Tuesday, September 19, 2017

What are two examples of earthquakes that occur along diverging plates and transforming plates?

There is a lot of wiggle room with this question. It is unclear if it is asking about recent earthquakes along those two boundary types, or if it is asking about general earthquake characteristics for those two boundary types. The question could even be asking for a basic geographic location of where those kinds of earthquakes occur. I'll attempt to answer each variation.
A divergent boundary occurs between two tectonic plates that are moving apart from each other. In general, earthquakes that occur along this boundary type are relatively shallow and weak. The mid-ocean ridge that runs north and south down almost the entire length of the Atlantic ocean is this type of plate boundary. There was a 4.9 magnitude earthquake that happened on this boundary on September 13, 2018 at 14 degrees south latitude and 13 degrees west longitude.
A transform boundary occurs when two tectonic plates slide past each other. They aren't moving toward or away from each. Instead, the motion causes the plates to grind against each other as they slide. This kind of boundary creates strike-slip faulting and leads to earthquakes that are moderate to strong in strength and relatively shallow. The San Andreas Fault that runs through California is a good example of a fault line caused by the transform boundary that exists between the Pacific Plate and North American Plate. On August 29, 2018 there was a magnitude 4.4 earthquake located 4 km north of La Verne, California.
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/

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