oceanic ridge

oceanic ridge, any of several continuous submarine mountain chains rising from the ocean floor. Individually, oceanic ridges are the largest features in ocean basins. Collectively, they form the oceanic ridge system, which extends approximately 80,000 km (50,000 miles) through all the world’s oceans and thus constitutes the most prominent feature on Earth’s surface after the continents and the ocean basins themselves. In the past the ridges were referred to as mid-ocean ridges, but, as will be seen, the largest oceanic ridge, the East Pacific Rise, is far from a mid-ocean location, and the nomenclature is thus inaccurate. Oceanic ridges are not to be confused with aseismic ridges, which have an entirely different origin.

Principal characteristics

Oceanic ridges are found in every ocean basin and appear to girdle Earth. The ridges rise from depths near 5 km (3 miles) to an essentially uniform depth of about 2.6 km (1.6 miles) and are roughly symmetrical in cross section. They can be thousands of kilometres wide. In places, the crests of the ridges are offset across transform faults within fracture zones, and these faults can be followed down the flanks of the ridges. (Transform faults are those along which lateral movement occurs.) The flanks are marked by sets of mountains and hills that are elongate and parallel to the ridge trend.

New oceanic crust (and part of Earth’s upper mantle, which, together with the crust, makes up the lithosphere) is formed at seafloor spreading centres at these crests of the oceanic ridges. Because of this, certain unique geologic features are found there. Fresh basaltic lavas are exposed on the seafloor at the ridge crests. These lavas are progressively buried by sediments as the seafloor spreads away from the site. The flow of heat out of the crust is many times greater at the crests than elsewhere in the world. Earthquakes are common along the crests and in the transform faults that join the offset ridge segments. Analysis of earthquakes occurring at the ridge crests indicates that the oceanic crust is under tension there. A high-amplitude magnetic anomaly is centred over the crests because fresh lavas at the crests are being magnetized in the direction of the present geomagnetic field.

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The depths over the oceanic ridges are rather precisely correlated with the age of the ocean crust; specifically, it has been demonstrated that the ocean depth is proportional to the square root of crustal age. The theory explaining this relationship holds that the increase in depth with age is due to the thermal contraction of the oceanic crust and upper mantle as they are carried away from the seafloor spreading centre in an oceanic plate. Because such a tectonic plate is ultimately about 100 km (62 miles) thick, contraction of only a few percent predicts the entire relief of an oceanic ridge. It then follows that the width of a ridge can be defined as twice the distance from the crest to the point where the plate has cooled to a steady thermal state. Most of the cooling takes place within 70 million or 80 million years, by which time the ocean depth is about 5 to 5.5 km (3.1 to 3.5 miles). Because this cooling is a function of age, slow-spreading ridges, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, are narrower than faster-spreading ridges, such as the East Pacific Rise. Further, a correlation has been found between global spreading rates and the transgression and regression of ocean waters onto the continents. About 100 million years ago, during the early Cretaceous Period when global spreading rates were uniformly high, oceanic ridges occupied comparatively more of the ocean basins, causing the ocean waters to transgress (spill over) onto the continents, leaving marine sediments in areas now well away from coastlines.

Besides ridge width, other features appear to be a function of spreading rate. Global spreading rates range from 10 mm (0.4 inch) per year or less up to 160 mm (6.3 inches) per year. Oceanic ridges can be classified as slow (up to 50 mm [about 2 inches] per year, intermediate (up to 90 mm (about 3.5 inches) per year, and fast (up to 160 mm per year). Slow-spreading ridges are characterized by a rift valley at the crest. Such a valley is fault-controlled. It is typically 1.4 km (0.9 mile) deep and 20–40 km (about 12–25 miles) wide. Faster-spreading ridges lack rift valleys. At intermediate rates, the crest regions are broad highs with occasional fault-bounded valleys no deeper than 200 metres (about 660 feet). At fast rates, an axial high is present at the crest. The slow-spreading rifted ridges have rough faulted topography on their flanks, while the faster-spreading ridges have much smoother flanks.

Distribution of major ridges and spreading centres

Oceanic spreading centres are found in all the ocean basins. In the Arctic Ocean a slow-rate spreading centre is located near the eastern side in the Eurasian basin. It can be followed south, offset by transform faults, to Iceland. Iceland has been created by a hot spot located directly below an oceanic spreading centre. The ridge leading south from Iceland is named the Reykjanes Ridge, and, although it spreads at 20 mm (0.8 inch) per year or less, it lacks a rift valley. This is thought to be the result of the influence of the hot spot.

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Atlantic Ocean

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge extends from south of Iceland to the extreme South Atlantic Ocean near 60° S latitude. It bisects the Atlantic Ocean basin, which led to the earlier designation of mid-ocean ridge for features of this type. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge became known in a rudimentary fashion during the 19th century. In 1855 Matthew Fontaine Maury of the U.S. Navy prepared a chart of the Atlantic in which he identified it as a shallow “middle ground.” During the 1950s the American oceanographers Bruce Heezen and Maurice Ewing proposed that it was a continuous mountain range.

In the North Atlantic the ridge spreads slowly and displays a rift valley and mountainous flanks. In the South Atlantic spreading rates are between slow and intermediate, and rift valleys are generally absent, as they occur only near transform faults.

Indian Ocean

A very slow oceanic ridge, the Southwest Indian Ridge, bisects the ocean between Africa and Antarctica. It joins the Mid-Indian and Southeast Indian ridges east of Madagascar. The Carlsberg Ridge is found at the north end of the Mid-Indian Ridge. It continues north to join spreading centres in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. Spreading is very slow at this point but approaches intermediate rates on the Carlsberg and Mid-Indian ridges. The Southeast Indian Ridge spreads at intermediate rates. This ridge continues from the western Indian Ocean in a southeasterly direction, bisecting the ocean between Australia and Antarctica. Rifted crests and rugged mountainous flanks are characteristic of the Southwest Indian Ridge. The Mid-Indian Ridge has fewer features of this kind, and the Southeast Indian Ridge has generally smoother topography. The latter also displays distinct asymmetric seafloor spreading south of Australia. Analysis of magnetic anomalies shows that rates on opposite sides of the spreading centre have been unequal at many times over the past 50 million or 60 million years.