Abstract
Due to the complex transformation of the Earth’s crust in the rift valley, the morphology of the newly formed crust is changed by that of the province of rift mountains. The main factors of the variability of the morphological structure are as follows: the tectonomagmatic cyclicity of the geodynamic processes at the spreading centers and the isostatic uplift of the rift valley floor. The interchange of magmatic and tectonic cycles determines the difference in the bathymetric levels of the isostatic equilibrium at the edges of the rift valley slopes and the beginning of the formation of the topography of the province of rift mountains. This relief represents an indepth system of ridges and valleys rhythmically interchanging in the lateral direction. The morphology of the province of rift mountaines becomes the morphology of the acoustic basement throughout the ocean floor, except for the continental margins and areas of intraplate tectonics and volcanism.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Yu. I. Galushkin, E. P. Dubinin, and A. A. Sveshnikov, “A Nonstationary Model of the Thermal Regime of Axial Zones of Mid-Ocean Ridges: Formation of Crustal and Mantle Magma Chambers,” Izv. Akad. Nauk, Fiz. Zemli, No. 2, 33–50 (2007).
L. V. Dmitriev, S. Yu. Sokolov, V. G. Melson, and T. Khirn, “The Plume and Spreading Associations of Basalts in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Their Reflection in Petrological and Geophysical Parameters of Mid Atlantic Ridge Northern Part,” Ross. Zh. Nauk o Zemle 1(6), 1–18 (1999).
A. V. Ilyin, “Evolution of the Morphostructure of the Ocean Floor,” Okeanologiya 43(3), 428–440 (2003) [Oceanology 43 (3), 404–416 (2003)].
A. V. Ilyin, “The structural and geomorphological setting of hydrothermal deposits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge,” Dokl. Akad. Nauk 396(6), 823–827 (2004).
International Geological-Geophysical Atlas of the Atlantic Ocean, Ed. by G. B. Udintsev (MOK (YuNESKO), MINGeo SSSR, GUGK SSSR, Moscow, 1989–1990), p. 33 [in Russian].
A. A. Peive, Structural and Lithologic Heterogeneities, Magmatism, and Geodynamics of the Atlantic Ocean (Nauchnyi Mir, Moscow, 2002) [in Russian].
K. S. Deffeys, “The Axial: A Steady-State Feature of the Terrain,” in The Megatectonics of Continent and Oceans, Ed. by H. Johnson and B. L. Smith (Rutgers University Press, Brunswick, New York, 1970).
B. C. Heezen, M. Tharp, and M. Ewing, “The Floor of the Oceans 1. The North Atlantic Ocean,” Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Paper 65 (1959).
R. Houtz and J. Ewing, “Upper Crustal Structure As a Function of Plate Age,” J. Geophys. Res. 81(14), 11–29 (1976).
A. V. Ilyin, Evolution of the Ocean Floor Morphostructure: Actualistic Model. Concept and Modeling in Geomorphology: International Perspectives, Ed. by I. S. Evans (Terrapub, Tokyo, 2003), pp. 43–59.
K. C. Macdonald and T. M. Atwater, “Evolution of Rifted Ocean Ridges,” Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 39, 319–327 (1978).
K. C. Macdonald and B. P. Luyendyk, “Deep-Tow Studies of the Structure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge Crest Near Lat. 37°N,” Geology 88, 621–636 (1977).
H. D. Needham and J. Franchetau, “Some Characteristics of the Rift Valley in the Atlantic Ocean Near 36°48′ North,” Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 22, 29–43 (1974).
M. F. Osmantson, “Genesis of Ocean Ridge Median Valleys and Continental Rift Valleys,” Tectonophysics 11, 387–405 (1971).
J. B. Ramberg, D. F. Gray, and R. G. H. Raynolds, “Tectonic Evolution of the FAMOUS Area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Lat. 35°50′N Geology 88, 609–620 (1977).
P. T. Robinson and J. M. Hall, and the Shipboard Scientific Party, “Leg 37 Cruise Synthesis: The Lithology, Structure, Petrology and Magnetic History of Layer 2,” Init. Rep. DSDP 37, 987–997 (1977).
D. T. Sandwell and W. H. F. Smith, “Marine Gravity Anomaly from Geosat and ERS 1 Satellite Altimetry,” J. Geophys. Res. 102(5), 10039–10054 (1997).
N. H. Sleep, “Sensitivity of Heat Flow to the Mechanism of Sea-Floor Spreading,” J. Geophys. Res. 74, 542–549 (1969).
N. H. Sleep and S. Bichler, “Topography and Tectonics at the Intersections of Fracture Zones with Central Rifts,” J. Geophys. Res. 75, 2748–2752 (1970).
W. H. F. Smith and D. T. Sandwell, “Global Seafloor Topography from Satellite Altimetry and Ship Depth Soundings,” Science 277(5334), 1956–1962 (1997).
R. B. Whitmarsh and A. S. Laughton, “A Long-Range Sonar Study of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge Crest near 37°N (FAMOUS Area) and Its Tectonic Implications,” Deep-Sea Res. 23, 1005–1023 (1976).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © A.V. Ilyin, 2010, published in Okeanologiya, 2010, Vol. 50, No. 2, pp. 262–276.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ilyin, A.V. Origin and development of the morphological structure of the rift zone of slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges. Oceanology 50, 240–253 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437010020098
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437010020098