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1.
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   

2.
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   

3.
Gallo  D. G.  Kidd  W. S. F.  Fox  P. J.  Karson  J. A.  Macdonald  K.  Crane  K.  Choukroune  P.  Seguret  M.  Moody  R.  Kastens  K. 《Marine Geophysical Researches》1984,6(2):159-185
During the Fall of 1979, a manned submersible program, utilizing DSRV ALVIN, was carried out at the intersection of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) with the Tamayo Transform boundary. A total of seven dives were completed in the vicinity of the EPR/Tamayo intersection depression and documented the geologic relationships that characterize the juxtaposition of these types of plate boundaries. The young volcanic terrain of the EPR axis can be traced into and across the Tamayo Transform valley but becomes buried by sedimentary talus that is being shed from sediment scarps along the unstable sediment slope that defines the north side of the intersection depression. Within 4 km of the transform boundary, the dominant trend (000°) of the fissures and faults that disrupt the rise-generated volcanics is markedly oblique to the regional direction of sea floor spreading (120°). Since no evidence was found to suggest that these structures accommodate significant amounts of strike-slip displacement, they are taken to reflect a distortion of the EPR extensional tectonic regime by a transform generated shear couple. The floor of the Tamayo Transform valley in this area is inundated by mass-wasted sediment, and the principal transform displacement zone is characterized at the surface by a narrow (<1.5 km) interval of fault scarps in sediment that trends parallel with the transform valley. Extrapolated to the west, this zone links with zones of transform deformation investigated during earlier submersible studies (CYAMEX and Pastouret, 1981). Evidence of low-level hydrothermal discharge was seen at one locality on the EPR axis and at another 8 km west of the axis at the edge of the zone of transform deformation.  相似文献   

4.
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   

5.
 Swath bathymetric, gravity, and magnetic studies were carried out over a 55 km long segment of the Central Indian Ridge. The ridge is characterized by 12 to 15 km wide rift valley bounded by steep walls and prominent volcanic constructional ridges on either side of the central rift valley. A transform fault at 7°45′S displaces the ridge axis. A mantle Bouguer anomaly low of −14 mGals and shallowing of rift valley over the middle of the ridge segment indicate along axis crustal thickness variations. A poorly developed neovolcanic zone on the inner rift valley floor indicate dominance of tectonic extension. The off-axis volcanic ridgs suggest enhanced magmatic activity during the recent past. Received: 24 May 1996 / Rivision received: 13 January 1997  相似文献   

6.
Recent multibeam bathymetric and geophysical data recorded in the West Philippine Basin, east of Taiwan, reveal new information on the structure and the tectonic origin of the oceanic Gagua Ridge. This linear, 300 km-long, 4 km-high, north-south-trending ridge, is being subducted beneath the Ryukyu Trench along 123° E. This basement high separates two basins of different ages. Its summit is marked by two crests and an axial valley. A map of the basement top shows the region of the ridge to be composed of a set of linear and parallel ridges and troughs. All these elements suggest that the development of the ridge, and its surroundings, has been influenced by strike-slip deformation. Nevertheless, the height of the ridge indicates also an important compressive component in the deformation. Gravity models across the ridge show local compensation with a crustal root, indicating that an overthickening of the crust occurred when it was young and thus more easily deformable. This idea is strengthened with flexural modeling of the lithosphere that bends under the load of the ridge, indeed it indicates that the high probably formed when the underlying lithosphere was young. We interpret the Gagua Ridge as a fracture zone transverse ridge uplifted during a transpressive episode along a north-south -trending fracture zone in the middle Eocene time, if we accept Hilde and Lee's (1984) model of magnetic lineations. This tectonic event could be contemporaneous with a change of the pole of rotation of the West Philippine Basin which occurred about 43/45 Ma ago.  相似文献   

7.
We quantified the systematic variations in global transform fault morphology, revealing a first-order dependence on the spreading rate.(1) The average age offset of both the full transform and transform sub-segments decrease with increasing spreading rate.(2) The average depth of both the transform valley and adjacent ridges are smaller in the fast compared to the slow systems, reflecting possibly density anomalies associated with warmer mantle at the fast systems and rifting at the slow ridges. However, the average depth difference between the transform valley and adjacent ridges is relatively constant from the fast to slow systems.(3) The nodal basin at a ridge-transform intersection is deeper and dominant at the ultraslow and slow systems, possibly reflecting a lower magma supply and stronger viscous resistance to mantle upwelling near a colder transform wall. In contrast, the nodal high, is most prominent in the fast, intermediate, and hotspot-influenced systems, where robust axial volcanic ridges extend toward the ridge-transform intersection.(4) Statistically, the average transform valley is wider at a transform system of larger age offset, reflecting thicker deforming plates flanking the transform fault.(5) The maximum magnitude of the transform earthquakes increases with age offset owing to an increase in the seismogenic area. Individual transform faults also exhibit significant anomalies owing to the complex local tectonic and magmatic processes.  相似文献   

