Insights on the Nature of the Geophysical Crust at a Melt-starved Slow-spreading Mid-oceanic Ridge

Abstract:

Of the 7200 km long very slow-spreading (14 mm/yr) Southwest Indian ridge (SWIR), which forms the plate boundary between Africa and the Antarctic, the easternmost portion represents an endmember of the global mid-ocean ridge system in terms of low melt supply. It is characterized by 30 to 70 km-wide corridors of nearly amagmatic spreading, separating domains of focused volcanic activity. Our study concerns one of these amagmatic corridors. Volcanic features that typically characterize other ridge systems are scarce and the seafloor is mostly made of exhumed mantle-derived sepentinized periodotites. Long-offset detachment faults are proposed to be responsible for exhumation, and provide the context for serpentinization. In this poster presentation, we use seismic constraints to discuss the kilometer-scale characteristics of the geophysical crust formed at the melt-poor divgergent plate boundaries. To supply these constraints, we use seismic data acquired during the recent Sismosmooth cruise (2014; E64^o20' to E65^o). We show seismic reflection results from three 2D coincident across-axis lines, and two 2D axis-parallel lines processed in a self-similar manner and merged to improve the information content. From these, we show evidence for the expression of the active detachment fault responsible for mantle exhumation. This fault can be followed to ~ 7.7 km at depth. To give an insight to the nature of the subsurface, we examine tomography results from wide-angle seismic refraction data, which suggests a thin geophysical crust. This is similar to models of geophysical crust proposed from gravity studies in the study area.