Shaping Slow- and Ultraslow-Spreading Seafloor with Faults, Magma, and Fluids. Session ID: 82795
Session Description:
Crustal accretion at slow- and ultraslow spreading ridges is fundamentally different from that at faster spreading ridges, and accounts for vast areas of the Atlantic, Indian and Arctic Oceans. Plate separation in these settings occurs in a thick brittle lithosphere and is accommodated by a combination of magmatic and tectonic extension, leading to deformation often dominated by large-offset detachment faults. The ridge magma supply is highly variable in space and time, and the seafloor has a diverse range of morphologies including corrugated domes, non-corrugated massifs, back-tilted fault breakaways, and broad smooth hills. Despite recent advances in seafloor observations and modeling techniques, the mechanics of this mode of seafloor spreading remain controversial. We welcome contributions from a broad range of approaches, including geophysical and geological observations, geodynamic modeling, fluid chemistry, seismology, experimental rock mechanics and petrology.
Link: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/82795
Primary Section/Focus Group: Tectonophysics
SWIRL Theme: Earth Processes
Index Terms:
3035 Midocean ridge processes [MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS]
8034 Rheology and friction of fault zones [STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY]
8135 Hydrothermal systems [TECTONOPHYSICS]
8178 Tectonics and magmatism [TECTONOPHYSICS]
