Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-year-2-of-the-earth-sciences-geology-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/paper-1/2/a/solution

The offset layered sequence indicates reverse slip on the west-dipping fault: its western hanging wall moved up relative to the eastern footwall. With the fault strike perpendicular to the east–west image plane, an Andersonian faulting regime has horizontal east–west, horizontal north–south, and vertical. Draw opposing compression arrows east–west and a smaller opposing pair vertically; the intermediate pair points into and out of the page.
For example, in east, north, up coordinates, a compression-positive effective stress tensor consistent with a reverse fault and zero cohesion is
These magnitudes illustrate one possible stress tensor, rather than a measurement from the photograph. With , the – Mohr circle is tangent to the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion at a plane from horizontal. The original failure-mechanics figure above sketches these principal stress directions.

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