Transform Fault

The fracture zone which is made by a transform plate boundary is called a transform fault. Most of the transform faults are found in the deep ocean basin. There are three types of plate boundaries. Convergent boundaries, Divergent Boundaries and Transform Boundaries. Convergent boundaries are defined as where the crust is destroyed as one plate collides under another plate. Divergent boundaries are defined as where the new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other. Transform boundaries are defined as where the crust is neither created nor destroyed as the plates slide horizontally past each other. Along with transform boundaries, two plates are sliding horizontally by each other.

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Define Transform

The outer surface of our planet may look like one solid shell. But according to the theory of plate tectonics outer layers are called the lithosphere. It is actually broken up into massive rigid slabs called tectonic plates that fit together like puzzle pieces. It looks like floating on a thick molten layer of the mantle called the asthenosphere. Transform means in which we cannot create or destroy any new thing. We can only transform it from one form to another. It is a conservative type.

What is a Transform Boundary?

As we mentioned above the transform boundary is defined as where the crust is neither produced nor destroyed because here the plates slide only horizontally past each other. As we just said transform boundaries or when two plates are sliding by one another. It can occur along with any type of boundary. This creates a ridge along the boundary. The boundary between the plates is not a perfectly straight line, nothing in nature. So the boundary between the plates might get some pressure as they start to build up. When two plates slide horizontally past each other with strike-slip motion, shear stress occurs at boundaries. Transform faults link offset boundary segments. 

Occurrence of Transform Faults

Most transform faults are found in the ocean basin where they connect offsets in mid-ocean ridges. Transform faults can also connect a spreading ridge with the subduction zone such as the San Andreas fault that separates the Pacific and North America plates.

They may catch or hang on each other depending on how stuck they get more and more pressure could be built up. When this pressure starts to increase eventually, the rock is going to give way and it is going to shift. When it does a tremendous amount of energy is going to be released that energy is what causes an earthquake. The transform boundary is so unpredictable that communities are built on top of it. The segments of the fault have ruptured to produce three major earthquakes in the last four hundred years. The latest event of this type occurred in 1906 and its consequence is a fire that destroyed large sections of San Francisco.

Transform Plate Boundaries

The exploration geologists have described plate boundaries in reference to the dominant forces acting on the plates. Transform plate boundaries typically demonstrate some of the most threatening geological characteristics in North America. But they can be so deceptively modest in their physical appearance that they build major cities on top of them. The most famous example of a transform plate boundary runs through California and separates the North American Plate from the Pacific Plate. Few transform boundaries take place in the deep oceans and can’t see from outside of the ocean. If we talk about one example, we would know that the small Scotia plate is separated from the Antarctic and South American plates by transforming boundaries along its north and south margins. The ridge system in any ocean basin reveals that it is often offset by short transform boundary segments. These types of offsets are important for permitting the rigid tectonic plates to move over a spherical shape of Earth.