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Building the crust at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Nature volume 365, pages 707–715 (1993)Cite this article

Abstract

The morphology of the sea floor at mid-ocean-ridge spreading centres provides a key to understanding how ocean crust is constructed. Images of the axial zone of the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge, obtained at a range of spatial scales, show that crustal construction is complex and highly variable, reflecting an underlying three-dimensional variability in magmatic, tectonic and hydrothermal processes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 02543, USA

    Deborah K. Smith

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Johnson R. Cann

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  1. Deborah K. Smith
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Smith, D., Cann, J. Building the crust at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Nature 365, 707–715 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/365707a0

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