Plate Tectonics reading list 2
Growth of oceanic crust: Testing the ophiolite model at fast- and slow-spreading mid-ocean
ridges. Important questions include: How is oceanic crust formed at different classes of
spreading ridges (fast vs. slow), and what are the major mechanisms involved in crustal growth
in these two environments? What would a crustal cross section (Ophiolite) from each of these
two spreading environments look like, and how do these cross sections compare with the
classic ophiolite stratigraphy outlined in Moores and Twiss (Chapter 5, Fig. 5.27 modified from
Moores, 1982)?
Background reading assigned to everyone:
Chapter 5 of Moores, E.M., and Twiss, R.J., 1995, Tectonics: W. H. Freeman & Company, New
York, 415 p.
Papers to be presented:
Macdonald, K.C., Fox, P.J., Perram, L.J., Eisen, M.F., Haymon, R.M., Miller, S.P., Carbotte,
S.M., Cormier, M.-H., and Shor, A.N., 1988, A new view of the mid-ocean ridge from the
behaviour of ridge axis discontinuities, Nature, v. 335, p. 217–225.
Stinton, J.M., and Detrick, R.S., 1992, Mid-ocean ridge magma chambers: Journal of
Geophysical Research, v. 97, no. B1, p. 197–216.
Smith, D.K., and Cann, J.R., 1993, Building the crust at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Nature, v. 365,
no. 6448, p. 707–715.
Small, C., 1998, Global systematics of mid-ocean ridge morphology, in Buck, W.R., Delaney,
P.T., Karson, J.A., and Lababrielle, Y., eds., Faulting and magmatism at mid-ocean ridges:
Washington, D.C., American Geophysical Union monograph 106, p. 1–25.
MacDonald, K.C., 1998, Linkages between faulting, volcanism, hydrothermal activity and
segmentation on fast spreading centers, in Buck, W.R., Delaney, P.T., Karson, J.A., and
Lababrielle, Y., eds., Faulting and magmatism at mid-ocean ridges: Washington, D.C.,
American Geophysical Union monograph 106, p. 27–58.
Escartín, J., Cowie, P.A., Searle, R.C., Allerton, C., Mitchell, N.C., MacLeod, C.J., and
Slootweg, A.P., 1999, Quantifying tectonic strain and magmatic accretion at a slow
spreading ridge segment, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 29°N: Journal of Geophysical Research, c.
104, no. B5, p. 10,421–10,437.