Transform fault

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A transform fault is a geological fault that is a special case of strike-slip faulting which terminates abruptly, at both ends, at a major transverse geological feature. Transform faults comprise one of the three types of plate boundaries in plate tectonics. This term was proposed by J. Tuzo Wilson in 1965 and he particularly recognised the concept in the case of the tranverse strike-slip faults along which mid-oceanic ridges are off-set. The rock fracture is caused by lateral movement between two tectonic plates. The San Andreas fault of southern California is a large transform fault connecting the East Pacific Rise off the coast of California with a segment of the ridge in the Gulf of California.

Although formulated in terms of lithospheric plates, transform faults occur naturally in floating ice and are easily reproduced with liquid waxes.

See also

• Transform boundary

References

• International Tectonic Dictionary - AAPG Memoir 7, 1967
• The Encyclopedia of Structural Geology and Plate Tectonics - Ed. by Carl K. Seyfert, 1987Template:Geol-stub

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