Definition of "footwall" [footwall]

• Geology The mass of rock underlying a mineral deposit in a mine. (noun)
• Geology The underlying block of a fault having an inclined fault plane. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The second fault, below, shows oblique-slip slickensides, and beneath the slickensides, in the footwall, are some calcite masses and a footwall breccia."
• "The first, above, is nearly dip-slip in relative movement, and you can see a close-up of the footwall breccia."
• "Restoration work on the damaged footwall infrastructure in the"