Unique Characteristics of Transform Faults There are many characteristics that make earthquakes along transform faults different from subduction zones, rift zones, and mid-ocean ridge transform faults. For example, transform faults occur when two plates move past each other, shearing each other, without creation or destruction of the lithosphere. In transform faults, earthquakes are shallow and reach a depth of 25 km. the magnitude of earthquakes is less than 8.5 on the Richter scale. In extensional boundaries, earthquakes are also shallow, but occur only along the spreading alignment and are of magnitude less than 8. At compressional boundaries, earthquakes can be found at or near the surface and at several hundred kilometers depth . Because of the temperature difference, the subducting plate is colder than the plate it is being subducted into, the rock begins to heat up and tends to become brittle enough to suddenly rupture and cause earthquakes. Here, in the subduction zone, the deepest earthquakes occur up to a depth of about 700 km. Continental transform plate boundaries appear today in the circumpacific region (California, southern Alaska, New Zealand, and in the Alpine belt, e.g., Turkey, and the Dead Sea) (Windley, 1978). Transform faults that originate at continental plate boundaries manifest specific expressions in their morphology and topography over extended distances. These tectonic features are generally associated with complex systems of echelon fractures, folds, and faults that originate in narrow-elongate zones. In transform fault systems, the deformations that characterize them are mostly oblique divergence or convergence, which rarely give rise to uniformly distributed shear zones. The resulting… half of the paper… observed is approximately 30 mm/year. To the north, the Pacific Plate is moving and is being subducted under the Australian Plate. Towards the south, these two plates move towards each other, but the Australian plate is suppressed beneath the Pacific plate. The movement of these plates is quite small but rapid, and is regularly accompanied by a series of earthquakes. In the north-eastern section of the fault there is a seismic zone where deep earthquakes occur. This occurs when the Pacific Plate is subducted under the Australian Plate. In this area lies the boundary between both plates known as the Benioff Zone. Shallow earthquakes occur towards the southeast of this seismic zone. On the other hand, towards the south, where the Australian plate is subducting, deeper earthquakes occur in the south-eastern section of the seismic zone (UO).