upper crustal seismic structure of the slow spreading mid atlantic ridge 35 n constraints on volcanic emplacement processes 1 the upper crustal seismic structure of the slow spreading mid atlantic ridge is studied using a genetic algorithm based waveform inversion of multichannel streamer data four single ship multichannel profiles from 35 n are analyzed one in the rift valley and three in the rift mountains along 0 7 1 6 and 1 9 ma crust a layer 2a horizon is continuously imaged along three profiles and is associated with a sharp velocity increase from extrusives to dikes its depth and regularity in the rift valley indicate that most of the extrusive section is built on the inner valley floor through a pattern of deposition and fault bounded uplift into the rift mountains its variability along one line however shows that this process is disrupted during tectonically dominated periods a thickening of layer 2a toward the oceanographer fracture zone may be the result of along axis magma transport the interval of rapid velocity increase at the base of layer 2a thins with age a possible response to enhanced hydrothermal mineralization within the zone of mixed dikes and extrusives transition zone 200 m and off axis layer 2a thicknesses 350 600 m are similar to those at other spreading centers this indicates that equivalent extrusive volumes are produced at all spreading rates along a relatively narrow zone of dike emplacement however differences in on axis layer 2a thickness between this area and fast spreading ridges suggest that the exact pattern of thickening varies between spreading regimes relative to fast spreading ridges the moderate velocity increase with age recorded in the upper crust from 2 3 to 2 7 km s 1 within 2 myr may be due to a less active hydrothermal system and hence slower porosity reduction

drilling deep into young oceanic crust hole 504b costa rica rift hole 504b is by far the deepest hole yet drilled into the oceanic crust in situ and it therefore provides the most complete ground truth now available to test our models of the structure and evolution of the upper oceanic crust cored in the eastern equatorial pacific ocean in 5 9 m y old crust that formed at the costa rica rift hole 504b now extends to a total depth of 1562 3 m below seafloor penetrating 274 5 m of sediments and 1287 8 m of basalts the site was located where the rapidly accumulating sediments impede active hydrothermal circulation in the crust as a result the conductive heat flow approaches the value of about 200 mw m predicted by plate tectonic theory and the in situ temperature at the total depth of the hole is about 165 c the igneous section was continuously cored but recovery was poor averaging about 20 the recovered core indicates that this section includes about 575 m of extrusive lavas underlain by about 200 m of transition into over 500 m of intrusive sheeted dikes the latter have been sampled in situ only in hole 504b the igneous section is composed predominantly of magnesium rich olivine tholeiites with marked depletions in incompatible trace elements nearly all of the basalts have been altered to some degree but the geochemistry of the freshest basalts is remarkably uniform throughout the hole successive stages of on axis and off axis alteration have produced three depth zones characterized by different assemblages of secondary minerals 1 the upper 310 m of extrusives characterized by oxidative seafloor weathering 2 the lower extrusive section characterized by smectite and pyrite and 3 the combined transition zone and sheeted dikes characterized by greenschist facies minerals a comprehensive suite of logs and downhole measurements generally indicate that the basalt section can be divided on the basis of lithology alteration and porosity into three zones that are analogous to layers 2a 2b and 2c described by marine seismologists on the basis of characteristic seismic velocities many of the logs and experiments suggest the presence of a 100 to 200 m thick layer 2a comprising the uppermost rubbly pillow lavas which is the only significantly permeable interval in the entire cored section layer 2b apparently corresponds to the lower section of extrusive lavas in which original porosity is partially sealed as a result of alteration nearly all of the logs and experiments showed significant changes in in situ physical properties at about 900 1000 m below seafloor within the transition between extrusives and sheeted dikes indicating that this lithostratigraphic transition corresponds closely to that between seismic layers 2b and 2c and confirming that layer 2c consists of intrusive sheeted dikes a vertical seismic profile conducted during leg 111 indicates that the next major transition deeper than the hole now extends that between the sheeted dikes of seismic layer 2c and the gabbros of seismic layer 3 which has never been sampled in situ may be within reach of the next drilling expedition to hole 504b therefore despite recent drilling problems deep in the hole current plans now include revisiting hole 504b for further drilling and experiments when the ocean drilling program returns to the eastern pacific in 1991

deepening of the axial magma chamber on the southern east pacific rise toward the garrett fracture zone a wide aperture profile along the ridge axis from 14 29 s to 13 39 s 120 km to 30 km south of the garrett fracture zone is analyzed to constrain the thickness of layer 2a and the depth to the axial magma chamber reflector five areas along the 90 km line are examined in detail with several consecutive gathers being analyzed for each area to establish the degree of consistency within each area a genetic algorithm code is used to find a best fit model from a comparison of the data and wkbj synthetic seismograms one hundred starting models are generated using a predefined set of velocity nodes with a fixed window of allowable depth variations between nodes an evolutionary process favors the better fitting models in each generation and a satisfactory misfit is usually obtained within 40 generations within individual areas the models were in good agreement with the depth of a given velocity node generally varying by not more than 20 m the depth discretization interval for the models a consistent deepening trend of the axial magma chamber amc is observed across the five areas as the garrett fracture zone is approached the depth varies from 0 99 km at area 1 which is approximately 100 km south of the garrett to 1 23 km at area 5 which is approximately 40 km south of the garrett the depth to the axial magma chamber is highly sensitive to any ship wander off axis since layer 2a thickens rapidly off axis with age for the areas examined here layer 2a is observed to be relatively constant in thickness along the axis although it is about 40 m thicker over area 5 where the axial magma chamber is deepest this variation is within the scatter of previously detailed layer 2a measurements at 13 n on the east pacific rise where an effectively constant thickness is observed this implies that layer 2a thickening is not a significant factor along this profile and that the amc deepening is real rather than apparent theoretical modeling suggests that the depth to the lid of the axial magma chamber is related to the rate of heat supply at a given location thus the gradual consistent deepening of the axial magma chamber can be taken as an indication of a slightly reduced magma supply toward the garrett fracture zone which marks a major interruption of hundreds of kilometers of continuous ridge axis the deepening may also be interpreted as a downward limb from a central injection point however there is no indication of a similar downward trend in the other southern direction furthermore there is no accompanying systematic variation in axial depth or axial volume both of which are proposed to be indicators of central injection and along axis flow

