Chapter 5

Faults

BAB 5
PATAHAN / SESAR

from Perilous Earth: Understanding Processes Behind Natural Disasters, ver. 1.0, June, 2009
Page 1
by G.H. Girty, Department of Geological Sciences, San Diego State University
Halaman 10
Dari Perilous Bumi: Memahami Proses Dibalik Bencana Alam, ver. 1.0, Juni 2009

oleh G.H. Girty, Jurusan Ilmu Geologi, Universitas Negara Bagian San Diego
Introduction
Pendahuluan

Faults are surfaces across which Earth material has lost cohesion and across which there
is perceptible displacement (Figure 1). Though the faults that we will focus on in this chapter
have experienced multiple slip events, and, as result of those events have accumulated
displacements of kilometers to hundreds of kilometers, faults with displacements as small as a
few millimeters or so are also rather common. In addition, though many faults break the
Earth’s surface, others do not. These latter structures are called blind faults.
Patahan/Sesar adalah permukaan di mana bagian bumi kehilangan kohesi dan ada
perpindahan yang jelas (Gambar 1). Meskipun patahan/sesar yang kita akan bahas dalam bab ini
telah mengalami beberapa peristiwa slip, dan sebagai akibat dari peristiwa-peristiwa itu telah
menghasilkan perpindahan beberapa kilometer hingga ratusan kilometer, patahan/sesar dengan
perpindahan kecil yang hanya beberapa milimeter atau lebih juga agak umum. Selain itu,
meskipun banyak patahan/sesar memecah permukaan bumi, tetapi yang lainnya tidak. Struktur
yang terakhir disebut patahan/sesar blind.

Sesar San Andreas

Pembelokan sungai---130 meter

Figure 1. Aerial view of San Andreas fault, Carrizo Plains, California. Photograph by
R.E.Wallace, United States Geological Survey (Open-File Report 83-98).
Gambar 1. Foto udara Sesar San Andreas, Dataran Carrizo, California. Foto diambil oleh R. E.
Wallace, USGS ( Laporan Terbuka 83-98).

The attitude of a fault describes its orientation in 3D space, and consists of its strike and its dip.
The strike is the direction of a line produced by the intersection of the fault surface and an
imaginary horizontal plane (Figure 2). In contrast, the dip is the angle between an imaginary
o
horizontal plane and the fault surface. If the dip is 90 , then the fault has a vertical dip. At
o
the other end of the spectrum, if the dip is 0 , then the dip is horizontal.
 Ilustrasi Patahan/sesar menggambarkan orientasi dalam ruang 3D, dan terdiri dari jurus dan
kemiringan. Jurus adalah arah garis yang dihasilkan oleh persimpangan permukaan
patahan/sesar dan bidang horizontal imajiner (Gambar 2). Sebaliknya, kemiringan adalah sudut
antara bidang horizontal imajiner dan permukaan patahan/sesar. Jika kemiringan adalah 90 o,
maka patahan/sesar memiliki kemiringan vertikal/tegak. Di sisi lain dari spektrum, jika
kemiringan adalah 0o, maka dip horisontal/datar.

