Divergent Boundaries:

Origin and Evolution of the

Ocean Floor

Chikyu – a state of the art scientific drilling vessel

In the News: Project Mohole
• Project Mohole – a 1960’s drilling project to attempt
to reach the Moho layer.
▫ Was meant to be complement the Space Race.
• A new goal has been set to reach the Moho by 2020.
▫ Using the drilling rig Chikyu (which was recently
damaged by the tsunami).
• They say the funding and technology to achieve the
feat won’t be available until 2018.
• Goal is to acquire unaltered samples of the mantle.
The Ocean
• The ocean is Earth’s most prominent feature.
▫ Covers more than 70% of its surface.
• Prior to the 1940s, information about the seafloor
was extremely limited.
▫ Remember, Wegener’s hypothesis of continental drift
was rejected partly due to lack of information about
the seafloor.
• Over the years, technologic advancements have
allowed us to become quite familiar with the ocean
floor.
Mapping the Seafloor
• The complexity of the seafloor was not realized until
the historic 3½ year voyage of the HMS Challenger
(December 1872 – May 1876).
▫ The Challenger expedition made the first
comprehensive study of the global ocean ever
attempted.
• Challenger sampled various ocean properties,
including water depth.
▫ This was achieved by lowering LONG weighted lines
overboard.
Bathymetry
• Bathymetry – the measurement of ocean depths
and the charting of the shape or topography of sea
floors.
▫ Challenger was the first broad-scale effort in
bathymetry.
• Bathos = depth
• Metry = measurement
Modern Bathymetric Techniques
• Today, sound energy is used to measure water depth.
• The basic approach employs sonar.
▫ SOund NAvigation and Ranging
• How SONAR works:
▫ Transmission of a sound wave (PING)
▫ Contact with seafloor
▫ Reflection and receipt of reflected
sound wave
▫ Measure of time elapsed
▫ Calculation of seafloor depth
Advancements in SONAR Technology
• In the 1990’s, high-resolution multibeam instruments
were produced.
▫ This allowed a survey ship to map a swath of ocean
floor tens of miles wide.
▫ [Compared to previous sonar which only obtained the
depth of a single point every few seconds.]
• When multibeam sonar is used to map sections of the
ocean floor, the ship travels in a regularly spaced
back-and-forth pattern known as “mowing the lawn”.
Seismic Reflection Profiles
• Marine geologists are not only interested in the
topography of the seafloor.
▫ The also want to view the rock structure beneath the
sediments covering the seafloor.
• This is accomplished by making a seismic reflection
profile.
Seismic Reflection Profile
• How to make one:
▫ Strong, low frequency sounds are produced by
explosions (depth charges) or air guns.
▫ The sound waves penetrate the seafloor and reflect
off the boundaries between rock layers and fault
surfaces.
▫ The resulting image is similar to an X-ray in which
geologists can make assertions.
Viewing the Ocean Floor from Space
• Measuring the shape of the ocean’s surface from
space has led to an enhanced understanding of
the seafloor.
• After compensating for waves, tides, currents, and
weather, it was discovered that the water’s surface
is not perfectly “flat”.
▫ WHY NOT?
• Because massive structures such as seamounts
and ridges exert stronger than average
gravitational attraction, they produce elevated
areas on the ocean surface.
▫ In contrast, canyons and trenches create slight
depressions.
• This was discovered by satellites equipped with
radar altimeters.
▫ They are capable of measuring subtle differences
(as small as centimeters) in sea level by bouncing
microwaves off of the sea surface.
• Data from these satellites has added greatly to our
knowledge of the ocean-floor topography.
• Combined with traditional methods (sonar), the data
are used to produce detailed ocean-floor maps.
Provinces of the Ocean Floor
• Because of the amounts of information provided, we
can now map out different areas on the seafloor.
