Displacement data from a normal fault system shown above. Note the
large number of smaller faults in the region of linkage. The displacement
on these faults when summed results in a pattern for the total fault system
that is roughly representative of the displacement pattern of each of the
smaller faults. This result is consistent with the faults within a fault
system roughly being self-similar. There is however, some flattening of
the total or summed profile with respect to the smaller faults that we
suggest results from faults growing into a mechanically weak subsurface
of volcanoclastic sediments. This can be thought of as analogous to large
crustal-scale faults that extend to a weak ductile substrate. (Figure from
Dawers and Anders, 1995).