1. n. [Geology]

A type of fault in which the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall, and the fault surface dips steeply, commonly from 50° to 90°. Groups of normal faults can produce horst and graben topography, or a series of relatively high- and low-standing fault blocks, as seen in areas where the crust is rifting or being pulled apart by plate tectonic activity. A growth fault is a type of normal fault that forms during sedimentation and typically has thicker strata on the downthrown hanging wall than the footwall.

See related terms: antithetic fault,  crust,  fault,  growth fault,  inversion,  plate tectonics,  rift,  sedimentation,  stratum,  synthetic fault