Tension
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NOT Tension - you can not actually have tension in the earth other than where there is an overhang! - forces are always compressive, it just depends which force is greater. Normal faults occur when the maximum principal stress is vertical - when GRAVITY is the dominant force.
I'm afraid the first answer is right.
It occurs in continental-plate thinning, stretching and eventual division, as is happening in NE Africa. Although gravity will certainly play a part the displacement that just have a horizontal component.
Gravity alone will not produce a fault unless the rock on one or both sides the fault-plane can move away from the other. There is a fault-form in which the vertical displacement predominates, dropping a block between two faults to produce a graben (such as parts of the North Sea), but it still needs tension resulting in a certain amount of horizontal movement.
Normal faults are primarily caused by tensional stress, where the Earth's crust is being pulled apart. This tensional stress leads to the hanging wall moving downward relative to the footwall along the fault plane. Normal faults are commonly associated with divergent plate boundaries and crustal extension.
Tensional stress from divergent plate boundaries causes a normal fault to form. This stress pulls rocks apart along a fault line, causing the hanging wall to drop relative to the footwall.
Reverse and thrust faults are both under compressive stress.
The type of stress for a reverse fault is compressional stress, where the rocks are being pushed together, causing one block to move up and over the other.
Normal fault: Associated with tensional stress, where the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall. Reverse fault: Associated with compressional stress, where the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall. Strike-slip fault: Associated with shear stress, where the rocks move horizontally past each other.
A normal fault causes a fault-block mountain to form. In a normal fault, one block of rock moves downward relative to the other, creating a step-like feature. Over time, repeated movements along the fault can uplift and deform the crust, leading to the formation of fault-block mountains.
Tensional stress from divergent plate boundaries causes a normal fault to form. This stress pulls rocks apart along a fault line, causing the hanging wall to drop relative to the footwall.
tension (Dip-Slip Normal fault)
A normal fault is caused by extensional stress, where the hanging wall moves downward relative to the footwall. This motion is associated with the stretching and thinning of the Earth's crust.
a pulling motion causes a normal fault
In a reverse fault the maximum principal stress is horizontal, compression causes reverse (thrust) faults.
Normal fault forms tension stress. It is a stress state wherein a body of material is being stretched or expanded.
A fault called a normal fault occurs when tectonic plates pull apart and tensional stress causes the rock layers to break and move along the fault line. In a normal fault, the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall due to the extensional forces acting on the rocks.
normal fault
The stress that causes strike-slip faults is produced by a shearing force and so is called shear stress.
They have the same type of force on each fault and the tension is released Whenever the vertical stress (which mostly is because of gravity) is more than horizontal stresses, normal faults can be created or activated.
Faulting is caused by stress in the rock layers, the stress can break and crack the rock causing a fault. There are two types of faults a normal fault and a reverse fault.
Tensional stress, which results from the pulling apart of the Earth's crust, causes fault block mountains to form. This stress leads to the extension and fracturing of the crust, resulting in the blocks of crust moving up or down along faults to create a mountain range.