TECTON IC FORCES, ROCK STR UCTU R E, AN D L AN DFOR M S 391

● FIGURE 14.20 volcanic neck, a tall rock spire made of the exposed (formerly
The La Sal Mountains in southern Utah, near Moab, are composed of a subsurface) pipe that fed a long-extinct ● FIGURE 14.22
laccolith that was exposed at the surface by uplift and subsequent The igneous rock of this exposed dike in New Mexico was intruded into a
erosion of the overlying sedimentary rocks. near-vertical fracture in weaker sandstone. Later much of the sandstone
How do laccoliths deform the rocks they are intruded into? was eroded away, leaving the resistant dike exposed. How does a dike
differ from a sill? How are they alike?

Copyright and photograph by Dr. Parvinder S. Sethi

Anthony G. Taranto Jr., Palisades Interstate Park – NJ Section

● FIGURE 14.23
Shiprock, New Mexico, is a volcanic neck exposed by erosion of surround-
ing rock. Volcanic necks are resistant remnants of the intrusive pipe of a
volcano.

● FIGURE 14.21 Why do you think this feature is called Shiprock?

Sills develop where magma intrudes between parallel layers of surrounding
rocks. The Palisades of the Hudson River, the impressive cliffs found along volcano situated above it about 30 million years ago. Erosion
the river’s western bank in the vicinity of New York City, are made from a
has removed the volcanic cone, exposing the resistant dikes and
thick sill of igneous rock that was intruded between layers of sedimentary
neck that were once internal features of the volcano at Shiprock.
rocks.
Why does the sill at the Palisades form a cliff?

surrounding rocks. As it solidifies, the magma forms a wall-like

structure of igneous rock known as a dike. When exposed by Tectonic Forces, Rock Structure,
erosion, dikes often appear as vertical or near-vertical walls of
resistant rock rising above the surrounding topography ( ● Fig.
and Landforms
Tectonic forces, which at the largest scale move the lithospheric
14.22). At Shiprock, in New Mexico, resistant dikes many
plates, also cause bending, warping, folding, and fracturing of
kilometers long rise vertically to more than 90 meters (300 ft)
Earth’s crust at continental, regional, and even local scales. Such
above the surrounding plateau ( ● Fig. 14.23). Shiprock is a
Copyright and photograph by Dr. Parvinder S. Sethi

Copyright and photograph by Dr. Parvinder S. Sethi

392 CHAPTER 14 • VOLC AN IC AN D TECTON IC P ROCESSES AN D L AN DFOR M S

deformation is documented by rock structure, the nature, orientation, inclination, and arrangement of affected rock
GEOGRAPHY’SSPATIALSCIENCEPERSPECTIVE

Spatial Relationships between Plate Boundaries,

Volcanoes, and Earthquakes
he geographic distributions of potentially quite violent. Examples of resulting Indonesia are located along this collision zone.
volcanoes in the East African rift valleys Seismic activity is common in that zone and
include Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. has included some major, deadly
The potential severity of earthquakes and earthquakes.

