The sea floor at the easternmost Southwest Indian mid-ocean ridge is smooth, unlike that at other mid-ocean ridges. Sonar imaging and analysis of rock samples show that the sea floor here is composed almost entirely of sea-water-altered mantle rocks that have been brought to the surface by large faults on both sides of the ridge axis over the past 11 million years.
- Daniel Sauter
- Mathilde Cannat
- Roger Searle
