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1.
A survey across the western intersection of the mid-Atlantic ridge with Oceanographer fracture zone near 35°N shows this intersection to be different in character from its more typical eastern counterpart. At the western junction the transform valley broadens into a parallelogram shaped deep some 46 by 24 km, which extends well across the trace of the active transform. Within 30 km south of the fracture zone the median valley becomes oblique forming a NE trending ridge which is the SE edge of the deep. Magnetic mapping shows the current spreading centre to be adjacent to this ridge.A sequence of evolution for this intersection over the past 0.7 Ma is proposed to explain the features mapped. We suggest that the oblique ridge crest trends extended across the transform trace to form the elongated graben-like deep with its associated faults and sediment slumps. Such complex patterns may occur as plate-wide changes in spreading direction become modified by localised shear stress fields at ridge crest-transform intersections, as have been observed in a number of other cases. The absence of significant tranverse ridges across from the spreading centre at this particular fracture zone intersection, may have temporarily allowed these stress patterns to propagate across the fracture zone. 相似文献
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3.
Abyssal hills were delineated in a 185 × 185-km area by an 18.5 × 18.5-km grid of narrow-beam bathymetric and geophysical profiles in oceanic crust of Cretaceous age near 23°N latitude, 31°W longitude. The abyssal hills are similar to features located along flow lines of sea-floor spreading near the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This similarity indicates a primary origin for these abyssal hills related to axial processes at a mid-oceanic ridge involving construction (igneous) and tectonics (faulting), and secondary modification by volcanic activity. 相似文献
4.
Kastens Kim Bonatti Enrico Caress David Carrara Gabriela Dauteuil Olivier Frueh-Green Gretchen Ligi Marco Tartarotti Paola 《Marine Geophysical Researches》1998,20(6):533-556
Transverse ridges are elongate reliefs running parallel and adjacent to transform/fracture zones offsetting mid-ocean ridges. A major transverse ridge runs adjacent to the Vema transform (Central Atlantic), that offsets the Mid-Atlantic Ridge by 320 km. Multibeam morphobathymetric coverage of the entire Vema Transverse ridge shows it is an elongated (300 km), narrow (<30 km at the base) relief that constitutes a topographic anomaly rising up to 4 km above the predicted thermal contraction level. Morphology and lithology suggest that the Vema Transverse ridge is an uplifted sliver of oceanic lithosphere. Topographic and lithological asymmetry indicate that the transverse ridge was formed by flexure of a lithospheric sliver, uncoupled on its northern side by the transform fault. The transverse ridge can be subdivided in segments bound by topographic discontinuities that are probably fault-controlled, suggesting some differential uplift and/or tilting of the different segments. Two of the segments are capped by shallow water carbonate platforms, that formed about 3–4 m.y. ago, at which time the crust of the transverse ridge was close to sea level. Sampling by submersible and dredging indicates that a relatively undisturbed section of oceanic lithosphere is exposed on the northern slope of the transverse ridge. Preliminary studies of mantle-derived ultramafic rocks from this section suggest temporal variations in mantle composition. An inactive fracture zone scarp (Lema fracture zone) was mapped south of the Vema Transverse ridge. Based on morphology, a fossil RTI was identified about 80 km west of the presently active RTI, suggesting that a ridge jump might have occurred about 2.2 m.a. Most probable causes for the formation of the Vema Transverse ridge are vertical motions of lithospheric slivers due to small changes in the direction of spreading of the plates bordering the Vema Fracture Zone. 相似文献
5.