Bidang Horisontal Jurus

Kemiringan

Bidang Sesar

Figure 2. The attitude of a fault surface is its strike and dip. The direction of the line
produced by the intersection of the fault surface with an imaginary horizontal plane is the strike
while dip is the angle between the imaginary horizontal plane and the fault surface.
Gambar 2. Gambaran permukaan patahan/sesar adalah jurus dan kemiringan. Arah garis yang
dihasilkan oleh persimpangan permukaan patahan/sesar dengan sebuah pesawat imajiner
horisontal adalah jurus, sedangkan kemiringan adalah sudut antara bidang horisontal imajiner dan
permukaan patahan/sesar.
There is immense pressure forcing the two blocks on opposite sides of a fault surface
together. In addition, the faults surface is not smooth but instead is highly irregular and covered
with fractions to millimeter high ridges called asperities. During a slip event these asperities
carve grooves into the fault surface. These grooves are called slickenlines and they track the
slip direction (Figure 3).
Adanya gaya tekanan yang besar memaksa dua blok di sisi berlawanan dari permukaan
patahan/sesar bersama-sama. Selain itu, permukaan patahan/sesar tidak mulus tetapi sangat
tidak teratur dan ditutupi dengan pecahan untuk milimeter pegunungan tinggi yang disebut
asperities. Selama proses tergelincir asperities ini mengukir alur ke permukaan patahan/sesar.
Alur ini disebut slickenlines dan mereka melacak arah slip (Gambar 3).
Figure 3. Slickenlines lying in a fault surface track the slip direction. In the illustrated example,
a fault surface is exposed in a ravine. The block that should be in the foreground has been
eroded away. The geology student is standing where the foreground block was prior to
erosion. In contrast, the block lying in back of the fault surface is clearly visible. The nearly
horizontal orientation of the slickenlines in the fault surface indicate that the blocks on
opposite sides of the fault surface slide horizontally past each other parallel to the slickenlines.
Hence, the fault was strike-slip. Unfortunately, the absence of any piercing points does not
allow us to say if the motion was right-lateral or left-lateral.
Gambar 3. Slickenlines yang tergambar di permukaan patahan/sesar digunakan untuk melacak
arah slip. Dalam contoh ilustrasi, permukaan patahan/sesar terkena dalam tebing. Blok yang
harusnya di bagian depan telah terkikis. Mahasiswa geologi berdiri di mana blok bagian depan
adalah sebelum erosi. Sebaliknya, blok berbaring di belakang permukaan patahan/sesar
terlihat jelas. Orientasi hampir horisontal dari slickenlines di permukaan patahan menunjukkan
bahwa blok di sisi berlawanan dari permukaan patahan/sesar geser horizontal melewati satu
sama lain sejajar dengan slickenlines. Oleh karena itu, patahan/sesar adalah strike-slip.
Sayangnya, tidak adanya titik piercing tidak memungkinkan kita untuk mengatakan jika gerakan
itu benar-lateral atau kiri-lateral.

The attitude of the fault is important because it is used to classify the fault as either dip-
or strike-slip. For example, if the displacement across the fault is parallel to strike, then the
fault is a strike-slip fault (Figure 4). On the other hand, if the displacement is parallel to the dip
and at right angles to the strike, then the fault is a dip-slip fault (Figure 5). However,
sometimes the displacement is neither parallel to the strike nor to the dip, and, in such cases
the fault is classified as an oblique-slip fault (Figure 6).
 Ciri-ciri Sesar itu penting karena digunakan untuk mengklasifikasikan Sesar/patahan baik
sebagai pergeseran kemiringan/dip atau jurus/strike. Sebagai contoh, jika perpindahan yang
melintasi patahan sejajar dengan jurus/strike, maka patahan tersebut merupakan sesar/patahan
mendatar (Gambar 4). Di sisi lain, jika perpindahan sejajar dengan kemiringan/dip dan pada
sudut kanan terhadap strike, maka Sesar-nya adalah Sesar/patahan turun/naik (Gambar 5).
Namun, kadang-kadang perpindahan tidak sejajar dengan jurus/strike atau kemiringan/dip, dan
dalam kasus seperti itu Sesar diklasifikasikan sebagai sesar/patahan miring/oblig (Gambar 6).

