 Andersonian faulting regime

A local principal stress model associated with Ernest Masson Anderson in which one principal stress is vertical, as suggested by negligible shear stress on a flat free surface. With compression positive and ${\sigma }_1\ge {\sigma }_2\ge {\sigma }_3$, vertical ${\sigma }_1$ gives normal faulting, vertical ${\sigma }_2$ gives strike-slip faulting, and vertical ${\sigma }_3$ gives reverse faulting. The other two principal stresses are horizontal. Topography, mechanical layering and local fault geometry can violate the idealization.