Maldonado Andrés Carlos Balanyá Juan Barnolas Antonio Galindo-Zaldívar Jesús Hernández Javier Jabaloy Antonio Livermore Roy Miguel Martínez-Martínez José Rodríguez-Fernández José Sanz de Galdeano Carlos Somoza Luis Suriñach Emma Viseras César 《Marine Geophysical Researches》2000,21(1-2):43-68
New swath bathymetric, multichannel seismic and magnetic data reveal the complexity of the intersection between the extinct West Scotia Ridge (WSR) and the Shackleton Fracture Zone (SFZ), a first-order NW-SE trending high-relief ridge cutting across the Drake Passage. The SFZ is composed of shallow, ridge segments and depressions, largely parallel to the fracture zone with an `en echelon' pattern in plan view. These features are bounded by tectonic lineaments, interpreted as faults. The axial valley of the spreading center intersects the fracture zone in a complex area of deformation, where N120° E lineaments and E–W faults anastomose on both sides of the intersection. The fracture zone developed within an extensional regime, which facilitated the formation of oceanic transverse ridges parallel to the fracture zone and depressions attributed to pull-apart basins, bounded by normal and strike-slip faults.On the multichannel seismic (MCS) profiles, the igneous crust is well stratified, with numerous discontinuous high-amplitude reflectors and many irregular diffractions at the top, and a thicker layer below. The latter has sparse and weak reflectors, although it locally contains strong, dipping reflections. A bright, slightly undulating reflector observed below the spreading center axial valley at about 0.75 s (twt) depth in the igneous crust is interpreted as an indication of the relict axial magma chamber. Deep, high-amplitude subhorizontal and slightly dipping reflections are observed between 1.8 and 3.2 s (twt) below sea floor, but are preferentially located at about 2.8–3.0 s (twt) depth. Where these reflections are more continuous they may represent the Mohorovicic seismic discontinuity. More locally, short (2–3 km long), very high-amplitude reflections observed at 3.6 and 4.3 s (twt) depth below sea floor are attributed to an interlayered upper mantle transition zone. The MCS profiles also show a pattern of regularly spaced, steep-inclined reflectors, which cut across layers 2 and 3 of the oceanic crust. These reflectors are attributed to deformation under a transpressional regime that developed along the SFZ, shortly after spreading ceased at the WSR. Magnetic anomalies 5 to 5 E may be confidently identified on the flanks of the WSR. Our spreading model assumes slow rates (ca. 10–20 mm/yr), with slight asymmetries favoring the southeastern flank between 5C and 5, and the northwestern flank between 5 and extinction. The spreading rate asymmetry means that accretion was slower during formation of the steeper, shallower, southeastern flank than of the northwestern flank. 相似文献
6.
The Kane Transform offsets spreading-center segments of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge by about 150 km at 24° N latitude. In terms of its first-order morphological, geological, and geophysical characteristics it appears to be typical of long-offset (>100 km), slow-slipping (2 cm yr-1) ridge-ridge transform faults. High-resolution geological observations were made from deep-towed ANGUS photographs and the manned submersible ALVIN at the ridge-transform intersections and indicate similar relationships in these two regions. These data indicate that over a distance of about 20 km as the spreading axes approach the fracture zone, the two flanks of each ridge axis behave in very different ways. Along the flanks that intersect the active transform zone the rift valley floor deepens and the surface expression of volcanism becomes increasingly narrow and eventually absent at the intersection where only a sediment-covered ‘nodal basin’ exists. The adjacent median valley walls have structural trends that are oblique to both the ridge and the transform and have as much as 4 km of relief. These are tectonically active regions that have only a thin (<200 m), highly fractured, and discontinuous carapace of volcanic rocks overlying a variably deformed and metamorphosed assemblage of gabbroic rocks. Overprinting relationships reveal a complex history of crustal extension and rapid vertical uplift. In contrast, the opposing flanks of the ridge axes, that intersect the non-transform zones appear to be similar in many respects to those examined elsewhere along slow-spreading ridges. In general, a near-axial horst and graben terrain floored by relatively young volcanics passes laterally into median valley walls with a simple block-faulted character where only volcanic rocks have been found. Along strike toward the fracture zone, the youngest volcanics form linear constructional volcanic ridges that transect the entire width of the fracture zone valley. These volcanics are continuous with the older-looking, slightly faulted volcanic terrain that floors the non-transform fracture zone valleys. These observations document the asymmetric nature of seafloor spreading near ridge-transform intersections. An important implication is that the crust and lithosphere across different portions of the fracture zone will have different geological characteristics. Across the active transform zone two lithosphere plate edges formed at ridge-transform corners are faulted against one another. In the non-transform zones a relatively younger section of lithosphere that formed at a ridge-non-transform corner is welded to an older, deformed section that initially formed at a ridge-transform corner. 相似文献
7.
