Fault in Road Cut Near Kingman, Arizona

December 15, 2016

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December 2016 Viewer's ChoicePhotographer: Dave Lynch
Summary Author: Dave Lynch

Just west of Kingman, Arizona, along highway I-40, a road cut beautifully exposes a fault that has displaced the Miocene-Oligocene volcanic ash deposits by about one ft (0.3 m) vertically. This is a normal fault, meaning that this section of rock is being pulled apart horizontally. When the rock is compressed horizontally, one section over runs the other and is called a reverse fault. Along this section of the highway a number of normal faults are exposed, textbook illustrations of the Earth’s tectonic activity in motion. Photos taken on November 21, 2016.

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