8.
The Atlantis Fracture Zone (30° N) is one of the smallest transform faults along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge with a spatial offset of 70 km and an age offset of ~ 6 Ma. The morphology of the Atlantis Fracture Zone is typical of that of slow-slipping transforms. The transform valley is 15–20 km wide and 2–4 km deep. The locus of strike-slip deformation is confined to a narrow band a few kilometers wide. Terrain created at the outside corners of the transform is characterized by ridges which curve toward the ridge-transform intersections and depressions which resemble nodal basins. Hooked ridges are not observed on the transform side of the ridge-transform intersections. Results of the three-dimensional inversion of the surface magnetic field over our survey area suggest that accretionary processes are sufficiently organized within 3–4 km of the transform fault to produce lineated magnetic anomalies. The magnetization solution further documents a 15-km, westward relocation of the axis of accretion immediately south of the transform about 0.25 Ma ago. The Atlantis Transform is associated with a band of high mantle Bouguer anomalies, suggesting the presence of high densities in the crust and/or mantle along the transform, or anomalously thin crust beneath the transform. Assuming that all the mantle Bouguer anomalies are due to crustal thickness variations, we calculate that the crust may be 2–3 km thinner than a reference 6-km thickness beneath the transform valley, and 2–3 km thicker beneath the mid-points of the spreading segments which bound the transform. Our results indicate that crustal thinning is not uniform along the strike of the fracture zone. Based on studies of the state of compensation of the transform, we conclude that the depth anomaly associated with the fracture zone valley is not compensated everywhere by thin crust. Instead, the regional relationship between bathymetry and gravity is best explained by compensation with an elastic plate with an effective thickness of ~ 4 km or greater. However, the remaining isostatic anomalies indicate that there are large variations away from this simple model which are likely due to variations in crustal thickness and density near the transform.  相似文献   

9.
Seven dives in the submersible ALVIN and four deep-towed (ANGUS) camera lowerings have been made at the eastern ridge-transform intersection of the Oceanographer Transform with the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. These data constrain our understanding of the processes that create and shape the distinctive morphology that is characteristic of slowly-slipping ridge-transform-ridge plate boundaries. Although the geological relationships observed in the rift valley floor in the study area are similar to those reported for the FAMOUS area, we observe a distinct change in the character of the rift valley floor with increasing proximity to the transform. Over a distance of approximately ten kilometers the volcanic constructional terrain becomes increasingly more disrupted by faulting and degraded by mass wasting. Moreover, proximal to the transform boundary, faults with orientations oblique to the trend of the rift valley are recognized. The morphology of the eastern rift valley wall is characterized by inward-facing scarps that are ridge-axis parallel, but the western rift valley wall, adjacent to the active transform zone, is characterized by a complex fault pattern defined by faults exhibiting a wide range of orientations. However, even for transform parallel faults no evidence for strike-slip displacement is observed throughout the study area and evidence for normal (dip-slip) displacement is ubiquitous. Basalts, semi-consolidated sediments (chalks, debris slide deposits) and serpentinized ultramafic rocks are recovered from localities within or proximal to the rift valley. The axis of accretion-principal transform displacement zone intersection is not clearly established, but appears to be located along the E-W trending, southern flank of the deep nodal basin that defines the intersection of the transform valley with the rift floor.  相似文献   

