 In the case of thrusting, the rock mass "escapes" in the direction of the least principal stress, namely upward, lifting the rock mass up, and thus, the overburden equals the "least" principal stress.Strike-slip faulting is intermediate between the other two types described above.This difference in stress regime in the three faulting environments can contribute to differences in stress drop during faulting, which contributes to differences in the radiated energy, regardless of fault dimensions.