Unique Characteristics of Transform Faults There are many characteristics that make earthquakes along a transform fault different from subduction zones, rift zones, and transform faults of the mid-ocean ridge. For example, transformation faults occur when two plates intersect, shear, without creation or destruction of lithosphere. At transform faults, earthquakes are shallow and can reach a depth of 25 km. the magnitude of earthquakes is less than 8.5 on the Richter scale. At extensional limits, earthquakes are also shallow, but they occur only along the propagation alignment and have a magnitude less than 8. At compressional limits, earthquakes can be observed at the surface or nearby and several hundred kilometers deep. Because of the temperature difference, the subducting plate is colder than the plate it is subducting under, the rock begins to heat up, and it tends to become brittle enough to break suddenly and cause earthquakes. Here, in the subduction zone, the deepest earthquakes occur down to a depth of about 700 km. Continental transform plate boundaries appear today in the circum-Pacific region (California, southern Alaska, New Zealand and in the Alpine fold belt, e.g. Turkey, and the Dead Sea) (Windley, 1978 ). Transform faults that originate within continental plate boundaries exhibit specific expressions in their morphology and topography over long distances. These tectonic features are generally associated with complex systems of echelon fractures, folds and faults that originate in narrow, elongated areas. In transform fault systems, the deformations that characterize them are mostly oblique divergences or convergences, which hardly result in uniformly distributed shear zones. The ...... middle of paper ...... observed is approximately 30 mm/year. Towards the north, the Pacific plate moves and is subducted under the Australian plate. Towards the south, these two plates approach each other, but the Australian plate is submerged under the Pacific plate. The movement of these plates is quite weak but rapid, and is regularly accompanied by a series of earthquakes. In the northeastern part of the fault there is a seismic zone where deep earthquakes occur. This occurs where the Pacific Plate is subducted beneath the Australian Plate. In this area is the boundary between the two plates known as the Benioff zone. Shallow earthquakes occur toward the southeast of this seismic zone. On the other hand, towards the south, where the Australian plate is subducted, deeper earthquakes occur in the south-eastern part of the seismic zone (UO).