There are two basic kinds of breaks in regional rocks: Joints and faults. Joints are “cracks,” usually found in parallel or perpendicular arrangements and most often caused by the ground’s rise that forces the rock to occupy a larger volume. The breaks can be thought of as what might happen to the spacing of individual fibers when a carpet is pushed from its underside; though separated, the fibers still are part of the carpet. Joints can often be seen at waterfalls. Their spaces become the places where erosion occurs most easily, allowing the water to work on the downstream side of the joint. Faults, by contrast, are breaks marking movements. They can be horizontal or vertical movements or any angle of movement between rocks that border the break. Joints might be caused by earthquake-like activity (movement of the ground); faults actually cause such movement. Rocks along faults can move abruptly, and when they do, the surroundings undergo visible damage from the ensuing shaking. But another kind of movement also occurs, one called creep. It’s a slow and relatively steady warping of rock that is visible in offset fences, sidewalks and roads, and steam beds that cross the fault.
We do have human analogs, of course (What else would you expect me to say?). Sometimes two people in a relationship simply separate, occupy more space because of the division between them, and yet, remain in close proximity. Sometimes two people move apart as the rocks on either side of a fault, at times abruptly and earthquake-like and at other times by a slow creep of separation.
Look around. Live in a region of jointed relationships? Are people once part of a single unit now living in proximity but somehow behaviorally or intellectually separately? Are the separations places where erosion of the relationships is most likely? Live in a region of active faults? If the latter is your region, are the movements indicative of slow creep or large seismic jumps? Are the inexorable movements along the faults caused by those involved “finding fault” with the “rocks” on the other side?
We do have human analogs, of course (What else would you expect me to say?). Sometimes two people in a relationship simply separate, occupy more space because of the division between them, and yet, remain in close proximity. Sometimes two people move apart as the rocks on either side of a fault, at times abruptly and earthquake-like and at other times by a slow creep of separation.
Look around. Live in a region of jointed relationships? Are people once part of a single unit now living in proximity but somehow behaviorally or intellectually separately? Are the separations places where erosion of the relationships is most likely? Live in a region of active faults? If the latter is your region, are the movements indicative of slow creep or large seismic jumps? Are the inexorable movements along the faults caused by those involved “finding fault” with the “rocks” on the other side?
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