The Rodriguez Triple Junction (Indian Ocean): Structure and evolution for the past one million years 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
The Rodriguez Triple Junction (RTJ) corresponds to the junction of the three Indian Ocean spreading ridges. A detailed survey of an area of 90 km by 85 km, centered at 25°30 S and 70° E, allows detailed mapping (at a scale of 1/100 000) of the bathymetry (Seabeam) and the magnetic anomalies. The Southeast Indian Ridge, close to the triple junction, is a typical intermediate spreading rate ridge (2.99 cm a-1 half rate), trending N140°. The Central Indian Ridge rift valley prolongs the Southeast Indian Ridge rift valley with a slight change of orientation (12°). The half spreading rate and trend of this ridge are 2.73 cm a-1 and N152° respectively. In contrast, the Southwest Indian Ridge close to the triple junction is expressed by two deep-valleys (4300 and 5000 m deep) which abut the southwestcrn flanks of the two other ridges, and appears to be a stretched area without axial neovolcanic zone. The evolution of the RTJ is analysed for the past one million years. The instantaneous velocity triangle formed by the three ridges cannot be closed indicating that the RTJ is unstable. A model is proposed to explain the evolution of the unstable RRF Rodriguez Triple Junction. The model shows that the axis of the Central Indian Ridge is propressively offset from the axis of the Southeast Indian Ridge at a velocity of 0.14 cm a-1, the RTJ being restored by small jumps. This unstable RRF model explains the directions and offsets which are observed in the vicinity of the triple junction. The structure and evolution of the RTJ is similar to that of the Galapagos Triple Junction located in the East Pacific Ocean and the Azores Triple Junction located in the Central Atlantic Ocean. 相似文献
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On the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) from 34°–35.5° S, three ridge segments span the 108 km distance between the Meteor Fracture Zone (FZ) and the Montevideo FZ. Each of these segments is perpendicular to the adjoining transforms. Magnetic isochrons in the southern half of the region are oblique to the spreading direction and are offset from the morphological expression of the plate boundary, revealing a transition from oblique to orthogonal spreading within the last 750,000 years. Changes in orientation and cross-sectional form of the rift valley, as modified by tectonic processes, are preserved in the off-axis abyssal-hill fabric. We present a new statistical method for describing size and orientation of abyssal hills based on local slopes. For a given offset, the range of sorted slopes from the first to third quartile provides a robust estimate of topographic variability. The variability can be parametrized by azimuthal direction, plan-view aspect ratio, characteristic height and width. We resolve lineation azimuth within 6°, and characteristic height, width and aspect ratio within 20–30%, using 18 by 21 km sample boxes crossed by multiple Sea Beam swaths covering approximately 30% of the box. In the northern portion of the survey, the azimuth is mainly ridge parallel, while in the southern portion, the azimuth rotates 23° clockwise from ridge strike. Characteristic height and width are greater in the southern half than in the northern half, while aspect ratios are lower. The asymmetry of quartiles about the median slope provides evidence that inward-facing normal faults bounding the rift valley are a significant source of topography. Fabric disrupted by migration of small-offset discontinuities has higher than average characteristic height. Characteristic height and width correlate positively with residual gravity, an indicator of crustal thinning. A residual gravity low, possibly the current focus of upwelling, coincides with a newly formed spreading axis. These correlations suggest that evolution of ridge geometry can be controlled by crust and mantle thermal structure. Either variation in magma supply, resulting in changes in stress normal to the ridge axis, or a major realignment of the Montevideo Transform, temporarily resulting in increased shear stress across newly activated faults, may have been responsible for changes in orientation and morphology of the spreading center. 相似文献
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11.
