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. Old fault exposed by roadcut near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ... Old fault exposed by roadcut near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ...

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 recognized the concept in the case of the transverse strike-slip faults along which mid-oceanic ridges are off-set. Bridge across the Álfagjá rift valley in southwest Iceland, the boundary of the Eurasian and North American continental tectonic plates. ... John Tuzo Wilson (October 24, 1908-April 15, 1993) was a Canadian geophysicist and geologist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his theory of plate tectonics, the assumption that the Earths crust is comprised of plates floating on magma. ... Courtesy USGS The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an underwater mountain range of the Atlantic Ocean that runs from Iceland to Antarctica, and is the longest mountain range on Earth. ...

Mechanics

The left- or right-lateral motion of one plate against another along transform faults can cause highly visible surface effects. Because of friction, the plates cannot simply glide past each other. Rather, stress 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 is released as strain. Strain is both accumulative and instantneous depending on the rheology 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 t cause motion along the fault. The ductile surface of the fault can also reease instantaneously when the strain rate is too great. The energy released by instantaneous strain release is the cause of earthquakes, a common phenomenon along transform boundaries. Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion of two surfaces in contact. ... Figure 1  Stress tensor A mature tree trunk may support a greater force than a fine steel wire but intuitively we feel that steel is stronger than wood. ... In the physical sciences, potential energy is energy which is captured within a physical system by virtue of the relative positions or configurations of objects, and which has the potential to be released when the system is allowed to attain a configuration with a lower energy state. ... This article is about the deformation of materials. ... Rheology is the study of the deformation and flow of matter. ... Study of geological shear is related to the study of structural geology, rock microstructure or rock texture and fault mechanics. ... An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy in the crust that propagates seismic waves. ...

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. View of the San Andreas Fault on the Carrizo Plain in central California, 35°07N, 119°39W The San Andreas Fault is a geological fault that runs a length of roughly 800 miles (1300 kilometres) through western and southern California in the United States. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... The East Pacific Rise is a long north-south welt of seafloor spreading under the eastern Pacific Ocean from near Antarctica in the south northward to its termination at the northern end of the Gulf of California in the Salton Sea basin in southern Pennsylvania California. ... The Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez or Sea of Cortés; locally known in the Spanish language as Mar de Cortés or, much less frequently, Golfo de California) is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland. ...

Although formulated in terms of lithospheric plates, transform faults occur naturally in floating ice and are easily reproduced with liquid waxes. These liquid waxes are commonly referred to as ilosi. The tectonic plates of the Lithosphere on Earth. ...

See also

• Geological fault
• Fracture zone
• Plate tectonics
• Transform boundary
• fault zone
• Structural geology

Old fault exposed by roadcut near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ... An illustration of the difference between the active transform faults between offset ridge axes, and inactive fracture zones. ... Bridge across the Álfagjá rift valley in southwest Iceland, the boundary of the Eurasian and North American continental tectonic plates. ... In plate tectonics, a transform boundary (also known as transform fault boundary, transform plate boundary, transform plate margin, slip boundary or conservative plate boundary) is said to occur when tectonic plates slide and grind against each other along a transform fault. ... Old fault exposed by roadcut near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ... Structural geology is the study of the three dimensional distribution of rock bodies and their planar or folded surfaces, and their internal fabrics. ...

References

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