Editing Fault (geology) (section)

===Strike-slip faults===
{{further|Strike-slip tectonics}}
[[File:strike slip fault.png|thumb|Schematic illustration of the two strike-slip fault types, as seen from above]]
In a '''strike-slip fault''' (also known as a ''wrench fault'', ''tear fault'' or ''transcurrent fault''),<ref>{{cite dictionary|editor-last=Allaby|editor-first=Michael|entry=Strike-Slip Fault|dictionary=A Dictionary of Geology and Earth Sciences|edition=4th|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-19-965306-5|chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199653065.001.0001/acref-9780199653065-e-8171}}</ref> the fault surface (plane) is usually near vertical, and the footwall moves laterally either left or right with very little vertical motion. Strike-slip faults with left-lateral motion are also known as ''sinistral'' faults and those with right-lateral motion as ''dextral'' faults.<ref>{{cite book|last=Park|first=R.G.|title=Foundation of Structural Geology|edition=3|page=11|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-7487-5802-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ycASqdxSG3YC&pg=PA11}}</ref> Each is defined by the direction of movement of the ground as would be seen by an observer on the opposite side of the fault.

A special class of strike-slip fault is the ''[[transform fault]]'' when it forms a [[plate tectonics|plate]] boundary. This class is related to an offset in a [[spreading center]], such as a [[mid-ocean ridge]], or, less common, within continental [[lithosphere]], such as the [[Dead Sea Transform]] in the [[Middle East]] or the [[Alpine Fault]] in New Zealand. Transform faults are also referred to as "conservative" plate boundaries since the lithosphere is neither created nor destroyed.