Editing Transform fault (section)

== Background ==
Geophysicist and geologist [[John Tuzo Wilson]] recognized that the offsets of [[oceanic ridges]] by faults do not follow the classical pattern of an offset fence or geological marker in [[Harry Fielding Reid|Reid's]] [[Elastic-rebound theory|rebound theory of faulting]],<ref>Reid, H.F., (1910). The Mechanics of the Earthquake. in The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906, Report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington D.C.</ref> from which the sense of slip is derived.  The new class of faults,<ref name=Wilson>{{Cite journal|first=J.T. |last=Wilson |date=24 July 1965 |title=A new class of faults and their bearing on continental drift|journal=Nature |volume=207 |issue=4995 |pages=343–347 |doi=10.1038/207343a0 |bibcode = 1965Natur.207..343W |s2cid=4294401 }}</ref> called transform faults, produce slip in the opposite direction from what one would surmise from the standard interpretation of an offset geological feature.  Slip along transform faults does not increase the distance between the ridges it separates; the distance remains constant in [[earthquakes]] because the ridges are spreading centers.  This [[hypothesis]] was confirmed in a study of the fault plane solutions that showed the slip on transform faults points in the opposite direction than classical interpretation would suggest.<ref>Sykes, L.R. (1967). Mechanism of earthquakes and nature of faulting on the mid-oceanic ridges, Journal of Geophysical Research, 72, 5–27.</ref>