Hydroacoustic detection of volcanic activity on the Gorda Ridge, February–March 1996

Beginning at 0700 GMT on 28 February 1996, intense seismicity was detected in the northeast Pacific Ocean using the T-phase Monitoring System developed by NOAA/PMEL to access the U.S. Navy’s SOund SUrveillance System (SOSUS) in the North Pacific. The event was preliminarily located on the northernmost segment of the Gorda Ridge near 42.67°N and 126.8°W, in the vicinity of the ridge segment high (“narrowgate”). The nature of the seismicity was similar to that observed in June 1993 at the CoAxial segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, which was later documented to be a lateral magma injection with subsequent eruption. Due to several gaps in the data, the detection information was not as comprehensive as during the CoAxial event, but an initial migration of epicenters from the narrowgate area down rift is inferred based on arrival bearings from a single array; there is evidence for an additional diking event on the second and third day of activity. There is also indication of a concentration of epicenters located near 42.6°N, as occurred during the CoAxial episode at what was later determined to be an eruption site. Examination of T-wave rise times generally supports this interpretation. Based on the nature and duration of the activity, a response effort was initiated, which later confirmed hot-water plumes and fresh lava flows at the site. Based on both hydroacoustic information and field observations, it is proposed that the episode began with a lateral dike injection, possibly with eruptive activity in the summit region, followed by multiple magma pulses and eventual focusing of the seismic activity and extrusion near 42.6′N.     

Tectonic evolution of Gorda Ridge inferred from sidescan sonar images

Gorda Ridge is the southern segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge complex, in the north-east Pacific. Along-strike spreading-rate variation on Gorda Ridge and deformation of Gorda Plate are evidence for compression between the Pacific and Gorda Plates. GLORIA sidescan sonographs allow the spreading fabric associated with Gorda Ridge to be mapped in detail. Between 5 and 2 Ma, a pair of propagating rifts re-orientated the northern segment of Gorda Ridge by about 10° clockwise, accommodating a clockwise shift in Pacific-Juan de Fuca plate motion that occurred around 5 Ma. Deformation of Gorda Plate, associated with southward decreasing spreading rates along southern Gorda Ridge, is accommodated by a combination of clockwise rotation of Gorda Plate crust, coupled with left-lateral motion on the original normal faults of the ocean crust. Segments of Gorda Plate which have rotated by different amounts are separated by narrow deformation zones across which sharp changes in ocean fabric trend are seen. Although minor lateral movement may occur on these NW to WNW structures, no major right-lateral movement, as predicted by previous models, is observed.     

Geochronology and geochemistry of lavas from the 1996 North Gorda Ridge eruption

Radiometric dating of three North Gorda Ridge lavas by the ²¹⁰Po–²¹⁰Pb method confirms that an eruption occurred during a period of increased seismic activity along the ridge during late February/early March 1996. These lavas were collected following detection of enhanced T-phase seismicity and subsequent ocean bottom photographs documented the existence of a large pillow mound of fresh-appearing lavas. ²¹⁰Po–²¹⁰Pb dating of these lavas indicates that an eruption coinciding with this seismicity did occur (within analytical error) and that followup efforts to sample the recent lava flows were successful. Compositions of the three confirmed young lavas and eleven other samples of this contiguous “new flow” sequence are distinct from older lavas from this area but are variable at a level outside analytical uncertainty. These intraflow variations can not easily be related to a single, common parent magma. Compositional variability within the new flow is compared to that of other recently documented individual flow sequences, and this comparison reveals a strong positive correlation of compositional variance with flow volumes spanning a range of >2 orders of magnitude. The geochemical heterogeneity in the North Gorda new flow probably reflects incomplete mixing of magmas generated from a heterogeneous mantle source or from slightly different melting conditions of a single source. The compositional variability, range in sample ages (up to 6 weeks) and range in active seismicity (4 weeks) imply that this relatively large flow was erupted over an interval of several weeks.     