10.
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   

11.
The Kane Fracture Zone probably is better covered by geophysical survey data, acquired both by design and incidentally, than any other fracture zone in the North Atlantic Ocean. We have used this data to map the basement morphology of the fracture zone and the adjacent crust for nearly 5700 km, from near Cape Hatteras to the middle of the Mesozoic magnetic anomalies west of Cap Blanc, northwest Africa. We use the trends of the Kane transform valley and its inactive fracture valley to determine the record of plate-motion changes, and we interpret the basement structural data to examine how the Kane transform evolved in response to changes in plate motion. Prior to about 133 Ma the Kane was a small-offset transform and its fracture valley is structurally expressed only as a shallow ( < 0.5 km) trough. In younger crust, the offset may have increased to as much as 190 km (present offset 150 km) and the fracture valley typically is up to 1.2 km deep. This part of the fracture valley records significant changes in direction of relative plate motion (5°–30°) near 102 Ma, 92 Ma, 59 Ma, 22 Ma, and 17 Ma. Each change corresponds to a major reorganization of plate boundaries in areas around the Atlantic, and the fracture-zone orientation appears to be a sensitive recorder of these events. The Kane transform has exhibited characteristic responses to changes in relative plate motion. Counterclockwise plate-motion changes put the left-lateral transform offset into extension, and the response was for ridge tips at the ridge-transform intersections to propagate across the transform valley and against the truncating lithosphere. Heating of this lithosphere appears to have produced uplift and formation of a well developed transverse ridge that bounds the inactive fracture valley on its older side. The propagating ridge tips also rotated toward the transform fault in response to the local stress field, forming prominent hooked ridges that now extend into or across the inactive fracture valley. Clockwise (compressional) changes in relative plate motion produced none of these features, and the resulting fracture valleys typically have a wide-V shape. The Kane transform experienced severe adaptions to the changes in relative plate motion at about 102 Ma (compressional shift) and 92 Ma (extensional shift), and new transform faults were formed in crust outside the contemporary transform valley. Subsequently, the transform offset has been smaller and the rates of change in plate motion have been more gradual, so transform-fault adjustment has been contained within the transform valley. The fracture-valley structure formed during extensional and compressional changes in relative plate motion can be decidedly asymmetrical in conjugate limbs of the fracture zone. This asymmetry appears to be related to the ‘absolute’ motion of the plate boundary with respect to the asthenosphere.  相似文献   

12.
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   

13.
In 1994, a joint Japanese-American dive program utilizing the worlds deepest diving active research submersible (SHINKAI 6500) was carried out at the western ridge-transform intersection (RTI) of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Kane transform in the central North Atlantic Ocean. A total of 15 dives were completed along with surface-ship geophysical mapping of bathymetry, magnetic and gravity fields. Dives at the RTI traced the neovolcanic zone up to, and for a short distance (2.5 km) along, the Kane transform. At the RTI, the active trace of the transform is marked by a narrow valley (<50 m wide) that separates the recent lavas of the neovolcanic zone from the south wall of the transform. The south wall of the transform at the western RTI consists of a diabase section near its base between 5000 and 4600 m depth overlain by basaltic lavas, with no evidence of gabbro or deeper crustal rocks. The south wall is undergoing normal faulting with considerable strike-slip component. The lavas of the neovolcanic zone at the RTI are highly magnetized (17 A m–1) compared to the lavas of the south wall (4 A m–1), consistent with their age difference. The trace of the active transform changes eastwards into a prominent median ridge, which is composed of heavily sedimented and highly serpentinized peridotites. Submersible observations made from SHINKAI find that the western RTI of the Kane transform has a very different seafloor morphology and lithology compared to the eastern RTI. Large rounded massifs exposing lower crustal rocks are found on the inside corner of the eastern RTI whereas volcanic ridge and valley terrain with hooked ridges are found on the outside corner of the eastern RTI. The western RTI is much less asymmetric with both inside and outside corner crust showing a preponderance of volcanic terrain. The dominance of low-angle detachment faulting at the eastern RTI has resulted in a seafloor morphology and architecture that is diagnostic of the process whereas crust formed at the WMARK RTI must clearly be operating under a different set of conditions that suppresses the initiation of such faulting.  相似文献   

14.
The Tamayo transform fault is located at the north end of the East Pacific Rise where it enters the Gulf of California. This paper presents bathymetric, seismic reflection, magnetic, and gravity data from a detailed survey of the transform fault. The dominant feature of the offset region is a bathymetric ridge trending 120°, parallel to the predicted transform plate boundary. This transform ridge is associated with a large (600 ) positive magnetic anomaly, and a very small positive free-air gravity anomaly. Magnetic and gravity models indicate either a basalt or serpentinite composition for the ridge, but cannot distinguish between these possibilities. At its eastern end, the modern zone of strike-slip motion is in a narrow valley south of the transform ridge. The transform plate margin appears to pass through a saddle in the transform ridge and meet the western spreading center segment in the trough north of the transform ridge. On the basis of this survey and previous work, the history of the Tamayo from continental breakup to the present has been reconstructed. Initial rifting occurred along a trend of 130° at approximately 3.5 m.y.b.p. Once the transform fault was free of the constraints imposed by continent-continent and continent-oceanic lithospheric interaction, the trend of the transform fault rotated counter-clockwise. This rotation resulted in a leaky transform fault and intrusion of a large continuous transform ridge. Further adjustments in the spreading center/transform fault plate boundary configuration have given rise to an incipient zone of rifting cutting across the transform ridge and emplacement of diapiric structures.Contribution of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, new series.  相似文献   

