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Ridges that spread at rates <20 mm/yr are referred to as ultraslow spreading ridges [3] [13] (e.g., the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean and the Southwest Indian Ridge). The spreading center or axis commonly connects to a transform fault oriented at right angles to the axis.
(The rate at which new oceanic lithosphere is added to each tectonic plate on either side of a mid-ocean ridge is the spreading half-rate and is equal to half of the spreading rate). Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast, intermediate, or slow. As a general rule, fast ridges have spreading (opening) rates of more than 90 mm/year ...
This was sufficient to allow computing of spreading rates over the last 700,000 years on many mid-ocean ridges by locating the closest reversed crust boundary to the crest of a mid-ocean ridge. [11] Marine magnetic anomalies were found later to span the vast flanks of the ridges. [9]
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North American from the Eurasian plate and the African plate , north and south of the Azores triple junction .
The ridge is a medium rate spreading center, moving outwards at a rate of approximately 6 centimetres (2.4 in) per year. [14] Tectonic activity along the ridge is monitored primarily with the U.S. Navy's Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) array of hydrophones, allowing for real time detection of earthquakes and eruptive events. [10]
The rift transitioned from a continental rift to an oceanic rift. [1] Magnetic anomalies suggest that the spreading rate on either side of the Red Sea is about 1 cm/year. The African plate has a rotation rate of 0.9270 degrees/Ma (million years), while the Arabian plate has a rotation rate of 1.1616 degrees/Ma. [2]
The Southeast Indian Ridge (denoted by the yellow line) The Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR) is a mid-ocean ridge in the southern Indian Ocean.A divergent tectonic plate boundary stretching almost 6,000 km (3,700 mi) between the Rodrigues triple junction) in the Indian Ocean and the Macquarie triple junction) in the Pacific Ocean, the SEIR forms the plate boundary between the Australian and ...
Separating the African (or Nubian–Somali plates) and Antarctic plates, the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) stretches 7,700 km (4,800 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. With an average spreading rate of 14–15 millimetres per year (0.55–0.59 in/year), the SWIR is one of the slowest-spreading mid-ocean ridges on Earth.