Bathymetry of the north Greenland Sea

Abstract

The Mid-Oceanic Ridge is a continuous tectonic feature over 40,000 miles in length. The portion of the ridge system which passes through the Greenland Sea is found to be well developed. The Mid-Oceanic Ridge in the north Greenland Sea is characterized by a deep rift valley, which lies just seaward of the Svalbard continental margin. The rift mountains are present to the west of the rift; however, perhaps due to burial, they are barely discernible to the east of the ridge. The Mid-Oceanic Ridge, between 79° and 81°N, is offset 300 miles to the northwest by the Spitsbergen Fracture Zone. This seismically active, complex zone apparently strikes to the northwest diagonally across the “Nansen Sill” and exists as a trench just seaward of the continental margin of northeast Greenland. Two northwest-southeast striking seismic-fracture zones, whose movement appears to be dominantly vertical, lie parallel and to the south of the Spitsbergen Fracture Zone. Two small abyssal plains, located at 75° and 77°N, are separated by the spectacular Greenland Fracture Zone. This has caused a 300-fathom depth difference in the plain levels.