Opening of Hess Deep Rift at the Galapagos Triple Junction

At the Galapagos triple junction, the westward propagating Cocos‐Nazca (C‐N) Rift breaks into ~0.5 Ma crust accreted at the East Pacific Rise. Rifting transitions to full magmatic seafloor spreading in the wake of the propagating tip. The 25‐km‐long Hess Deep rift is the transitional segment from ri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2018-05, Vol.45 (9), p.3942-3950
Main Authors: Smith, Deborah K., Schouten, Hans
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Escarpments
Galapagos microplate
Galapagos Triple Junction
Identification
Lava
Magma
mid‐ocean ridges
Ocean floor
oceanic detachment faults
oceanic triple junctions
Propagation
Ridges
Rifting
Rock
Rocks
Seafloor spreading
Spreading
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Summary:At the Galapagos triple junction, the westward propagating Cocos‐Nazca (C‐N) Rift breaks into ~0.5 Ma crust accreted at the East Pacific Rise. Rifting transitions to full magmatic seafloor spreading in the wake of the propagating tip. The 25‐km‐long Hess Deep rift is the transitional segment from rifting to spreading. Intrarift ridge (IRR), located within Hess Deep rift, is interpreted as a detachment fault, which exhumes deep‐seated rocks to the seafloor. Although transitional segments must have occurred throughout the westward propagation of C‐N Rift, IRR is the only obvious detachment fault along the base of the Rift scarps in the last ~5 Ma of its propagation. IRR formation may be in response to a decrease in spreading rate (~40 to
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/2018GL077555