Figure 4. Strike-slip fault. A row of stones and grass are displaced by a fault with a north strike
(red line lying in horizontal plane) and a vertical dip. The arrows are the conventional
geological symbol for showing the slip direction. Note that the displacement across the fault is
parallel to the strike of the fault surface.
Gambar 4. Sesar/Patahan Mendatar. Sederet batu dan rumput dipindahkan oleh sesar/patahan
dengan arah utara (garis merah terletak pada bidang horizontal) dan kemiringan vertikal. Panah
adalah simbol geologi konvensional untuk menunjukkan arah slip. Perhatikan bahwa
perpindahan melintasi sesar/patahan sejajar dengan bentukan permukaan sesar/patahan.
Figure 5. Dip-slip fault. A row of stones and grass is displaced by a fault with a north strike (red
line lying in horizontal plane) and an ~60 eastward dip. The arrows are the conventional
geological symbol for showing the slip direction. Note that the displacement across the fault is
parallel to the dip direction, i.e., at right angles to the strike of the fault surface.
Gambar 5. Sesar Vertikal (Naik/Turun). Sederet batu dan rumput dipindahkan oleh
sesar/patahan dengan arah utara (garis merah terbentang di bidang horizontal) dan
kemiringan/dip 600 ke timur. Panah adalah simbol geologi konvensional untuk menunjukkan
arah slip. Perhatikan bahwa perpindahan melintasi sesar/patahan sejajar dengan arah
kemiringan. Pada sudut kanan terhadap strike pada permukaan sesar.

Figure 6. Oblique-slip fault. A row of stones and grass is displaced by a fault with a north strike
(red line lying in horizontal plane) and an ~60 eastward dip. Note that the displacement (i.e.,
the slip direction) across the fault is neither parallel to the dip direction nor to the strike
direction.
Gambar 6. Sesar Miring/Oblig . Sederet batu dan rumput dipindahkan oleh sesar/patahan
dengan arah utara (garis merah terbentang di bidang horizontal) dan kemiringan/dip 60 0 ke
timur. Perhatikan bahwa perpindahan (misalkan : Arah slip) pada sesar tidak sejajar dengan
arah kemiringan/dip atau ke arah jurus/strike.
There are two types of strike-slip and two types of dip-slip fault. The two types of strike-
slip fault are right-lateral (or dextral) and left-lateral (or sinistral) while the two types of dip-
slip fault are normal and reverse (or thrust) (Figure 7). In general, strike-slip faults tend to have
o o
dips that are near vertical while dip-slip faults tend to dip about 60 for normal and 30 for
reverse or thrust faults. For dip-slip faults, the block lying on top of the fault surface is referred
to as the hanging wall while the one below is referred to as the footwall block (Figure 7).
Ada dua jenis Sesar strike-slip dan dua jenis dip-slip. Dua jenis sesar/patahan strike-slip
adalah Sesar Mendatar Menganan (atau dekstral) dan Sesar Mendatar Mengiri (atau sinistral)
sedangkan dua jenis sesar/patahan dip-slip adalah Sesar Turun (atau Normal-Fault) dan Sesar
Naik (atau Reverse-Fault) (Gambar 7). Secara umum, sesar/patahan strike-slip cenderung
memiliki dip yang mendekati vertikal sedangkan sesar/patahan dip-slip cenderung turun sekitar
60o untuk sesar turun/normal dan 30o untuk sesar naik/reverse. Blok yang terletak di atas
permukaan patahan disebut sebagai hanging wall sedangkan Blok yang di bawahnya disebut
sebagai footwall (Gambar 7).