• Oceanographers studying the topography of the
ocean floor identify 3 major areas:
▫ Continental margins
▫ Deep-ocean basins
▫ Oceanic (mid-ocean) ridges
Continental Margins
• There are two types of continental margins:
passive and active.
• Overview:
▫ Passive –
 Atlantic and Indian Oceans Coasts
 Consist of continental crust capped with weathered
materials eroded from adjacent landmasses.
▫ Active –
 Anywhere oceanic crust is subducted underneath
continental crust (most notably the Pacific Rim).
 Usually bounded by deep ocean trenches.
Passive Continental Margins
• The features found on a passive continental
margin include the:
▫ Continental shelf
▫ Continental slope
▫ Continental rise
Continental Shelf
• The continental shelf is a gently sloping,
submerged surface extending from the shoreline
toward the deep-ocean basin.
• Because it is underlain by continental crust, it is
clearly a flooded extension of the continents.
Continental Shelf
• Varies greatly in width.
▫ Although along some coastlines it is nonexistent, the
shelf can extend up to 930 miles seaward along
others.
• On average, the shelf is about 50 miles wide, and
the very edge is about 425 feet deep.
▫ This results in an inclination of about 0.1% - a slope
so slight that it would appear horizontal.
Continental Shelf
• The continental shelf tends to be relatively
featureless.
▫ However, some areas are covered by glacial
deposits.
• In addition, some shelves are dissected by large
valleys running from the coastline into deeper
waters.
▫ These were made during the last Ice Age
(Pleistocene Epoch) when enormous amounts of
water were caught up in the ice sheets.
Continental Shelves During Ice Ages
• Sea level dropped by an estimated 300 feet during
the last Ice Age.
• Because of this drop, rivers extended their courses and
land-dwelling plants and animals migrated to the newly
exposed portions of the continents.
• Ancient remains of mammoths, mastodons, and
horses have all been found off the coast on
continental shelves.
Continental Shelf
• The continental shelves represent only 7.5% of the
total ocean area.
▫ However, they are politically and economically significant
because they contain important mineral deposits and
support important fishing grounds.
• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea:
▫ Up until 2009, all nations had the opportunity to claim
any extension of their continental shelf beyond the
normal 200 nautical miles.
 Up to 350 nautical miles.
▫ Russia was the first to file a claim in 2001.
Continental Slope
• Marking the seaward edge of the continental shelf is
the continental slope.
▫ A relatively steep structure that marks the boundary
between continental crust and oceanic crust.
• Although the inclination of the continental slope varies
greatly from place to place, it averages about 5°.
▫ In some places, it exceeds 25°.
Continental Rise
• The continental slope merges into a more gradual
incline known as the continental rise.
▫ The continental rise may extend seaward for hundreds
of miles.
• Consists of a thick accumulation of sediment that
has moved down the continental slope and onto the
deep-ocean floor.
Continental Rise
• Most of the sediments which create a continental rise
are delivered to the seafloor by turbidity currents.
▫ Turbidity currents flow down submarine canyons.
Turbidity Currents
• A muddy slurry of seafloor sediment that usually is
generated by a coastal storm.
▫ Travels from continental shelf to the abyssal plain via
submarine canyons.
▫ They can accumulate to form continental rises.
• When they emerge from the mouth of a canyon
onto the relatively flat ocean floor, they deposit
sediment that forms a deep-sea fan.
▫ Deep-sea fans can also merge with other fans to
produce a continual continental rise in areas.
Active Continental Margins
• Along active continental margins, the continental
shelf is very narrow (if it even exists at all).
▫ Here, the continental slope descends abruptly into a
deep-ocean trench.
 In these settings, the landward wall of a trench and the
continental slope are the same feature.
• Located primarily around the Pacific Ocean in areas
where oceanic lithosphere is being subducted
beneath continental crust.
Active Continental Margins
• At subduction zones (active margins), sediments from
the ocean floor and pieces of oceanic crust are
scraped from the descending oceanic plate and
plastered against the edge of the overriding continent.
