Fault Scarp

A fault scarp is a cliff or step on the ground or seafloor produced by displacement along a fault, where one block has moved vertically relative to the other. Normal and reverse faults both create them, the scarp face exposing the fault plane or its degraded trace; on the seabed they appear in multibeam bathymetry as linear breaks in slope. Scarp height records the cumulative throw, and a fresh, steep scarp marks recent rupture while a degraded one signals an older event. Submarine fault scarps mark active margins, ridge flanks, and transform zones, and they can trigger slope failure on oversteepened blocks.