflecting a motion vector that is not exactly parallel to the fault system.[6]
See also
- Fault
- Oblique subduction
- Thrust fault
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Fault: Oblique". https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/animation/fault_oblique_.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Oblique Fault". https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/oblique-fault.
- ↑ Ito, Garrett; Schierjott, Jana; Behn, Mark D.; Tian, Xiaochuan; Kaus, Boris J. P.; Popov, Anton A. (2026). "Intrusive Magmatism, Plate Stresses, and the Cause of Orthogonal Versus Oblique Spreading Mid-Ocean Ridges". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 27 (6). doi:10.1029/2025GC012835. Bibcode: 2026GGG....2712835I.
- ↑ rwitter, sr (2024). "Oblique contraction along the fastest ocean-continent transform plate boundary focuses rock uplift west of the Fairweather fault, southeast Alaska". ESS Open Archive 2024 (206). doi:10.22541/essoar.170264294.41408577/v2. Bibcode: 2024esoar.41408577W. https://essopenarchive.org/doi/full/10.22541/essoar.170264294.41408577/v2.
- ↑ Brune, Sascha; Williams, Simon E.; Müller, R. Dietmar (2018). "Oblique rifting: the rule, not the exception". https://se.copernicus.org/articles/9/1187/2018/se-9-1187-2018.pdf.
- ↑ Yule, Doug; Sieh, Kerry (2003). "Complexities of the San Andreas fault near San Gorgonio Pass: Implications for large earthquakes". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 108 (B11). doi:10.1029/2001JB000451. Bibcode: 2003JGRB..108.2548Y. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2001JB000451.
External links
- Self-organization of mid-ocean ridge segments during oblique oceanisation
- Evolution of stress and fault patterns in oblique rift systems: 3-D numerical lithospheric-scale experiments from rift to breakup
- A photo of an oblique fault
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