1993 Articles

Morphology of a 'Superfast' Mid-Ocean Ridge Crest and Flanks: The East Pacific Rise, 7°- 9° S

Cochran, James R.; Goff, John; Malinverno, Alberto; Fornari, Daniel J.; Keeley, Christopher; Wang, Xuejin

Detailed bathymetric data from a Hydrosweep multibeam sonar survey of a 250 km-long portion of the 'superfast'- spreading southern East Pacific Rise crest and flanks show that the along-axis variation in morphology and axial depth differs significantly from that observed at the fast-spreading northern East Pacific Rise. While the deep mantle upwelling pattern is similar under the northern and southern East Pacific Rise, our observations require that the connectivity of the shallow, subcrestal plumbing system be more efficient beneath the 'super-fast' spreading southern East Pacific Rise than beneath the slower spreading northern East Pacific Rise.