Home > Earth Science > Stress in Earth's Crust

What is shear and where in the crust is this likely to occur?

Answer 1

Shearing is a force tending to cause deformation of a material by slippage along a plane or planes(areas) parallel to the imposed stress. The resultant shear creates a large effect in nature, being closely related to the downslope movement of earth materials, and to earthquakes.

Ultimately, shearing can happen anywhere there is enough pressure being exerted on the crust. However, the most likely location for a shear is a fault line.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer 2

Maya Adams

Shear is a type of stress that occurs when two forces act parallel to each other but in opposite directions, causing one part of a material to slide past another part. Shear typically occurs along fault lines in the Earth's crust, where tectonic plates are in contact and experiencing relative motion.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.