three dimensional shallow crustal emplacement at the 9 03 n overlapping spreading center on the east pacific rise correlations between magnetization and tomographic images we report a three dimensional 3 d seismic reflection and tomographic survey conducted at the 9 03 n overlapping spreading center osc on the east pacific rise to understand crustal accretion at this feature inversions of travel time data from 19 ocean bottom hydrophones provide a 3 d image of the shallow velocity structure beneath the nontransform offset and associated discordance zone seismic analysis indicates that layer 2a thickness varies between 100 and 900 m and averages 430 m throughout the study area the heterogeneous upper crustal structure at the osc region contrasts with the simpler symmetric structure flanking the midsegments of the east pacific rise the crust affected by the osc migration carries evidence for the complex accretion at the axial discontinuity where the overlap basin may act as a lava pond an area of thick layer 2a covers the southern half of the overlap basin and the propagating ridge tip and shows good correlation with a high magnetization region comparison of the magnetic field anomaly derived from the seismic structure model with the observed sea surface magnetic anomaly suggests that a significant portion of the high magnetization can be related to magnetic source thickness variation rather than solely to the geochemistry of the volcanic rocks

tomographic image of the magma chamber at 12 50 n on the east pacific rise the east pacific rise at 12 50 n fig 1 is a fast spreading ridge with intense hydrothermal activity1 and ophiolite studies2and thermal modelling3 indicate that this is a likely setting for a magma chamber a recent seismic reflection experiment4 imaged the top of the magma chamber at this site at a depth of 1 4 km below the sea floor and found that it is continuous for tens of kilometres along the rise axis here we examine a large set of accurate p wave travel times from a detailed seismic refraction experiment at the same site5 the patterns observed in the travel times demonstrate that a zone of low seismic velocities exists beneath the rise axis throughout the region studied the best fitting two dimensional structure obtained from linear inversion of the travel times includes an axial low velocity zone magma chamber only 6 km wide in which velocities are depressed by more than 0 5 km s 1

variations in axial morphology along the galapagos spreading center and the influence of the galapagos hotspot the galapagos spreading center gsc is marked by systematic changes in axial morphology between the inca fracture zone fz at 85 5 w and the 95 5 w propagator we analyze these changes using new swath bathymetry and magnetic data acquired aboard the b o hesperides during the galapagos 96 experiment within 350 km of the galapagos hotspot the ridge axis is associated with an east pacific rise epr like axial high at increasing distance from the hotspot the axial high broadens and deepens forming a distinctive transitional axial morphology tam the axis in this transitional region is typically a broad zone 20 km wide consisting of very rough volcanic and fault generated topography west of 95 w this tam evolves into a 20 40 km wide 400 1500 m deep axial valley typical of the slow spreading mid atlantic ridge mar there is not an abrupt change from axial high to rift valley along the gsc but a distinct tam occurs over a distance of 200 300 km along axis and is accompanied by a gravity estimated crustal thickening of 1 2 km the boundary between an axial high and this tam is quite abrupt and occurs along a segment that is less than 9 km long these changes in axial morphology are primarily caused by variations in magma supply along the gsc due to the entrainment and dispersal of plume mantle from the galapagos hotspot however the changes in morphology are not symmetric about the galapagos fz at 91 w the axial high topography extends farther east of the 91 w fz than to the west and the rift valley which develops west of 94 w is not found at comparable distances along the gsc east of the hotspot axial depth variations are also asymmetric across the 91 w fz this asymmetry in both morphology and axial depth variation is attributed to a full spreading rate increase along the gsc from 46 mm yr at 97 w to 64 mm yr at 85 w off axis depth changes are symmetric about the 91 w fz and suggest that 15 40 of on axis depth variation is dynamically supported

seismic structure and anisotropy of the juan de fuca ridge at 45 n a seismic refraction experiment was conducted with air guns and ocean bottom seismometers on the juan de fuca ridge at 45 n at the northern cleft segment and at the overlapping rift zone between the cleft and vance segments these data determine the average velocity structure of the upper crust and map the thickness variability of the shallow low velocity layer which we interpret as the extrusive volcanic layer the experiment is unique because a large number of travel times were measured along ray paths oriented at all azimuths within a small 20 km by 35 km area these travel times provide evidence for compressional velocity anisotropy in the upper several hundred meters of oceanic crust presumed to be caused by ridge parallel fracturing compressional velocities are 3 35 km s in the ridge strike direction and 2 25 km s across strike travel time residuals are simultaneously inverted for anisotropy as well as lateral thickness variations in the low velocity layer extrusive layer thickness ranges from approximately 200 m to 550 m with an average of 350 m the zone of the thinnest low velocity layer is within the northern cleft segment axial valley in a region of significant hydrothermal activity layer thickness variability is greatest near the cleft vance overlapping rift zone where changes of 300 m occur over as little as several kilometers laterally these low velocity layer thickness changes may correspond to fault block rotations in an episodic spreading system where the low side of each fault block accumulates more extrusive volcanics

