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Oceanic crustal thickness versus spreading rate
Author(s) -
Chen Yongshun John
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/92gl00161
Subject(s) - geology , mid ocean ridge , accretion (finance) , seismology , geophysics , geodesy , basalt , physics , astrophysics
A compilation of oceanic crustal thickness from seismic observations collected over the past two decades shows that the average crustal thickness, away from plateaus, is 6 km; no systematic increase of crustal thickness with spreading rate is observed. Instead, the data show large variations in crustal thickness at slow spreading ridges (3 – 8 km for half rates < 20 mm/yr) and small variations in thickness at fast rates (5 – 7 km for half rates > 30 mm/yr). The large variations at slow ridges and small variations at fast ridges are consistent with the results inferred from recent gravity studies of mid‐ocean ridges. Both data sets support the speculation of a transition from a 3‐D structure of crustal accretion at slow ridges to a 2‐D accretion pattern at fast ridges.