Editing Transform fault (section)

{{Short description|Plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal}}
[[File:Continental-continental conservative plate boundary opposite directions.svg|thumb|Diagram showing a transform fault with two plates moving in opposite directions]]
[[Image:Transform fault-1.svg|thumb|Transform fault (the red lines)]]
A '''transform fault''' or ''' transform boundary''', is a [[fault (geology)|fault]] along a [[plate boundary]] where the [[motion (physics)|motion]] is predominantly [[Horizontal plane|horizontal]].<ref name="MooresTwiss">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tvgRBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA130|title=Tectonics |last1=Moores E.M. |last2=Twiss R.J. |date=2014 |publisher=Waveland Press |isbn=978-1-4786-2660-2|page=130}}</ref> It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a [[subduction|subduction zone]].<ref name=Kerey>{{cite book|last=Kearey|first=K. A.|title=Global Tectonics|year=2007|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Hoboken, NJ, USA|pages=84–90}}</ref> A transform fault is a special case of a ''[[strike-slip fault]]'' that also forms a plate boundary.

Most such faults are found in [[oceanic crust]], where they accommodate the lateral offset between segments of [[Divergent boundary|divergent boundaries]], forming a [[zigzag]] pattern. This results from oblique [[seafloor spreading]] where the direction of motion is not perpendicular to the trend of the overall divergent boundary. 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]].