In the early stages of strike-slip fault formation, displacement within basement rocks produces characteristic fault structures within the overlying cover. This will also be the case where an active strike-slip zone lies within an area of continuing sedimentation. At low levels of strain, the overall simple shear causes a set of small faults to form. The dominant set, known as R shears, forms at about 15° to the underlying fault with the same shear sense. The R shears are then linked by a second set, the R' shears, that forms at about 75° to the main fault trace. These two fault orientations can be understood as conjugate fault sets at 30° to the short axis of the instantaneous strain ellipse associated with the simple shear strain field caused by the displacements applied at the base of the cover sequence. With further displacement, the Riedel fault segments will tend to become fully linked until a throughgoing fault is formed. The linkage often occurs with the development of a further set of shears known as 'P shears', which are roughly symmetrical to the R shears relative to the overall shear direction. The somewhat oblique segments will link downwards into the fault at the base of the cover sequence with a helicoidal geometry.Ueta, K.; Tani, K. 2001. Ground Surface Deformation in Unconsolidated Sediments Caused by Bedrock Fault Movements: Dip-Slip and Strike-Slip Fault Model Test and Field Survey. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #S52D-0682
