What is it called when two plates slide past each other in opposite directions?
tectonic movement
plate divergence
transformation
transform plate boundary
Two plates may slide past each other in opposite directions. This is called a transform plate boundary . The plates meet at a transform fault . As you might imagine, plates do not slide past each other easily. These plate boundaries experience massive earthquakes. The world’s best known transform fault is the San Andreas Fault in California ( Figure below ). At this fault, the Pacific and North American plates grind past each other. Transform plate boundaries are common as offsets along mid-ocean ridges. They are very small compared to transform faults on land.