Final answer:
The four main types of faults are normal, reverse, thrust, and strike-slip. These faults are the result of different kinds of stress in the Earth's crust, such as extension, compression, or shearing. The orientation of geological features is described by their strike and dip measurements.
Step-by-step explanation:
The four main types of faults are normal faults, reverse faults, thrust faults, and strike-slip faults. Normal faults occur when the crust is extended and one block drops down relative to the other. Reverse faults happen when the crust is compressed, causing one block to be pushed up over the other. Thrust faults are a type of reverse fault with a dip of 45 degrees or less, effectively pushing one block over another. Lastly, strike-slip faults are characterized by the horizontal movement of blocks, typically caused by shearing forces, leading to lateral displacement.
Furthermore, geologists measure the strike and dip of geological features to understand their orientation. The strike is the direction of the line formed by the intersection of an inclined plane with a horizontal plane. The dip is the angle at which the plane is inclined to the horizontal plane, measured perpendicular to the strike direction.