AGU Fall Meeting special session, New Perspectives on Hydrothermal,
Volcanic, and Tectonic Processes at Ultraslow Spreading Mid-ocean Ridges
Deadline for abstract submissions is September 5, 2002
For abstract submission form go to:
http://submissions3.agu.org/submission/entrance.asp
General information about the Fall Meeting of AGU is available at:
http://agu.org/meetings/fm02top.html
We would like to call your attention to this special session at the
upcoming Fall AGU meeting (6-10 December 2002, San Francisco). We would
particularly welcome submissions based on the recent acquisition of new
data from either the Gakkel or the Southwest Indian Ridge, but
presentations comparing ultra-slow spreading ridges are also welcome.
If you have questions about submitting a particular abstract, feel free
to contact any of the conveners, listed below.
T10
New Perspectives on Hydrothermal, Volcanic, and Tectonic Processes at
Ultraslow Spreading Mid-ocean Ridges
Recent surveying and sampling cruises to the Gakkel Ridge (GR) in the
Arctic Ocean and SouthWest Indian Ridge (SWIR) have demonstrated that
processes acting on ultra-slow mid-ocean spreading ridges are highly
variable, often contradicting prevailing models. In fact, these two
ultra-slow spreading ridges are notably different, although they have
similar spreading rates. The SWIR has a nearly constant spreading rate
and exhibits complex spreading geometries such as very large offset
transform faults and oblique spreading. In contrast, spreading rates on
the GR systematically decrease from 1.33 to 0.63 cm/yr from Greenland to
the Laptev sea; there is no evidence of either large offset transform
faults or oblique spreading on the GR. Both the SWIR and GR show more
evidence of hydrothermal activity and volcanism than predicted. For this
session we welcome contributions describing processes occurring at
ultraslow spreading ridges, especially those insights gleaned from newly
acquired datasets for the SWIR and GR. The primary goal of the session
is to facilitate comparing and contrasting morphologies and processes
along the GR and SWIR to develop new paradigms for ultra-slow spreading
ridges.
Conveners:
James Cochran
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Palisades, NY 10964 USA
(845)-365-8396
(845) 365-8179
jrc [at] ldeo.columbia.edu
Bernard Coakley
University of Alaska
Department of Geology and Geophysics University of Alaska
900 Yukon Drive
Fairbanks, AK 99775-5780 USA
(907) 474-5835
(907) 474-5163
Bernard.Coakley [at] gi.alaska.edu
Henrietta Edmonds
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute
750 Channel View Drive
Port Aransas, TX 78373-5015 USA
(361) 749-6772
(361) 749-6777
edmonds [at] utmsi.utexas.edu
Margo Edwards
University of Hawaii
Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology University of Hawaii
1680 East-West Road, POST Bldg. #815
Honolulu, HI USA
margo [at] hawaii.edu