The Tamayo Fault is a major right lateral-moving

transform fault A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault (geology), fault along a plate boundary where the motion (physics), motion is predominantly Horizontal plane, horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either an ...

located on the seabed at the mouth of the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

. The fault is the southernmost transform in the

Gulf of California Rift Zone The Gulf of California Rift Zone (GCRZ) is the northernmost extension of the East Pacific Rise which extends some from the mouth of the Gulf of California to the southern terminus of the San Andreas Fault at the Salton Sink. The GCRZ is an i ...

. The fault links the Rivera Ridge segment of the

East Pacific Rise The East Pacific Rise (EPR) is a mid-ocean rise (usually termed an oceanic rise and not a mid-ocean ridge due to its higher rate of spreading that results in less elevation increase and more regular terrain), at a divergent tectonic plate bound ...

in the south with the Alarcon Basin in the north.

References

''The Tamayo transform fault in the mouth of the Gulf of California'', Kastens et al (1979)

''Tectonics at the Intersection of the East Pacific Rise with Tamayo Transform Fault'', Gallo et al (1983)
Geology of Mexico Strike-slip faults Gulf of California Seismic faults of Mexico {{struct-geology-stub