An extensional fault is a fault caused by stretching of the Earth's crust. [1] Stretching reduces the thickness and horizontally extends portions of the crust and/or lithosphere. [2] In most cases such a fault is also a normal fault, but may create a shallower dip usually associated with a thrust fault. Extensional faults are generally planar ...

Extensional tectonics is concerned with the structures formed by, and the tectonic processes associated with, the stretching of a planetary body 's crust or lithosphere. The types of structure and the geometries formed depend on the amount of stretching involved.

Drilling through an extensional normal fault encounters a stratigraphic gap: normal faulting places younger rocks upon older rocks. Because of the separation of geological horizons that results from normal faulting, such faults are also termed extension faults.

A listric fault is a fault which shallows with depth. Compared to a simple planar model, such a fault accommodates a considerably greater amount of extension for the same amount of slip. Characteristics of listric faults are that, in order to maintain geometric compatibility, beds in the hanging wall have to rotate and dip towards the fault.

We predict that extensional structures like joints, veins, and normal faults, will form perpendicular to the extension direction, and shortening structures like folds, thrust faults, and cleavage planes will develop perpendicular to the shortening direction.

Sep 2, 2022 · Extensional regime commonly develops along divergent or constructive plate boundaries and intra-plate regions where extensional regime may develop locally by the formation of rifts, domino faults, grabens and growth faults. Models of …

…crust has been thinned by extensional faulting, such as the Basin and Range Province of the western United States. In this type of occurrence, areas of medium- and low-pressure facies series rocks that measure a few tens of kilometres in diameter are juxtaposed against unmetamorphosed sediments or very low-grade metamorphic…

Divergent plate boundaries are zones where plates split into two or more smaller plates that move apart and the dominant stress field is extension. To accommodate the separation, dominantly normal faults and even open fissures form where crustal …

In a normal fault, the block above the fault moves down relative to the block below the fault. This fault motion is caused by extensional forces and results in extension. Other names: normal-slip fault, tensional fault or gravity fault. Examples: Sierra Nevada/Owens Valley; Basin & …

Extensional faulting above a uniformly extending basement produces a domino-style fault array involving both planar rotational faults and listric faults. The faults evolve with time and may change from listric geometries (concave upward) through planar fault …