Finding chaos in abyssal hills

Abstract

The abyssal hills which occur all over the floors of the world's oceans are generated at faults at mid-ocean-ridge spreading centres. There are two principal but largely incompatible ways of considering the genesis and subsequent pattern of these hills — one largely taken by physical modellers, the other by observationalists. A new numerical physical model of faulting at mid-ocean ridges produces a satisfyingly realistic abyssal-hill morphology, and will help to reconcile the two different viewpoints.