Travertine and Mid-Ocean Ridges Are Related Analogues Regarding Geographical Location and Sedimentary Model

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 ...

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...

Mid-ocean ridges: discontinuities, segments and giant cracks.

Geological observations reveal that mid-ocean ridges are segmented by numerous rigid and nonrigid discontinuities. A hierarchy of segmentation, ranging from large, long-lived segments to others that are small, migratory, and transient, determines the pattern and timing of creation of new ocean floor. To the extent that spreading segments behave like giant cracks in a plate, the crack propagatio...

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