Recent tectonics of the Blanco Ridge,eastern blanco transform fault zone

Bathymetric, hydro-acoustic, seismic, submersible, and gravity data are used to investigate the active tectonics of the eastern Blanco Transform Fault Zone (BTFZ). The eastern BTFZ is dominated by the 150 km long transform-parallel Blanco Ridge (BR) which is a right-lateral strike-slip fault bordered to the east and west by the Gorda and Cascadia Depressions. Acoustic locations, fault-parameter information, and slip vector estimates of 43 earthquakes (M _w3.8) that occurred along the eastern BTFZ over the last 5 years reveal that the Blanco Ridge is a high-angle right-lateral strike-slip fault, with a small component of dip-slip motion, where the Juan de Fuca plate is the hanging wall relative to the Pacific plate. Furthermore, the Cascadia and Gorda basins are undergoing normal faulting with extension predominantly oblique to the transform trend. Seafloor submersible observations agree with previous hypotheses that the active transform fault trace is the elongate basin that runs the length of the BR summit. Brecciated and undeformed basalt, diabase, and gabbro samples were collected at the four submersible survey sites along the Blanco Ridge. These petrologic samples indicate the Blanco Ridge is composed of an ocean crustal sequence that has been uplifted and highly fractured. The petrologic samples also appear to show an increase in elevation of the crustal section from east to west along the Blanco Ridge, with gabbros exposed at a shallower depth farther west along the southern (Pacific plate side) BR ridge flank. Further supporting evidence for BR uplift exists in the seismic reflection profiles across the BR showing uplift of turbidite sequences along the north and south ridge base, and gravity and magnetics profiles that indicate possible basement uplift and a low-density zone centered on the ridge's Pacific plate side. The BR formation mechanism preferred here is first, uplift achieved partially through strike-slip motion (with a small dip-slip component). Second, seawater penetration along the fault into the lower crust upper mantle, which then enhanced formation and intrusion of a mantle-derived serpentinized-peridotite diapir into the shallow ocean crust, causing further uplift along the fault.     

T-phases from an earthquake swarm on the mid-Atlantic ridge at 31.6° N

An ocean bottom seismometer array on the Nova Scotia shelf edge recorded T-phases from an earthquake swarm on the mid-Atlantic ridge at about 31.6° N in June 1975. The swarm occured along a segment of the ridge that ruptured similarly 17 yr previously. From 1964 to mid-1979 the worldwide network recorded three other earthquake swarms along this segment of the mid-Atlantic ridge (MAR). A sparse network of sensors in the SOFAR channel, having a lower magnitude threshold, might provide a better means of monitoring the seismicity of both short-length transforms and ridge crests along the MAR than does the worldwide seismic network.     

Manganese and iron in hydrothermal plumes resulting from the 1996 Gorda Ridge Event

We sampled hydrothermal plumes over the N. Gorda Ridge four times between March and August 1996 to document Mn and Fe discharge resulting from a magmatic intrusion/seafloor eruption. Two separate event plumes, EP96A and B, and chronic hydrothermal emissions lasting 6 months were characterized. Shipboard time-series measurements of an event plume sample were used to calibrate an Fe phase clock useful for estimating sample age up to 6 days after fluid discharge. Samples collected from EP96A and B had Mn/heat (<0.15 nmol J^-1) and Fe/Mn (>2 mol mol^-1) ratios similar to historical event plume observations. We suggest these “signature” ratio values are generally characteristic of event plumes and hypothesize that Mn and Fe may be supplied to event plumes by different processes: Mn by entrainment of fluids from an extant shallow subseafloor reservoir, and Fe by short-lived, high-temperature water-rock reaction coincident with dike emplacement. Calculations based on the Fe phase clock indicate that the two event plumes were released more than a month apart. The largest event plume, EP96A (2.3×10⁶ M Mn and 13×10⁶ M Fe), formed 7 March soon after seismic activity began. The smaller EP96B (0.49×10⁶ M Mn and 3.5×10⁶ M Fe) was not discharged until 11 April, 3 weeks after the cessation of seismic activity detectable by SOSUS T-phase monitoring. We hypothesize that the subseafloor disturbance that triggered EP96B also resulted in the episodic flushing of a reservoir of chronic-plume-like fluids. Total event plume inventories of Mn and Fe at N. Gorda Ridge are much smaller than those associated with the 1986 event at N. Cleft segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, but comparable to event plume inventories at N. Cleft segment in 1987 and CoAxial segment in 1993. Mn/heat values for chronic plumes over the eruption site underlying EP96A evolved from moderate (0.25 oonmol J^-1, reflecting probable admixture with event plume formation fluids) to high (0.7 nmol J^-1, typical of chronic plumes) to low (0.1 nmol J^-1, similar to diffuse vent fluid values), marking a complete episode of intrusion/eruption-induced hydrothermal discharge.     

