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Thermal minima along the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Nature volume 282, pages 370–375 (1979)Cite this article

Abstract

Mid-Atlantic Ridge basalts erupted near fracture zones seem to have lower quenching temperatures than along unfractured ridge segments probably because of enhanced cooling by exposing magmas to colder fault planes and more intense seawater circulation. The cooling effect is most pronounced along segments over hotspots with close ridge displacement fabric and recurrent rift jumping, probably reflecting additional complications, including subaxial magma flow about ‘plumes’, or the presence of an unusually large magma chamber on the Azores Platform and the southern part of the Iceland Plateau.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, 02881

    J.-G. Schilling & H. Sigurdsson

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  1. J.-G. Schilling
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  2. H. Sigurdsson
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Schilling, JG., Sigurdsson, H. Thermal minima along the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Nature 282, 370–375 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/282370a0

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