How do you tell the difference between a fault and a fold

Faults are a form of brittle deformation and typically make a rock sequence to appear broken. There a 3 main fault types, normal, reverse and strike-slip. Both normal and reverse faults show vertical movement of rocks, whereas strike-slip faults show horizontal movement.Folds are a form of ductile deformation and typically make a rock sequence bend and curve. Folds typically occur in hotter rocks as this makes them more bendy/ ductile.Think of some science putty. If you try to pull it apart quickly, it will snap. If you try to pull it apart slowly, it will bend. This is similar to how faults and folds occur, but the main control on these is temperature.

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Answered by James B. Geology tutor

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