Reverse faults are dip-slip faults in which the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall. The Sierra Madre fault zone of southern California is an example of reverse-fault movement. There the rocks of the San Gabriel Mountains are being pushed up and over the rocks of the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. Movement on the Sierra Madre fault zone is part of the process that created the San Gabriel Mountains. A thrust fault is a reverse fault with a gently-dipping fault surface.
Thrust faults are very common in the Klamath Mountains of northern California.
The terms normal and reverse were first used by English coal miners to describe faults. When working a flat coal bed where it was dislocated by a normal fault, the miners continued the workings either upward or downward on the fault surface in the same, or normal , direction. The terms hanging wall and footwall are also old mining terms. All rights reserved. The Department of Conservation makes no warranties as to the suitability of this product for any purpose.