Transform boundary's do not have a subduction zone or a spreading center. When the plates meet at these boundary's the slide past each other moving in opposite directions. They do not move past each other easily though, instead there is tremendous energy built up until it reaches a breaking point. It is at this moment that the plates slip past each other, and the Earth experiences violent shaking called earthquakes. Therefor another name for these transform boundaries is strike slip faults, and the San Andrea's Fault is an example. This is where the North American Plate slips past the Pacific plate,it is mostly located in California. Here It is represented by the blue line, the arrows show the direction of movement for each plate. Earthquakes here are shallow due to there being no subduction going on. They can vary in strengths though, as pressure builds up over time, it stores potential energy. If this energy is allowed to build up over long periods of time, the resulting release can be quite disrtuctive.
The North American and the Caribbean Plate share a transform boundary. It is here where a shallow, only 10 km deep, yet strong, 7.0 magnitude earthquake stuck Haiti's capital city Port Au Prince, on January 12, 2010 killing an estimated 316,000. Engineers and Scientist are trying to develop technology to help reduce the damage done by major earthquakes, yet not every country has the resources to invest into the technology so we will still see tragic events unfold like the earthquake in Haiti. The images on this page show how earthquakes at transform faults not only change the landscape, but affect the lives of millions living in close proximity to these plate boundary's.