Hanging Wall Vs Footwall Faults

The two sides of a non vertical fault are known as the hanging wall and footwall.
Hanging wall vs footwall faults. This terminology comes from mining. When working a tabular ore body the miner stood with the footwall under his feet and with the hanging wall above him. When the fault plane is vertical there is no hanging wall or footwall. In a non vertical fault where the fault plane dips the footwall is the section of the fault that lies under the fault while the hanging wall lies over the fault.
In a strike slip fault they slide past each other the. But that is when the foot wall moves down the hanging wall moves up. Where the fault plane is sloping as with normal and reverse faults the upper side is the hanging wall and the lower side is the footwall. The hanging wall occurs above the fault plane and the footwall occurs below it.
As nouns the difference between hangingwall and footwall is that hangingwall is while footwall is geology the section of rock that extends below a diagonal fault line the corresponding upper section being the hanging wall. Any fault plane can be completely described with two measurements.