▫ This chaotic accumulation of deformed sediment and
scraps of oceanic crust is called an accretionary wedge.
• The longer the oceanic plate has been subducting, the
thicker the accretionary wedge.
Active Continental Margins
• Along some active margins, there is little to no
sediment accumulation (no accretionary wedge).
▫ This would mean that the sediment is being carried into
the mantle with the subducting plate.
• The absence of an accretionary wedge tends to occur
where old lithosphere is subducting nearly vertical
into the mantle.
▫ In these locations, the continental margin is very
narrow (a trench may lie as close as 30 miles offshore).
The Deep-Ocean Basin
• Between the continental margin and the oceanic
ridge (mid-oceanic ridge) lies the deep-ocean basin.
• The size of the deep-ocean basin is comparable to
the percentage of land above sea level.
▫ About 30% of Earth’s surface
Features of the Deep-Ocean Basin
• This region includes:
▫ Deep-ocean trenches – extremely deep linear
depressions in the ocean floor;
▫ Abyssal plains – remarkably flat areas;
▫ Seamounts and guyots;
▫ Oceanic plateaus – large flood basalt provinces
Deep-Ocean Trenches
• Deep-ocean trenches are long, relatively narrow
creases in the seafloor that represent the deepest
parts of the ocean floor.
• Most trenches are located along the margins of the
Pacific Ocean.
▫ Here, many trenches exceed 6 miles (10 kilometers) in
depth.
• One portion of the Marianas Trench (the Challenger
Deep) has been measured at 36,163 feet deep.
Deep-Ocean Trenches
• Not all deep-ocean trenches are located in the
Pacific Ocean.
• There are two trenches located in the Atlantic
Ocean:
▫ Puerto Rico Trench
▫ South Sandwich Trench
Deep-Ocean Trenches
• Trenches are sites of tectonic plate convergence
where slabs of oceanic lithosphere subduct and
plunge back into the mantle.
• Earthquakes are generated along these trenches as
one plate “scrapes” against another.
• Volcanic activity is also associated with these
regions.
Volcanism and Deep-Ocean Trenches
• Trenches are often paralleled by an arc-shaped row
of active volcanoes.
▫ This is called a volcanic island arc.
• Volcanic island arcs begin on the seafloor and can
eventually accumulate to form islands.
▫ Example?
• When this type of volcanism occurs on a continent,
it is then known as continental volcanic arc.
▫ Examples?
Marianas Trench
• 1580 miles long; 43 miles wide
• 6.85 miles deep at its deepest point (Vityaz-1 Deep)
• If you could put Mt. Everest into the Marianas
Trench, there would still be over 1 mile of water left
above it.
• Tremendous pressures exist in the trench.
▫ Over 1,000 times more than sea level.
Trieste
• The only manned vessel to reach the deepest
known part of the oceans on Earth.
• On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard (son of Swiss
scientist who designed the Trieste) and Don Walsh
(of the US Navy) reached a depth of 35,814 feet.
▫ This was the first time a vessel, manned or
unmanned, had reached the deepest point of the
Earth’s oceans.
Voyage of the Trieste
• Descent to the seafloor: 4 hours, 48 minutes
▫ A few minutes before reaching the bottom, the
Plexiglass window panes cracked, shaking the entire
vessel.
• Piccard and Walsh spent ~20 minutes on the ocean
floor noticing flounder swimming around.
▫ Snacking on chocolate bars
▫ Cabin temperature was now 45°F
• Ascent to surface: 3 hours, 15 minutes
Marianas Trench as Nuclear Dump
• Like other ocean trenches, the Mariana trench
has been proposed at a nuclear waste site
dump.
• Being a subduction zone, the nuclear waste
would slowly be pushed into the Earth’s mantle.
▫ Technically this is feasible, but such dumping is
barred by international law.
Abyssal Plain
• The word abyssal is derived from:
▫ a = without & byssus = bottom
• Abyssal plains are deep, flat features.