Morphology of the Blanco Transform Fault Zone-NE Pacific: Implications for its tectonic evolution

The right-lateral Blanco Transform Fault Zone (BTFZ) offsets the Gorda and the Juan de Fuca Ridges along a 350 km long complex zone of ridges and right-stepping depressions. The overall geometry of the BTFZ is similar to several other oceanic transform fault zones located along the East Pacific Rise (e.g., Siquieros) and to divergent wrench faults on continents; i.e., long strike-slip master faults offset by extensional basins. These depressions have formed over the past 5 Ma as the result of continual reorientation of the BTFZ in response to changes in plate motion. The central depression (Cascadia Depression) is flanked by symmetrically distributed, inward-facing back-tilted fault blocks. It is probably a short seafloor spreading center that has been operating since about 5 Ma, when a southward propagating rift failed to kill the last remnant of a ridge segment. The Gorda Depression on the eastern end of the BTFZ may have initially formed as the result of a similar occurrence involving a northward propagating rift on the Gorda ridge system. Several of the smaller basins (East Blanco, Surveyor and Gorda) morphologically appear to be oceanic analogues of continental pull-apart basins. This would imply diffuse extension rather than the discrete neovolcanic zone associated with a typical seafloor spreading center. The basins along the western half of the BTFZ have probably formed within the last few hundred thousands years, possibly as the result of a minor change in the Juan de Fuca/Pacific relative motion.     

Emergence and petrology of the Mendocino Ridge

The Mendocino Fracture Zone, a 3,000-km-long transform fault, extends from the San Andreas Fault at Cape Mendocino, California due west into the central Pacific basin. The shallow crest of this fracture zone, known as the Mendocino Ridge, rises to within 1,100 m of the sea surface at 270 km west of the California Coast. Rounded basalt pebbles and cobbles, indicative of a beach environment, are the dominant lithology at two locations on the crest of Mendocino Ridge and a⁴⁰Ar/³⁹ Ar incremental heating age of 11.0 ± 1.0 million years was determined for one of the these cobbles. This basalt must have been erupted on the Gorda Ridge because the crust immediately to the south of the fracture zone is older than 27 Ma. This age also implies that the crest of Mendocino Ridge was at sea level and would have blocked Pacific Ocean eastern boundary currents and affected the climate of the North American continent at some time since the late Miocene. Basalts from the Mendocino Fracture Zone (MFZ) are FeTi basalts similar to those commonly found at intersections of mid-ocean ridges and fracture zones. These basalts are chemically distinct from the nearby Gorda Ridge but they could have been derived from the same mantle source as the Gorda Ridge basalts. The location of the 11 Ma basalt suggests that Mendocino Ridge was transferred from the Gorda Plate to the Pacific Plate and the southern end of Gorda Ridge was truncated by a northward jump in the transform fault of MFZ.     

