How are faults in Geography created?

Question

How are faults in Geography created?

Answer 1

"Faults are surfaces along which rocks have fractured and been displaced. There are three major types of faults: strike-slip, normal, and reverse. The tectonic stresses caused by plate motions (see previous section) build up over time and eventually cause breaks in the crust of the Earth along which the rocks sporadically grind past one another. When this happens, earthquakes occur. ..."

http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate6.h...

"In geology a fault, or fault line, is a planar rock fracture which shows evidence of relative movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust are the result of differential or shear motion and active fault zones are the causal locations of most earthquakes. Earthquakes are caused by energy release during rapid slippage along a fault. ..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_fau...

Answer 2

Faults are created by stress in the earth’s crust. Stress is a force, such as squeezing or stretching, that changes the shape of an object. When a material is stressed, the material may respond in three different ways. It can deform (stretch or compress) elastically, which means that when the stress is removed, the material goes back to its original shape. An elastic deformation is, therefore, reversible. Alternatively, a stressed material can deform inelastically, which means that when the stress is removed, the material stays in its new, deformed shape. An inelastic deformation is irreversible. Lastly, a stressed material can fracture, or break into pieces.