Stacking faults (SFs) and the 3C-6H polytypic transition in thick (001)-oriented 3C-SiC crystals are studied by means of diffuse X-ray scattering. The presence of SFs lying in the {111} planes gives rise to streaked reciprocal lattice points with the streaks being parallel to the <111> directions. In the case of low SF densities the defects are uncorrelated and the simulation of the diffuse intensity distribution allows to derive the SF density. In partially transformed crystals, the SFs are spatially correlated which gives rise to an intense and asymmetric diffuse scattering distribution. Its simulation allows to determine both the transformation mechanism and the transformation level.