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Transform fault
 
 
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A transform fault or transform boundary is a fault which runs along the boundary of a tectonic plate
Tectonic Plate

#REDIRECT Plate tectonics...
. The relative motion
Motion (physics)

In physics, motion means a constant change in the location of a body. Change in motion is the result of applied force. Motion is typically described in terms of velocity, acceleration, Displacement , and time....
 of such plates is horizontal
Horizontal plane

In astronomy, geography, geometry and related sciences and contexts, a Plane is said to be horizontal at a given point if it is locally perpendicular to the gradient of the Gravitation Field , i.e., with the direction of the gravitational force at that point....
 in either sinistral
Sinistral

The terms sinistral and dextral refer to the horizontal movement of blocks on either side of a Fault or the sense of movement within a Shear ....
 or dextral direction. Typically, some vertical motion may also exist, but the principal vectors in a transform fault are oriented horizontally. Not all faults are transform faults, and not all plate boundaries are transform faults.

Most transform faults are found on the ocean floor, where they often offset active spreading ridges
Seafloor spreading

Seafloor spreading occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcano and then gradually moves away from the ridge....
 to form a zigzag plate boundary.






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A transform fault or transform boundary is a fault which runs along the boundary of a tectonic plate
Tectonic Plate

#REDIRECT Plate tectonics...
. The relative motion
Motion (physics)

In physics, motion means a constant change in the location of a body. Change in motion is the result of applied force. Motion is typically described in terms of velocity, acceleration, Displacement , and time....
 of such plates is horizontal
Horizontal plane

In astronomy, geography, geometry and related sciences and contexts, a Plane is said to be horizontal at a given point if it is locally perpendicular to the gradient of the Gravitation Field , i.e., with the direction of the gravitational force at that point....
 in either sinistral
Sinistral

The terms sinistral and dextral refer to the horizontal movement of blocks on either side of a Fault or the sense of movement within a Shear ....
 or dextral direction. Typically, some vertical motion may also exist, but the principal vectors in a transform fault are oriented horizontally. Not all faults are transform faults, and not all plate boundaries are transform faults.

Most transform faults are found on the ocean floor, where they often offset active spreading ridges
Seafloor spreading

Seafloor spreading occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcano and then gradually moves away from the ridge....
 to form a zigzag plate boundary. However, the best-known transform faults are found on land.

Transform faults are one of the three types of plate boundaries in plate tectonics
Plate tectonics

Plate tectonics describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. The theory encompasses the older concepts of continental drift, developed during the first decades of the 20th century by Alfred Wegener, and seafloor spreading, understood during the 1960s....
. This term was proposed by J. Tuzo Wilson in 1965 and he particularly recognized the concept in the case of the transverse strike-slip faults along which mid-oceanic ridges are off-set.

Mechanics

The left- or right-lateral motion of one plate against another along transform faults can cause highly visible seismic lithosphereic crust effects. Because of friction
Friction

File:Friction alt.svgFriction is the force resisting the relative lateral motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, or material elements in contact....
, the plates cannot simply glide past each other. Rather, stress
Stress (physics)

In continuum mechanics, stress is a measure of the average amount of force exerted per unit area. It is a measure of the intensity of the total internal forces acting within a body across imaginary internal surfaces, as a reaction to external applied forces and body forces....
 builds up in both plates and when it reaches a level that exceeds the strain threshold of rocks on either side of the fault the accumulated potential energy
Potential energy

Potential energy can be thought of as energy stored within a physical system. It is called potential energy because it has the potential to be converted into other forms of energy, such as kinetic energy, and to do Mechanical work in the process....
 is released as strain
Strain (materials science)

In continuum mechanics, the infinitesimal strain theory, sometimes called small deformation theory, small displacement theory, or small displacement-gradient theory, deals with infinitesimal Deformation s of a Continuum mechanics....
. Strain is both cumulative and instantaneous depending on the rheology
Rheology

Rheology is the study of the flow of matter: mainly liquids but also soft solids or solids under conditions in which they flow rather than deform elastically....
 of the rock; the ductile lower crust and mantle accumulates deformation gradually via shearing whereas the brittle upper crust reacts by fracture, or instantaneous stress release to cause motion along the fault. The ductile surface of the fault can also release instantaneously when the strain rate is too great. The energy released by instantaneous strain release is the cause of earthquake
Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph....
s, a common phenomenon along transform boundaries.