15.
A three-dimensional analysis of gravity andbathymetry data has been achieved along the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR)between the Rodriguez Triple Junction (RTJ) and the Atlantis II transform,in order to define the morphological and geophysical expression ofsecond-order segmentation along an ultra slow-spreading ridge(spreading rate of 8 mm/yr), and to compare it with awell-studied section along a slow-spreading ridge (spreadingrate of 12.5 mm/yr): the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) between 28°and 31°30 N.Between the Atlantis II transform and theRTJ, the SWIR axis exhibits a deep axial valley with an 30°oblique trend relative to the north–south spreading direction. Onlythree transform faults offset the axis, so the obliquity has to beaccommodated by the second-order segmentation. Alongslow-spreading ridges such as the MAR, second-order segmentshave been defined as linear features perpendicular to the spreadingdirection, with a shallow axial valley floor at the segment midpoint,deepening to the segment ends, and are associated with Mantle BouguerAnomaly (MBA) lows. Along the SWIR, our gravity study reveals the presenceof circular MBA lows, but they are spaced further apart than expected. Thesegravity lows are systematically centred over narrow bathymetric highs, andinterpreted as the centres of spreading cells. However, along some obliquesections of the axis, the valley floor displays small topographicundulations, which can be interpreted as small accretionary segments frommorphological analysis, but as large discontinuity domains from thegeophysical data. Therefore, both bathymetry and MBA variations have to beused to define the second-order segmentation of an ultraslow-spreading ridge. This segmentation appears to be characterisedby short segments and large oblique discontinuity domains. Analysis of alongaxis bathymetric and gravimetric profiles exhibits three different sectionsthat can be related to the thermal structure of the lithosphere beneath theSWIR axis.The comparison between characteristics of segmentationalong the SWIR and the MAR reveals two major differences: first, the poorcorrelation between MBA and bathymetry variations and second, the largerspacing and amplitude of MBA lows along the SWIR compared to the MAR. Theseobservations seem to be correlated with the spreading rate and the thermalstructure of the ridge. Therefore, the gravity signature of the segmentationand thus the accretionary processes appear to be very different: there areno distinct MBA lows on fast-spreading ridges, adjacent ones on slowspreading ridges and finally separate ones on ultra slow-spreadingridges. The main result of this study is to point out that 2nd ordersegmentation of an ultra slow-spreading ridge is characterised bywide discontinuity domains with very short accretionary segments, suggestingvery focused mantle upwelling, with a limited magma supply through a cold,thick lithosphere. We also emphasise the stronger influence of themechanical lithosphere on accretionary processes along an ultra slow-spreading ridge.  相似文献   

16.
The Tamayo transform fault occurs at the north end of the East Pacific Rise where it enters the Gulf of California. The two deep-tow surveys reported here show that the transform fault zone changes significantly as a function of distance from the spreading center intersections. At site 1, near the intersection, one side of the fault is young and the fault zone is narrow and well-defined. Strike slip occurs in a zone approximately 1-km wide suggesting a correspondingly narrow zone of decoupling between the Pacific and North American plates. On the young side of the strike-slip zone, normal faults occur along shear zones which are 45°–50° oblique to the transform strike. They occur parallel to the short axis of the strain ellipse for transform fault strain here, i.e., perpendicular to the least compressive stress. The transform walls are formed by normal faulting as has been pointed out in previous detailed surveys. Here, however, the age contrast of 2.5 m.y. across the transform valley is apparent in the morphology of the normal fault scarps. While the scarps are steep and well-defined on the young side, the scarps on the older side have gradual 10°–30° slopes and appear to be primarily talus ramps. Apparently, the scarps have been tectonically eroded by continued strike slip activity after the initial stages of normal faulting. Thus, transform valleys should be quite asymmetric in cross-section where there is a significant age contrast and one side is less than approximately 0.5 m.y. old. Also, along older sections of the transform valley walls, normal faulting may not be at all obvious due to degradation of the scarps by tectonic erosion. This phenomenon makes the likelihood of transform faults providing windows into the oceanic crust most unlikely except in special cases.The picture of transform deformation is more complex at site 2 in the central portion of the fault where both sides of the fault are greater than 1 m.y. old. Here the transform valley is wider (25–30 km as opposed to 2–5 km). There is no clear simple zone of strike slip tectonics. In fact, the only clear evidence for deformation is the intrusion of magmatic or serpentinite diapirs through the sediments of the transform valley floor. The diapirs have deformed the turbidite layers flooring the valley and in one carefully studied case the turbidite sequence has been uplifted, perched atop the diapir. The pattern of deformation on this outcropping diapir shows radial and concentric fractures which can be modeled by a vertical intrusion circular in plan view. Magnetic studies limit the possible composition to basalt or serpentinite. A 60-km-long median ridge is also likely to be the product of intrusion along the transform fault. The survey at site 2 pointed out the importance of vertical tectonics in the transform valley floor and in particular the importance of diapiric intrusions of either basaltic or serpentinite composition.Based on initial boundary conditions and present tectonic elements in the Tamayo fault zone, a possible history of the mouth of the Gulf of California is outlined. The median ridge was emplaced starting approximately 0.8 m.y. ago by regional extension across the transform fault, the result of leaky transform faulting. The diapirs occur along a possible relay zone of extension midway along the fault which began approximately 0.15 m.y. ago. The extension in this case is parallel to the trend of the transform fault, is still occurring at present, and may evolve into a true spreading center.Contribution of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, new series.  相似文献   

