Analyze the image below and answer the question that follows. The North American Plate and Pacific Plate with California outlined. A red line goes through California. The Pacific Plate is moving up while the North American Plate is moving down.
Image by e2020

At the type of plate boundary shown in the image above, two plates are sliding past each other. Which type of plate boundary is shown in this image?
A. transform
B. convergent
C. divergent
D. collision

Please select the best answer from the choices provided
A
B
C
D

The plate boundary in question is a transform plate boundary.

Explanation:

There are three basic types of plate boundaries, convergent, divergent, and transform plate boundaries. The convergent plate boundaries are the ones where plates move toward each other, the divergent plate boundaries are the ones where plates move away from each other, while transform plate boundaries are the ones where plates slide past each other.

A perfect example of a transform plate boundary can be found in California, where the Juan de Fuca plate and North American plate slide past each other.  This has resulted in a lot of tension on the crust along the plate boundary, which in turn constantly creates earthquakes. Apart from earthquakes, a feature that can be found is a fault, stretching along a big portion of the plate boundary, manifested through a crack of varying width and depth, and it is causing huge problems for the infrastructure that passes through or around it.

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