T
volcanic eruptions is much greater where Transform plate boundaries, where lateral
plates are converging rather than diverging. sliding occurs, also experience many
volcanism and earthquake Along the oceanic trenches where crustal rock earthquakes. The potential for major
material is subducted, volcanoes typically earthquakes mainly exists in places such as
activity develop along the edge of the overriding along the San Andreas Fault zone in California
plate. The largest region where this occurs is where thick continental crust is resistant to
are quite similar. Both tend to be
the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” the volcanically sliding easily. Volcanic activity along transform
concentrated in linear patterns along the
active and earthquake-prone margin around plate boundaries ranges from moderate on
boundaries of lithospheric plates. Although
the Pacific Ocean. Where oceanic crust the seafloor to slight in continental locations.
the locations of volcanic and earthquake
subducts beneath continental crust along an Areas far from active plate boundaries are
activity correlate fairly well, there are
oceanic trench, some of it melts into magma not necessarily immune from earthquakes and
exceptions, and their nature and severity
that moves upward under the continental volcanism. The Hawaiian Islands, the
differ from place to place. In general, the
crust. Subduction along the Pacific Ocean is Galapagos Islands, and the Yellowstone
frequency and severity of volcanic eruptions
associated with extensive volcanoes in the National Park area are examples of intraplate
or earthquakes vary according to their
Andes, the Cascades, and the Aleutians; the “hot spots” located away from plate margins
proximity to a specific type of lithospheric
Kuril Islands and the Kamchatka Peninsula in and associated with a plume of magma rising
plate boundary or specific site in the central
Russia; and Japan, the Philippines, New from the mantle. Oceanic crustal areas that lie
part of a plate.
Guinea, Tonga, and New Zealand. Many of over hot spots, like the Hawaiian Islands, have
Regardless of whether it breaks a
these volcanoes erupt rock and lava of strong volcanic activity and moderate
continent or the seafloor, plate divergence
andesitic composition and can be dangerously earthquake activity. In midcontinental areas
creates fractures that provide avenues for
explosive. Earthquakes are also common large earthquakes occur in suture zones where
molten rock to reach the surface. The
events along the Pacific Rim. Although most continents are colliding, such as in the
divergent midoceanic ridges experience rather
are small to moderate, the largest Himalayas, or where broken edges of ancient
mild volcanic eruptions and small to moderate
earthquakes ever recorded have been related landmasses shift even though they are today
earthquakes that originate at a shallow depth.
to subduction in this region. Points where situated in midcontinent and are deeply
People are impacted when these volcanic and
earthquakes originate along an oceanic trench buried by more recent rocks.
tectonic activities occur on islands associated
become deeper toward the overriding plate, Volcanic and earthquake activities that are
with midocean ridges, such as the Azores and
indicating the subducting plate’s progress located away from active plate margins are
Iceland.
downward toward where it is recycled into the intriguing and show that we still have much to
Volcanism also arises where continental
mantle. learn about Earth’s internal processes and
crust is breaking and diverging. In these
Another volcanic and seismic belt occupies their impact on the surface. Still, plate
regions, earthquakes tend to be small to
the collision zone between northward-moving tectonics has contributed greatly to our
moderate, but continental crust mixed with
Southern Hemisphere lithospheric plates and understanding of the variations in volcanism,
mafic magma produces a wider variety of
the Eurasian plate. The volcanoes of the earthquake activity, and the landforms
volcanic eruptions, some of which are
Mediterranean region, Turkey, Iran, and associated with these processes.
TECTON IC FORCES, ROCK STR UCTU R E, AN D L AN DFOR M S 391
392 CHAPTER 14 • VOLC AN IC AN D TECTON IC P ROCESSES AN D L AN DFOR M S

Smithsonian Institution Hologlobe Project with NASA/GSFC/SVS/GCRP/NOAA/USGS/NSF/DARPA/DMA/

New York Film and Animation Company/SGI/Hughes STX Corporation

The spatial correspondence among plate margins, active volcanoes, earthquake activity, and hot spots is not coincidental but is
Smithsonian Institution Hologlobe Project with NASA/GSFC/SVS/GCRP/NOAA/USGS/NSF/DARPA/DMA/

strongly related to lithospheric plate boundaries. This map shows plate boundaries and the global distribution of active volcanoes
(1960–1994).
New York Film and Animation Company/SGI/Hughes STX Corporation

This map shows plate boundaries and the global distribution of earthquake activity (magnitude 4.5+, 1990–1995).

layers. For example, rock layers that have tilted, folded, or fractured, or, relative to adjacent rocks masses, offset, uplifted, or
undergone significant tectonic forces may be downdropped. Sedimentary rocks are particularly useful for identifying tectonic
 TECTON IC FORCES, ROCK STR UCTU R E, AN D L AN DFOR M S 391

