Open AccessDetachment faults at Mid‐Ocean Ridges garner interest
Author(s) -
Mitchell Neil,
Escartin Jaview,
Allerton Simon
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/98eo00095
Subject(s) - geology , seafloor spreading , ridge , mid atlantic ridge , mid ocean ridge , oceanic crust , ultramafic rock , fault (geology) , volcano , detachment fault , paleontology , accretion (finance) , geochemistry , seismology , tectonics , subduction , physics , astrophysics , extensional definition
The recent discovery of low‐angle faults known as detachments on the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge requires a major reevaluation of how the oceanic crust forms at slow spreading ridges. Detachment faults can expose large areas of plutonic and ultramafic rocks on the seafloor, without an overlying volcanic carapace. They could profoundly influence the thermal structure, rheology, composition, and style of magmatic accretion at ridges. Oceanic detachments have many parallels with continental detachment faults, with the added advantage that the morphology of the fault surface is pristine, unaffected by subareal erosion.