The process of breaking or shifting in rock layers, or the act of finding fault with someone; in geology, the fracturing of Earth's crust.
From the verb 'fault' (meaning to break or to criticize) plus the '-ing' suffix. 'Fault' comes from Old French 'faulte', from Latin 'fallere' (to fail). In geology, 'faulting' became a technical term in the 19th century as scientists studied Earth's structure.
Earthquakes happen because of faulting—when massive sections of Earth's crust suddenly shift along a crack! The San Andreas Fault in California is actively faulting, which is why California has so many earthquakes. It's wild that the same word describes both blaming someone and the ground literally breaking apart.
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