Implications of Fine-Scale Magnetics for the Structure and Evolution of SlowlyAccreted Oceanic Crust

摘要

The long range objective of this program is to understand the structure ofoceanic crust created at slow-spreading ridges by investigating the patterns of magnetization that reside in the crust. The project seeks to investigate how crustal magnetic fields are related to the structural deformation history of oceanic crust formed in slow spreading environments and how magnetization may be used to predict the properties of the underlying crust. Scientific Objectives are: (1) Investigate the relationship between crustal magnetization and the tectonic structure and architecture of oceanic crust by comparing the magnetization patterns of crust created at 'inside corners' versus 'outside corners' of ridge segment offsets. (2) Investigate the relationship between crustal magnetization and cyclic magmatic and tectonic processes involved in crustal formation and how this magnetization signal varies with age. (3) Investigate along-axis variability in crustal magnetization within a ridge segment and compare with the ridge axis signal. (4) Map magnetic isochrons to provide temporal framework for other related studies e.g. investigate how crustal structure and seafloor morphology change with spreading rate.