a multichannel seismic investigation of upper crustal structure at 9 n on the east pacific rise implications for crustal accretion reprocessed multichannel seismic profiles from the 9 n segment of the east pacific rise reveal prominent shallow subbasement events these events are identified as wide angle reflections from the base of seismic layer 2a based upon modeling of expanding spread profile data and velocity functions the layer 2a reflections typically increase from 0 15 s after the seafloor reflection at the rise axis to 0 3 0 45 s within 1 2 km of the axis corresponding to an increase in layer thickness of 200 600 m no further systematic increase in layer thickness is observed although lateral variability of the order of a few hundred meters in thickness is observed at greater offsets from the rise axis however the intermittent character of the imaged layer 2a reflection is attributed to focusing and defocusing of energy by the seafloor bathymetry rather than necessarily to intrinsic lateral variability at the base of the layer the base of layer 2a is interpreted as corresponding to the transition between the extrusive section pillow basalts and sheet flows and a sheeted dike complex the rapid thickening of the layer near the rise axis is attributed to successive lava flows burying the initially shallow top of the sheeted dike complex as the layer passes through the neovolcanic zone lateral variability of layer 2a can significantly affect the imaging of the underlying axial magma chambers as average velocities within layer 2a are approximately half that of layer 2b for an along axis profile apparent along axis variability in the depth of the axial magma chamber is traced to variability in the thickness of layer 2a caused by wandering of the profile relative to axis within the resolution of the data the time delay of the magma chamber reflection relative to the base of layer 2a is constant

seismic images of active magma systems beneath the east pacific rise between 17 05 and 17 35 s seismic reflection data from the east pacific rise between 17 059 and 17 359s image a magma lens that varies regularly in depth and width as ridge morphology changes confirming the notion that axial morphology can be used to infer ridge magmatic state however at 17 269s where the ridge is locally shallow and broad the magma lens is markedly shallower and wider than predicted from regional trends in this area submersible dives reveal recent volcanic eruptions these observations indicate that it is where the width and depth of the magma chamber differ from regional trends indicating an enhanced magmatic budget that is diagnostic of current magmatism

control of folding and faulting on fracturing in the zagros iran the kuh e sarbalesh anticline abstract the kuh e sarbalesh anticline fars region shows a strong and poorly studied curvature in the vicinity of the kazerun transfer zone here we investigated this structure by analyzing the orientation and distribution of fractures in the oligocene early miocene asmari formation a major reservoir rock of the zagros petroleum system and paleo burial conditions far away from the kazerun fault the orientation of fractures is similar to that observed in other folds in the zagros two tensional fracture sets f1 and f2 develop respectively parallel and perpendicular to the fold axis whereas two shear fracture sets dextral f3 and sinistral f4 develop at 30 from f2 closer to the kazerun fault f1 and f2 become less abundant whereas f3 fractures do prevail f3 dextral shear fractures are associated with dextral shear zones sz3 within sz3 sets of tensional fractures f5 occur f4 shear planes are less abundant than f3 sets and are sometimes associated with sinistral shear zones sz4 within sz4 sets of tensional fractures f6 occur the frequency of f3 and sz3 structures increases from south to north suggesting a control by dextral shear along the kazerun fault average fracture spacing is around 20 cm and fracturing saturation values is larger than 0 7 at 20 km distance from the kazerun fault whilst spacing is smaller than 1 cm and saturation is as low as 0 32 typical of well developed fracture systems close to the fault highlighting a strong strain gradient from south to north the orientation of f1 and f2 fracture sets changes from south to north according to the clockwise rotation of the northern part of the fold with respect to the southern part inorganic thermal parameters derived from x ray diffraction analysis of clay minerals indicate that the asmari formation was deformed at burial depths of 3 km assuming a geothermal gradient of 20 c km we suggest that the progressive differential advancement of the thrust front produced the curved shape of the kuh e sarbalesh anticline with associated rotation of the pre early folding f1 and f2 fracture sets observed in the field consistently with a dextral shear associated with the kazerun transfer fault

seismic structure of the southern east pacific rise seismic data from the ultrafast spreading 150 to 162 millimeters per year southern east pacific rise show that the rise axis is underlain by a thin less than 200 meters thick extrusive volcanic layer seismic layer 2a that thickens rapidly off axis also beneath the rise axis is a narrow less than 1 kilometer wide melt sill that is in some places less than 1000 meters below the sea floor the small dimensions of this molten body indicate that magma chamber size does not depend strongly on spreading rate as predicted by many ridge crest thermal models however the shallow depth of this body is consistent with an inverse correlation between magma chamber depth and spreading rate these observations indicate that the paradigm of ridge crest magma chambers as small sill like midcrustal bodies is applicable to a wide range of intermediate and fast spreading ridges

influence of magma supply and spreading rate on crustal magma bodies and emplacement of the extrusive layer insights from the east pacific rise at lat 16 n seismic reflection data from the east pacific rise at lat 16 n which is spreading at the high end of intermediate rates suggest that the depths at which axial magma chambers reside do not vary smoothly as a function of spreading rate rather magma chamber depths form two distinct populations each associated with a distinct axial morphology and with an abrupt transition occurring within the intermediate spreading rate range our data 1 show that the melt lens at high intermediate spreading ridges lies at a shallow level similar to lens depths at faster spreading ridges and 2 provide further support for the spreading rate invariance of ridges with axial highs noted in other ridge properties the axial morphology of the two ridge segments within the study area differs markedly and a large contrast in magma supply is inferred the ridge segment with greater magma supply is associated with a broader and more continuous melt lens a wider region over which the extrusive crust accumulates and a thicker extrusive layer off axis where supply to the ridge segment appears to be centered however on axis the extrusive layer is thinnest where magma supply is robust and a shallower melt lens is observed consistent with a model in which magma pressure controls the thickness of the extrusive layer accumulated above the magma lens

