Faulting in geology refers to the brittle deformation process that produces fractures (faults) along which measurable displacement has occurred within the Earth’s crust. It accommodates tectonic strain by slip along fault planes, driven primarily by differential stress regimes (extensional, compressional, or strike-slip). Faulting is governed by rock rheology, pore fluid pressure, temperature, and strain rate, and is commonly described using Mohr–Coulomb failure criteria. It plays a critical role in crustal deformation, seismicity, and basin formation, and is analyzed through structural mapping, kinematic and dynamic analysis, focal mechanisms, and numerical or analogue modeling of stress and strain fields.
A new study of young tectonic landforms on the moon offers the most detailed estimate yet of how much the moon has contracted as its interior gradually cooled over time.
Planetary Sciences
4 hours ago
0
0
A better understanding of how earthquakes occur and what happens during a rupture is important for assessing seismic risk. Small earthquakes, which are more frequent than large ones, are a tempting data set, but they're hard ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 6, 2026
0
12
While not quite a fatal attraction, the gravitational pull of the moon and sun creates tiny stresses on Earth that can trigger events known as slow earthquakes. These are movements along fault lines (fault slips) that release ...
Magma moving beneath a volcano can make the ground rise, sink or shift sideways. Measuring these changes gives scientists clues about where magma is stored and how it travels. A study published in Geodesy and Geodynamics ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 23, 2026
0
56
Between 2006 and 2017, North Korea conducted six underground nuclear tests at its vast testing site at Mount Mantap in North Hamgyong province. Typically, underground explosions trigger an intense burst of minor earthquakes ...
The surface of Mercury is filled with craters, ridges and steep cliffs. Over billions of years, as the planet's interior cooled, the planet also shrank. Just as the skin of a drying fruit wrinkles when what is inside it shrinks, ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 13, 2026
0
40
UC Riverside scientists have developed a way to identify where Earth's biggest earthquakes are most likely to occur, offering a powerful new tool for improving disaster preparation in some of the most dangerous seismic regions.
Earth Sciences
Sep 5, 2026
0
124
Locals and officials in Colombia have begun a massive search and rescue effort to find survivors of a powerful earthquake that struck near San José del Palmar in Chocó, with major damage observed in the cities of Cali, Manizales ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 11, 2026
0
29
When people think about geological faults, they usually think about earthquakes. Yet faults do not move only during earthquakes. Sometimes they slip silently, without generating noticeable shaking, releasing stress over hours ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 9, 2026
0
95
A research group led by Satoshi Ide from the University of Tokyo has demonstrated that classic earthquake generation theory does not hold in areas where the angle at which a tectonic plate dips under another is sufficiently ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 1, 2026
0
13
