Where plate boundaries occur within the continental lithosphere , deformation is spread out over a much larger area than the plate boundary itself . In the case of the San Andreas fault continental transform , many earthquakes occur away from the plate boundary and are related to strains developed within the broader zone of deformation caused by major irregularities in the fault trace ( e.g. , the " Big bend " region ) . The Northridge earthquake was associated with movement on a blind thrust within such a zone . Another example is the strongly oblique convergent plate boundary between the Arabian and Eurasian plates where it runs through the northwestern part of the Zagros Mountains . The deformation associated with this plate boundary is partitioned into nearly pure thrust sense movements perpendicular to the boundary over a wide zone to the southwest and nearly pure strike-slip motion along the Main Recent Fault close to the actual plate boundary itself . This is demonstrated by earthquake focal mechanisms
Northridge earthquake
1994 Northridge earthquake
Earthquake