Do transform faults parallel plate motion?

A central principle of plate tectonics is that relative plate motion is parallel to transform faults. Several workers have convincingly argued, however, that transform fault valleys widen with age due to horizontal thermal contraction of the lithosphere (Collette 1974; Roest et al 1986 ; Sandwell 1986). If so, then the transform fault zone, which is the locus of active strike-slip faulting in a transform fault, is not parallel to the direction of plate motion. It is also affected by the ridge-parallel contraction of the lithosphere and is biased by a predictable amount. Here we apply a recent model for horizontal contraction of oceanic lithosphere as a function of age (Kumar & Gordon 2008) to calculate this bias as a function of offset, spreading rate, and ridge length, with slightly different formulations for crenelate and stepping mid-ocean ridge segments. The bias causes right-slipping transform faults to be counter-clockwise of the true plate motion direction while left-slipping transform faults are clockwise of the true plate motion direction. The bias is larger for longer ridge segments, smaller offsets, and slower spreading. The bias ranges in magnitude from about 0.1 degree to 1.5 degrees for stepping boundaries and 0.2 degree to 3 degrees for crenelate boundaries. Application of the bias correction to NUVEL-1 transform fault azimuths about the Rodrigues, Juan Fernandez, Galapagos, and Bouvet triple junctions improves the closure of the triple junction in the first three cases but makes it slightly worse in the fourth case. Additional applications will be presented.