Description
Book SynopsisPublished by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 106.
Seafloor spreading at mid-ocean ridges was recognized more than 30 years ago as the key which unlocked the plate tectonic revolution. Ridges are not only the locus of the most voluminous magmatic activity on Earth, but they are also the largest and most active extensional tectonic regime on the planet. The abyssal hills of the seafloor, formed at mid-ocean ridges, are the most widespread morphologic features on the planet. Beneath these ridges, oceanic lithosphere forms nearly 60% of the volume of the Earth''s rigid outer shell. As impressive as this may be, it is worth recalling that similar volumes have been created repeatedly in the cycle of spreading and subduction of oceanic tracts that characterizes plate tectonics.
Table of ContentsPreface
W. Roger Buck, P aul T . Delaney, Jeffrey A . Karson, Yves Lagabrielle vii
Global Systematics of Mid-Ocean Ridge Morphology
Christopher Small 1
Linkages Between Faulting, Vlcanism, Hydrothermal Activity and Segmentation on Fast Spreading Centers
Ken C. Macdonald 27
Magmatism at Mid-Ocean Ridges: Constraints from Volcanological and Geochemical Investigations
Michael R. Perfit and William W. Chadwick, Jr 59
Geological Consequences of Dike Intrusion at Mid-Ocean Ridge Spreading Centers
Daniel Curewitz and Jeffrey A. Karson 117
Formation and Development of Fissures at the East Pacific Rise: Implications for Faulting and Magmatism at Mid-Ocean Ridges
Dawn J. Wright 137
Ultramafic-Mafic Plutonic Rock Suites Exposed Along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (100N-300N)
Symmetrical-Asymmetrical Distribution and Implications for Seafloor Spreading Processes
Yves L'agabrielle, Daniel Bideau, Mathilde Cannat, Jeffrey A. Karson, and Catherin Mevel 153
Internal Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere: A Perspective from Tectonic Windows
Jeffrey A . Karson 177
Structure of Modern Oceanic Crust and Ophiolites and Implications for Faulting and Magmatism at
Oceanic Spreading Centers
Yildirim Dilek, Eldridge M. Moores, and Harald Furnes 219
Periodic Formation of Magma Fractures and Generation of Layered Gabbros in the Lower Crust Beneath
Oceanic Spreading Ridges
Peter B. Kelemen and Einat Aharanov 267
The Rheology of the Lower Oceanic Crust: Implications for Lithospheric Deformation at Mid-Ocean Ridges
Greg Hirth, Javier Escartin and Jian Lin 291
Mechanics of Stretching Elastic-Plastic-Vicous Layers: Applications to Slow-Spreading Mid-Ocean Ridges
Alexei N. B. Poliakov and W. Roger Buck 305
Normal Fault Growth in Three Dimensions in Continental and Oceanic Crust
Patience A. Cowie 325
