Deformation processes at fast to ultra-fast oceanic spreading axes: mechanical approach

Abstract

The morphology of fast to ultra-fast oceanic spreading ridges such as the East Pacific Rise (EPR) is characterized by an axial dome, 5–10 km wide, culminating at 300–500 m above the surrounding seafloor. This dome is bounded by lateral grabens that develop systematically 2 to 6 km apart from the spreading axis. A large summit trough, 200 m to 2 km wide, locally notches the axial high, only where the dome is inflated, indicative of a time-average robust magma supply. This summit trough is thought to represent an elongated axial summit caldera (ASC) created as a result of the subsidence of the top of the axial magma chamber (AMC). Such subsidence is likely caused by a temporary decrease in melt supply into the shallow magma reservoir suffering continuous regional extension. Analog experiments using small-scale modeling have been performed in order to better constrain the tectonic evolution of the axial region. The experimental apparatus includes an elongated balloon filled with water as an analog of the magma reservoir set in a central groove in a table. It is capped with a silicone layer representing hot rocks below the brittle–ductile transition and is covered by a sand layer representing the brittle crust. The experiments integrate withdrawal of the balloon and extension at the boundary of the model by the mean of two mobile walls. Three experimental setups allowed us to study independently the mechanical parameters controlling the axial tectonic evolution: extension without withdrawal, withdrawal without extension, withdrawal and synchronous extension. We show that the morphology of the EPR axis can be considered as the result of both horizontal and vertical movements. Two symmetrical lateral grabens develop on both sides of a non-deformed axial dome when single extension is applied to a model with a thin silicone layer. Normal faults of the lateral grabens are rooted on two divergent velocity zones (DVZs) located on the edges of the groove. This situation is regarded as an analog of the natural case where the top of the AMC acts as a stress-free boundary that fails to transmit the extensional stresses to the upper brittle layer. An important deflation of the balloon without extension results in the creation of a central collapse trough limited by reverse faults. During synchronous extension and withdrawal, the initiation of the lateral grabens is favored by a balloon deflation, even if such deflation is unable to generate a superficial collapse. This last case is considered as representative of the evolution of EPR segments showing little variations in melt supply into the AMC. Higher deflation rates under continuous extension correspond to EPR segments undergoing strong variations in melt supply. In such experiments, the lateral grabens are created together with a central collapse trough developing in a way similar to that of experiments involving only balloon deflation. Finally, we show that DVZs located at the brittle–ductile boundary are the key mechanical elements which may explain the structural evolution of the axial region of fast to ultra-fast spreading ridges. The distance from axis and the width of the DVZs directly control the location and the distribution of the lateral grabens.