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Home » Teaching Plate Tectonics » Transform Boundaries
Transform Plate Boundaries
TeachingPlateTectonics | Teaching Plate Tectonics | Earth's Internal Structure | Divergent Boundary |
| Convergent Boundary | Transform Boundary | Tectonic Features Map |
Transform Plate Boundaries are locations where two plates slide past one another. The fracture zone that forms a transform plate boundary is known as a transform fault. Most transform faults are found in the ocean basin and connect offsets in the mid-ocean ridges. A smaller number connect mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones.
| Teaching Plate Tectonics | Earth's Internal Structure |
| Convergent Boundary | Divergent Boundary |
| Transform Boundary | Tectonic Features Map |
Transform Plate Boundary |
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A Strike-Slip Fault is NOT a Transform Fault |
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Transform faults can be distinguished from the typical strike-slip faults because the sense of movement is in the opposite direction (see illustration). A strike-slip fault is a simple offset; however, a transform fault is formed between two different plates, each moving away from the spreading center of a divergent plate boundary. When you look at the transform fault diagram, imagine the double line as a divergent plate boundary and visualize which way the diverging plates would be moving.
A smaller number of transform faults cut continental lithosphere. The most famous example of this is the San Andreas Fault Zone of western North America. The San Andreas connects a divergent boundary in the Gulf of California with the Cascadia subduction zone. Another example of a transform boundary on land is the Alpine Fault of New Zealand. Both the San Andreas Fault and the Alpine Fault are shown on our Interactive Plate Tectonics Map.
Contributor: Hobart KingPublisher, Geology.com
TeachingPlateTectonics | Teaching Plate Tectonics | Earth's Internal Structure | Divergent Boundary |
| Convergent Boundary | Transform Boundary | Tectonic Features Map |
| Teaching Plate Tectonics | Earth's Internal Structure |
| Convergent Boundary | Divergent Boundary |
| Transform Boundary | Tectonic Features Map |
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