Spreading rate dependence of three-dimensional structure in oceanic spreading centres

Abstract

SEGMENTATION by transform faults and other types of along-axis discontinuity1 is a well described but poorly explained characteristic of oceanic spreading centres. Here we use numerical experiments to explore the dynamics of mantle flow and melting beneath a mid-ocean ridge. Buoyant upwelling, driven by compositional density variations resulting from the extraction of the melt that forms the ocean crust, exhibits a spreading-rate-dependent transition between two-dimensional and three-dimensional upwelling structures. For low spreading rates and mantle viscosities an initial two-dimensional structure transforms into a three-dimensional one; at high spreading rates, an initially two-dimensional structure remains two-dimensional. These results suggest that the origin of spreading-centre segmentation may be different at fast and slow spreading rates.