First results from the North Iceland experiment

Between June 2004 and September 2004 a temporary seismic network was installed on the northern insular shelf of Iceland and onshore in north Iceland. The seismic setup aimed at resolving the subsurface structure and, thus, the geodynamical transition from Icelandic crust to typical oceanic crust along Kolbeinsey Ridge. The experiment recorded about 1,000 earthquakes. The region encloses the Tjörnes Fracture Zone containing the Husavik–Flatey strike-slip fault and the extensional seismic Grimsey Lineament. Most of the seismicity occurs in swarms offshore. Preliminary results reveal typical mid-ocean crust north of Grimsey and a heterogeneous structure with major velocity anomalies along the seismic lineaments and north–south trending subsurface features. Complementary bathymetric mapping highlight numerous extrusion features along the Grimsey Lineament and Kolbeinsey Ridge. The seismic dataset promises to deliver new insights into the tectonic framework for earthquakes in an extensional transform zone along the global mid-ocean ridge system.     

Patterns of event and chronic hydrothermal venting following a magmatic intrusion: new perspectives from the 1996 Gorda Ridge eruption

The remote detection of a seismic swarm on the northern Gorda Ridge on 28 February 1996 prompted a three-cruise response effort to investigate event and chronic hydrothermal discharge associated with a dike intrusion. The GR1 cruise reached the northern Gorda only 10 days after seismicity began and discovered a 15 km-diameter event plume, EP96A, centered between depths 1800 and 2800 m above the shallowest portion of the axial valley axis (3100 m). One month later, GR2 returned and found only a weak, near-bottom chronic plume at the EP96A site. A few kilometers to the south, however, GR2 mapped a distinctly different chronic plume (2500–2900 m depth) as well as the edge of a second event plume, EP96B (1800–2400-m depth), above the western wall of the axial valley. EP96B was seeded with a neutrally buoyant float, which traveled 10 net km to the northwest before surfacing on 10 June at the start of GR3. Mapping around the float location fully revealed EP96B, a 10 km diameter plume with a heat content 25% that of EP96A. Extensive observations within the axial valley determined that chronic venting was effectively exhausted within three months. Models seeking to explain the perturbation of hydrothermal venting by a dike intrusion and eruption must satisfy several criteria generalized from this and previous events: (1) venting begins (or increases) with the intrusion/eruption and declines exponentially afterwards; (2) the time scale of the post-intrusion decline varies within and among sites; (3) the discharge of multiple event plumes is common; (4) an existing high-temperature vent field may not be necessary or even conducive to event plume formation; and (5) the ratio of total chronic to event discharge varies among intrusion events.     

Seismic activity recorded by a single OBS/H near the active Longqi hydrothermal vent at the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (49°39′ E)

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we describe the results of a first pilot experiment of passive seismic monitoring near the active Longqi hydrothermal vent at the Southwest Indian Ridge during Chinese cruise DY115-30. During 102-day experiment, we recorded over 2,000 seismic events on a single ocean bottom seismometer with hydrophone close to the hydrothermal field. We classified these events into the following three classes based on their time–frequency characteristics: (1) volcano tectonic microearthquakes (VTMs); (2) regional earthquakes; (3) short-duration events (SDEs). We preliminarily located the 1,277 VTMs using a single-station location method. Our results revealed hypocenters primarily beneath the axial valley ridge which is about 10?km away from hydrothermal vent and extending to the upper mantle at a depth of 15?km. Two discrete swarms of VTMs occurred during our survey period. The SDEs show a complex frequency characteristics ascribed to clusters of monochromatic waves around different frequencies. This suggests that SDEs result from combination of harmonic waves resonating in fluid-filled pipes and cracks.     

Seismological constraints on the thermal structure along the Lucky Strike segment (Mid-Atlantic Ridge) and interaction of tectonic and magmatic processes around the magma chamber