magmatic processes under mid ocean ridges a detailed mineralogic study of lavas from east pacific rise 9 30 n 10 30 n and 11 20 n 1 detailed petrologic study has been made for lavas from the northern east pacific rise epr 9 30 n 11 20 n and 10 30 n 9 30 n and 11 20 n have robust magma supply and a shallow melt lens while 10 30 n has nonrobust magma supply and no shallow melt lens lavas from all three localities are sparsely phyric and glassy containing plagioclase olivine pyroxene typically the lavas contain several to many up to seven distinct chemical groups of plagioclase that are not always distinct texturally the lavas may also contain up to three chemically distinct groups of olivine and two groups of pyroxene the lavas contain both individual crystals and groups comprising reticulate and dendritic clots that we interpret to represent bits of crystal networks forming in mushy zones of an axial magma chamber 21 of the 23 samples studied in detail have diverse crystal compositions and require mixing which most likely occurs when mostly liquid magma passes through mushy zones we find no significant systematic differences between robust and nonrobust segments in terms of their crystal content proportion of texturally distinct xenocrysts crystal size aspect ratio roundness modal abundance magma residence time number of diverse mineral chemical groups and characteristics of mixing like the total range of composition of disequilibrium minerals present and the magnitude of the chemical gaps between disequilibrium and equilibrium compositions this unexpected and remarkable similarity suggests that the presence or absence of a seismically imaged shallow melt lens has essentially no effect on the mineralogy of erupted lavas we conclude that the fundamentally important magmatic process under mid ocean ridges from slow to fast is the formation of crystal networks and their subsequent compaction the seismically detected shallow melt lenses likely contain highly evolved magma formed by expelled interstitial melt during crystal network compaction and play very little role in crustal accretion our conclusion implies that the thick 3 km low velocity zone near the base of the crust produces the thin 30 m shallow melt lenses not the other way around

the three dimensional seismic velocity structure of the east pacific rise near latitude 9 30 n three dimensional images of crustal seismic structure beneath the east pacific rise show pronounced axial heterogeneity over distances of a few kilometres a linear high velocity anomaly approximately 1 2 km in width and restricted to the uppermost 1 km of the crust is centred on the rise axis an axial low velocity anomaly at depths of 1 3 km varies in amplitude along the axis consistent with a zone of higher crustal temperatures midway between two discontinuities in the morphology of the rise axis this apparent thermal segmentation along axis is consistent with injection of mantle derived melt midway along a locally linear 12 km long segment of the rise

northern east pacific rise magnetic anomaly and bathymetric framework the oceanic crust in the eastern pacific between 7on and 30on and east of 127ow contains a fairly complete history of the spreading centers associated with the east pacific rise since 25 m y b p late oligocene in this paper we have summarized the seafloor spreading magnetic anomaly data and the bathymetric data that reflect the record of this tectonic history the well defined magnetic lineations north of the clarion fracture zone in the mouth of the gulf of california and on the east flank of the east pacific rise epr are carefully examined and used to provide a guide for interpreting the spreading pattern between the clarion and clipperton fracture zones southward of the rivera fracture zone over the mathematician ridge and over the entire epr east of the mathematician ridge between the rivera and siqueiros fracture zones the bathymetric data provide a trace of the fracture zone pattern in each of the above mentioned areas the fracture zone bathymetry and the seafloor spreading magnetic lineations on the epr south of the rivera fracture zone have a distinctive fanning pattern caused by close poles of rotation and plate boundary reorganizations all these data provide a good record of the plate reorganizations in the middle miocene at magnetic anomaly 5a time 12 5 to 11 m y b p in the late miocene at magnetic anomaly 3 4 time 6 5 m y b p and in the pliocene at magnetic anomaly 2 3 time 3 5 m y b p several abandoned spreading centers including the mathematician ridge were left behind as a result of these reorganizations the mathematician ridge is shown to be a set of ridges and trough whose origin is related to the tectonic activity associated with each of the above mentioned reorganizations since anomaly 5a

contribution of volcanism and tectonism to axial and flank morphology of the southern east pacific rise 17 10 17 40 s from a study of layer 2a geometry multichannel seismic images from the east pacific rise 17 10 17 40 s are used to study the geometry of seismic layer 2a in the near axis region wave equation datuming is applied to stacked common midpoint data to remove the distorting effects of seafloor topography on the layer 2a event processed stacks are compared with seafloor morphology and tectonic fabric imaged in side scan sonar data assuming layer 2a corresponds with the extrusive crust these data are used to study the relationship between volcanism and tectonism in the accumulation of the extrusive layer and to assess the contribution of extrusives to ridge crest and ridge flank morphology we find variations in axial thickening of layer 2a which imply twofold variation in the width of the extrusive layer accumulation zone as well as systematic changes in the pattern of accumulation of this layer on the ridge flanks the layer 2a horizon mimics abyssal hill relief consistent with a horst and graben origin for this topography short wavelength variations in the thickness of layer 2a are superimposed on this relief which we attribute to volcanic modification of tectonic topography at the edge of the neovolcanic zone the integrated off axis thickness of layer 2a is correlated with ridge cross sectional area and indicates persistent 100 000 years spatial gradients in extrusive layer thickness systematic changes in the cross axis shape of the ridge observed over distances of 5 10 km cannot be attributed to the extrusive layer and it appears that axial structure beneath the volcanics governs the cross axis morphology of the ridge

dsdp hole 504b the first reference section over 1 km through layer 2 of the oceanic crust hole 504b provides a reference section for correlation of in situ petrological and geophysical studies with regional crustal models based on dredged samples and remote surveys and at least for the medium spreading rate costa rica rift hole 504b confirms that the main features of the upper part of an idealized ophiolite sequence occurs in the oceanic crust

