Seismic evidence for uniform crustal accretion along slow-spreading ridges in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean

Zhikai Wang () and Satish C. Singh
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Zhikai Wang: Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS
Satish C. Singh: Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The crustal accretion along mid-ocean ridges is known to be spreading-rate dependent. Along fast-spreading ridges, two-dimensional sheet-like mantle upwelling creates relatively uniform crust. In contrast, the crust formed along slow-spreading ridges shows large along-axis thickness variations with thicker crust at segment centres, which is hypothesised to be due a three-dimensional plume-like mantle upwelling or due to focused melt migration to segment centres. Using wide-angle seismic data acquired from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean, here we show that the crustal thickness is nearly uniform (~5.5 km) across five crustal segments for crust formed at the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge with age varying from 8 to 70 Ma. The crustal velocities indicate that this crust is predominantly of magmatic origin. We suggest that this uniform magmatic crustal accretion is due to a two-dimensional sheet-like mantle upwelling facilitated by the long-offset transform faults in the equatorial Atlantic region and the presence of a high concentration of volatiles in the primitive melt in the mantle.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35459-z

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