Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Inner floor of the Rift Valley: first submersible study

Abstract

THE Rift Valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge1, within which lies a segment of the accreting plate boundary between Africa and North America, is well defined between 36° 40′N and 36° 55′ N. It is about 30 km wide and 1.5 km deep in that area (Fig. 1). This small portion of the rift, WSW of the Azores, was chosen as the primary target of the French–American Mid-Oceanic Undersea Survey (FAMOUS) programme, and many surface ship studies have been conducted already. We report here preliminary results of seven dives into the deepest part of the Rift Valley that were made by the bathyscaphe Archimède during the summer of 1973.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Heezen, B. C., Tharp, M., and Ewing, M., Spec. Pap. geol. Soc. Am., 65, 122 (1959).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Needham, H. D., and Francheteau, J., Earth planet. Sci. Lett., 22, 29–43 (1974).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Muir, I. D., Tilley, C. E., and Scoon, J. S., J. Petrology, 7, 193–201 (1966).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bender, M. L., Ku, T.-L., and Broecker, W. S., Science, 151, 325–328 (1966); Earth planet. Sci. Lett., 8, 143–148 (1970).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Moore, J. G., Prof. Pap. US geol. Surv., 550, 163–171 (1966).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

BELLAICHE, G., CHEMINEE, J., FRANCHETEAU, J. et al. Inner floor of the Rift Valley: first submersible study. Nature 250, 558–560 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/250558a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/250558a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing