Detachment faulting is associated with large-scale lithospheric extensional tectonics. Detachment faults often have very large displacements (10s of km) and juxtapose unmetamorphosed hanging walls against medium to high-grade metamorphic footwalls. They are thought to have formed as either initially low-angle structures or by the rotation of intially high-angle normal faults modified also by the isostatic effects of tectonic denudation. The tectonic plates of the Lithosphere on Earth. ... Geologic faults, fault lines or simply faults are planar rock fractures, which show evidence of relative movement. ... Quartzite, a form of metamorphic rock, from the Museum of Geology at University of Tartu collection. ... Old fault exposed by roadcut near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

Examples of detachment faulting include:

• the Snake Range detachment system of the Basin and Range Province of western North America which was active during the Miocene
• the Nordfjord-Sogn Detachment of western Norway active during the Devonian Period.

Basin and Range index map - USGS The Basin and Range Province is a particular type of topography that covers much of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico that is typified by elongate north-south trending arid valleys bounded by mountain ranges which also bound adjacent valleys. ... The Miocene epoch is a period of time that extends from about 23 to 5. ... Disambiguation: Devonian is sometimes used to refer to the Southwestern Brythonic language, and the people of the county of Devon are sometimes referred to as Devonians The Devonian is a geologic period of the Paleozoic era. ...

References

George H. Davis, Stephen J. Reynolds.1996. Structural Geology of Rocks and Regions, 2nd Edition John Wiley and Sons Inc. ISBN 0-471-52621-5.

Haakon Fossen. 1992. The role of extensional tectonics in the Caledonides of South Norway. Journal of Structural Geology, 14, 1033-1046.