Crustal structure of the flanks of the East Pacific Rise: Implications for overlapping spreading centers
Abstract
Tomographic inversion of seismic refraction data from the flanks of the East Pacific Rise (EPR), 17°15'S, shows that the thickness of layer 2 varies by as much as 500 meters off axis. A thick layer 2 is found in crust affected by migration paths of overlapping spreading centers (OSC). However, no significant variation in crustal thickness is detected throughout the study area. The crustal structure differences documented in this paper are primarily related to this paleo-tectonic setting rather than the east-west asymmetries characteristic of this region of the southern EPR.
- Publication:
-
Geophysical Research Letters
- Pub Date:
- June 1998
- DOI:
- 10.1029/98GL51590
- Bibcode:
- 1998GeoRL..25.2213B
- Keywords:
-
- Marine Geology and Geophysics: Midocean ridge processes;
- Marine Geology and Geophysics: Marine seismics (0935);
- Seismology: Oceanic crust;
- Tectonophysics: Tomography