melt to mush variations in crustal magma properties along the ridge crest at the southern east pacific rise the determination of along axis variations in melt properties within the crustal axial magma chamber beneath fast spreading axes is important for understanding melt delivery from the mantle eruption history along the ridge crest and the process of crustal accretion seismic reflection images1 2 3 4 have shown the molten sill to be continuous along the ridge crest for many tens of kilometres with varying widths 250 4 500 m but variations in its seismic properties and thickness have remained elusive despite several attempts to constrain these properties5 6 7 here we report that the melt sill along the southern east pacific rise which is about 50 m thick undergoes abrupt changes in its internal properties ranging from pure melt to mush the 60 km long ridge crest segment near 14 00 s is characterized by three 2 4 km sections containing pure melt embedded within a magma chamber rich in mush these small pure melt pockets may represent a fresh supply of magma from the mantle capable of erupting and forming the upper crust conversely the 80 90 of the magma chamber which is mushy is unlikely to erupt and may influence the lower crustal accretion

seismic imaging of oceanic layer 2a between 9 30 n and 10 n on the east pacific rise from two ship wide aperture profiles we analyze two ship multichannel seismic wide aperture profiles wap acquired on the east pacific rise epr between 9 30 c and 10 n in may and june 1985 for offsets between 2 and 5 km most of the wap common depth point cdp gathers exhibit a strong retrograde reflection like seismic arrival that corresponds to rays turned within a very strong velocity gradient zone underlying the uppermost crustal layer 2a stacking of this postcritical arrival for hundreds of cdp gathers along the wap lines yields remarkably clear and virtually continuous images of the bottom of layer 2a for several tens of kilometers along and across the epr an innovative combination of this image with others of the seafloor sf and of the axial magma chamber amc provides an unusually clear composite picture of young upper crust we combine these images with detailed seismic velocity information also obtained from the cdp gathers to achieve an accurate determination of the layer 2a thickness in the area along the epr axis between 9 30 n and 10 n layer 2a shows a relatively constant thickness between 100 and 150 m 80 120 ms two way travel time across the axis however a line near 9 30 n indicates that layer 2a thickness rapidly increases by approximately a factor of 2 within 2 4 km of the axis and remains nearly constant afterwards thus the final thickness of layer 2a is attained before the development of large scale tectonic faulting strongly suggesting that the thickening of layer 2a away from the axis is due to successive episodes of volcanic activity increasing the thickness of the uppermost crustal section from the top rather than tectonic fracturing lowering the uppermost crustal seismic velocities and pushing the bottom of layer 2a downwards as the crust moves away from the axis

distribution of magma beneath the east pacific rise between the clipperton transform and the 9 17 n deval from forward modeling of common depth point data we have reprocessed seven cross axis common depth point cdp profiles between the clipperton transform and the 9 17 n deval deviation in axial linearity on the east pacific rise epr to understand the relationship between axial magma chamber amc width and seafloor morphology forward modeling of cross axis cdp profiles suggests a segmented amc in which significant variations in width occur across minor rise axis discontinuities e g devals the modeled rise segment widths bounded by the 9 53 n 9 35 n devals the 9 35 n 9 17 n devals and south of the 9 17 n deval were 0 7 km 1 0 1 2 km and 4 15 km respectively transition in amc width across these discontinuities is unclear due to the sparseness of cross axis line spacing however a simple association of devals with decreased magma supply is doubtful the minimum 250 m and maximum 4150 m amc widths are found near the 9 35 n and 9 17 n devals respectively the reprocessing of cdp profiles included repicking stacking velocities to ensure a proper stack of the amc reflector and its associated diffractions imaging postcritical reflections from the base of layer 2a finite difference time migration ray theoretical depth migration and travel time modeling of amc diffraction patterns constraints on amc width were derived from forward modeling techniques based on analytic raytracing velocity models were constructed from seabeam bathymetry and modified expanding spread profile esp velocity depth functions esp velocity models were altered to compensate for off axis thickening of layer 2a as imaged in the cdp reflection data continuous two dimensional velocity models constructed from modified esp velocity depth functions and seabeam bathymetry should account for ray bending at the seafloor basalt interface and any lateral velocity gradients induced by a thickening layer 2a stacked data were time migrated using a finite difference algorithm and extrapolated to depth using ray theoretical depth migration reflector positions were input into our forward modeling scheme to produce a zero offset travel time response of our migrated solution the travel time response was then overlain on the stacked section to ensure an adequate match especially to diffractions generated at the amc edge forward modeling of amc diffraction patterns reveals that original amc width estimates were too large the under migration of the amc reflector resulted from the conversion of stacking to interval velocities without accounting for topographic effects on individual cmp gathers thus resulting in improperly collapsed diffraction hyperbolae ship wandering relative to the amc edge can account for variations in amc reflector amplitude and dropout on the along axis cdp line the continuity of the amc appears unbroken across several ridge axis discontinuities between the clipperton transform and the 9 17 n deval which suggests an amc whose along axis dimension exceeds 75 km reflectivity modeling of cmp gathers suggests that the available data are consistent with a magma chamber comprising only a thin layer of melt overlying a zone of partially solidified crystal mush such a thin layer of melt might inhibit along axis mixing of magmas and thereby account for variations in magma composition along the rise crest this melt lens model for the amc would also produce strong diffraction patterns as imaged in the cdp data

relationship between spreading rate and the seismic structure of mid ocean ridges different parts of the global mid ocean ridge system create oceanic crust at rates that differ by more than a factor of ten the rates of supply of heat to these different systems must also vary substantially and it is this heat supply in the form of hot mantle material rising beneath the ridge axis that determines the nature of the magmatic tectonic and hydrothermal processes that control the production of new oceanic crust here we present evidence suggesting that a systematic relationship exists between the depth to zones of elevated temperature and partial melt beneath mid ocean ridges and their spreading rate recent seismic measurements provide robust determinations at six different locations of the depth to the top of the axial low seismic velocity zone which suggest that as full spreading rate decreases from 150 to 20 mm yr 1 the depth below the sea floor to the top of the lvz increases from 1 to 4 km although this relationship might arise in a number of ways our preferred explanation is that the major faults that extend to greater depths on slower spreading ridges1 allow a vigorous circulation of cooling sea water to reach greater depths blocking the upward migration of large melt bodies