Laura S. L. Kong Robert S. Detrick Paul J. Fox Larry A. Mayer W. B. F. Ryan 《Marine Geophysical Researches》1988,10(1-2):59-90
High-resolution Sea Beam bathymetry and Sea MARC I side scan sonar data have been obtained in the MARK area, a 100-km-long
portion of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rift valley south of the Kane Fracture Zone. These data reveal a surprisingly complex rift
valley structure that is composed of two distinct spreading cells which overlap to create a small, zero-offset transform or
discordant zone. The northern spreading cell consists of a magmatically robust, active ridge segment 40–50 km in length that
extends from the eastern Kane ridge-transform intersection south to about 23°12′ N. The rift valley in this area is dominated
by a large constructional volcanic ridge that creates 200–500 m of relief and is associated with high-temperature hydrothermal
activity. The southern spreading cell is characterized by a NNE-trending band of small (50–200 m high), conical volcanos that
are built upon relatively old, fissured and sediment-covered lavas, and which in some cases are themselves fissured and faulted.
This cell appears to be in a predominantly extensional phase with only small, isolated eruptions. These two spreading cells
overlap in an anomalous zone between 23°05′ N and 23°17′ N that lacks a well-developed rift valley or neovolcanic zone, and
may represent a slow-spreading ridge analogue to the overlapping spreading centers found at the East Pacific Rise. Despite
the complexity of the MARK area, volcanic and tectonic activity appears to be confined to the 10–17 km wide rift valley floor.
Block faulting along near-vertical, small-offset normal faults, accompanied by minor amounts of back-tilting (generally less
than 5°), begins within a few km of the ridge axis and is largely completed by the time the crust is transported up into the
rift valley walls. Features that appear to be constructional volcanic ridges formed in the median valley are preserved largely
intact in the rift mountains. Mass-wasting and gullying of scarp faces, and sedimentation which buries low-relief seafloor
features, are the major geological processes occurring outside of the rift valley. The morphological and structural heterogeneity
within the MARK rift valley and in the flanking rift mountains documented in this study are largely the product of two spreading
cells that evolve independently to the interplay between extensional tectonism and episodic variations in magma production
rates. 相似文献
12.
Peter Lonsdale 《Marine Geophysical Researches》1977,3(3):295-315
The geography of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) between 10°N and 6°S, redetermined by new surface ship surveys, is characterized by long spreading axes orthogonal to infrequent transform faults. Near 2°10N the EPR is intersected by the Cocos-Nazca spreading center at the Galapagos triple junction. The present pattern was established 27-5.5 m.y.b.p. by a complex sequence of rise-crest jumps and reorientations from a section of the Pacific-Farallon plate boundary. Transverse profiles of the rise flanks can be matched by thermal contraction curves for aging lithosphere, except between the triple junction and 4°S, where the east flank is anomalously shallow and almost horizontal. Most sections of spreading axis have the 10–30 km wide, 100–400 m high, axial ridge that is characteristic of fast spreading centers. However, within 60 km of the triple junction the rise crest structure is atypical, with an axial rift valley and elevated rift mountains, despite a spreading rate of 140 mm/yr. With the exception of this atypical section, the bathymetric profile along the spreading axis is remarkably even, with continuous, gentle slopes for hundreds of kilometers between major transform faults, where step-like offsets in axial depths occur. Most of the observations can be accommodated by a model in which the long spreading axes are underlain by continuous crustal magma chambers that allow easy longitudinal flow of magma, and whose size controls the style and dimensions of EPR crestal topography.Contribution of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, new series. 相似文献
13.
