Lithospheric stress near a ridge‐transform intersection

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Abstract
Oceanic lithosphere at a ridge‐transform intersection has distinct structural characteristics. The spreading axis and normal fault scarps, which parallel the ridge axis away from the intersection, locally curve towards the transform fault. This implies that the least compressive stress direction becomes oblique to the spreading direction near a ridge‐transform intersection. This stress field may be the result of a tensile ridge axis stress resisting plate separation and a transform shear stress resisting relative plate motion. A plane stress plate model with prescribed plate boundary stresses is formulated to explore this hypothesis. The orientation of the least compressive horizontal stress near an intersection depends strongly on the ratio of the applied boundary stresses. Thus ridge axis curvature may place an important constraint on plate boundary forces.