Magmatic and amagmatic seafloor generation at the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge, Arctic Ocean
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A high-resolution mapping and sampling study of the Gakkel ridge was accomplished during an international ice-breaker expedition to the high Arctic and North Pole in summer 2001. For this slowest-spreading endmember of the global mid-ocean-ridge system, predictions were that magmatism should progressively diminish as the spreading rate decreases along the ridge, and that hydrothermal activity should be rare. Instead, it was found that magmatic variations are irregular, and that hydrothermal activity is abundant. A 300-kilometre-long central amagmatic zone, where mantle peridotites are emplaced directly in the ridge axis, lies between abundant, continuous volcanism in the west, and large, widely spaced volcanic centres in the east. These observations demonstrate that the extent of mantle melting is not a simple function of spreading rate: mantle temperatures at depth or mantle chemistry (or both) must vary significantly along-axis. Highly punctuated volcanism in the absence of ridge offsets suggests that first-order ridge segmentation is controlled by mantle processes of melting and melt segregation. The strong focusing of magmatic activity coupled with faulting may account for the unexpectedly high levels of hydrothermal activity observed.
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Very slow (< 2 cm/yr) and slow (< 5.5 cm/yr) spreading ridges have deep median rift valleys and thin oceanic crust at the spreading axis, whereas intermediate (> 5.5 cm/yr) and fast (> 10 cm/yr) spreading ridges have more subdued topography at the ridge axis and generate relatively thicker crust.
“Specifically, very slow (< 2 cm/yr) and slow (< 5.5 cm/yr) spreading ridges have deep median rift valleys and thin oceanic crust at the spreading axis (Michael et al., 2003), whereas intermediate (> 5.5 cm/yr) and fast (> 10 cm/yr) spreading ridges have more subdued topography at the ridge axis and generate relatively thicker crust (Chen, 1992).”
From Secular change and the onset of plate tectonics on Earth (2020) · cites this paper as Michael et al., 2003
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Secular change and the onset of plate tectonics on Earth
Palin, R. M., Santosh, M., Cao, W., Li, S.-S., Hernández-Uribe, D., & Parsons, A. (2020) · Earth-Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103172 · Cited by 355 · see citing works
“Specifically, very slow ( 2 cm/yr) and slow ( 5.5 cm/yr) spreading ridges have deep median rift valleys and thin oceanic crust at the spreading axis (Michael et al., 2003), whereas intermediate (> 5.5 cm/yr) and fast (> 10 cm/yr) spreading ridges have more subdued topography at the ridge axis and…”
BackgroundInfluentialComposition of the Oceanic Crust
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- Authors
- Michael, P. J., Langmuir, C. H., Dick, H. J. B., Snow, J. E., Goldstein, S. L., Graham, D. W., Lehnert, K., Kurras, G., Jokat, W., Mühe, R., & Edmonds, H. N.
- Affiliations
- University of Tulsa (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US)
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (US)
- Oregon State University (US)
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Michael, P. J.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2003-06
- Volume
- 423
- Issue
- 6943
- Pages
- 956-961
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1976868752
- Cited by
- 433
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 24.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- nrs.harvard.edu
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) (acceptedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Civil War Book Review (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar-und Meeresforschung (Alfred-Wegener-Institut) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geology › Geological and Geophysical Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geology › Geological Studies and Exploration
- Keywords
- Gakkel Ridge, ridge axis, ridge segmentation, mantle melting, melt segregation, hydrothermal activity, magmatism, faulting, Arctic Ocean
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