Simply put, transform boundaries are areas where the Earth's plates move past each other, rubbing

along the edges. They are,

however, much more complex than that.

Transform boundaries are one of three different ways the plates interact with each other, known as plate boundaries or zones. And
while they move differently than convergent (plates colliding) or divergent (plates splitting apart) boundaries, they are almost always
connected to one or the other.
Each of these three types of plate boundary has its own particular type of fault (or crack) along which motion occurs. Transforms
are strike-slip faults. There is no vertical movement - only horizontal.
Convergent boundaries are thrust or reverse faults, and divergent boundaries are normal faults. You can read more about those here.
As the plates slide across from each other, they neither create land nor destroy it. Because of this, they are sometimes referred to
as conservative boundaries or margins. Their relative movement can be described as either dextral (to the right) or sinistral (to the left).
Transform boundaries were first conceived of by Canadian geophysicist John Tuzo Wilsonin 1965. Tuzo Wilson, initially skeptical of
plate tectonics, was also the first to propose the theory of hotspot volcanoes.

Facilitating Seafloor Spreading

Most transform boundaries consist of short faults on the seafloor occurring near mid-ocean ridges. As the plates split apart, they do so
at differing speeds, creating space - anywhere from a few to several hundred miles - between spreading margins (see the "String
Cheese and Moving Rifts" section of the Divergent Plate Boundaries article for a deeper look). As the plates in this space continue to
diverge, they now do so in opposite directions. This lateral movement forms active transform boundaries.

Between the spreading segments, the sides of the transform are rubbing together; but as soon as the seafloor spreads beyond the
overlap, the two sides stop rubbing and travel abreast.

The result is a split in the crust, called a fracture zone, that extends across the seafloor far beyond the small transform that created it.

Transform boundaries connect to perpendicular divergent (and sometimes convergent) boundaries on both ends, giving the overall
appearance of zig-zags or a staircase. This configuration offsets energy from the whole process.

Continental Transform Boundaries

Continental transforms are more complex than their short oceanic counterparts. The forces affecting them include a degree of
compression or extension across them, creating dynamics called transpression and transtension respectively. These extra forces are
why coastal California, basically a transform tectonic regime, also has many mountainous welts and downdropped valleys. Movements
across the fault are up to 10 percent as much as the pure transform motion.

The San Andreas fault of California is a prime example of this; others are the North Anatolian fault of northern Turkey, the Alpine fault
crossing New Zealand, the Dead Sea rift in the Middle East, the Queen Charlotte Islands fault off western Canada and the Magellanes-
Fagnano fault system of southernmost South America.
Because of the thickness of the continental lithosphere and its variety of rocks, transforms on continents are not simple cracks but wide
zones of deformation. The San Andreas fault, itself, is just one thread in a 100-kilometer-wide skein of faults making up the San
Andreas fault zone. The dangerous Hayward fault takes up a share of the total transform motion, for instance, and the Walker Lane
belt, far inland beyond the Sierra Nevada, takes up a small amount too.

Transform Earthquakes

Although they neither create nor destroy land, transform boundaries and strike-slip faults can create deep, shallow earthquakes. These
are common at mid-ocean ridges, but they do not normally produce deadly tsunamis because there is no vertical displacement of
seafloor.
When these earthquakes occur on land, on the other hand, they can cause large amounts of damage. Notable strike-slip quakes
include the 1906 San Francisco, 2010 Haiti and2012 Sumatra earthquakes. The 2012 Sumatran quake was particularly powerful; its 8.6
magnitude was the largest ever recorded for a strike-slip fault..

Transform faults can be distinguished from the typical strike-slip faults

because the sense of movement is in the opposite direction (see illustration at right). 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 above, 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.

Transform faults are locations of recurring earthquake activity and faulting. The earthquakes are usually shallow because
they occur within and between plates that are not involved in subduction. Volcanic activity is normally not present because
the typical magma sources of an upwelling convection current or a melting subducting plate are not present.