• They are likely to be the most level places on Earth.
▫ Example – The abyssal plain off the coast of Argentina
has less than 10 feet of relief over a distance of 800
miles.
Why so flat?
• Seismic reflection profiles have allowed marine
geologists to determine that the very flat abyssal
plains are likely due to thick accumulations of
sediment.
▫ These thick layers of sediment have buried the
rugged ocean floor making it appear flat.
Abyssal Plains
• Abyssal plains are found in all of the oceans.
• However, the Atlantic Ocean has the most extensive
abyssal plains.
▫ Why?
 There are few trenches to trap sediment traveling down
the continental slope. It all ends up on the abyssal plain.
Seamounts
• Dotting the seafloor are submarine volcanoes called
seamounts.
▫ They may rise several hundreds of feet above the
surrounding topography.
• It is estimated that over one million seamounts exist.
▫ When accounting for any elevation above seafloor.
Seamounts
• Seamounts come in all shapes and sizes.
▫ Conical, flat-topped, large and low
• Follow a distinct sequence of growth, activity, and
death (inactivity).
• Recently, an active Hawaiian seamount (Loihi) has
been observed.
▫ Helps us understand the evolution of seamounts.
Dangers of Seamounts
• Some seamounts have not been mapped.
▫ People know they are there via word of mouth, but
officially have not been put on navigational maps.
• In 2005, the submarine USS San Francisco ran into an
uncharted seamount at a speed of 35 knots (40 mph).
▫ Sustained serious damage and lost one seaman.
Seamounts
• Some grow large enough to become oceanic islands,
but most do not have a sufficiently long eruptive
history to build a structure above sea level.
• Although seamounts are found on the floors of all
the oceans, they are most common in the Pacific.
Formation of Seamounts
• Some seamounts, like the Hawaiian Island –
Emperor Seamount Chain, form over volcanic hot
spots due to mantle plumes.
▫ Others are born near oceanic ridges.
• If a seamount reaches sea level, it is then known
as an island.
▫ Atlantic Ocean seamount islands: Azores, Ascension,
Tristan de Cunha group, and St. Helena.
Destruction of Seamounts/Islands
• When a seamount reaches/exceeds sea level as an
island, it is immediately subjected to the forces of
weathering and erosion.
▫ In addition, islands gradually sink and disappear back
below sea level as the moving tectonic plate slowly
carries them away from the elevated oceanic ridge or
hot spot where they were formed.
• Submerged, flat-topped seamounts formed by these
processes are called guyots or tablemounts.
Oceanic Plateaus
• The ocean floor also contains several massive
oceanic plateaus.
▫ These resemble flood basalt provinces (large regions)
on the continents like Deccan Traps, Columbia River
Basalts, etc.
• Oceanic plateaus are created by vast outpourings of
fluid basaltic lavas on the ocean floor.
Anatomy of the Oceanic Ridge
• Along well-developed divergent plate boundaries, the
seafloor is elevated.
▫ This forms a broad linear swell called the oceanic ridge,
or a mid-ocean ridge.
• We know about oceanic ridge systems thanks to:
▫ SONAR
▫ Core samples from deep-sea drilling
▫ Analysis of slices of ocean floor that have been thrust
onto dry land during continental collisions (ophiolites).
▫ Visual inspection using deep-diving submersibles
Alvin
• Weighs 16 tons
• 24’ long
• Cruising speed: 1.15 mph
• Depths of 2.5 miles
• 3 man crew
▫ 1 pilot
▫ 2 observers
• 6 – 10 hour dives
Features of Oceanic Ridge Systems
• At oceanic ridges, we find:
▫ Extensive normal and strike-slip faulting
▫ Earthquakes
▫ High heat flow
▫ Volcanism
Oceanic Ridge System
• The oceanic ridge system winds through all major
oceans in a manner similar to the seam on a
baseball.
• It is the longest topographic feature on Earth.