deformation because they are usually

horizontal when they are formed, and older
NE
rock layers are originally overlain by
successively younger rock layers. If strata are E
RIK
ST
bent, fractured, offset, or otherwise out of SW
sequence, some kind of structural Horizontal
Co Sa Sh Sa
deformation has occurred. ng nd ale nd
lom sto sto
Earth scientists describe the orientations er ne ne DIP
ate
of inclined rock layers by measuring their 40° SE
Granite
strike and dip. Strike is the compass
direction of the line that forms at the
intersection of a tilted rock layer and a
horizontal plane. A rock layer, for example, ● FIGURE 14.24
might strike northeast, which could also be Geoscientists use the properties of strike and dip to describe the orientation of sedimentary rock
expressed correctly as striking southwest ( ● layers. Strike is the compass direction of the line created by the intersection of a rock layer with a
Fig. 14.24). The inclination of the rock layer, horizontal plane. Dip is the angle from the horizontal and compass direction toward which the rock
the dip, is always measured at right angles to layer angles down. Dip direction lies at a 90° angle to the strike.
What are the strike and dip of the upper layer of sandstone in this diagram?
the strike and in degrees of angle from the
horizontal (0° dip = horizontal). The direction
toward which the rock dips down is
expressed with the general compass
direction. For example, a rock layer that
strikes northeast and dips 11° from the
horizontal down to the southeast would have
a dip of 11° to the southeast (see again Fig.
14.24).
Earth’s crust has been subjected to
tectonic forces throughout its history,
although the forces have been greater during
some geologic periods than others and have
varied widely over Earth’s surface. Most of
the resulting changes in the crust have
occurred over hundreds of thousands or
millions of years, but others have been rapid
and cataclysmic. The response of crustal
rocks to tectonic forces can yield a variety of Shear
configurations in rock structure, depending
on the nature of the rocks and the nature of
the applied forces.
Tectonic forces are divided into three
principal types that differ in the direction of (c)
the applied forces ( ● Fig. 14.25).
Compressional tectonic forces push crustal ● FIGURE 14.25
rocks together. Tensional tectonic forces Three types of tectonic force cause deformation of rock layers. (a) Compressional forces push rocks
together. Compressional forces can bend (fold) rocks, or they can cause the rocks to break and
pull parts of the crust away from each other.
slide along the breakage zone, which is called a fault. (b) Tensional forces pull rocks apart and may
Shearing tectonic forces slide parts of
also lead to the breaking and shifting of rock masses along faults. (c) Shearing forces work to slide
Earth’s crust past each other.
rocks past each other horizontally, rather than into or away from each other. If the shearing forces
are greater than the resistance of the rocks to them, the rocks will break and slide in opposite
directions past each other along the breakage zone (fault).

Folding, which is a bending or wrinkling of rock layers, occurs

when compressional forces are applied to rocks that are ductile
Compressional Tectonic Forces (bendable), as opposed to brittle. Rocks that lie deep within the
Tectonic forces that push two areas of crustal rocks together
crust and that are therefore under high pressure are generally
tend to shorten and thicken the crust. How the affected rocks
ductile and particularly susceptible to behaving plastically, that
respond to compressional forces depends on how brittle
is, deforming without breaking. As a result rocks deep within
(breakable) the rocks are and the speed with which the forces
the crust typically fold rather than break in response to
are applied.
compressional
392 CHAPTER 14 • VOLC AN IC AN D TECTON IC P ROCESSES AN D L AN DFOR M S

forces ( ● Fig. 14.26). Folding is also more likely than fracturing As elements of rock structure, upfolds are called anticlines,
when the compressional forces are applied slowly. Eventually, and downfolds are called synclines ( ● Fig. 14.27). The rock
however, if the force per unit area, the stress, is great enough, layers that form the flanks of anticlinal crests and synclinal
the rocks may still break with one section pushed over another. troughs are the fold limbs. Folds in some rock layers are very
small, covering a few centimeters, while others are enormous
with vertical distances between
● FIGURE 14.26 the upfolds and downfolds measured in kilometers.
Compressional forces have made complex folds in these layers of sedimentary rock. Folds can be tight or broad, symmetrical or asym-
How can solid rock be folded without breaking? metrical. Folds are symmetrical—that is, each limb has about the same dip angle—if they
J. Petersen

formed by compressional forces that were relatively

equal from both sides. If compressional forces were
stronger from one side, a fold may be asymmetrical,
with the dip of one limb being much steeper than that
of the other. Eventually, asymmetrically folded rocks
may become overturned and perhaps so compressed
that the fold lies horizontally; these are known as
recumbent folds (see again Fig. 14.27).
Much of the Appalachian Mountain system is an example of folding on a large scale. Spectacular folds exist in the Rocky
Mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana and in the Canadian Rockies. Highly complex folding created the Alps, where folds
are overturned, sheared off, and piled on top of one another. Almost all mountain systems exhibit some degree of folding.
Rock layers that are near Earth’s surface, and not under high confining pressures, are too rigid to bend into folds when
experiencing compressional forces. If the tectonic force is large enough, these rocks will break rather than bend and the rock masses
will move

