Maximum observed earthquake magnitudes along continental transform faults
Sunday, December 6, 2015 - 09:30
in Earth & Climate
Continental transform faults evolve when two plates slide along each other. The most prominent examples are the San Andreas Fault in California and the North Anatolian Fault in Turkey. Earthquakes along those faults typically do not exceed earthquake magnitudes around M8 but occur at shallow depth thus posing a major threat to nearby metropolitan regions such as San Francisco or Istanbul.