constructing the crust along the galapagos spreading center 91 3 95 5 w correlation of seismic layer 2a with axial magma lens and topographic characteristics the seafloor and narrow 0 5 1 5 km cross axis width we also image a thin seismic layer 2a 0 24 0 42 km that thickens away from the ridge axis by as much as 150 west of 92 7 w the magma lens is deeper 2 5 4 5 km and wider 0 7 2 4 km and layer 2a is thicker 0 36 0 66 km and thickens off axis by 40 the positive correlation between layer 2a thickness and magma lens depth supports the interpretation of layer 2a as the extrusive volcanic layer with thickness controlled by the pressure on the magma lens and its ability to push magma to the surface our findings also suggest that narrower magma lenses focus diking close the ridge axis such that lava flowing away from the ridge axis will blanket older flows and thicken the extrusive crust off axis flow of lava away from the ridge axis is probably promoted by the slope of the axial bathymetric high which is largest east of 92 5 w west of 94 wt he transitional axial morphology lacks a prominent bathymetric high and layer 2a no longer thickens off axis we detect no magma lens west of 94 7 w where a small axial valley appears the above changes can be linked to the westward decrease in the magma and heat flux associated with the fading influence of the galapagos hot spot on the galapagos spreading center index terms 3035 marine geology and geophysics midocean ridge processes 7220 seismology oceanic crust 0935 exploration geophysics seismic methods 3025

morphology and segmentation of the western galapagos spreading center 90 5 98 w plume ridge interaction at an intermediate spreading ridge author posting american geophysical union 2003 this article is posted here by permission of american geophysical union for personal use not for redistribution the definitive version was published in geochemistry geophysics geosystems 4 2003 8515 doi 10 1029 2003gc000609

fine scale magnetic anomaly field over the southern juan de fuca ridge axial magnetization low and implications for crustal structure sea surface deep tow and submersible magnetic surveys show that the spreading axis of the cleft segment of the southern juan de fuca ridge sjdf is overlain by a distinctive magnetic anomaly low in contrast to the more typical magnetic anomaly high found over the adjacent vance segment and most mid ocean ridge spreading centers forward iterative thickness modeling based on the near bottom magnetic data shows that this axial magnetic low can be produced by a thin magnetic source layer beneath the cleft axial valley thick crust is required to produce the magnetic anomaly high over the vance axial valley this magnetic modeling demonstrates that variations in the base of the magnetic source layer which is assumed to be equivalent to the base of the extrusive lavas can produce a significant proportion of the observed short wavelength magnetic anomaly signal these magnetic layer thickness models also correlate quite well with nearby seismic results which show that seismic layer 2a thins beneath the axial valley of the cleft and is thicker beneath the vance axial valley recent seismic results over other fast and medium spreading rifts also show rapid changes in the thickness of the uppermost crust near the axis of spreading which could produce significant magnetic contrasts the results of this study and the correlation with independent seismic measurements suggest that while magnetization may vary due to geomagnetic behavior or because of petrology or alteration first order change in upper crustal thickness is one of the most important variables to consider in the production of fine scale magnetic anomalies in young ocean crust

seismic images of a magma chamber beneath the lau basin back arc spreading centre we present normal incidence seismic reflection profiles from a back arc spreading centre in the southern lau basin which show a bright mid crustal reflector beneath the ridge axis analysis of wide angle seismic data collected simultaneously with the reflection profiles shows that the reflector coincides with the top of a low seismic velocity zone we interpret the reflector as the top surface of a magma chamber the lau basin is one of only two places where a magma body has been clearly imaged beneath a spreading centre the other being the east pacific rise between 9 and 13 n ref 1 the lau basin reflector is imaged beneath an entire 35 km long ridge segment it is also present beneath both ridges and the overlap basin of a small overlapping spreading centre this is the first observation of a widespread magma body beneath an overlapping spreading centre and indicates that the offset here is not related to a break in continuity of the magma chamber

seismic structure and indicators of magma budget along the southern east pacific rise in this paper we re examine the relationship between seismically constrained variations in crustal structure along the southern east pacific rise sepr and the segment scale variations in axial depth morphology basalt geochemistry and hydrothermal activity that have often been attributed to along axis differences in the supply of magma to the mid ocean ridge along 800 km of the fast spreading sepr good correlations exist between axial depth ridge cross sectional area mantle bouguer anomaly and the mgo weight percent of basalts recovered from the rise axis these correlations indicate along axis changes in crustal thickness and temperature consistent with variations in magma supply on time scales of 100 000 years in contrast we show that the depth and width of the midcrustal magma sill the thickness of seismic layer 2a and the intensity of hydrothermal venting are poorly correlated with regional variations in ridge depth and cross sectional area we suggest that the emplacement geometry width of the intrusion zone and flow lengths not magma supply controls extrusive layer seismic layer 2a thickness we hypothesize that magma lens properties and hydrothermal activity are closely linked to spreading events dike intrusion eruptions faulting which occur on much shorter timescales 10 100 years than the longer term variations in magma supply reflected in along axis changes in the shape and depth of the ridge axis