● FIGURE 14.27
Folded rock structures become increasingly complex as the applied compressional forces become more unequal
from the two directions.
 TECTON IC FORCES, ROCK STR UCTU R E, AN D L AN DFOR M S 391

Anticli e

nc i e e
nc

Li
m
b
Simple fold
Symmetrical
(simple) Asymmetrical
fold fold Overturn Recumbent Overthrust

Pressure increasingly one-sided

Increasingly distorted folds

relative to each other along the fracture. Faulting is the slippage formed in complex mountain ranges such as the Andes,
or displacement of rocks along a fracture surface, and the Alps, and Himalayas.
fracture along which movement has occurred is a fault. When
compressional forces cause faulting either one mass of rock is
pushed up along a steep-angled fault relative to the other or one Tensional Tectonic Forces
mass of rock slides along a shallow, low-angle fault over the Tensional tectonic forces pull in opposite directions in
other. The steep, high-angle fault resulting from compressional a way that stretches and thins the impacted part of the
forces is termed a reverse fault ( ● Fig. 14.28a). Where crust. Rocks, however, typically respond by faulting,
compression pushes rocks along a low-angle fault so that they rather than bending or stretching plastically, when
override rocks on the other side of the fault, the fracture surface subjected to tensional forces. Tensional forces
is called a thrust fault, and the shallow displacement is an commonly cause the crust to be broken into discrete
overthrust (Fig. 14.28b). In both reverse and thrust faults, one blocks, called fault blocks, that are separated from
block of crustal rocks is wedged up relative to the other. each other by normal faults (Fig. 14.28c). In order to
Direction of motion along all faults is always given in relative accommodate the extension of the crust, one crustal
terms because even though it may seem obvious that one block fault block slides downward along the normal fault
was pushed up along the fault, the other block may have slid relative to the adjacent fault block. Notice that the
down some distance as well, and it is not always possible to direction of motion along a normal fault is opposite to
determine with certainty if one or both blocks moved. Reverse that along a reverse or thrust fault (see again Fig.
or thrust faulting can also result from compressional forces that 14.28a).
are applied rapidly and in some cases to rocks that have already
responded to the force by folding. In the latter case, the upper
part of a fold breaks, sliding over the lower rock layers along a
thrust fault forming an overthrust. Major overthrusts occur
along the northern Rocky Mountains and in the southern

● FIGURE 14.28
Appalachians. Together, recumbent folds and
overthrusts are important rock structures that have
392 CHAPTER 14 • VOLC AN IC AN D TECTON IC P ROCESSES AN D L AN DFOR M S

In map view, regional scale tensional forces

frequently cause a roughly parallel succession of
normal faults to occur, creating a series of alternating
downdropped and upthrown fault blocks. Each block
that slid downward between two normal faults, or that
remained in place while blocks on either side slid
upward
The major types of faults are illustrated here along with the direction of tectonic forces that cause them
(indicated by large arrows). Compressional forces may create reverse (a) or thrust (b) faults. Tensional tectonic
forces break rocks along normal faults (c). Shearing forces move rocks horizontally past each other along strike-
slip faults (d).
How does motion along a normal fault differ from that along a reverse fault?
 TECTON IC FORCES, ROCK STR UCTU R E, AN D L AN DFOR M S 391

