![]() ![]() ![]() This lateral movement of seafloors past each other is where transform faults are currently active. Although separated only by tens of kilometers, this separation between segments of the ridges causes portions of the seafloor to push past each other in opposing directions. With new seafloor being pushed and pulled out, the older seafloor slowly slides away from the mid-oceanic ridges toward the continents. These mid-oceanic ridges are where new seafloor is constantly created through the upwelling of new basaltic magma. Transform faults are commonly found linking segments of divergent boundaries ( mid-oceanic ridges or spreading centres). Transform faults and divergent boundaries They also act as the plane of weakness, which may result in splitting in rift zones. Transform faults specifically accommodate lateral strain by transferring displacement between mid-ocean ridges or subduction zones. Finally, transform faults form a tectonic plate boundary, while transcurrent faults do not.įaults in general are focused areas of deformation or strain, which are the response of built-up stresses in the form of compression, tension, or shear stress in rock at the surface or deep in the Earth's subsurface. Both types of fault are strike-slip or side-to-side in movement nevertheless, transform faults always end at a junction with another plate boundary, while transcurrent faults may die out without a junction with another fault. ![]() ![]() Transform faults are closely related to transcurrent faults and are commonly confused. Difference between transform and transcurrent faults This hypothesis was confirmed in a study of the fault plane solutions that showed the slip on transform faults points in the opposite direction than classical interpretation would suggest. Slip along transform faults does not increase the distance between the ridges it separates the distance remains constant in earthquakes because the ridges are spreading centers. The new class of faults, called transform faults, produce slip in the opposite direction from what one would surmise from the standard interpretation of an offset geological feature. Geophysicist and geologist John Tuzo Wilson recognized that the offsets of oceanic ridges by faults do not follow the classical pattern of an offset fence or geological marker in Reid's rebound theory of faulting, from which the sense of slip is derived. Transform boundaries are also known as conservative plate boundaries because they involve no addition or loss of lithosphere at the Earth's surface. A smaller number of such faults are found on land, although these are generally better-known, such as the San Andreas Fault and North Anatolian Fault. This is a result of oblique seafloor spreading where the direction of motion is not perpendicular to the trend of the overall divergent boundary. Most such faults are found in oceanic crust, where they accommodate the lateral offset between segments of divergent boundaries, forming a zigzag pattern. A transform fault is a special case of a strike-slip fault that also forms a plate boundary. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a subduction zone. A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |