Final answer:
Faults are classified by the movement of the earth's crust: right-lateral strike-slip faults involve horizontal motion, reverse faults occur due to crustal shortening and compression, thrust faults are a specific low-angle reverse fault, and normal faults form when the crust is stretched.
Step-by-step explanation:
The various types of faults are characterized by the movements of the earth's crust and are classified based on the direction of slip or movement along the fault plane. A right-lateral, strike-slip fault involves horizontal motion where, if one stands on one side of the fault and looks across, the block on the opposite side appears to move to the right. This is due to the shear stress acting in a horizontal direction.
When geological stress leads to shortening of the crust, a reverse fault can form, where the hanging wall is pushed up with respect to the footwall, suggesting compression. An even more specific type of reverse fault is the thrust fault, which has a low angle of dip and results in older strata overriding younger strata.
A normal fault is characterized by the hanging wall moving downward in relation to the footwall, indicating that the region is under tension and the crust is being stretched.