INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF FAST-SPREAD OCEANIC CRUST

bathymetry spreading center

Bathymetric map of the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise, spreading segments, transforms, overlapping spreading centers, and abyssal hills.

upper oceanic crust

Generalized columnar section of the upper oceanic crust.

rock units

Examples of major rock units exposed in tectonic windows in fast-spread crust.

geology of upper crust

Summary of the geology of the upper oceanic crust based on investigations of tectonic windows and deep crustal drilling.

mid-ocean ridge diagram

Schematic diagram summarizing inferred spreading processes at fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges. Subsidence and tilting of lavas and sheeted dikes requires dramatic mass redistribution in the underlying axial magma chamber (AMC) and low velocity zone (LVZ).

spreading processes

Summary of spreading processes at fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges based on available geological and geophysical information.