Spreading rate dependence of morphological characteristics in global oceanic transform faults

Yiming Luo; Jian Lin; Fan Zhang; Meng Wei

doi:10.1007/s13131-021-1722-5

Volume 40 Issue 4

Jun. 2021

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Yiming Luo, Jian Lin, Fan Zhang, Meng Wei. Spreading rate dependence of morphological characteristics in global oceanic transform faults[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2021, 40(4): 39-64. doi: 10.1007/s13131-021-1722-5

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Yiming Luo, Jian Lin, Fan Zhang, Meng Wei. Spreading rate dependence of morphological characteristics in global oceanic transform faults[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2021, 40(4): 39-64. doi: 10.1007/s13131-021-1722-5

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Spreading rate dependence of morphological characteristics in global oceanic transform faults

doi: 10.1007/s13131-021-1722-5

Yiming Luo^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, †},
Jian Lin^{1, 5, 6, †},
Fan Zhang^{1, 2, 3
,
,},
Meng Wei⁷

1.
Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology/Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
2.
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China
3.
China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences-Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
4.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
5.
Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
6.
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
7.
University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA

Funds: The foundation of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) under contract No. GML2019ZD0205; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41976064, 41890813, 41976066, 91958211, and 41706056; the scholarship of China Scholarship Council; the foundations of the Chinese Academy of Sciences under contract Nos Y4SL021001, QYZDY-SSW-DQC005, 133244KYSB20180029, and 131551KYSB20200021; the National Key Research and Development Program of China under contract Nos 2018YFC0309800 and 2018YFC0310105; the Foundation of the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association under contract No. DY135-S2-1-04; the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation under contract No. 2021A1515012227.

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: zhangfan@scsio.ac.cn
Received Date: 2020-02-28
Accepted Date: 2020-06-29

Available Online: 2021-05-06

Publish Date: 2021-06-03

Abstract

Abstract

We quantified the systematic variations in global transform fault morphology, revealing a first-order dependence on the spreading rate. (1) The average age offset of both the full transform and transform sub-segments decrease with increasing spreading rate. (2) The average depth of both the transform valley and adjacent ridges are smaller in the fast compared to the slow systems, reflecting possibly density anomalies associated with warmer mantle at the fast systems and rifting at the slow ridges. However, the average depth difference between the transform valley and adjacent ridges is relatively constant from the fast to slow systems. (3) The nodal basin at a ridge-transform intersection is deeper and dominant at the ultraslow and slow systems, possibly reflecting a lower magma supply and stronger viscous resistance to mantle upwelling near a colder transform wall. In contrast, the nodal high, is most prominent in the fast, intermediate, and hotspot-influenced systems, where robust axial volcanic ridges extend toward the ridge-transform intersection. (4) Statistically, the average transform valley is wider at a transform system of larger age offset, reflecting thicker deforming plates flanking the transform fault. (5) The maximum magnitude of the transform earthquakes increases with age offset owing to an increase in the seismogenic area. Individual transform faults also exhibit significant anomalies owing to the complex local tectonic and magmatic processes.
- mid-ocean ridge,
- transform fault,
- morphology,
- spreading rate,
- transform earthquakes

†These authors contributed equally to this work

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References(52)

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