geological fault
1
5.0
- noun
- /ˌdʒiəˈlɒdʒɪkəl fɔlt/
- Specialized
:
falla geológica
- Two units of the Tsuruga nuclear plant in northwestern Japan may be sitting right on top of an active geological fault, according to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Examples
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Two units of the Tsuruga nuclear plant in northwestern Japan may be sitting right on top of an active geological fault, according to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), the nuclear industry's watchdog.
Blog text (18) -
Nuclear plants may sit on top of active geological faults.
Blog text (18) -
In California, the main risk comes from the San Andreas and related geological faults.
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The quake, which killed two people and caused billions of dollars of damage, ruptured a complex set of geological faults near the surface.
Synonyms
63
6.1
A crack in the earth's crust where the ground has moved
16
4.7
A crack in the ground where the land moves, often causing earthquakes
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'geological' constrains the domain to geology and 'fault' denotes a break or fracture, so a learner who knows both words can infer this refers to a crack in the Earth's crust. Although the term is technical, the modifier disambiguates the common sense of 'fault' and the construction is cross-linguistically transparent, making it understandable to B1 learners who know the constituents.
Etymology
Geological fault paints a clear picture: fault means a crack or break in rock and geological shows it is about the Earth. Imagine two blocks of rock slipping past each other so the layers no longer match, and that shifted crack is why the phrase means 'a place where the ground has moved' and can cause earthquakes.