Mapping absolute migration of global mid-ocean ridges since 80 Ma to Present

The Structure of Mid-Ocean Ridges

Mid-ocean ridges provide an important window into the processes of mantle convection and magmatism. The formation, cooling, and eventual subduction of oceanic lithosphere dominate both the large-scale dynamics of the upper mantle and the Earth’s global heat loss. The melt generated during pressure-release melting of the upwelling mantle beneath mid-ocean ridges contributes most of the annual ma...

Magma Flow at Mid-Ocean Ridges

Liquid water is not stable under current martian surface conditions, but the presence of small gullies on the polewardfacing slopes of midto highlatitude martian surfaces suggests that erosion by liquid water might have occurred. Costard et al. (p. 110) developed a global climate model for Mars when it had a higher obliquity (about 300,000 years ago). Their model shows that more melting of the ...

A Self-Consistent Model of Melting, Magma Migration and Buoyancy-Driven Circulation Beneath Mid-Ocean Ridges

Numerical modeling and anMysis are used to investigate the processes leading to the eruption of mantle-derived magma at mid-ocean ridges. Our model includes the following effects: melting due to decompression, magma migration by percolation, and circulation of the mantle driven by both the oceanic plates and the distribution of buoyancy beneath the ridge. The distribution of buoyancy is due to ...

Microbial Ecology of Mid-Ocean Ridges and Back-Arc Basins

Over the past two decades, microbiologists have gained significant insights into the diversity and physiology of microbial communities associated with deep-sea hydrothermal systems. Much of the initial research focused on mid-ocean ridge (MOR) systems; however, because of the greater heterogeneity of vent fluid chemistry and sulfide structures from back-arc basin (BAB) systems, recent studies h...

Tectonic, Magmatic, Hydrothermal and Biological Segmentation of Mid-Ocean Ridges