The Carlsberg Ridge lies between the equator and the Owen fracture zone. It is the most prominent mid-ocean ridge segment
of the western Indian Ocean, which contains a number of earthquake epicenters. Satellite altimetry can be used to infer subsurface
geological structures analogous to gravity anomaly maps generated through ship-borne survey. In this study, free-air gravity
and its 3D image have been generated over the Carlsberg Ridge using a very high resolution data base, as obtained from Geosat
GM, ERS-1, Seasat and TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data. As observed in this study, the Carlsberg Ridge shows a slow spreading
characteristic with a deep and wide graben (average width ∼15 km). The transform fault spacing confirms variable slow to intermediate
characteristics with first and second order discontinuities. The isostatically compensated region of the Carlsberg Ridge could
be demarcated with near zero contour values in the free-air gravity anomaly images over and along the Carlsberg Ridge axes
and over most of the fracture zone patterns. Few profiles have been generated across the Carlsberg Ridge and the characteristics
of slow/intermediate spreading ridge of various orders of discontinuity could be identified. It has also been observed in
zero contour image as well as in the characteristics of valley patterns along the ridge from NW to SE that different spreading
rates, from slow to intermediate, are occurring in different parts of the Carlsberg ridge. It maintains the morphology of
a slow spreading ridge in the NW, where the wide and deep axial valley (∼1.5–3 km) also implies the pattern of a slow spreading
ridge. However, a change in the morphology/depth of the axial valley from NW to SE indicates the nature of the Carlsberg Ridge
as a slow to intermediate spreading ridge.
For the prevailing security restrictions, lat./lon. coordinates have been omitted in few images. 相似文献
14.
The rift valley at three widely separated sites along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is characterized using geological and geophysical data. An analysis of bottom photographs and fine-scale bathymetry indicates that each study area has a unique detailed geology and structure. Spreading rates are apparently asymmetric at each site. Relationships between tectonic and volcanic structure and hydrothermal activity show that various stages in the evolution of the rift valley are most favorable for seafloor expression of hydrothermal activity. In a stage found at 26°08 N, site 1 (TAG), the rift valley is narrow, consisting of both a narrow volcanically active valley floor and inner walls with small overall slopes. High-temperature hydrothermal venting occurs along the faster spreading eastern inner wall of this U-shaped rift valley. Site 2 (16°46 N) has a narrow valley floor and wide block faulted walls and is at a stage where the rift valley is characterized by a V-shape. No neovolcanic zone is observed within the marginally faulted, predominantly sedimented floor and hydrothermal activity is not observed. The rift valley at site 3 (14°54 N), with postulated extrusive volcanic activity and a stage in valley evolution tending toward a U-shape, shows evidence of hydrothermal activity within the slightly faster spreading eastern inner wall. Evidence for tectonic activity (inward- and outward-facing faults and pervasive fissuring) exists throughout the wide inner wall. Hydrothermal activity appears to be favored within a U-shaped rift valley characterized by a narrow neovolcanic zone and secondarily faulted inner walls. 相似文献
15.
We use recently acquired magnetic and SeaBeam bathymetric data to examine the spreading rates and plate boundary geometry of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge 30°–36° S. Using a statistically rigorous estimation of rotation poles we develop a precise spreading history of the African—South American plate boundary. The total opening rate for 1–4.23 Myr (Plio-Pleistocene) is nearly constant at 32.3 ± 1 km Myr–1. The spreading rate apparently is faster in the Late Miocene (7.3-5.3 Myr), though this may reflect inaccuracies in the geomagnetic time scale. The rotation poles enable a plate boundary reconstruction with an accuracy of 2–3 km. The reconstructions also show that the plate boundary geometry underwent several changes since the late Miocene including the growth of one ridge segment from 40 to 105 km in length, and the reorientation of another ridge segment which has spread obliquely from 7 to 1 Myr. Pole calculations using both right- and left-stepping fracture zones show an offset of 1–2 km between the deepest, most linear part of a fracture zone trough and the former plate boundary location. The high-resolution plate kinematics suggests that the plate boundary, as a whole, evolves 2-dimensionally as prescribed by rigid plates. On a local scale, asymmetric accretion, asymmetric extension, small lateral ridge jumps (< 3 km), and intra-segment propagation result in minor plate boundary adjustments and deformation to the rigid plates. 相似文献
16.
