Earthquake seismology has played a major role in the development of our current understanding of global plate tectonics. Because earthquakes occur primarily at the boundaries between lithospheric plates, their distribution is used to map plate boundaries and their focal mechanisms provide information about the motion at individual boundaries.
Plate boundaries are divided into three types (Fig. 1). Oceanic lithosphere is formed at spreading centers, or mid-ocean ridges, and is destroyed at subduction zones, or trenches. Thus, at spreading centers plates move away from the boundary, whereas at subduction zones the subducting plate moves toward the boundary. At the third boundary type, transform faults, plate motion is parallel to the boundary. The slip vectors of the earthquakes on plate boundaries, which show the motion on the fault plane, reflect the direction of relative motion between the two plates.
Plate tectonics at its simplest. Plates are formed at ridges and subducted...
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Cross-references
Earthquake Mechanisms; Earthquake Seismology; Earthquakes and Seismicity; Lithosphere: Mechanical Properties; Lithosphere, Oceanic: Formation and Evolution; Paleomagnetism and Plate Tectonics; Seismicity: Intraplate; Seismicity: Mid-Ocean Ridge; Seismicity: Subduction Zone; Seismicity and Plate Tectonics; Seismic Source: Observations; Seismic Source: Theory; Stress in the Earth's Lithosphere.
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Stein, S., Woods, D.F. (1989). Earthquake mechanisms and plate tectonics . In: Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30752-4_3
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