Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
pull-apart basin
References
Britannica AI Icon

pull-apart basin

geology
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

A pull-apart basin is a geological landform characterized by a rectangular or rhomb-shaped depression with steep sides. These basins are formed by the extension of the Earth's crust, specifically related to strike-slip faults. When nearly parallel strike-slip faults move horizontally past each other, the crust in the region between them is pulled apart, creating a gap that forms the basin.1

Examples of pull-apart basins include the Dead Sea and California's Imperial Valley. These basins are significant geological features where crustal extension occurs due to the lateral movement along major fault lines.1

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
2 Britannica Sources
  1. tectonic basins and rift valleys
  2. back-arc basin

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.