Full View

Contents of 12.5 What is the evidence that plates slide past one another at transform plate boundaries?

• Transform plate boundaries are a special type of strike-slip fault along which plate motion from one boundary segment is transformed to the next segment.
• The direction and velocity of strike-slip displacement on transform boundaries are consistent with the motion predicted by plate tectonics.
• Most transform boundaries are short faults between mid-ocean ridge segments. Transforms line up with tectonically inactive fracture zones that separate lithosphere of different age, thickness, and elevation but belong to the same plate and move in the same direction at the same velocity.

12.5 What is the evidence that plates slide past one another at transform plate boundaries?