impact of crustal evolution on changes of the seismic properties of the uppermost ocean crust one of the most important observations of oceanic crustal evolution is that the uppermost part of the igneous crust layer 2a appears to thin and eventually disappear as its seismic velocity doubles from approximately 2 2 to 4 5 km s 1 in the first 40 m y the most likely cause is decreasing porosity in extruded basalts that compose the uppermost igneous crust by filling cracks with hydrothermally generated minerals a by product of off axis hydrothermal circulation and alteration of basalts new insights from two recent papers on crustal hydrothermal circulation patterns and modeling of the effects of crack geometry distributions upon seismic velocities provide guidance to relate filling of cracks within the basement to seismic velocity increases a qualitative model of layer 2a crustal evolution is outlined that satisfies many geophysical and geochemical observations some seemingly unrelated somewhat surprisingly the crustal age at which layer 2a seismic velocities reach their maximum value is primarily controlled by the integrated permeability of the overlying sediment which in turn controls the hydrologic regime necessary for secondary mineral precipitation speculative predictions can be used to verify refine or invalidate this dynamic model of crustal evolution major scientific and technical obstacles must be overcome before a definitive model can be quantified with such a rigorous model of crustal upper crustal evolution in hand remote geophysical sensing tools can begin to fulfill the promise of interpreting the physical state composition and past history of oceanic crust

lava flow layer east pacific rise a multichannel seismic reflection profile across the east pacific rise near 9 n reveals an approximately 400 m thick layer at the top of the oceanic crust with seismic velocity of about 2 8 km s at the rise crest this velocity increases to about 3 8 km s 210 km east of the rise crest these low velocities suggest that this layer is probably a porous lava flow layer layer 2a of seismic refraction studies generated by volcanic activity at the spreading center reflections from the base of the layer imply a relatively sharp transition between the lava flows and the underlying layer presumably a sheeted dike complex the underlying layer is a zone about 1 4 km thick with velocity about 5 7 km s whose base may coincide with the top of a low velocity magma chamber from which the crust develops

asymmetric deep crustal structure across the juan de fuca ridge a multichannel line was shot across the endeavour segment of the juan de fuca ridge careful processing of 25 km of the line centered about the rise axis shows that young crustal structure is asymmetric an intermittent reflector from the top 1 km of crust follows topography on both the pacific and the juan de fuca plates it could be either the pillow basalt diabase dike contact or a metamorphic front within the pillow basalts a reflection exists 2 3 km below the rift valley floor diffractions from its edges indicate that the rift valley9s velocity structure is markedly different from the structure of the flanks the deep crustal structure is highly asymmetric moho exists within 4 km of the rift valley on the pacific plate in contrast to the juan de fuca plate which shows a reflector at intermediate depths dipping away from the rise to reach moho depth 12 km from the rift valley this reflector9s origin is enigmatic we speculate that the thermal history and structure of the two plates differ because of local differences in mantle structure caused by either ridge migration or a melting anomaly

microearthquakes on and near the east pacific rise 9 10 n records from a seismic network deployed as part of an active tomography experiment at 9 30 n on the east pacific rise epr provide an opportunity to characterize local microearthquake activity over an 8 day period with the exception of the region around the 9 03 overlapping spreading center osc no events were located on the rise axis one microearthquake located from p and s wave arrival times lies adjacent to the network 18 km to the west of the rise axis five more events located from p wave and t phase data are to the south of the network three cluster around the western arm of the 9 03 osc while two are located 25 30 km to the east of the osc the seismic moments of the microearthquakes range from 5 1019 to 4 1020 dyn cm several orders of magnitude larger than those reported in other studies of shallow events along the axis of the epr these results suggest that overlapping spreading centers may be the loci of substantial microearthquake activity and that at this location the normal faults that form on the young flanks of the epr are active off axis to distances of at least 20 km

seismic mapping of a magma chamber beneath the valu fa ridge lau basin we analyze a dense grid of seismic normal incidence and wide angle data collected over an active back arc spreading center in the lau basin of the southwest pacific our survey area covers the whole of a 35 km long morphological segment and a small overlapping spreading center a bright reflector which is coincident with a velocity inversion at a depth of 3 2 0 2 km below the seafloor is observed on every one of the 40 across axis profiles we interpret this reflector as being the roof of a crustal magma chamber the widest magma chamber reflector occurs beneath the overlapping spreading center where it extends up to 4 km being imaged beneath both ridges and in places beneath the overlap basin elsewhere the width of the reflector varies between 0 6 and 2 3 0 4 km the narrowest reflectors are observed beneath deviations devais of the ridge axis in addition to being observed on each of the kilometer spaced across axis profiles the reflector is also seen as a continuous event for at least 10 km on a profile along the ridge axis the reflection coefficient of the event is between 0 34 and 0 65 this requires the melt at the top of the chamber to have a p wave velocity less than 2 7 km s if the interface is planar or less than 3 8 km s if the interface is layered

effect of the galapagos hotspot on seafloor volcanism along the galapagos spreading center 90 9 97 6 w abstract studies along the mid atlantic ridge mar and east pacific rise epr show that seamount abundance is a strong function of spreading rate at the mar small axial seamounts are a dominant morphologic feature of the inner valley floor while at the epr seamounts are rarely observed within the neovolcanic zone the galapagos spreading center gsc provides an excellent location to test the influence of hotspot related magma supply variations on seamount formation at a relatively constant spreading rate in this study we use multibeam bathymetry data to examine the distribution of axial seamounts with distance from the hotspot along the gsc a numerical algorithm is developed to identify isolated volcanic edifices by searching bathymetry for closed concentric contours protruding above the surrounding seafloor seamount populations are fit with a maximum likelihood model to estimate the total number of seamounts per unit area and the characteristic seamount height the number of seamounts in the axial zone decreases significantly as the galapagos hotspot is approached varying from mar like abundances west of 95 5 w to epr like abundances east of 92 7 w the along axis variation in seamount density corresponds to a change in lava flow morphology from dominantly pillow flows in the west to a combination of pillows and sheet lobate flows in the east these changes in volcanic style suggest a transition from point source to fissure fed eruptions as magma supply increases we find no evidence for along axis variations in lava viscosity and therefore interpret the differences in seamount abundance and flow morphology to indicate an increase in effusion rates approaching the hotspot comparing seamount abundance with axial morphology crustal thickness and the presence and depth of an axial magma chamber amc we find that the transition from point source to fissure fed eruptions is most sensitive to the presence of a steady state amc in summary the correlation between seamount abundance lava morphology and magma supply at the gsc suggests that effusion rate is directly related to the presence of a steady state crustal magma chamber