▫ 43,000 miles long
• The crest of the ridge typically stands 6 – 10 feet
above the adjacent deep-ocean basin.
• It marks the plate boundary where new oceanic
crust is being created.
A misleading term…
• Ridge is somewhat misleading –
▫ Ridges usually refer to narrow and steep features.
• Oceanic ridges have widths of 0.5 to 2.5 miles and
appear to be broad, elongated rugged swells of
basaltic rocks.
• Also, the oceanic ridge system is broken into
segments that are offset by transform faults.
Oceanic Ridges
• Oceanic ridges are as high as some mountains on
the continents; but the similarities end there.
• Oceanic ridges consist of layers and piles of newly
formed basaltic rocks that are buoyantly uplifted by
the hot mantle rocks from which they formed.
▫ Divergent boundaries = new oceanic crust
Oceanic Ridges and Seafloor Spreading
• The greatest volume of magma (more than 60%
of Earth’s total yearly output) is produced along
that oceanic ridge system.
▫ Due to seafloor spreading.

Slow Spreading Rate Fast Spreading Rate

Interactions Between Seawater &
Oceanic Crust
• Results:
▫ Dissipation of Earth’s internal heat
▫ Alteration of both seawater and oceanic crust
• Oceanic crust is permeable and highly fractured.
▫ This allows seawater to reach depths of 1 – 1.5 miles
• As seawater circulates through the hot, new crust, it is
heated and chemically reacts with the basaltic rock by
a process called hydrothermal metamorphism.
• This causes dark silicates in the basalt to form new
metamorphic minerals like chlorite and serpentine.
▫ At the same time, the hot seawater dissolves ions from
the hot basalts.
• When the water temperature reaches a few hundred
degrees, these mineral-rich fluids rise along fractures
and eventually spew out onto the ocean floor.
Black Smokers
• Studies conducted by submersibles have
photographed these metallic-rich solutions as the
gushed onto the seafloor to form particle-filled
clouds called black smokers.
• As the particle-filled, mineral-rich clouds condense
in the cold seawater, they form economically
important deposits of minerals.
Continental
Rifting –
The Birth of a
New Ocean Basin
Evolution of an Ocean Basin
• The opening of a new ocean basin begins with the
formation of a continental rift.
▫ An elongated depression along which the entire
lithosphere is stretched and thinned.
▫ Examples: East African Rift, Basin & Range Province
• In settings where rifting continues, the rift system
evolves into a young, narrow ocean basin.
▫ Example: Red Sea
• Continued rifting results in formation of a mature
ocean basin.
▫ Example: Atlantic Ocean
East African Rift
• The East African Rift is a continental rift that
extends through eastern Africa for 2,000 miles.
▫ It consists of several interconnected rift valleys.
• Whether this rift will eventually develop into a
spreading center is uncertain.
• In the early stages of rifting, magma rose to the
surface creating volcanic cones.
▫ Examples – Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro
Red Sea
• Research suggests that if spreading continues, a
rift valley will lengthen and deepen, eventually
extending to the margin of the continent.
▫ At this point, the rift becomes a narrow linear sea
with an outlet to an ocean.
Atlantic Ocean
• If spreading continues, the Red Sea will grow
wider and develop an elevated oceanic ridge
similar to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
• As new oceanic crust is added to the diverging
plates, the original rift gradually recedes from the
region of upwelling.
▫ As a result, it cools, contracts, and sinks.
Atlantic Ocean
• Over time, continental margins subside below sea
level and material eroded from the adjacent
highlands cover this once rugged topography.
▫ The result is a passive continental margin.
Note:
• Not all continental rift valleys develop into full-fledged
spreading centers.
• In the central US, a failed rift extends from Lake
Superior into Kansas.
▫ This once active rift valley is filled with sediments and
volcanic rock that was extruded onto the crust more
than a billion years ago.
• Why one rift valley develops into a full-fledged active
spreading center while others are abandoned is not
fully understood.