transform fault

[ trans-fawrm fawlt ]

noun

, Geology, Oceanography.

1. a strike-slip fault that offsets a mid-ocean ridge in opposing directions on either side of the axis of seafloor spreading. Compare fracture zone.

transform fault

/ trăns′fôrm′ /

1. A type of strike-slip fault that accommodates the relative horizontal slip between other tectonic elements, such as tectonic plates, and is common along the edges of plates in mid-ocean ridge regions. The lateral displacement along transform faults often ends or changes form abruptly.
2. See Note at fault

Word History and Origins

Origin of transform fault¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

"Fueled by magmatism in or below the root zone of the transform fault and subsequent degassing, the fault constitutes a conduit for CO2-rich hydrothermal fluids, while carbonation of peridotite represents a potentially vast sink for the emitted CO2."

From Science Daily

"We went to the archipelago to explore for low-temperature hydrothermal activity, and we failed miserably in finding any such activity there. It was unbelievable that we were able to find these rocks in a transform fault, because we found them by chance while looking for something else."

From Science Daily

The rocks that Klein and his colleagues analyzed from the submerged flanks of the St. Peter and St. Paul Archipelago in the St. Paul's oceanic transform fault, about 500 km off the coast of Brazil, tells a fascinating and previously unknown story about parts of the geological carbon cycle.

From Science Daily

To better understand carbon cycling between Earth's mantle and the ocean, Klein, Schroeder, and colleagues studied the formation of soapstone "and other magnesite-bearing assemblages during mineral carbonation of mantle peridotite" in the St. Paul's transform fault, the paper notes.

From Science Daily

Over the decades, there were half a dozen powerful earthquakes, moving southward on the fault system through coastal Syria into Lebanon, Dolan said, ultimately “culminating in a very large earthquake on the Dead Sea Transform fault system in 1202, mainly centered in Lebanon but extending farther south.”

From Los Angeles Times