17.
High inside corners at ridge-transform intersections   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
A large topographic high commonly occurs near the intersection of a rifted spreading center and a transform fault. The high occurs at the inside of the 90° bend in the plate boundary, and is called the high inside corner, while the area across the spreading center, the outside corner, is often anomalously low. To better understand the origin of this topographic asymmetry, we examine topographic maps of 53 ridge-transform intersections. We conclude the following: (1) High inside corners occur at 41 out of 42 ridge-transform intersections at slow spreading ridges, and thus should be considered characteristic and persistent features of rifted slow spreading ridges. They are conspicuously absent at fast spreading ridges or at spreading centers that lack a rift valley. (2) High inside corners occur wherever an axial rift valley is present, and an approximate 1:1 correlation exists between the relief of the rift valley and the magnitude of the asymmetry. (3) Large high inside corners occur at both long and short transform offsets. (4) High inside corners at long offsets decay off-axis faster than predicted by the square root of age cooling model, precluding a thermalisostatic origin, but consistent with dynamic or flexural uplift models.These observations support the existing hypothesis that the asymmetry is due to the contrast in lithospheric coupling that occurs in the active transform versus the inactive fracture zone. Active faulting in the transform breaks the lithosphere along a high angle fault, permitting vertical movement of the inside corner block, whereas the inactive fracture zone forms a weld that couples the outside corner to the adjacent block, preventing it from rising. Large asymmetry at very short transform offsets appears to be caused by the added effect of a second uplift mechanism. Young lithosphere in the rift valley couples to the older plate, and when it leaves the rift valley it lifts the older plate with it. At very short offsets, this coupled uplift acts upon the high inside corner; at long offsets, it may upwarp the older plate or its expression may be muted.  相似文献   

18.
Submersible observations and photogeology document dramatic variations in the distribution of young volcanic rocks, faulting, fissuring, and hydrothermal activity along an 80 km-long segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of the Kane Transform (MARK Area). These variations define two spreading cells separated by a cell boundary zone or a small-offset transform zone. The northern spreading cell is characterized by a median ‘neovolcanic’ ridge which runs down the axis of the median valley floor for 40 km. This edifice is as much as 4 km wide and 600 m high and is composed of very lightly sedimented basalts inferred to be < 5000 years old. It is the largest single volcanic constructional feature discovered to date on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The active Snake Pit hydrothermal vent field is on the crest of this ridge and implies the presence of a magma chamber in the northern spreading cell. In contrast, the southern cell is characterized by small, individual volcanos similar in size to the central volcanos in the FAMOUS area. Two of the volcanos that were sampled appear to be composed of dominantly glassy basaltic rocks with very light sediment cover; whereas, other volcanos in this region appear to be older features. The boundary zone between the two spreading cells is intensely faulted and lacks young volcanic rocks. This area may also contain a small-offset ( < 8 km) transform zone. Magmatism in the northern cell has been episodic and tens of thousands of years have lapsed since the last major magmatic event there. In the southern cell, a more continuous style of volcanic accretion appears to be operative. The style of spreading in the southern cell may be much more typical for the Mid-Atlantic Ridge than that of the northern cell because the latter is adjacent to the 150 km-offset Kane Transform that may act as a thermal sink along the MAR. Such large transforms are not common on the MAR, therefore, lithosphere produced in a spreading cell influenced by a large transform may also be somewhat atypical.  相似文献   

19.
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   

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