Geometry and development of normal faults

Normal faults are not simple planar fractures, but consist of complex zones of overstepping and linked segments. This paper emphasizes the ubiquity of fault segmentation and its importance in the geometry and development of normal faults. Normal fault segments usually initiate as extension fractures in more brittle layers, with faulting occurring as the fractures propagate into the adjacent less brittle layers. Relay ramps are areas of reorientated bedding between two normal fault segments which overstep in map view and which dip in the same direction. Relay ramps can be important sites for hydrocarbon migration and entrapment. Oversteps and bends also occur along normal faults in cross-section, these often being controlled by lithological variations. Normal faults therefore have complex three-dimensional geometries of interacting and linked segments.

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