Seafloor spreading on the Amsterdam-St. Paul hotspot plateau

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research 2000-04, Vol.105 (B4), p.8263-8277
• Main Authors: Conder, James A., Scheirer, Daniel S., Forsyth, Donald W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Geophysics: general, magnetic, electric and thermic methods and properties; Internal geophysics; Marine
• ISSN: 0148-0227; 2156-2202
• DOI: 10.1029/1999JB900406

The Amsterdam‐St. Paul (ASP) platform on the intermediate rate Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR) is the only oceanic hotspot plateau outside the Atlantic Ocean containing an active, mid‐ocean ridge spreading axis. Because the ASP hotspot is small and remotely located, it has been relatively unstudied, and the ridge axis location in many places near the ASP plateau was previously unknown or ambiguous. We mapped the SEIR out to 1 Ma crust (Jaramillo anomaly) both on and near the ASP platform. We located the spreading center to within a few kilometers, based on side‐scan sonar reflectivity. Recent off‐platform magnetic anomalies and lineated abyssal hill topography are consistent with a simple spreading history. Off‐platform full spreading rates increase from ∼63 km/Myr on segment H to the north of the platform to ∼65.5 km/Myr on segment K to the south. In contrast, inversions of seafloor magnetization based on uniform and variable thickness magnetic source layers reflect a complex on‐platform tectonic history with ridge jumps, off‐axis volcanism, and propagating rifts. On one section of the ASP plateau the spreading location has stabilized and is beginning to rift the plateau apart, generating symmetric magnetic anomalies and lineated topography for the last several hundred thousand years. The larger, more stable, spreading segments of the ASP platform are aligned with major volcanic edifices, suggesting that along‐axis magma flow away from plume‐fed centers is an important influence on spreading geometry. Many complex tectonic features observed on the ASP plateau, such as ridge jumps, en echelon, oblique spreading centers, and transforms oblique to the spreading direction, are comparable to features observed on Iceland. The similarities suggest that moderate crustal thickening at an intermediate rate spreading center may have similar effects to pronounced thickening at a slow rate spreading center.