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Originally published in Science Express on 23 November 2006
Science 22 December 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5807, pp. 1920 - 1922
DOI: 10.1126/science.1133950
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Reports

A Sea-Floor Spreading Event Captured by Seismometers

M. Tolstoy,1* J. P. Cowen,2 E. T. Baker,3 D. J. Fornari,4 K. H. Rubin,5 T. M. Shank,4 F. Waldhauser,1 D. R. Bohnenstiehl,1 D. W. Forsyth,6 R. C. Holmes,1 B. Love,7 M. R. Perfit,8 R. T. Weekly,1 S. A. Soule,4 B. Glazer2

Two-thirds of Earth's surface is formed at mid-ocean ridges, yet sea-floor spreading events are poorly understood because they occur far beneath the ocean surface. At 9°50'N on the East Pacific Rise, ocean-bottom seismometers recently recorded the microearthquake character of a mid-ocean ridge eruption, including precursory activity. A gradual ramp-up in activity rates since seismic monitoring began at this site in October 2003 suggests that eruptions may be forecast in the fast-spreading environment. The pattern culminates in an intense but brief (~6-hour) inferred diking event on 22 January 2006, followed by rapid tapering to markedly decreased levels of seismicity.

1 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.
2 Department of Oceanography, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
3 Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), WA 98115, USA.
4 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
5 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
6 Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
7 School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
8 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tolstoy{at}ldeo.columbia.edu

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