The morphology and tectonics of the Mark area from Sea Beam and Sea MARC I observations (Mid-Atlantic Ridge 23° N) |
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Authors: | Laura S L Kong Robert S Detrick Paul J Fox Larry A Mayer W B F Ryan |
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Institution: | (1) Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, 02543 Woods Hole, MA, USA;(2) Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, 02881 Kingston, RI, USA;(3) Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, B3H 4J1 Halifax, Nova Scotia;(4) Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, 10964 Palisades, NY, USA |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | Mid-Atlantic Ridge seafloor spreading rift valley oceanic crust |
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