mid-ocean ridges

Birth of the viru microplate triggered by Pacific-Farallon plate reorganization

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Satellite gravity map of the southeastern Pacific Ocean showing spreading ridges, fracture zones and the Viru Microplate study area.

The Viru Microplate study uses high-resolution satellite gravity data together with new shipboard bathymetry to reveal a previously unknown episode of chaotic seafloor spreading between 44 and 28 million years ago at the Pacific-Farallon plate boundary. This episode produced a newly identified microplate, named the Viru Microplate, along with ridge jumps and propagating spreading ridges. … Read more…

Geology: Submarine volcanism along shallow ridges did not drive Cryogenian cap carbonate formation

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The termination of Neoproterozoic “Snowball Earth” glaciations is marked globally by laterally extensive neritic cap carbonates directly overlying glacial diamictites. The formation of these unique deposits on deglaciation calls for anomalously high CaCO3 saturation. A popular mechanism to account for the source of requisite ocean alkalinity is the shallow-ridge hypothesis, in which initial spreading ridges … Read more…