variations in oceanic crustal structure and implications for the fine scale magnetic anomaly signal marine magnetic anomalies are traditionally modelled using a constant thickness source layer usually defined as the extrusive lavas associated with seismic layer 2a recent seismic studies reveal that the thickness of layer 2a can vary by more than a factor of two an observation which has important implications for the magnetic anomaly source layer we model deep tow magnetometer data from the endeavour segment of the northern juan de fuca ridge in combination with nearby seismic data and find a positive correlation between the thickness of the seismically defined layer 2a and the magnetic anomaly source layer this suggests that short wavelength magnetic anomalies observed within individual magnetic polarity units can arise from variations in the thickness of the extrusives rather than geomagnetic field variations or secondary magnetization

structure of young oceanic crust at 13 n on the east pacific rise from expanding spread profiles we present the results of the analysis of expanding spread profiles esps collected on and near the axis of the east pacific rise at 13 n these profiles were collected at 0 1 1 2 1 3 6 and 9 5 km from the rise axis and all but the most distant profile show a distinct low velocity zone lvz located within layer 3 of the oceanic crust at the ridge crest the top of the magma chamber is at the base of layer 2 while 3 6 km off axis the roof of the lvz is 1 1 km below the top of layer 3 the profile farthest from the ridge could possibly have a residual lvz confined to the lower 1 5 km of the crust the total width of the lvz as determined from the esp data is at least 6 km and possibly much greater this wide lvz apparently contradicts multichannel seismic data which show cross axis reflections from the magma chamber with a width of 5 km we suggest that a resolution of this apparent contradiction lies in a model of the rise axis with a small and transient central magma chamber of high partial melt fraction surrounded by a much larger and permanent region of hot rock with only isolated pockets of partial melt the esp data are sensitive to this larger region while the reflection data accurately map the presence or absence of the central magma chamber with its high impedance contrast we identify the presence of a layer at the top of the oceanic crust with initial p wave velocities between 2 35 and 2 6 km s while the s wave velocity is estimated as being 0 8 km s the layer thickness lies between 100 and 200 m these velocities are consistent with previous estimates for the pacific and recent results for the atlantic the thickness of this layer is consistent with that of layer 2a determined from geophysical measurements at deep sea drilling project hole 504b

distribution of magma beneath the east pacific rise near the 9 03 n overlapping spreading center from forward modeling of common depth point data we have reprocessed six cross axis and three along axis common depth point cdp profiles near the 9 03 n overlapping spreading center osc to understand the relationship between axial magma chamber amc width and seafloor morphology travel time modeling of the amc reflector reveals an asymmetric distribution of melt across the 9 03 n osc the variation of modeled amc width beneath either osc limb is minimal but the width increases nearly fourfold across the offset attaining an estimated maximum width of 4 15 km near the 9 17 n ridge axis discontinuity additionally melt distribution underlying the eastern rise limb is not symmetric with respect to the rise axis neovolcanic zone but is displaced toward the western rise flank depth migration based on a continuum velocity model consistent with postcritical reflections from the base of layer 2a places the skewed amc reflector beneath a nearly constant thickness sheeted dike section which dips 10 away from the rise axis to confirm amc continuity beneath the western rise flank we use the maslov synthetic seismogram method to show that amplitude enhancement of the amc reflector is consistent with a continuous melt body underlying a thickening extrusive layer analysis of along strike cdp profiles indicates an amc which is neither overlapping nor discontinuous when projected onto the along strike plane identifying intracrustal events on along axis cdp lines however requires extreme caution we have modeled out of plane scattering using a kirchhoff formulation and we show that a coherent event identified beneath the overlap basin results from diffraction off the amc which lies nearly 3 km to the west of the profile we attribute the asymmetric pattern of melt to a decoupling of melt supply from preexisting weaknesses in the brittle upper crust in this model melt ascends upward buoyancy forces until deflected by the impermeable sheeted dike complex melt then migrates updip beneath the base of the sheeted dikes toward the neovplcanic zone where fissuring produces a temporary conduit for emplacement discrete jumps in modeled amc width toward the overlap basin represent a further displacement defocusing of melt supply western amc edge relative to the neovolcanic zone eastern amc edge the asymmetric pattern of melt therefore represents a gradual en echelon accommodation of melt supply across the 9 km of ridge axis offset at 9 03 n thus for asymmetric configurations amc width may not correlate solely with magmatic robustness but may signify the amount of decoupling which exists between melt supply and extrusive emplacement within the neovolcanic zone here we present a new model for osc development which invokes a significant component of cross axis melt migration moreover abrupt changes in amc width near ridge axis discontinuities e g 9 17 n deviation in axial linearity suggest that any along axis melt migration is confined to subsegments of the ridge and seem to preclude the segment length migration of melt proposed in some current models the transition of melt supply beneath the overlap basin might favor a continuous low velocity zone underlying this feature if true basin development may be related to the subsidence of a mechanically weak crustal lid the proposed model for osc development therefore views ridge axis discontinuities as the surficial response of misalignment and or defocusing of melt supply in the uppermost mantle