Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-year-2-of-the-earth-sciences-geology-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/paper-1/3/b/iii/solution

Trace the strike-slip fault along the southwest–northeast valley, approximately through . The long oblique strand is interpreted as left-lateral strike-slip faulting: draw the southeastern side moving northeast and the northwestern side moving southwest, parallel to the trace.
This sense is consistent with horizontal north–south maximum compression: for an approximately northeast-striking fault, the resolved shear stress moves the southeastern side northeastward relative to the northwestern side. The deflected central drainage supports that interpretation. The regional stress direction supplies a consistency check rather than a uniquely precise trace location; follow the geomorphic break rather than drawing a single straight line through every coordinate.

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