In order to classify a strike-slip fault you must first identify some linear feature that is
transected by the fault. The location where this feature pierces the fault surface is called the
piercing point (Figure 7). For the large faults that we will consider in this class, common linear
features might include streams (see Figure 1), railroads, roads, and fences. If the strike-slip
fault is right lateral, then when you walk down the offset linear feature toward the fault
surface, upon reaching the piercing point you will have to turn to your right and then walk
down the fault trace to find the continuation of the offset linear feature. Try this technique for
the right-lateral strike-slip fault shown in Figure 7. Imagine that you have walked completely
from one end of the road to the piercing point, and then along the trace of the fault to the
other half of the offset road, and then finally to the distant end of the road. Now imagine
turning around and walking back toward the fault. Upon reaching the piercing point, note again
that you have to turn to the right to reach the offset road. In short, when classifying a fault it
does not matter which side you approach the fault from. Again, use Figure 7 and verify for
yourself that for a left-lateral strike-slip fault, upon reaching the piercing point, you will have to
turn to the left to find the offset linear feature (Figure 7).
Untuk mengklasifikasikan Sesar/patahan strike-slip, Anda harus terlebih dahulu
mengidentifikasi beberapa fitur linear yang ditransformasikan oleh Sesar/patahan. Lokasi di
mana fitur ini menembus permukaan patahan disebut titik penusuk (Gambar 7). Untuk
Sesar/patahan besar yang akan kita bahas di kelas ini, fitur linier umum mungkin termasuk aliran
sungai (lihat Gambar 1), jalur kereta api, jalan, dan pagar. Jika Sesar/patahan strike-slip adalah
lateral kanan, maka ketika Anda berjalan menuruni fitur linear offset menuju permukaan
patahan, setelah mencapai titik penindikan Anda harus berbelok ke kanan dan kemudian
menyusuri jejak patahan untuk menemukan kelanjutan dari mengimbangi fitur linier. Cobalah
teknik ini untuk Sesar/patahan Menganan (dextral) yang ditunjukkan pada Gambar 7. Bayangkan
bahwa Anda telah berjalan sepenuhnya dari satu ujung jalan ke titik tindik, dan kemudian
menyusuri jejak patahan ke bagian lain dari jalan offset, dan akhirnya ke ujung jalan yang jauh.
Sekarang bayangkan berbalik dan berjalan kembali ke arah sesar/patahan. Setelah mencapai titik
penindikan, perhatikan lagi bahwa Anda harus berbelok ke kanan untuk mencapai jalan offset.
Singkatnya, ketika mengklasifikasikan Sesar/patahan itu tidak masalah dari sisi mana Anda
mendekati kesalahan. Sekali lagi, gunakan Gambar 7 dan verifikasi untuk diri Anda sendiri bahwa
untuk Sesar/patahan Mengiri (sinistral), setelah mencapai titik penindikan, Anda harus berbelok
ke kiri untuk menemukan fitur linear offset (Gambar 7).
The first step in classifying dip-slip faults is to identify the hanging and footwall blocks.
After completing this task, simply note that in normal faults the hanging wall moves down
relative to the footwall while for reverse or thrust faults the hanging wall moves up (Figure 7).
Langkah pertama dalam mengklasifikasikan Sesar/patahan Vertikal adalah mengidentifikasi hanging
wall dan footwal-nya. Setelah menyelesaikan tugas ini, cukup perhatikan bahwa pada sesar normal,
hanging wall relatif turun terhadap footwall, sedangkan untuk sesar naik, hanging wall-nya relatif
bergerak naik (Gambar 7).

