Related Content
Search Google Scholar for:
|
|
Science 30 August 1991:
Vol. 253. no. 5023, pp. 986 - 994
DOI: 10.1126/science.253.5023.986
|
|
Articles
Mid-Ocean Ridges: Discontinuities, Segments and Giant Cracks
KEN C. MACDONALD 1,
DANIEL S. SCHEIRER 1, and
SUZANNE M. CARBOTTE 1
1 Department of Geological Sciences and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Geological observations reveal that mid-ocean ridges are segmented by numerous rigid and nonrigid discontinuities. A hierarchy of segmentation, ranging from large, long-lived segments to others that are small, migratory, and transient, determines the pattern and timing of creation of new ocean floor. To the extent that spreading segments behave like giant cracks in a plate, the crack propagation force at segment tips increases with segment length, which may explain why long segments tend to lengthen and prevail over shorter neighboring segments. Partial melting caused by decompression of the upper mantle due to plate separation and changes in the direction of spreading result in the spawning of new short segments so that a balance of long and short segments is maintained.
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
- Subsurface tectonic structure between overlapping mid-ocean ridge segments.
- C.H. Tong, C. Lana, R.S. White, M.R. Warner, and A. W. Group (2005)
Geology
33, 409-412
| Abstract »
| Full Text »
| PDF »
- Structural expression of oblique seafloor spreading in the Macquarie Island ophiolite, Southern Ocean.
- (2004)
Geology
32, 125-128
- Seismotectonics of Mid-Ocean Ridge Propagation in Hess Deep.
- J. S. Floyd, M. Tolstoy, J. C. Mutter, and C. H. Scholz (2002)
Science
298, 1765-1768
| Abstract »
| Full Text »
| PDF »
- Asymmetric melt sills and upper crustal construction beneath overlapping ridge segments: Implications for the development of melt sills and ridge crests.
- (2002)
Geology
30, 83-86
- Continuous Mantle Melt Supply Beneath an Overlapping Spreading Center on the East Pacific Rise.
- R. A. Dunn, D. R. Toomey, R. S. Detrick, and W. S. D. Wilcock (2001)
Science
291, 1955-1958
| Abstract »
| Full Text »
- Structural and magmatic segmentation of the Tertiary East Greenland Volcanic Rifted Margin.
- J. A. Karson and C. K. Brooks (1999)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
164, 313-338
| Abstract »
| PDF »
- Evolution of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge South of the Udintsev Fracture Zone.
- L. Géli, H. Bougault, D. Aslanian, A. Briais, L. Dosso, J. Etoubleau, J. Le Formal, M. Maia, H. Ondréas, J. Olivet, et al. (1997)
Science
278, 1281-1284
| Abstract »
| Full Text »
- Hydrothermal activity and ridge segmentation on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: a tale of two hot-spots?.
- C. R. German, L. M. Parson, B. J. Murton, and H. D. Needham (1996)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
118, 169-184
| Abstract »
| PDF »
- Ocean-ridge segmentation and vent tubeworms (Vestimentifera) in the NE Pacific.
- E. C. Southward, V. Tunnicliffe, M. B. Black, D. R. Dixon, and L. R.J. Dixon (1996)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
118, 211-224
| Abstract »
| PDF »
- The Effect of Magmatic Activity on Hydrothermal Venting Along the Superfast-Spreading East Pacific Rise.
- T. Urabe, T. Urabe, E. T. Baker, J. Ishibashi, R. A. Feely, K. Marumo, G. J. Massoth, A. Maruyama, K. Shitashima, K. Okamura, et al. (1995)
Science
269, 1092-1095
| Abstract »
| PDF »
- Structural Processes at Slow-Spreading Ridges.
- J. C. Mutter, J. C. Mutter, and J. A. Karson (1992)
Science
257, 627-634
| Abstract »
| PDF »
|
|
