FAULT

Fault - is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement along the fractures as a result of earth movement. Fault line - is the surface trace of a fault, the line of intersection between the fault plane and the Earth's surface. Fault plane - is the plane that represents the fracture surface of a fault. Fault Region or Fault zone - referring to the area where multiple fractures and deformations exist near the fault caused at the intersection of the tectonic plates. Two sides of non-vertical fault Hanging Wall - occurs above the fault plane Footwall - all occurs below the fault.

Fault mechanics Because of friction and the rigidity of the rock, the rocks cannot glide or flow past each other. Rather, stress builds up in rocks and when it reaches a level that exceeds the strain threshold, the accumulated potential energy is dissipated by the release of strain, which is focused into a plane along which relative motion is accommodatedthe fault. Microfracturing Theory - Microfracturing, or microseismicity, is often thought of as a symptom caused by rocks under strain, where small-scale failures, perhaps on areas the size of a dinner plate or a smaller area, release stress under high strain conditions. Only when sufficient microfractures link up into a large slip surface can a large seismic event or earthquake occur. After a large earthquake, the majority of the stress is released and the frequency of microfracturing is exponentially lower. Accelerating Moment Release Theory (AMR Theory) - claims that the seismicity rate accelerates in a well-behaved way prior to major earthquakes. AMR is being increasingly used to predict rock failures within mines, and applications are being attempted for the portions of faults within brittle rheological conditions. Researchers observe like behavior in tremors preceding volcanic eruptions. Slip - the relative movement of geological features presents on either side of a fault plane, and is a displacement vector. Sense of slip - the relative motion of the rock on each side of the fault with respect to the other side. Throw - is the vertical component of the dip separation.

Heave - is the horizontal component of the dip separation. Fault types: Dip-slip fault - a fault where the relative movement (or slip) on the fault plane is approximately vertical. Types of dip-slip fault: Normal fault - occur where tension within the Earth stretches the crust to form a basin, or range, with fault-block mountains flanking the basin. Reverse faults - occur where compression squeezes the crust together as one block of land slides over another forming overthrust mountain. Thrust Fault - same sense of motion as a reverse fault, but with the dip of the fault plane at less than 45.

Parts of dip-slip fault Graben - A downthrown block between two normal faults dipping towards each other Horst - An upthrown block between two normal faults dipping

away from each other Strike-slip fault - The fault surface is usually near vertical and the footwall moves either left or right or laterally with very little vertical motion. With left-lateral motion are also known as sinistral faults and with right-lateral motion are also known as dextral faults. Transform fault - A special class of strike-slip faults, where such faults form a plate boundary. Oblique-slip fault - A fault which has a component of dip-slip and a component of strikeslip. Listric fault - a type of fault in which the fault plane is curved. The dip of the fault plane becomes shallower with increased depth. Ring fault - Ring faults are faults that occur within collapsed volcanic calderas.

LIST OF MAJOR FAULTS IN THE COUNTRY: 1. Marikina Valley Fault (Montalban-San Mateo-Marikina-Pasig-Taguig-Muntinlupa-S Pedro-Binan-Carmona-Santa Rosa-Calamba-Tagaytay-Oriental Mindoro) 2. Western Philippine Fault (Luzon Sea-Mindoro Strait-Panay Gulf-Sulu Sea) 3. Eastern Philippine Fault (Philippine Sea) 4. Southern of Mindanao Fault (Moro Gulf-Celebes Sea) 5. Central Philippine Fault (Entire Ilocos Norte-Aurora-Quezon-Masbate-Eastern LeyteSouthern Leyte-Agusan Del Norte-Agusan Del Sur-Davao del Norte) *The earthquake that destroyed Guinsaugon is the Central Philippine Fault *The 1990 earthquake that destroyed Central Luzon and Baguio is also the Central Philippine Fault. Of these, the MARIKINA VALLEY FAULT poses the greatest danger because it runs through all the modern and progressive portions of Manila such as Eastwood, Rockwell, Ortigas Center, Bonifacio Global City, Ayala Center, and Alabang. Also, the PhiVolcs people have warned that this fault line can move anytime because it is already 11 years late for its movement. LIST OF MAJOR FAULTS IN THE WORLD: North Anatolian Fault-Turkey. Liquine-Ofqui Fault-Chile. Macquarie Fault Zone-Pacific Ocean from New Zealand to Indonesia. Chaman Fault-Pakistan and Afghanistan. San Jacinto Fault Zone-United States West Coast (California)-It is considered to be the most seismically active fault zone in Southern California, contrary to popular beliefs that the infamous

San Andreas Fault is the most active. Chixoy-Polochic Fault-Central America, widely feared in Guatemala. Itoigawa-Shizuoka-Japan. East Anatolian Fault-Turkey again, see above. Motagua Fault-Central America and Guatemala again. Calaveras Fault-United States West Coast-California, again.

THE MARIKINA VALLEY FAULT: The United Nations is advising the Philippines to be ready for an upcoming big earthquake. A quake with a magnitude of 7.2 or higher on the Richter scale is sure to hit Metro Manila, they say, but the bigger question is when exactly this will happen. TheEarthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI) report published in 2004 predicts that an earthquake with a high magnitude will surely occur because of the Philippine Fault Zone (also called the Marikina Valley Fault System), but experts cant predict when this disaster may happen. According to the report, the death toll may reach about 35,000, some 145,000 people may be injured while around 175,000 buildings will be damaged. Where exactly is the West Marikina Valley Fault Line? It lies northeast of Manila and traverses Marikina, Pasig going to Muntinlupa down to the south. THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT LINE: The San Andreas fault line lies in the state of California. If it does shift, California will be totally devastated. They couldnt cope with Katrina and this will totally challenge the already severely challenged budget of the US government treasury.