along the faults, is called a graben ( ● Fig. 14.29). A fault block

that moved relatively upward between two normal faults—that
is, it actually moved up or remained in place while adjacent
blocks slid downward—is a horst. The great Ruwenzori Range
of East Africa is a horst, as is the Sinai Peninsula between the
fault troughs in the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba (see again Fig.
13.31). Horsts and grabens are rock structural features that can
be identified by the nature of the offset of rock units along
normal faults. Topographically, horsts form mountain ranges
and grabens form basins. The Basin and Range region of the
western United States that extends eastward from California to
Utah and southward from Oregon to New Mexico is an area
undergoing tensional tectonic forces that
● FIGURE 14.29 extensive series of alternating
Horsts and grabens are blocks of Earth material that are bounded by normal faults. A block that has downdropped and upthrown fault blocks
moved upward along a normal fault relative to adjacent blocks is a horst. A block that has slid comprising the basins and ranges for which
down along a normal fault relative to adjacent blocks is a graben. the region is named. Some of the ranges
What kind of tectonic force causes these kinds of fault blocks? and basins are simple horsts and grabens,
but others are tilted fault blocks that result
from the uplift of one side of a fault block
while the other end of the same block
rotates downward ( ● Fig. 14.30). Death
Valley, California, is a classic example of
the down-tilted side of a tilted fault block (
● Fig. 14.31).
Large-scale tensional tectonic forces
can create rift valleys, which are com-
are pulling the region apart to the west and east. A transect from west to east across
that region, for example from Reno, Nevada, to Salt Lake City, Utah, encounters an
● FIGURE 14.30
This diagram of a tilted fault block indicates its strike and dip. The east-facing cliff is an erosion-
modified fault scarp. This configuration is a simplified version of the kind of faulting that produced
Death Valley, which occupies the downtilted part of a tilted fault block.

)
N ied
E dif
RIK (mo
ST rp
l t sca
S Fau
30° W DIP
Tilted fault
block
Courtesy Sheila Brazier

● FIGURE 14.31
Death Valley, California, is a classic example of a topographic basin created by tilted fault blocks.
The valley floor is 86 meters (282 ft) below sea level, which is the lowest elevation in North posed of relatively narrow but
America. long regions of crust
downdropped along normal
faults. Examples of rift valleys
include the Rio Grande rift of
New Mexico and Colorado, the
Great Rift Valley of East Africa,
and the Dead Sea rift valley
392 CHAPTER 14 • VOLC AN IC AN D TECTON IC P ROCESSES AN D L AN DFOR M S

where that body of water lies at an elevation some 390 meters (1280 ft) below the southwestern United
Mediterranean Sea, which is only 64 kilometers (40 mi) away. Rift valleys also run along the States, the Colorado
centers of oceanic ridges. Plateau steps down to
An escarpment, often shortened to scarp, is a steep cliff, which may be tall or short. the Great Basin by a
Scarps can form on Earth surface terrain for many reasons and in many different settings. A series of fault scarps
cliff that results from movement along a fault is specifically a fault scarp. Fault scarps are that face westward in
commonly visible in the landscape along normal fault zones, where they may consist of rock southern Utah and
faces on fault blocks that have undergone extensive amounts of uplift over long periods of northern Arizona.
time. Piedmont fault scarps offset unconsolidated sediments that have been eroded from Major uplift of
uplifted fault blocks and deposited along the base of the fault block ( ● Fig. 14.32). faulted mountain ranges
can have a strong
impact on other
physical systems, and
an excellent example is
the Sierra Nevada. As
the mountains rose,
stream erosion
accelerated because of
the increase in slope.
Precipitation on the
windward side of the
Sierra increased because
of orographic lifting.
The steep lee side of the
tilted fault block
became more arid than
before because it was
situated in the rain
shadow of the Sierra.
D. Sack

Increased precipitation
and lower temperatures
● FIGURE 14.32 at higher elevations
This piedmont fault scarp in Nevada is the topographic expression of a normal fault. Movement along the fault changed the climate of
that created this scarp occurred about 30 years before the photograph was taken. the uplifted range
On which side of the fault does the horst lie? significantly, and
side was faulted upward and the west side tilted down (see again Fig. 14.30). The climate change
equally dramatic Grand Tetons of Wyoming also rise along a fault scarp facing influenced the
eastward. In Big Bend National Park, Texas, the fault block that forms the walls of vegetation, soils, and
Santa Elena Canyon is an excellent example of a fault scarp. Other than the animal life.
500meter-deep canyon that the Rio Grande has cut, the fault block is modified so
little by erosion that it preserves much of its blocklike shape ( ● Fig. 14.34). In the
Fault scarps can account for spectacular mountain walls, ● FIGURE 14.33
especially in regions like much of the western United States
with a history of recent tectonic activity. The east face of the
645kilometer-long (405 mi) Sierra Nevada Range in California
is a classic example of a fault scarp that rises steeply 3350
meters (11,000 ft) above the desert ( ● Fig. 14.33). In contrast,
the west side of the Sierra (the “back slope”) descends very
gently over a distance of 100 kilometers (60 mi) through rolling
foothills. The Sierra Nevada Range is a great tilted fault block
where the east
 TECTON IC FORCES, ROCK STR UCTU R E, AN D L AN DFOR M S 391

