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News and Views
Mid-ocean ridges: Widening the goal-posts -
John Maclennan
doi:10.1038/ngeo833
Oceanic crust forms through the addition of volcanic rock to mid-ocean ridges. Widely dispersed, young lavas observed at an ultraslow-spreading ridge provide impetus for the redevelopment of models of oceanic magmatism.
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Volcanology: Carbon below the sea floor -
David Goldberg
doi:10.1038/ngeo1019
Magma from the mantle meets the ocean at seafloor spreading centres. At young rifts, basalt sills may heat overlying sediments and induce natural carbon release; basalt flows elsewhere may offer secure reservoirs for sequestration of anthropogenic carbon.
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Letters
The role of magma injection in localizing black-smoker activity -
William S. D. Wilcock, Emilie E. E. Hooft, Douglas R. Toomey, Paul R. McGill, Andrew H. Barclay, Debra S. Stakes & Tony M. Ramirez
doi:10.1038/ngeo550
The mechanisms for localization of black-smoker systems at mid-ocean ridges remain to be fully understood. Seismic data for a segment of the Juan de Fuca ridge with long-lived black-smoker vents reveal ongoing magma recharge into the crustal magma chamber, thereby providing an explanation for the localization.
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Stress transfer between thirteen successive dyke intrusions in Ethiopia -
Ian J. Hamling, Tim J. Wright, Eric Calais, Laura Bennati & Elias Lewi
doi:10.1038/ngeo967
Large earthquakes are known to trigger subsequent earthquakes in nearby regions, but similar triggering has not been confirmed for volcanic hazards. Analysis of the progressive deformation associated with 13 volcanic dykes intruded in Ethiopia between 2005 and 2009 indicates that magmatic intrusions can help to trigger subsequent intrusions.
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Carbon release by off-axis magmatism in a young sedimented spreading centre -
Daniel Lizarralde, S. Adam Soule, Jeff S. Seewald & Giora Proskurowski
doi:10.1038/ngeo1006
Continental rifting creates narrow ocean basins, where coastal ocean upwelling and enhanced silicate weathering remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Evidence from seismic data, sonar backscatter and seafloor images, and geochemical water analyses suggest that in young sedimented rifts, active magmatism occurs in a broader region than appreciated and releases carbon from the sediments.
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The protracted development of the continent-ocean transition in Afar -
Ian D. Bastow & Derek Keir
doi:10.1038/ngeo1095
The timing and style of magmatism and extension during the final stages of continental breakup are uncertain. Analysis of ongoing rifting processes in Ethiopia reveals that after a protracted period of extension by magma intrusion, late-stage breakup is characterized by a final phase of plate stretching and voluminous basalt extrusion.
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Articles
Young off-axis volcanism along the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge -
Jared J. Standish & Kenneth W. W. Sims
doi:10.1038/ngeo824
Mid-ocean ridges grow through tectonic and volcanic processes. Uranium-series dating of volcanic rocks at the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge reveals widely dispersed, young, off-axis volcanism that is spatially coincident with fault surfaces. Faults may therefore provide a mechanism for the wide dispersal of magma at ultraslow-spreading ridges.
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Broad accommodation of rift-related extension recorded by dyke intrusion in Saudi Arabia -
John S. Pallister, Wendy A. McCausland, Sigurjón Jónsson, Zhong Lu, Hani M. Zahran, Salah El Hadidy, Abdallah Aburukbah, Ian C. F. Stewart, Paul R. Lundgren, Randal A. White & Mohammed R. H. Moufti
doi:10.1038/ngeo966
Volcanic fields at the eastern margin of the Red Sea rift were regarded as seismically quiet until a swarm of 30,000 earthquakes struck in 2009. Geological analyses reveal the intrusion of a volcanic dyke and indicate that rift-related extension is spread over a broad region far from the rift axis.
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