Volcanic evolution of an ultraslow-spreading ridge.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37438364.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-39925-0 and PMC identifier 10338544.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Nearly 30% of ocean crust forms at mid-ocean ridges where the spreading rate is less than 20 mm per year. According to the seafloor spreading paradigm, oceanic crust forms along a narrow axial zone and is transported away from the rift valley. However, because quantitative age data of volcanic eruptions are lacking, constructing geological models for the evolution of ultraslow-spreading crust remains a challenge. In this contribution, we use sediment thicknesses acquired from ~4000 km of sub-bottom profiler data combined with <sup>14</sup>C ages from sediment cores to determine the age of the ocean floor of the oblique ultraslow-spreading Mohns Ridge to reveal a systematic pattern of young volcanism outside axial volcanic ridges. Here, we present an age map of the upper lava flows within the rift valley of a mid-ocean ridge and find that nearly half of the rift valley floor has been rejuvenated by volcanic activity during the last 25 Kyr.