Mid-Ocean Ridge in the Mouth of the Gulf of Aden

Abstract

FOR the past thirty years it has been assumed that the seismically active structure of the Carlsberg Ridge is connected with the seismically active East African Rift System through the Gulf of Aden. Details of this connexion have emerged during the International Indian Ocean Expedition1–3, but sounding and magnetic profiles in the entrance to the Gulf of Aden have been too sparse to determine the line of the median structure. The track that R.R.S, Discovery followed during Cruise 16 in March 1967 (Fig. 1) was designed to criss-cross the epicentre belt and fill in this gap, Bathymetrie and magnetic data obtained confirmed the existence of a mid-ocean ridge structure in the Gulf of Aden west of the Owen Fracture Zone; we suggest the name “Sheba ridge” be given to this feature.