Examples

The San Andreas fault
San Andreas Fault

The San Andreas Fault is a geologic transform fault that runs a length of roughly 800 miles through California in the United States. The fault's motion is dextral strike-slip ....
 in California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 is a major transform fault which runs between the Mendocino Triple Junction
Mendocino Triple Junction

The Mendocino Triple Junction is a geologic triple junction where the San Andreas Fault meets the Mendocino Fracture Zone and the Cascadia subduction zone, separating three tectonic plates: the Pacific Plate, the North American Plate and the Gorda Plate....
 in the north and the northern end of the East Pacific Rise
East Pacific Rise

The East Pacific Rise is a mid-oceanic ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary located along the floor of the Pacific Ocean. It separates the Pacific Plate to the west from the North American Plate, the Rivera Plate, the Cocos Plate, the Nazca Plate, and the Antarctic Plate....
 somewhere beneath the Imperial Valley
Imperial Valley

The Imperial Valley is a region of southeastern Southern California located, in part, between the Colorado River and the Salton Sea, which is California's largest saltwater lake....
 in the south.

Alpine Fault Srtm
Other examples include:
  • Chile
    Chile

    Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
    's Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault
    Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault

    The Liqui?e-Ofqui Fault is major geological fault that runs a length of roughly 1000 km in a north-south direction and exhibits current seismicity ....
  • Indonesia
    Indonesia

    The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
    's Great Sumatran fault
    Great Sumatran fault

    The Indonesian island of Sumatra is located in a highly seismic area of the world. In addition to the subduction and the associated Sunda Arc off the west coast of the island, Sumatra also has a large transform fault, the so-called Great Sumatran Fault, running the entire length of the island....
  • Middle East
    Middle East

    File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
    's Dead Sea Transform
    Dead Sea Transform

    The Dead Sea Transform fault system, also sometimes referred to as the Dead Sea Rift, is a geologic fault which extends through the Jordan River Valley in the Middle East....
     fault
  • New Zealand
    New Zealand

    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
    's Alpine Fault
    Alpine Fault

    The Alpine Fault is a geological fault, known as a right-lateral strike-slip fault, that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island....
  • Pakistan
    Pakistan

    Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
    's Chaman Fault
  • Turkey
    Turkey

    Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
    's North Anatolian Fault
    North Anatolian Fault

    The North Anatolian Fault is a major active right lateral-moving geologic fault in northern Anatolia which runs along the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate....
  • North America
    North America

    North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
    's Queen Charlotte Fault
    Queen Charlotte Fault

    The Queen Charlotte Fault is an active transform fault, located between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate, Canada's equivalent of the San Andreas Fault....


See also

  • Fracture zone
    Fracture zone

    A fracture zone is a linear oceanic feature--often hundreds, even thousands of kilometers long--resulting from the action of offset mid-ocean ridge axis segments....
  • Plate tectonics
    Plate tectonics

    Plate tectonics describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. The theory encompasses the older concepts of continental drift, developed during the first decades of the 20th century by Alfred Wegener, and seafloor spreading, understood during the 1960s....
  • Structural geology
    Structural geology

    Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of Rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover information about the history of deformation in the rocks, and ultimately, to understand the stress field t...
  • List of tectonic plate interactions
    List of tectonic plate interactions

    See plate tectonics for a more complete discussionTectonic plate interactions are of three different basic types:* Divergent boundary are areas where plates move away from each other, forming either mid-oceanic ridges or rift valleys....