Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Strike

By Earthquake Hazards Program 2021 (approx.)
3 diagrams: At the top is a crustal block diagram showing how strike direction from North along a fault. At the bottom left is a figure showing the strike angle as the angle between North and the fault plane with dip direction pointing away from the fault plane. At the bottom right is a circle with North, East, South, and West and their respective strikes when going clockwise from North: 0, 90, 180, 270.
Original Thumbnail Medium

Detailed Description

The strike is the trend or bearing, relative to north, of the line defined by the intersection of a planar geologic surface (for example, a fault or a bed) and a horizontal surface such as the ground.

Sources/Usage

Image courtesy of Charles Ammon, Penn State