Soils have also been affected by increased runoff and The amount that Earth’s surface can be offset during
erosion. The uplift of the Sierra has extended over instantaneous movement along a fault varies from fractions of a
several million years in an episodic sequence of centimeter to several meters. Faulting can move rocks laterally,
faulting. The Sierra Nevada Range is continuing to rise vertically, or both. The maximum horizontal displacement along
rapidly, in a geologic sense—on average about a the San Andreas Fault in California during the 1906 San
centimeter per year. Weathering and erosion have Francisco earthquake was more than 6 meters (21 ft). A vertical
attacked the rocks as uplift progressed. The Sierra displacement of more than 10 meters (33 ft) occurred during the
Nevada, like most high mountain ranges, have been Alaskan earthquake of 1964. Over millions of years, the
altered and etched by glaciation, stream erosion, and cumulative displacement along a major fault may be tens of
downslope gravitational movement of rock material. kilometers vertically or hundreds of kilometers horizontally,
These processes have carved and shaped ● FIGURE although the majority of faults have offsets that are much
The east front of the Sierra Nevada in California is essentially the steep scarp side of a tilted fault block.
©Terry Husebye/Getty Images

J. Petersen

14.34 smaller.
The steep fault scarp at Santa Elena Canyon, along the Texas–
Mexico border, has undergone limited modification by
weathering and erosion. The Rio Grande has cut a canyon into
the uplifted and tilted fault block. In this photo, the wall to the
Relationships between Rock Structure
left of the canyon is in Mexico and and Topography
and weakened by faulting marks the trace of the San Andreas
Fault zone ( ● Fig. 14.35).
that to the right is in the United States. slippage is parallel to the surface trace, or strike, of the fault;
thus it is called a strike-slip fault or, because of the horizontal
motion, a lateral fault (see again Fig. 14.28d). Offset along
valleys in the Sierran fault block, leaving the spectacular strikeslip faults is most easily seen in map view (from above),
canyons and m ountain peaks. rather than in cross-sectional view. Active strike-slip faults can
cause horizontal displacement of roads, railroad tracks, fences,
streambeds, and other features that extend across the fault. The
Shearing Tectonic Forces motion along a strike-slip fault is described as left lateral or
Vertical displacement along a fault occurs when the rocks on right lateral, depending on the direction of movement of the
one side move up or drop down in relation to rocks on the other blocks. To determine whether motion is left or right lateral,
side. Faults with this kind of movement, up or down along the imagine yourself standing on one block and looking across the
dip of the fault plane extending into Earth, are known as dip- strike-slip fault to the other block. The relative direction of
slip faults. Normal and reverse faults, for example, have dip- motion of the block across the fault determines whether it is a
slip motion. There also exists, however, a completely different left lateral or right lateral fault. The San Andreas Fault, which
category of fault along which displacement of rock units is runs through much of California, has right lateral strike-slip
horizontal rather than vertical. In this case, the direction of movement. A long and narrow, rather linear valley composed of
392 CHAPTER 14 • VOLC AN IC AN D TECTON IC P ROCESSES AN D L AN DFOR M S

rocks that have been crushed Tectonic activity can result in a ● FIGURE 14.35
variety of structural features that range from microscopic The San Andreas Fault along the Carrizo Plain in California runs
fractures to major folds and fault blocks. At from left to right across the center of this photo. The area west
the surface, structural features comprise various topographic (background) of the fault is moving northwestward, in relation to
features (landforms) and are subject to modification by the area on the east (foreground) side. Valleys of creeks that cross
weathering, erosion, transportation, and deposition. It is the fault have been offset about 130 meters (427 ft) by numerous
episodes of earthquake displacement. What type of fault is the San
important to d istinguish between structural elements and
Andreas?
topographic features because rock structure r eflects endogenic
factors while landforms reflect the balance b etween endogenic
and exogenic factors. As a result, a specific