Ken C. Macdonald Paul J. Fox Steve Miller Suzanne Carbotte Margo H. Edwards Mark Eisen Daniel J. Fornari Laura Perram Rob Pockalny Dan Scheirer Stacey Tighe Charles Weiland Doug Wilson 《Marine Geophysical Researches》1992,14(4):299-344
SeaMARC II and Sea Beam bathymetric data are combined to create a chart of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) from 8°N to 18°N reaching at least 1 Ma onto the rise flanks in most places. Based on these data as well as SeaMARC II side scan sonar mosaics we offer the following observations and conclusions. The EPR is segmented by ridge axis discontinuities such that the average segment lengths in the area are 360 km for first-order segments, 140 km for second-order segments, 52 km for third-order segments, and 13 km for fourth-order segments. All three first-order discontinuities are transform faults. Where the rise axis is a bathymetric high, second-order discontinuities are overlapping spreading centers (OSCs), usually with a distinctive 3:1 overlap to offset ratio. The off-axis discordant zones created by the OSCs are V-shaped in plan view indicating along axis migration at rates of 40–100 mm yr–1. The discordant zones consist of discrete abandoned ridge tips and overlap basins within a broad wake of anomalously deep bathymetry and high crustal magnetization. The discordant zones indicate that OSCs have commenced at different times and have migrated in different directions. This rules out any linkage between OSCs and a hot spot reference frame. The spacing of abandoned ridges indicates a recurrence interval for ridge abandonment of 20,000–200,000 yrs for OSCs with an average interval of approximately 100,000 yrs. Where the rise axis is a bathymetric low, the only second-order discontinuity mapped is a right-stepping jog in the axial rift valley. The discordant zone consists of a V-shaped wake of elongated deeps and interlocking ridges, similar to the wakes of second-order discontinuities on slow-spreading ridges. At the second-order segment level, long segments tend to lengthen at the expense of neighboring shorter segments. This can be understood if segments can be approximated by cracks, because the propagation force at a crack tip is directly proportional to crack length.There has been a counter-clockwise change in the direction of spreading on the EPR between 8 and 18° N during the last 1 Ma. The cumulative change has been 3°–6°, producing opening across the Orozco and Siqueiros transform faults and closing across the Clipperton transform. The instantaneous present-day Cocos-Pacific pole is located at approximately 38.4° N, 109.5° W with an angular rotation rate of 2.10° m.y.–1 This change in spreading direction explains the predominance of right-stepping discontinuities of orders 2–4 along the Siqueiros-Clipperton and Orozco-Rivera segments, but does not explain other aspects of segmentation which are thought to be linked to patterns of melt supply to the ridge axis.There are 23 significant seamount chains in the mapped area and most are created very near the spreading axis. Nearly all of the seamount chains have trends which fall between the absolute and relative plate motion vectors. 相似文献
17.
Peter Lonsdale 《Marine Geophysical Researches》1986,8(3):203-242
A Seabeam reconnaissance of the 400 km-long fast-slipping (88 mm yr-1) Heezen transform fault zone and the 55 km-long spreading center that links it to Tharp transform defined and bathymetrically described several types of ridges built by tectonic uplift and volcanic construction. Most prominent is an asymmetric transverse ridge, at which abyssal hills adjacent to the fault zone have been raised 2–3 km above normal rise-flank depths. Topographic and petrologic evidence suggests that this uplift, which has produced a 5400 m scarp from the crest of the ridge to the floor of a 10 km-wide transform valley, is caused by rapid serpentinization of upper mantle which has been exposed to hydrothermal circulation by fault-zone fracturing of an unusually thin crust. Transverse ridges have been thought atypical of fast-slipping transforms. One class of volcanic ridge more common at these sites is the overshot ridge, formed by prolongation of spreading-center rift zones obliquely across the transform. Overshot ridges are well developed at Heezen transform, especially at the eastern end where an eruptive rift zone extending 60 km from the southern tip of the East Pacific Rise has built a transform-parallel ridge that fills the eastern transform valley. Obliteration of fault-zone structure by ridges overshooting from the spreading center intersections means that the topography of the aseismic fracture zones is not just inherited from that of the active transform fault zone. The latter has several en echelon and overlapping fault traces, linked by short oblique spreading axes that generally form pull-apart basins rather than volcanic ridges. Interpretation of the origin and pattern of the fault zone's tectonic and volcanic relief requires refinement of the plate geography and history of this part of the Pacific-Antarctic boundary, using new Seabeam and magnetic traverses to supplement and adjust the existing geophysical data base. 相似文献
18.
