# Sticklepath Fault

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The **Sticklepath Fault** (or sometimes **Sticklepath-Lustleigh Fault**) is a [strike-slip geological fault](/source/Fault_(geology)#Strike-slip_faults) which runs northwest – southeast through [Devon](/source/Devon) in southwest [England](/source/England). It is named for the villages of [Sticklepath](/source/Sticklepath) and [Lustleigh](/source/Lustleigh). The fault zone has been traced seaward in either direction from its landfalls west of [Bideford](/source/Bideford) in north Devon and [Torbay](/source/Torbay) on the county's southeast coast.

Early movement on the fault was connected with the [Variscan orogeny](/source/Variscan_orogeny), cumulative offset during that time was as much as 10km, substantial movement also took place during the early [Tertiary](/source/Tertiary_period).[1] The Tertiary movement led to the formation of two [sedimentary basins](/source/Sedimentary_basin) along the line of the fault; at [Petrockstowe](/source/Petrockstowe) in mid Devon and [Bovey Tracey](/source/Bovey_Tracey) on the eastern margin of [Dartmoor](/source/Dartmoor). During the [Eocene](/source/Eocene) and [Oligocene](/source/Oligocene) epochs, around 600m thickness of sediment accumulated in the former and 1200m in the [Bovey Basin](/source/Bovey_Formation).[2] Both are interpreted as [pull-apart basins](/source/Pull-apart_basin) which opened as a result of [dextral slip](/source/Strike-slip_tectonics) on the fault.[3][4] The Stanley Bank Basin east of [Lundy](/source/Lundy) within the [Bristol Channel](/source/Bristol_Channel) and perhaps also the tiny Flimston Basin in southwest Pembrokeshire, lie on the northwesterly extension of the fault zone.[5]

There are records of minor [seismic activity](/source/Seismic_activity) in Cornwall and Devon for the 19th and 20th century but the location of [epicentres](/source/Epicenter) show no lineation associated with the Sticklepath Fault so there is no indication that the fault has been active in recent times.[6]

## References

1. Holloway, S. & Chadwick, R. A. ["The Sticklepath-Lustleigh fault zone: Tertiary sinistral reactivation of a Variscan dextral strike-slip fault"](https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/abs/10.1144/gsjgs.143.3.0447). *Journal of the Geological Society*. **143**: 447-452. [doi:10.1144/gsjgs.143.3.0447](https://doi.org/10.1144/gsjgs.143.3.0447). Retrieved 23 March 2025.

1. ["How the Ball Clay Deposits Occurred"](https://www.clayheritage.org/introduction-to-the-ball-clays-of-devon-and-dorset/how-the-ball-clay-deposits-occurred). *The Ball Clay Heritage Society*. Retrieved 23 March 2025.

1. Ruffell, A. & Carey, P.F. ["The Northwestwards Continuation of the Sticklepath Fault: Bristol Channel, SW Wales, ST. Georges Channel and Ireland"](https://ussher.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/journal/2001/03-Ruffell_Carey_2001.pdf). Ussher Society. Retrieved 1 September 2024.

1. Muir-Wood, Robert (2024). *This Volcanic Isle*. Oxford University Press. pp. 23–24. ISBN 9780198871620.

1. King, C. (2006). *The Geology of England and Wales*. 2nd ed. London: The Geological Society. p. 425. ISBN 1862392005.

1. Musson, Roger. ["The seismicity of Cornwall and Devon"](https://ussher.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/journal/2000/07-Musson_2000.pdf). *Geoscience in south-west England*. **10**: 34-36. Retrieved 23 March 2025.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sticklepath Fault](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticklepath_Fault) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticklepath_Fault?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.