The crust at mid-ocean ridges is formed through a combination of magmatic and tectonic processes. Along slow-spreading ridges, magmatism is inferred to be discontinuous and episodic, and lithospheric faulting may strongly interact with the melt supply system. These interactions can be studied for the first time at the Lucky Strike segment along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), where a 3.4 km deep magma chamber (AMC) extending ~6 km along-axis is found at its centre (Singh et al. in Earth Planet Sci Lett 246:353–366, 2006). With an array of ocean bottom seismometers we have detected along this ridge segment approximately 400 microseismic events during a total of 6 days, and located 71 of them, whose local magnitudes ranged from 0.2 to 1.8. While most of the events were concentrated at non-transform offset and inside corners, three events with well-constrained locations were detected beneath the central volcano and at the edges of the AMC. Two of the microearthquakes, which occur in a brittle lithosphere and therefore at temperatures lower than 750°C, are deeper than the AMC and therefore very steep thermal gradients both along- and across-axis. Regionally seismicity deepens from ~6 km at the segment center to >10 km towards the ends.     

Effects of a marine ridge to western boundary current in a three-dimensional source-sink flow model

A numerical experiment is made with a three-dimensional source-sink flow model in order to study effects of a marine ridge to the western boundary current. The model represents the Kuroshio current crossing the Izu Ridge which has a submarine narrow passage. It is indicated that most of the surface water of the western boundary current crosses the ridge through the narrow passage. A part of the surface water circulates around a warm eddy formed in an upstream region of the ridge. A water below the thermocline makes a long detour around the ridge and forms a subsurface northward current along the eastern slope of the ridge.     

Second-order ridge axis discontinuities in the south Atlantic: Morphology,structure, and evolution

Continuous along-axis Sea Beam coverage of the slow-intermediate spreading (34–38 mm yr⁻¹ full rate) southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (25°–27°30′S and 31°–38° S) shows that the ridge axis is segmented by both rigid and non-rigid discontinuities. Following the model of Macdonald et al. (1988b), a hierarchy of four orders is proposed for ridge axis discontinuities based on a continuum of relative age and distance offset across the discontinuites. This paper discusses the characteristics associated with five second-order discontinuities found in the areas surveyed. First-order discontinuities represent rigid offsets, transform faults, whereas non-rigid discontinuities fall into the second, third and fourth orders. Like transform fault boundaries, second-order discontinuities have distinctive morphologic signatures both on and off-axis-discordant zones — and therefore are better defined than third- or fourth-order discontinuities. Second-order discontinuities are offsets that range in distance from less than 10 km to approximately 30 km and vary in age offset from 0.5 to approximately 2.0 m.y. The variable morphotectonic geometries associated with these discontinuities indicate that horizontal shear strains are accommodated by both extensional and strike-slip tectonism and that the geometries are unstable in time. Three characteristic geometries are recognized: (1)en echelon jog in the plate boundary where ridge axis tips overlap slightly, (2)en echelon jog in the plate boundary where ridge axes are separated by an extensional basin whose long axis is oriented parallel to the strike of the adjoining ridge axes, and (3) oblique offset characterized by a large extensional basin that is oriented approximately 45° to the strike of the ridge axes. In the case of the third type, evidence for short strands of strike-slip tectonism that link an obliquely oriented extensional basin flanking ridge tips is often apparent. Analysis of the detailed bathymetric and magnetic data collected over the second-order discontinuities and their off axis terrain out to 5–7 m.y. documents that second-order discontinuities can follow several evolutionary paths: they can evolve from transform fault boundaries through prolonged asymmetric spreading, they may migrate along strike leaving a V-shaped wake, and they may remain in approximately the same position but oscillate slightly back and forth. In addition, a small change in the pole of relative motion occurring 4–5 Ma is thought to have resulted in the initiation of at least one second-order discontinuity in the survey area. A geologic model is proposed which involves the interplay of lithospheric thickness, asymmetric spreading, temporal and spatial variability of along-axis magmatic input and changes in the poles of relative motion to explain the origin, morphology and evolution of second-order ridge axis discontinuities.     

