Marine Science Faculty Publications
Speed Limit for Oceanic Transform Faults
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1989
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1989)017%3C0420:SLFOTF%3E2.3.CO;2
Abstract
Oceanic transform faults with slip rates greater than ∼145 km/m.y. do not currently exist along the East Pacific Rise where sea-floor spreading rates range from 145 to 160 km/m.y. Instead, offsets of the the very fast spreading East Pacific Rise are accommodated by microplates, propogating rifts, or overlapping spreading centers. This suggests that there might be a speed limit above which transform faults do not exist. A physical reason for a speed limit is not known, but it might be related to unstable stress fields near the rifts tips, causing them to episodically propagate and prevent a transform fault from being formed. The spreading rates quoted are from our new (0-0.73 Ma) relative-motion model for the Pacific and Nazca plates.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
No
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Geology, v. 17, issue 5, p. 420-422
Scholar Commons Citation
Naar, David F. and Hey, R. N., "Speed Limit for Oceanic Transform Faults" (1989). Marine Science Faculty Publications. 2233.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2233