A regional geophysical traverse of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the northern South Atlantic was obtained during CIRCE cruise of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. During the traverse, four detailed surveys were made of small areas on the crest and east flank. The geomagnetic anomaly profile can be used as a time base for the interpretation of tectonic events of the ridge. The profile also suggests that the rate of sea-floor spreading in this part of the South Atlantic accelerated twice, approximately 40 and 4.5 million years ago, and decelerated at least twice, 38 and 10 million years ago. Accelerations were probably accompanied by uplift and normal faulting of the central part of the ridge, while decelerations produced subsidence with modest contraction, reflected in reverse faulting and folding. The effects of uplift are clearly present in the reflection seismic records, which are, however, not well suited to detect reverse faulting.Spreading without creation of significant relief occurred on the ridge until approximately 5 million years ago. This process produced a low relief with small rifts, strongly reminiscent of the present crestal topography of the East Pacific Rise. A markedly linear secondary relief of 100–200 m, parallel to the ridge axis, developed later by faulting of the flanks. Portions of the crust that were near the crest during periods of uplift are more intensely faulted than those that were remote at all times. The importance of the last uplift of the crest and associated faulting on the flanks is reflected by a decrease in the density of faulting away from the ridge crest.The present crestal zone is very different from the flanks and from the older crests; the relief is nearly ten times greater, transverse disturbances are common, and there is conflicting evidence regarding its age. This striking change in character indicates either a recent change in the spreading process or a recent period of strong deformation which has affected only the crestal zone.Contribution from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. 相似文献
19.
The crenulated geometry of the Southeast Indian ridge within the Australian-Antarctic discordance is formed by numerous spreading ridge segments that are offset, alternately to the north and south, by transform faults. Suggested causes for these offsets, which largely developed since ~ 20 Ma, include asymmetric seafloor spreading, ridge jumps, and propagating rifts that have transferred seafloor from one flank of the spreading ridge to the other. Each of these processes has operated at different times in different locations of the discordance; here we document an instance where a small (~ 20 km), young (< 0.2 Ma), southward ridge jump has contributed to the observed asymmetry. When aeromagnetic anomalies from the Project Investigator-1 survey are superposed on gravity anomalies computed from Geosat GM and ERM data, we find that in segment B4 of the discordance (between 125° and 126° E), the roughly east-west-trending gravity low, correlated with the axial valley, is 20–25 km south of the ridge axis position inferred from the center of magnetic anomaly 1. Elsewhere in the discordance, the inferred locations of the ridge axis from magnetics and gravity are in excellent agreement. Ship track data confirm these observations: portions of Moana Wave track crossing the ridge in B4 show that a topographic valley correlated with the gravity anomaly low lies south of the center of magnetic anomaly 1; while other ship track data that cross the spreading ridge in segments B3 and B5 demonstrate good agreement between the axial valley, the gravity anomaly low, and the central magnetic anomaly. Based on these observations, we speculate that the ridge axis in B4 has recently jumped to the south, from a ridge location closer to the center of the young normally magnetized crust, to that of the gravity anomaly low. The position of the gravity low essentially at the edge of normally magnetized crust requires a very recent (< 0.2 Ma) arrival of the ridge in this new location. Because this ridge jump is so young, it may be a promising location for future detailed studies of the dynamics, kinematics, and thermal effects of ridge jumps.The U.S. Government right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty-free license in and to any copyright is acknowledged. 相似文献