Western boundary current crossing a ridge

Investigated is a possibility of two-dimensional model in the study of the dynamics of the western boundary current by a numerical experiment. Emphasis is laid on the effect of bottom barrier corresponding to the Izu Ridge.The western boundary current in the model is formed by source and sink of the water prescribed at an artificial eastern wall (600 km offshore). The bottom topographyconsists of a continental slope parallel to the straight western coast, and a ridge protruding from the western coast to 500 km offshore (1,500 m deep and 400 km wide). The grid size of 12 km× 25 km (offshore and longshore directions, respectively) resolves both the western boundary current and the bottom topography.The assumption of homogeneity of the water density makes the western boundary current detour along the isobath of the ridge.A steady state solution is obtained under the assumptions that the horizontal velocity does not change direction vertically (equivalent barotropic), and that the geostrophic relationship holds at the bottom. Homogeneity of the water density is not assumed. The solution shows that most of the volume transport of the western boundary current cross the ridge and the current has cyclonic vorticity near the summit of the ridge. It seems to suggest that the investigation by three-dimensional models is neccesary in order to study the complete dynamics of the western boundary current crossing the ridge.     

Two- and three-dimensional inversions of magnetic anomalies in the MARK area (Mid-Atlantic Ridge 23° N)

Magnetic data collected in conjunction with a Sea Beam bathymetric survey of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of the Kane Fracture Zone are used to constrain the spreading history of this area over the past 3 Ma. Two-dimensional forward modeling and inversion techniques are carried out, as well as a full three-dimensional inversion of the anomaly field along a 90-km-long section of the rift valley. Our results indicate that this portion of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, known as the MARK area, consists of two distinct spreading cells separated by a small, zero-offset transform or discordant zone near 23°10′ N, The youngest crust in the median valley is characterized by a series of distinct magnetization highs which coalesce to form two NNE-trending bands of high magnetization, one on the northern ridge segment which coincides with a large constructional volcanic ridge, and one along the southern ridge segment that is associated with a string of small axial volcanos. These two magnetization highs overlap between 23° N and 23°10° N forming a non-transform offset that may be a slow spreading ridge analogue of the small ridge axis discontinuities found on the East Pacific Rise. The crustal magnetizations in this overlap zone are generally low, although an anomalous, ESE-trending magnetization high of unknown origin is also present in this area. The present-day segmentation of spreading in the MARK area was inherited from an earlier ridge-transform-ridge geometry through a series of small (∼ 10 km) eastward ridge jumps. These small ridge jumps were caused by a relocation of the neovolcanic zone within the median valley and have resulted in an overall pattern of asymmetric spreading with faster rates to the west (14 mm yr⁻¹) than to the east (11 mm yr⁻¹). Although the detailed magnetic survey described in this paper extends out to only 3 Ma old crust, a regional compilation of magnetic data from this area by Schoutenet al. (1985) indicates that the relative positions and dimensions of the spreading cells, and the pattern of asymmetric spreading seen in the MARK area during the past 3 Ma, have characterized this part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge for at least the past 36 Ma.     

Chemical variations of hydrothermal particles in the 1996 Gorda Ridge Event and chronic plumes

In response to the 1996 magmatic intrusion on the Gorda Ridge near 42.68°N, 126.78°W in late February, we conducted three cruises to the region in March, April, and June. On all three cruises particulate samples were collected, along with CTD/nephelometer data and total dissolved Fe and Mn samples. During each cruise, we collected samples from large oblate spheroid-shaped event plumes. These event plumes had long axis diameters of about 10–15 km and ranged in depth from about 1800 to 2700 m. A strong linear correlation between nephelometer voltage and particulate Fe allowed us to estimate the total amount of particulate Fe in the event plumes at approximately 20×10⁶ moles of Fe, or 28% of the Fe in the 1986 megaplume on the Cleft Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. We observed significant decreases in particulate Cu and Zn concentrations (>100% decrease in Cu/Fe and Zn/Fe ratios) between the Gorda Ridge event plumes. These results suggest that each of the two event plumes originated from a chemically distinct source fluid. Fe ferrihydrite particles maintained a constant ratio of coprecipitated oxyanion species in the two event plumes. Based upon the chemical inventories for particulate Fe, P, and V, we suggest that event plumes might play a small role in the geochemical budgets for these elements.     

