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Geodynamic processes that are involved in the generation of the Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge

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Abstract

This paper contains a comparative analysis of the theoretical parameters involved in the subsidence of spreading ridges into the asthenosphere: Reykjanes, Kolbeinsey, the Azores segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, as well as the following aseismic ridges: the Ninety East Ridge, Maldives, Hawaiian-Emperor, and Louisville ridges due to the influence of a mantle plume. We conclude that the respective geodynamic processes involved in generating spreading ridges in the North Atlantic and the aseismic ocean ridges due to hotspot action are similar. The main phases in the evolution of the Iceland region are substantiated using geological and geophysical data and computer simulation. We discuss the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the region, calculated and plotted paleogeodynamic reconstructions of the North Atlantic Ocean in the hotspot system for 60, 50, and 20 Ma.

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  1. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovskii prosp. 36, Moscow, 117997, Russia

    E. V. Verzhbitskii, M. V. Kononov & A. F. Byakov

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  1. E. V. Verzhbitskii
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  2. M. V. Kononov
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Original Russian Text © E.V. Verzhbitskii, M.V. Kononov, A.F. Byakov, 2011, published in Vulkanologiya i Seismologiya, 2011, No. 4, pp. 21–49.

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Verzhbitskii, E.V., Kononov, M.V. & Byakov, A.F. Geodynamic processes that are involved in the generation of the Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. J. Volcanolog. Seismol. 5, 241–267 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0742046311030080

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