Initiation of a thrust fault, La Verkin Canyon, Utah
Location: on the road to the Toquerville Falls:
Stratum: Virgin Limestone, lower Triassic
As part of the Sevier orogeny much thrust folding occurred in this area. Here we see the initial stage of such a thrust fault.The limestone layer starts to buckle up under the pressure exerted from the left (west). In this case the fold is being pushed over the existing layer at right, and the two layers are separated by a thrust fault ramp. Some of the thrust faults can extend over 100 miles, this is just a baby one, but shows the principle of thrust faulting. The faulting here is caused by brittle deformation with breaking of the limestone layer. Over roughly one half mile, this rock layer showed over seven small thrust faults, some were caused by brittle deformation as well as ductile deformation
Initiation of a thrust fault, La Verkin Canyon, Utah
Location: on the road to the Toquerville Falls:
Stratum: Virgin Limestone, lower Triassic
As part of the Sevier orogeny much thrust folding occurred in this area. Here we see the initial stage of such a thrust fault.The limestone layer starts to buckle up under the pressure exerted from the left (west). In this case the fold is being pushed over the existing layer at right, and the two layers are separated by a thrust fault ramp. Some of the thrust faults can extend over 100 miles, this is just a baby one, but shows the principle of thrust faulting. The faulting here is caused by brittle deformation with breaking of the limestone layer. Over roughly one half mile, this rock layer showed over seven small thrust faults, some were caused by brittle deformation as well as ductile deformation