Figure 7. Block diagrams illustrating the major classes of strike-slip and dip-slip fault.
Gambar 7. Diagram Blok yang menggambarkan kelas-kelas utama dari Sesar Mendatar
(strike-slip) dan Sesar Vertikal (dip-slip fault)
 Oblique-slip faults are classified on the basis of which of the two major components,
strike- or dip-slip dominate (Figure 8). If the strike component dominates, then the fault would
be classified as either an oblique right-lateral or an oblique left-lateral strike-slip fault depending
upon if the slip is dextral or sinistral respectively (Figure 8). If on the other hand, the dip
component dominates, then the fault would be classified as either an oblique normal or an
oblique reverse fault depending upon if the hanging wall moved down or up relative to the
footwall block respectively.
Sesar/patahan Miring (oblique-slip) diklasifikasikan atas dasar dua komponen utama,
strike- atau dip-slip yang mendominasi (Gambar 8). Jika komponen jurus/strike dominan, maka
Sesar/patahan akan diklasifikasikan sebagai Sesar/patahan Turun Menganan atau Mengiri,
tergantung pada apakah slip masing-masing adalah dextral atau sinistral (Gambar 8). Jika di sisi
lain, apabila komponen kemiringan/dip mendominasi, maka Sesar/patahan akan diklasifikasikan
sebagai Sesar/patahan turun/normal atau Sesar/patahan naik/reverse tergantung pada apakah
hanging wall-nya bergerak ke bawah atau naik relatif terhadap masing-masing footwall-nya.
 Figure 8. Bock diagrams of the major classes of oblique-slip faults. The illustration shows
slickenlines in light gray lying parallel to the slip vector, the actual direction and magnitude of
displacement. When the strike-slip component of this vector is longer than the dip-slip
component then the fault is an oblique strike-slip fault. On the other hand, if the dip-slip
component of the slip vector is longer than the strike-slip component, then the fault is an
oblique dip-slip fault.
Gambar 8. Diagram Blok kelas utama Sesar/patahan Miring/Oblig. Ilustrasi ini menunjukkan garis
tebal di abu-abu terang yang sejajar dengan vektor slip, arah aktual dan besarnya perpindahan.
Ketika komponen jurus/strike-slip ini lebih panjang dari komponen kemiringan/dip-slip maka
Sesarnya adalah Sesar/patahan Mendatar Oblig. Di sisi lain, jika komponen kemiringan/dip-slip lebih
panjang dari komponen jurus/strike-slip, maka Sesarnya adalah Sesar Vertikal Miring
The distribution of the various classes of faults is controlled in large part by plate
tectonic setting. For example, reverse and thrust faults are common structures along
convergent margins, while strike-slip faults are characteristic of transform plate margins. In
contrast, normal faults commonly dominate where continental plates are splitting apart (e.g.,
the East Africa Rift) and along mid-ocean ridges.
Distribusi berbagai kelas Sesar/patahan dikontrol sebagian besar oleh Tatanan tektonik
lempeng Regional. Sebagai contoh, Sesar/patahan Naik adalah struktur umum di sepanjang
batas subduksi lempeng (konvergen), sedangkan Sesar/patahan Mendatar adalah karakteristik
dari lempeng yang bergeser/transform. Sebaliknya, sesar turun/normal umumnya mendominasi
daerah pemekaran lempeng (divergen) (misal : Pemekaran Lempeng Afrika Timur) dan di
sepanjang Punggungan Laut Tengah.
In the above settings, as a result of continuous plate motion, the rocks in and around
plate boundaries are constantly under stress. When this stress (i.e., force/area) exceeds the
strength of the rock along a segment of a particular type of boundary, then it fails, rupturing
brittlely along a plane of failure and a new fault is formed or slip on an old fault takes place.
Let’s take a closer look at how this process works.
Dalam penjelasan di atas, sebagai hasil dari gerakan lempeng yang terus-menerus
(continue), batuan di dalam dan di sekitar batas lempeng secara konstan berada di bawah
tekanan. Ketika tekanan ini (yaitu : gaya/area) melebihi kekuatan batu di sepanjang segmen dari
jenis batas tertentu, maka batuan itu akan pecah pada zona rapuh di sepanjang bidang rapuh-
nya dan Sesar/patahan baru terbentuk pada tempat Sesar/patahan lama. Mari kita lihat lebih
dekat melihat bagaimana proses ini bekerja.

