Fracturing is a brittle deformation process that creates permanent linear breaks, that are not accompanied by displacement within materials. These linear breaks or openings can be independent or interconnected.  For fracturing to occur, the ultimate strength of the materials need to be exceeded to a point where the material ruptures. Rupturing is aided by the accumulations of high differential stress (the difference between the maximum and minimum stress acting on the object). Most fracture grow into faults. However, the term fault is only used when the fracture plane accommodate some degree of movement. Fracturing can happen across all scales, from microfractures to macroscopic fractures and joints in the rocks.