USGS/R.E. Wallace
TECTON IC FORCES, ROCK STR UCTU R E, AN D L AN DFOR M S 391
392 CHAPTER 14 • VOLC AN IC AN D TECTON IC P ROCESSES AN D L AN DFOR M S
TECTON IC FORCES, ROCK STR UCTU R E, AN D L AN DFOR M S 391
392 CHAPTER 14 • VOLC AN IC AN D TECTON IC P ROCESSES AN D L AN DFOR M S
 TECTON IC FORCES, ROCK STR UCTU R E, AN D L AN DFOR M S 391

and is where the strongest shock is

normally felt ( ● Fig. 14.37).
The vast majority of earthquakes
are so slight that we cannot feel them,
and they produce no injuries or damage.
Most earthquakes occur at a focus that
is deep enough so that no displacement
is visible at the surface. Others may
cause mild shaking that rattles a few
● FIGURE 14.36 dishes, while a few are strong enough to
This example cross section from a region of folded rocks illustrates the distinction between rock topple buildings and break power lines,
structure and surface topography (landforms). Structure is the rock response to applied tectonic gas mains, and water pipes. Surface
forces. Rock structure may or may not be represented directly in the surface topography, which offset or ground shaking during an
depends on the nature and rate of exogenic as well as endogenic geomorphic processes. Structural earthquake can also trigger
upfolds do not always comprise topographic mountains, nor do all downfolds form valleys. (a) The
structure is an anticline, but the surface landform is a plain of low relief. (b) Here, the erosionally
resistant center of a downfold (a syncline) supports a mountain peak. (c) A valley has
located anywhere from near the surface to a depth of 700 kilometers (435 mi). The
earthquake epicenter is the point on Earth’s surface that lies directly above the focus
been eroded into the crest of an anticline. internal earthquake motions, the seismic waves that were
Why is it that not all anticlines form mountains? discussed in Chapter 13 as helpful in understanding Earth’s
interior. Seismic waves, however, can also have a great impact
type of structural element can assume a variety of topographic on Earth’s surface. It is primarily when these waves pass along
expressions ( ● Fig. 14.36). For instance, an upfolded structural the crustal exterior or emerge at Earth’s surface from below that
feature is an anticline even though geomorphically it may they cause the damage and subsequent loss of life that we
comprise a ridge, a valley, or a plain, depending on erosion of associate with major tremors. The subsurface location where the
broken or weak rocks. Nashville, Tennessee, occupies a rock displacement and resulting earthquake originated is the
topographic valley, yet it is sited in the remains of a structural earthquake focus, which may be rockfalls, landslides,
dome (a circular domal anticline). Likewise, even though avalanches, and tsunamis. Aftershocks may follow the main
synclines are structural downfolds, topographically a syncline earthquake as crustal adjustments continue
may contribute to the formation of a valley or a ridge. Some to occur. Geophysicists are currently investigating the
mountain tops in the Alps are the erosional remnants of possibility that foreshocks may alert us to major earthquakes,
synclines. Words like mountain, ridge, valley, basin, and fault although evidence is at present inconclusive.
scarp are geomorphic terms that describe the surface
topography, while anticline, syncline, horst, graben, and normal
fault are structural terms that describe the arrangement of rock Measuring Earthquake Size
layers. Elements of rock structure may or may not be directly An earthquake’s severity can be expressed in two ways: (1) the
reflected in the surface topography. It is important to remember size of the event as a physical Earth process, and (2) the degree
that the topographic variation on Earth’s surface results from the of its impact on humans. These two methods may be related in
interaction of three major factors: endogenic processes that that, all other factors being equal, powerful earthquakes should
create relief, exogenic processes that shape landforms and
reduce relief, and the relative strength or resistance of different ● FIGURE 14.37
rock types to weathering and erosion. The point of energy release for an earthquake, that is, the location where
movement along the fault began, is the earthquake focus, which is
typically at some depth beneath the surface. The earthquake epicenter is
Earthquakes the location on Earth’s surface directly above the focus. Why is the
epicenter in this example not located where the fault crosses Earth’s surface?
Earthquakes, evidence of present-day tectonic activity, are
ground motions of Earth caused when accumulating tectonic
stress is suddenly relieved by displacement of rocks along a
fault. The sudden, lurching movement of crustal blocks past one
another represents a release of energy that generates these
392 CHAPTER 14 • VOLC AN IC AN D TECTON IC P ROCESSES AN D L AN DFOR M S

Surface fault trace

Fault

Epicenter

Focus