Brittle Failure of Rock

In order to understand what makes a rock break, you need to have a basic
understanding of forces and stresses. A force is a vector because it has a magnitude and a
direction. Forces that act on every point within a given body of Earth material are called body
forces. In contrast, those that act on specific surfaces are called surface forces. Gravity tends
to pull all bodies on the surface of the Earth towards its center, and is therefore a body force.
For example, if you jump off a 5 meter cliff into a lake, the falling sensation that you feel is
entirely due to gravitational forces pulling you toward the center of the Earth. Though a similar
sensation is achieved on a large water park slide, the results are instead due to surface forces
acting on the relatively frictionless interface between your body and the underlying slide.
The position of a given body of rock can be changed by accelerating the entire body
through either the application of a surface or body force. However, if the intensity of the force
being applied across the body of rock varies, then acceleration of the various parts of the body
would be unequal, and as a result the shape of the body would change, i.e., become distorted.
A distortion or change in shape is referred to as strain while a measure of the intensity of the
applied force is stress.
Stress is defined as force per unit area, or in equation form as s = force/area, where s
(sigma) represents stress. The units of force are the Newton (N); the units of stress are
2 2
therefore Newtons per square meter (N/m ). Geologists commonly convert N/m to other
easier to use units of stress such as bars, kilobars (kbar), Pascals (Pa), and megaPascals (MPa).
These latter units are interrelated in the following manner: 1 kbar = 1000 bars, 1 bar = 100,000
Pa, and 1 MPa = 1,000,000 Pa.
When rocks in the upper part of the crust (those above about 15 km depth) are
stressed, they respond by distorting (straining). However, if the load is removed (i.e., the
stress is removed), then they return to their original shape and volume. When a rock responds
to stress in this manner, it is said to behave elastically.
When a body of rock is elastically distorted it contains stored up elastic strain energy.
As an analogy, consider a common day elastic material, a rubber band. If you stretch the
rubber band between your two hands, then in this configuration the rubber band contains
stored up elastic strain energy. If you release the rubber band from one of your hands, then as
stored up elastic strain energy is released, the rubber band automatically snaps back in place
regaining its original form and shape.
If we continue to increase the stress on an elastic rock, then at some point in time the
stress will reach a critical value, and the rock will fail (i.e., break). When this happens along a
plate boundary either a new fault will form or slip will occur on an old fault. In most cases, the
latter is the result, and the critical stress value at which the fault ruptures (slips) is called the
maximum or static stress.
Immediately following the slip event there is a drop in the stress value along the fault.
However, because plate boundaries are always areas that are loaded (i.e., under stress), the
stress immediately begins to build up along the fault, and over time the fault will again fail
when the static stress value is reached. Hence, faults stick during intervals of low stress and
slip when the stress climbs to the static value. This general behavior is called stick-slip and
along plate boundaries it is characteristic of all faults in the upper crust.
When a fault ruptures it gives off heat and seismic energy in the form of seismic waves.
These waves produce a vibration and shaking of the Earth’s surface that is an earthquake. In
short, there is a direct tie between faults and earthquakes as the former are responsible for
the latter.

Summary
Faults are ubiquitous structures of the Earth. They are the source of earthquakes which
can cause severe damage to homes and even death. It is important that you, a citizen of planet
Earth, have a basic understanding as to why faults form. If you have completed this chapter,
then you should understand that faults within the Earth's crust are the result of the failure of
rock or slip on an existing fault under some applied natural load. Along plate boundaries, this
load is supplied by the motion of plates which in turn is driven by heat escaping from the
interior of the planet. Prior to rupture rocks build up elastic strain energy. During the rupture
process a stress drop occurs and the built up elastic strain is released as heat and seismic
waves. As discussed in the next chapter it is these seismic waves propagating outward from the
site of rupture that generates the earthquakes that we are all so familiar with. In California, as
well as many other seismically active regions of the world, belts of earthquakes tend to be
centered on major fault systems, many occurring along plate boundaries. Some of these faults
contain segments that are locked, while others are in creep mode. Locked segments have not
slipped in some time and as a result have not generated seismic activity. Along locked
segments, strain energy will continue to be stored until eventually the static stress value is
reached and slippage will occur. In contrast, creeping segments indicate that strain is constantly
being released through slippage. Due to the inability to store large amounts of elastic strain
energy, large earthquakes do not commonly occur along creeping segments of faults. Though
faults commonly break through to the surface of the Earth, some do not, remaining deeply
buried.

References Used in the Development of this Chapter

Books and Papers
nd
Twiss, R.J., and Moores, E.M., 2007, Structural Geology, 2 Edition, W.H. Freeman and
Company, New York, 736 p.
Referensi Yang Digunakan Untuk Pengembangan Bab ini
Buku dan Makalah
Twiss, R.J., dan Moores, E.M., 2007, Structural Geology, Edisi Kedua, W.H. Freeman and
Company, New York, 736 p.

Web sites
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/glossary.php

Web sites
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/glossary.php