Transform Plate Boundary
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Transform plates boundaries unlike convergent boundaries neither create nor destroy lithosphere. Instead, Plates slide past each other in the opposite directions. In the case of the Caribbean Plate, most of the northern part of the plate is a transform boundary, movement in opposite direction are caused by the spreading center of the divergent plate boundary located near the Cayman Islands. This transform boundary plays a significant role in the formation of the Puerto Rico Trench.
The Puerto Rico Trench is unique because its formation is not only due to the transform boundary but also in combination with a subduction zone. Because the North American and the Caribbean plate are scraping by each other, it makes a huge Transform fault; shifting The Caribbean Plate to the east while The North American Plate shifts to the west. Along with this transform fault, The Puerto Rico Trench is also associated with a subduction zone, to the east of the trench; The heavier North American plate is being sub ducted beneath the Caribbean Plate. A combination of all of this makes up the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Puerto Rico Trench; with is just over 8,600 meters ( 5.3 miles ) deep.
The picture below illustrates a profile view of The Puerto Rico Trench on google earth, Showing roughly the deepest point of the trench at about 27000 ft ( a little over 5 miles )
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Transform Boundaries move against each other, building up tension, then releasing the tension in a sudden and often violent jerk, this sudden jerk creates an earthquake. One of the earthquakes caused by this motion occurred in the region of Haiti on January 12, 2010. The Earthquake shocked the Haitian civilization with a 7.0 magnitude at a depth of 13.00 ( 8.08 mi ). The epicenter was located near the town of Leogane which is about 16 miles west of Port-au- Prince, the capital of Haiti. the image below shows the intensity level of the earthquake, and the areas that it affected most. Death tolls were estimated to range from 100,000-160,000.