The Transition from Initial Rifting to Ultra-Slow Seafloor Spreading within Endeavor Deep

Endeavor Deep is a NW-SE trending, 3 km-deep rift basin located along the divergent portion of the Nazca/Juan Fernandez plate boundary. The rift basin is the result of the propagation of the East Ridge toward the northwest with relative motion across the ridge defined by a rapidly rotating (5.5 degrees/myr) Euler Pole located ~100 km to the northwest. The close proximity of Endeavor Deep to this Euler Pole results in a rapidly varying velocity field along the length of the deep and represents a unique location to study the effect of varying divergence rates on initial crustal extension. Recently collected EM300 bathymetry, DSL120 sidescan, surface-towed magnetics and JASON II observations have documented 4 distinct stages of rifting along the 70 km length of Endeavor Deep. These stages include (from NW to SE): amagmatic rifting, distributed initial volcanism, centralized waxing volcanism, and crustal formation by ultra-slow seafloor spreading. Amagmatic extension, evolving to rifting, occurs at spreading rates less than 13 km/myr and is characterized by rapidly deepening rift depths from NW to SE with an overall increase in depth of about 2.5 km. Extension is accommodated over a width of about 10-15 km and some flexural uplift of the defining scarps is observed. Distributed initial volcanism occurs at spreading rates from 13-14 km/myr and is characterized by coalesced volcanic constructs (100-200 m-high, 1-2 km-wide) across the width of the rift floor. The depth of the rift basin becomes fairly constant, but the cross-sectional area of the deep continues to increase. Centralized waxing volcanism occurs at spreading rates from 14-17 km/myr and is characterized by pillow ridges and tectonic lineations along the central portion of the rift floor which are oriented parallel to the long axis of the rift basin (orthogonal to the direction of extension). The floor of the rift basin begins to shoal and the cross-sectional area of the deep decreases initially and then maintains a constant area. At spreading rates greater than ~17 km/myr, true seafloor spreading begins and is characterized by a well-formed central magnetic anomaly and zero-age depths comparable to mid-ocean ridges spreading at similar rates.