Tectonic core of a sedimentary drift: a potential ridge propagation feature beneath the Blake Outer Ridge

The Blake Outer Ridge is a 480–kilometer long linear sedimentary drift ridge striking perpendicular to the North American coastline. By modeling free-air gravity anomalies we tested for the presence of a crustal feature that may control the location and orientation of the Blake Outer Ridge. Most of our crustal density models that match observed gravity anomalies require an increase in oceanic crustal thickness of 1–3 km on the southwest side of the Blake Outer Ridge relative to the northeast side. Most of these models also require 1–4 km of crustal thinning in zone 20–30 km southwest of the crest of the Blake Outer Ridge. Although these features are consistent with the structure of oceanic fracture zones, the Blake Outer Ridge is not parallel to adjacent known fracture zones. Magnetic anomalies suggest that the ocean crust beneath this feature formed during a period of mid-ocean ridge reorganization, and that the Blake Outer Ridge may be built upon the bathymetric expression of an oblique extensional feature associated with ridge propagation. It is likely that the orientation of this trough acted as a catalyst for sediment deposition with the start of the Western Boundary Undercurrent in the mid-Oligocene.     

Tectonic effects of a subducting aseismic ridge: The subduction of the Nazca Ridge at the Peru Trench

A 1987 survey of the offshore Peru forearc using the SeaMARC II seafloor mapping system reveals that subduction of the Nazca Ridge has resulted in uplift of the lowermost forearc by as much as 1500 m. This uplift is seen in the varied depths of two forearc terraces opposite the subducting ridge. Uplift of the forearc has caused fracturing, minor surficial slumping, and increased erosion through small canyons and gullies. Oblique trending linear features on the forearc may be faults with a strike-slip component of motion caused by the oblique subduction of the Nazca Ridge. The trench in the zone of ridge subduction is nearly linear, with no re-entrant in the forearc due to subduction of the Nazca Ridge. Compressional deformation of the forearc due to subduction of the ridge is relatively minor, suggesting that the gently sloping Nazca Ridge is able to slide beneath the forearc without significantly deforming it. The structure of the forearc is similar to that revealed by other SeaMARC II surveys to the north, consisting of: 1) a narrow zone (10 to 15 km across) of accreted material making up the lower forearc; 2) a chaotic middle forearc; 3) outcropping consolidated material and draping sediment on the upper forearc; and 4) the smooth, sedimented forearc shelf.The subducting Nazca plate and the Nazca Ridge are fractured by subduction-induced faults with offsets of up to 500 m. Normal faulting is dominant and begins about 50 km from the trench axis, increasing in frequency and offset toward the trench. These faults are predominantly trench-parallel. Reverse faults become more common in the deepest portion of the trench and often form at slight angles to the trench axis.Intrusive and extrusive volcanic areas on the Nazca plate appear to have formed well after the seafloor was created at the ridge crest. Many of the areas show evidence of current scour and are cut by faulting, however, indicating that they formed before the seafloor entered the zone of subduction-induced faulting.     

The Wuqbah peridotite, central Oman Ophiolite: Petrological characteristics of the mantle in a fossil overlapping ridge setting

The Wuqbah peridotites (Wuqbah massif, central Oman Ophiolite) constitute the mantle part of a complete ophiolitic sequence and their field deformation geometry is thought to reflect mantle dynamics in a fossil overlapping ridge settings (Girardeau et al., 2002). These peridotites comprise dominantly residual harzburgites and dunites. Nearly 70% of the harzburgites are clinopyroxene-free, and the rest contains less than 1%. The mineral chemistry of olivine, pyroxenes and spinel, and whole rock major and rare-earth element data, indicate that the Wuqbah peridotites are all strongly refractory and that they record a major percolation event, marked by strong enrichments in incompatible elements. At the massif scale, the Central Zone contains rocks with the most refractory features (20% melt extraction), as expected in an area of mantle upwelling. In the overlapping ridge senario, it corresponds to the overlap zone whose formation is discussed.