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A **fault** is a planar fracture in the Earth's crust where physical forces cause displacement along the fracture. Faults can be oriented horizontally, vertically or at any angle. Movement along the fault creates two sections: the hanging wall (the upper part of the fault) and the footwall (the lower part). Normal faults occur because of vertical deformation, while the reverse faults are driven by horizontal forces, resulting from the compression or contraction of the crust. A graben is a block of land that has subsided between two faults, while a horst refers to a block that has been uplifted between two normal faults. Horizontal compression releasing energy through linear rock displacement is known as a strike-slip fault.
